Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/historyofnewyorkOOIoss_0 


OLD  NEW  YORK 


II  1ST  O  R  Y 


OF 


NEW  YORK  CITY, 


EMBRACING 


AN  OUTLINE  SKETCH  OF  EVENTS  FROM  i6og  TO  1830,  AND  A  FULL 
ACCOUNT  OF  ITS  DEVELOPMENT  FROM  1S30  TO  1S84. 

BY 


BENSON  J.  LOSSING,  LLD., 

AUTHOR  OF 

'  Pictorial  Field  Book  of  the  Revolution,"  "  The  War  of  1812,"  and  "  The  Civil  War  ir. 
Ameiica  ;"   "Mount  Vernon  and  its  Associations  ;"  "Illustrated  History  of  the 
United  States  ;"  "  Cyclopedia  of  United  Stales  History  ;"  "  Our  Country  ;" 
'■  Story  of  the  United  States  Navy,  for  Boys!'  etc.,  etc. 


"JHuslnilrb  will;  ^aqtrnils.  Tiruis  of  ^arks,  piiilbings,  zh°.T 

ENGRAVED    ON    STEEL    EXPRESSLY    FOR    THIS  WORK 

BY  GEORGE  E.  PERINE 


A.    S.    BARNES    &  COMPANY 


NEW    YORK    AND  CHICAGO 


Copyright,  1884,  by  Geo.  E.  Ferine. 

Aw.  KlOUTS  Keserved. 


PRE  K A  ( '  E  . 


This  work  is  designed  to  be  a  picture  of  life  in  New  York 
City,  and  a  record  of  its  material  progress,  especially  since  the 
year  1830,  when  the  impetus  which  produced  its  most  marvel- 
lous development  began  to  be  powerfully  felt.  This  period  is 
prefaced  by  a  compendious  history  of  the  city  from  its  founda- 
tion* early  in  the  seventeenth  century  until  the  beginning  of 
that  great  development. 

No  attempt  has  been  made  to  give  details  of  the  commerce, 
finances,  mechanic  arts,  and  manufactures  of  the  city,  for  the 
scope  of  the  work  would  not  permit  such  details.  Notices  of  a 
few  commercial,  manufacturing,  and  other  establishments  have 
been  given,  only  as  illustrations  of  the  enormous  expansion  of 
all  kinds  of  business  within  the  period  of  less  than  half  a  cent- 
ury. 

The  work  is  essentially  a  social  history  of  New  York  City, 
while  its  political  history  is  not  neglected.  It  contains  an 
account  of  society  there  in  its  various  aspects  of  home  life, 
business  activities,  and  social  organizations,  during  a  period  of 
two  generations.  In  it  may  be  found  record  of  the  growth  of 
the  city,  in  area,  from  time  to  time ;  changes  in  its  architectural 
features;  its  amusements;  its  increase  in  population,  commerce, 
manufactures,  and  other  industries;  the  transformations  in  the 
aspect  of  society  and  in  municipal  affairs;  its  judiciary;  its  in- 
ventions and  discoveiies ;  the  disturbances  and  disasters  which 
have  afflicted  it,  and  other  events  which  have  made  it  famous; 
the  origin  and  work  of  the  principal  educational,  religious, 
scientific,  literary,  artistic,  benevolent,  and  charitable  institu- 


iv 


PREFACE. 


tions,  w  ith  which  the  city  abounds,  together  with  the  names  of 
the  projectors,  corporators,  and  officers  of  the  various  institu- 
tions. 

In  this  work  may  also  be  found  the  portraits  and  biographical 
sketches  of  citizens  who,  by  their  enterprise,  intelligence,  and 
character,  have  materially  assisted  in  the  promotion  of  the  pros- 
perity and  good  name  of  New  York,  and  in  its  elevation  to  the 
high  position  of  the  Metropolis  of  the  Western  Hemisphere. 
There  are  also  views  of  conspicuous  buildings  and  of  parks. 
They  have  been,  like  the  portraits,  engraved  expressly  for  this 
work  from  original  India-ink  drawings,  by  J.  Lawrence  Giles. 
As  the  illustrations  are  distributed  at  equal  distances  apart 
throughout  the  work,  they  could  not,  as  a  rule,  be  inserted 
where  reference  is  made  to  them  in  the  text.  The  reader,  by 
referring  to  the  list  of  illustrations  on  the  next  page,  may 
readily  find  their  places  in  the  work  indicated,  and  by  refer- 
ence to  the  general  Index,  will  as  readily  find  the  related 
biography  or  description  sought. 

It  has  been  observed  that  the  scope  and  limits  of  this  work 
will  not  permit  minute  details;  only  a  general  consideration  of 
the  topics  introduced.  It  is  believed  that  this  treatment  will 
be  more  acceptable  to  most  readers  than  a  narrative  overbur- 
dened witli  the  dry  details  of  statistics,  methods,  and  techni- 
calities. 

The  author  gratefully  acknowledges  the  uniform  kindness 
and  courtesy  of  the  managers  of  institutions,  and  of  all  others 
who  have  cheerfully  aided  him  in  gathering  materials  for  this 
work;  and  to  these  he  tenders  his  sincere  thanks. 


» 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Academy  of  Music  facing  page  406 

American  Xews  Company  Building..  843 

Astok.  John  Jacob   88 

Astor  Library'   406 

Baptist  Home  for  the  A<;ed   262 

Barnard,  F.  A.  P   750 

Bartholdi  Statue  of  Liberty.',  title  plate 

Battery  and  Castle  Garden  660 

Bellevue  Hospital   118 

Bergh,  Henry   778 

Bible  House   262 

Bloominodale  Asylum   118 

Brown,  James  '..  290 

Calvary  Baptist  Church   118 

Central  Park   628 

Chemical  Bank    812 

Charlier  Institute  (1884)   406 

City  Hall,  Court  House,  and  Park  812 

Clinton.  De  Witt   30 

Columbia  College   406 

Cooper.  Peter     374 

Cooper  Union   406 

Custom-House   812 

Dakota  Apartment  House   842 

De  Peyster,  Frederic   176 

Dodge.  William  E   344 

Elevated  Railroad  title  plate 

Equestrian  Statue  ok  Washington.  812 

Evening  Post  Building  842 

Field,  Cyrus  W   234 

Fish.  Hamilton   208 

Five  Points  House  of  Industry.  . . .  262 
Fr  aunce*s  Tavern.  wherf.Washinoton 
Parted  with  his  Officers,  .frontispiece 

Fi  LTON  Ferry  812 

Fulton  Street  Daily  Noon  Prayer- 
Meeting   US 


Gramercy  Park  faring  page  660 

Grinnell,  Moses  II  316 

Herald  Building   842 

High  Bridge  title  plate 

Howard  Mission   262 

Hughes,  John  (Archbishop)   532 

Jay,  William   58 

John  Street  Methodist  Church....  118 

Lenox  Library   406 

Lossing,  Benson  J  title  plate 

Madison  Square   660 

Map  of  New  York  in  1728   14 

Masonic  Hall  in  1830  frontispiece 

Masonic  Temple   262 

Methodist  Book  Concern   262 

Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art   406 

Mills  Building   842 

Mount  Morris  Park   660 

National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of 

Design   406 

New  York  in  1776  front i spin-, 

New  Fulton  Market   812 

New  York  Historical  Society   40(1 

New  York  Hospital   11H 

New  York  and  Brooklyn  Bridge. 

title  plate 

New  Washington  Market   812 

Newsboys"  Lodging-House   262 

Nieuw  Amsterdam  in  1659. .  .frontispiece 

Normal  College   406 

Obelisk.  The   564 

Old  City  Hall  frontispiece 

Old  Government  House 

in  1810  frontispiece 

Old  Stone  Bridge,  Canal  Street  and 

Broadway  in  1812  frontispiece 

Pierrepont.  Edwards   718 


vi 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Post  Office  Jaciny  page  812 

Presbyterian  Church,  Fifth  Avenue  118 

Presbyterian  Hospital   118 

Produce  Exchange  842 

St.  Luke's  Hospital   118 

St.  Patrick's  Cathedral   -"iOO 

Seventh  Regiment  Armory   812 

Society    for    the    Prevention  of 

Cruelty  to  Animals   288 

Staats  Zeitung  Building  842 

Stewart  Residenc  e.  The   842 

Stock  Exchange   842 

Sturges.  Jonathan   146 

Stuyvesant  Square   660 

Sun  Building   842 

Taylor.  Moses   688 

Temple  Court  812 

Temple  Emanu-kl   118 

Tombs,  The   812 


Tompkins  Square  facing  page  600 

Times  Building   842 

Tribune  Building   842 

Trinity  Church   118 

Tyng,  Stephen  H   .>64 

Union  Square   060 

Union  Theological  Seminary   812 

United  Bank  Building   842 

Vanderbilt.  Cornelius   468 

Vanderbilt  Mansions   842 

Washington  Square   660 

Webb,  James  Watson   436 

Weed.  Thurlow   596 

Western  Union  Telegraph  Build- 
ing  842 

Windsor  Hotel   812 

Worth  Monument   812 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
Hall   262 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1830. 


CHAPTEE  I. 


IT  was  a  warm  day  in  early  September,  1609,  when  the  yacht  Half- 
Moon,  of  ninety  tons  burden,  the  hull  of  which  bore  many  seal's  of 
wounds  received  in  battle  with  ice-floes  in  polar  seas,  anchored  in  a  bay 
now  known  as  the  harbor  of  New  York.  She  had  a  high  poop  after 
the  fashion  of  the  times,  strong  masts,  and  ample  spars  and  sails.  She 
was  commanded  by  Henry  Hudson,  an  expert  English  navigator,  then 
employed  by  the  Dutch  East  India  Company  in  searching  for  a  passage 
through  arctic  waters  to  far-off  China  and  the  adjacent  islands  of  the 
sea. 

Hudson  had  failed  to  penetrate  the  polar  ice,  and  now  sought  the 
"  strait  below  Virginia,"  spoken  of  by  his  friend  Captain  Smith,  which 
might  bear  his  vessel  to  the  "  South  Sea"  or  Pacific  Ocean.  He  had 
failed  to  find  it  ;  but  now,  looking  up  the  broad  stream  northward 
from  his  anchorage,  in  which  the  tide  ebbed  and  flowed,  his  hopes 
revived,  and  he  ascended  the  smooth  waters  toward  the  high  mountains 
dimly  seen  in  the  hazy  distance.  But  as  he  drew  near  these  lofty  hills, 
and  the  water  freshened  more  and  more,  he  was  satisfied  that  it  was  a 
great  river  and  not  a  connecting  strait  between  the  two  oceans. 

Hudson  sailed  up  the  river  to  the  head  of  tidewater,  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles,  finding  dusky  inhabitants  everywhere.  He 
was  charmed  with  the  beauty  of  the  country  and  its  promise  of  wealth 
and  renown  to  whatever  people  should  occupy  it.  Returning  to  the 
ocean,  he  sailed  away  for  Europe  to  tell  his  employers  what  a  magnifi- 
cent prize  he  had  Avon  for  them.  He  had  not  reached  India  by  the 
way  of  the  Arctic  Circle,  but  he  had  discovered  a  great  river  running 
through  a  magnificent  country  heavily  timbered,  abounding  with  fur- 
bearing  animals,  and  occupied  by  half-naked  barbarians  only. 

Hudson's  wonderful  story  aroused  the  commercial  cupidity  of  the 
Dutch  merchants  of  Amsterdam,  who  had  already  established  a  very 
profitable  fur  trade  with  the  northern  Russias.  Very  soon  Dutch  ves- 
sels from  the  Texel,  among  them  the  discovery  yacht,  appeared  in  the 
waters  where  Hudson  first  anchored  the  Half-Moon  ;  and  not  long 
afterward  Captain  Christiansen,  as  agent  for  the  merchants,  accom- 


4 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


paiiied  by  expert  trappers  and  traders,  built  a  redoubt,  four  log  huts, 
and  a  storehouse  on  the  slope  west  of  (present)  Broadway,  just  above 
the  Bowling  Green.  This  was  the  seed  of  the  commercial  metropolis 
of  America,  planted  in  1612,  at  the  southern  extremity  of  along,  rocky, 
and  swampy  island  which  the  barbarians  called  Man-na-hat-ta. 

Among  the  bold  Dutch  navigators  who  came  to  Man-na-hat-ta  or 
Manhattan  was  Adrien  Block,  in  the  schooner  Tigress.  When  she  was 
laden  with  bear-skins  and  was  about  to  depart  for  the  Texel  late  in 
1613,  she  took  fire  and  became  a  blackened  wreck.  Before  the  next 
spring,  oaks  that  had  sheltered  bears  where  Wall  Street  "  bulls"  now 
contend  with  financial  bruins,  were  fashioned  into  a  trim-built  yacht  of 
sixteen  tons,  which  was  filled  with  skins  and  sailed  for  the  Texel.  She 
was  named  the  On  rust — the  "  Restless'" — a  prophecy  of  that  unresting 
activity  which  now  marks  the  island  of  Manhattan.  Such  was  the  be- 
ginning, in  1614,  of  the  vast  merchant  marine  of  the  city  of  New  York. 

In  accordance  with  an  ordinance  lately  passed  by  the  Government  of 
Holland,  the  Amsterdam  merchants  hastened  to  obtain  a  special  license 
for  trading  in  the  newly  discovered  region.  They  procured  a  charter 
which  gave  them  the  monopoly  of  the  trade  for  four  years,  and  the 
region  was  named  Xew  Netherland.  They  enlarged  their  storehouse 
at  Manhattan,  built  forts  as  trading  stations  near  the  site  of  Albany, 
and  the  little  seed  planted  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  by  Christiansen 
germinated  into  a  thriving  plant  of  empire — a  village  which  they  called 
Manhattan.  Finally,  in  1621,  these  merchants  and  others  obtained 
from  the  States-General  (the  Congress)  of  Holland  a  charter  for  a 
Dutch  West  India  Company.  It  made  it  a  great  commercial  monop- 
oly, possessing  almost  regal  powers  to  colonize,  govern,  and  defend, 
not  only  that  little  domain  on  the  Hudson,  but  the  whole  unoccupied 
coasts  of  America  from  Newfoundland  to  Cape  Horn,  and  from  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  far  northward  along  the  coast  of  Africa.  The 
charter  contained  all  the  guarantees  of  freedom,  in  social,  political,  and 
religious  life,  necessary  to  the  founding  of  a  free  state,  and  which 
characterized  the  institutions  of  Holland.  No  stranger  was  to  be  ques- 
tioned concerning  his  nativity  or  his  creed.  "  Do  you  wish  to  build,  to 
plant,  and  to  become  a  citizen  V  was  the  sum  of  the  catechism  when 
a  new-comer  appeared. 

Before  the  company  was  fairly  organized,  the  menacing  growls  of  the 
lion  of  England  induced  them  to  adopt  measures  for  making  a  perma- 
nent settlement  in  New  Netherland,  and  place  an  industrious  colony 
there  who  should  found  a  state.  In  1623  the  company  sent  over  the 
New  Netherlands  a  stanch  ship  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  tons,  bearing 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  160!)-1830. 


5 


thirty  families  of  Walloons,  Protestant  refugees  from  (present)  Belgium, 
who  spoke  the  French  language  and  who  had  settled  in  Holland. 
They  consisted  of  one  hundred  and  ten  men,  women,  and  children. 
They  brought  with  them  agricultural  implements,  cows,  horses,  sheep, 
and  swine,  and  a  sufficiency  of  household  furniture  to  make  them  com- 
fortable. Captain  May,  who  commanded  the  X?<r  Xct/ierlain/,  was 
constituted  their  first  or  temporary  governor. 

These  immigrants — the  first  of  a  vast  multitude  who  have  come  to 
our  shores  in  the  course  of  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  years — 
landed  from  the  Xew  Netherland  in  small  boats,  at  the  rocky  point  on 
which  Castle  Garden  now  stands,  and  is  the  receptacle  of  thousands  of 
emigrants  who  enter  the  harbor  of  New  York  every  year.  It  was  a 
beautiful  morning  in  May,  1023,  when  they  ascended  the  bank  in  their 
picturesque  costumes,  every  man  carrying  some  article  of  domestic  use, 
and  many  of  the  women  carrying  a  baby  or  a  small  child  in  their  arms. 
They  were  cordially  received  by  the  traders  and  friendly  Indians,  and 
were  feasted  under  a  tent  made  of  sails  stretched  between  several  trees. 
A  Christian  teacher  accompanied  them,  who,  before  they  partook  of 
their  first  meal,  offered  up  fervent  thanks  to  Almighty  God  for  his  pre- 
serving care  during  their  long  voyage,  and  implored  his  blessing  upon 
the  great  undertaking  before  them.  Captain  May  then  read  his  com- 
mission as  governor  of  the  colony  and  the  country  ;  and  so  the  germ  of 
the  city  and  State  of  New  York  was  planted  in  a  fruitful  soil. 

These  immigrants  were  immediately  scattered  to  different  points  to 
form  settlements.  Some  founded  the  city  of  Brooklyn  on  Long  Island, 
and  near  what  was  known  as  the  Wallabout  (now  the  Navy- Yard), 
Sarah  Papal  je,  the  earliest  born  in  New  Netherland  of  European  parents, 
first  saw  the  light  of  life.  Some  went  up  the  Connecticut  Kiver  and 
built  Fort  Good  Hope,  just  below  the  site  of  Hartford  ;  others  planted 
themselves  at  Esopus,  in  Ulster  County,  N.  Y..  and  on  the  site  of 
Albany  ;  and  four  young  married  couples  went  to  the  Delaware  and 
began  a  settlement  on  the  New  Jersey  side  of  that  stream,  a  few  miles 
below  Philadelphia.  New  Netherland  was  constituted  a  county  of 
Holland,  its  official  seal  bearing  the  figure  of  a  beaver  with  the  coronet 
of  a  count  for  its  crest. 

"When  the  Xt  w  X other] and  returned  to  the  Texel  with  furs  valued  at 
over  slO.iiOO,  and  her  commander  reported  the  colonists  in  good  heart 
and  prosperous,  there  was  as  much  excitement  as  was  possible  in  the 
staid  Dutch  towns  in  Holland.  People  longed  to  go  to  the  pictured 
paradise.  The  members  of  the  "West  India  Company  were  delighted. 
They  commissioned  Peter  Minuit,  one  of  their  number,  First  Director 


6 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


or  governor  ;  sent  other  ships  with  emigrants,  stock,  and  agricultural 
implements  ;  and  when  the  new  governor  arrived,  in  1*526,  he  opened 
negotiations  with  the  barbarians  for  the  purchase  of  Manhattan  Island. 
It  contained,  it  was  estimated,  about  twenty-two  thousand  acres  of 
land,  and  it  was  bought  for  the  sum  of  twenty-four  dollars,  which  was 
paid  in  cheap  trinkets,  implements  of  husbandly,  and  weapons.  Each 
party  was  satisfied,  for  each  felt  it  had  made  a  good  bargain. 

AVhen  the  purchase  was  completed,  an  engineer  staked  out  the  lines 
of  a  fort  at  the  southern  extremity  of  the  island,  near  the  site  of  the 
modern  "  Battery. "  The  specification  called  for  a  work  "  faced  with 
stone,  having  four  angles,"  by  which  the  Bay  in  front  and  the  Hudson 
and  East  rivet's  on  its  flanks  might  be  commanded  by  cannon.  The 
fort,  which  was  nothing  more  than  a  strong  redoubt  surrounded  by 
cedar  palisades,  was  finished  the  next  year,  and  was  named  Fort 
Amsterdam.  Each  settler  protected  by  it  owned  the  house  he  lived  in, 
kept  a  cow,  tilled  the  land,  and  traded  with  the  Indians.  There  were 
no  idle  persons.  The  traders  delivered  all  their  furs  at  the  trading- 
house  of  the  company  (a  large  stone  building  thatched  with  reeds), 
and  the  year  when  the  fort  was  completed  furs  were  sent  to  Holland 
valued  at  almost  twenty  thousand  dollars.  As  yet  there  was  neither  a 
clergyman  nor  a  schoolmaster  in  the  colony,  but  there  were  two 
appointed  "  consolers  of  the  sick,"  whose  duty  it  was  to  read  the  Script- 
ures and  the  creeds  to  the  people  on  Sundays,  who  were  gathered  in  a 
large  loft  of  a  horse-mill.  A  tower  was  erected,  in  which  were  hung 
Spanish  bells  captured  by  the  company's  fleet  at  Porto  Rico  the  year 
before— the  first  k'  church-going  bells"  heard  on  Manhattan  Island. 

It  was  during  the  building  of  the  fort  that  an  event  occurred  which 
caused  much  embarrassment  and  misery  to  the  colony  afterward.  An 
Indian,  his  nephew,  and  another  barbarian,  members  of  a  tribe  in 
Westchester  County,  came  to  Manhattan  with  beaver-skins  to  barter 
with  the  Dutch.  The  beaten  trail  of  the  Indians  from  the  Harlem 
River  was  along  the  shores  of  the  East  River  to  Kip's  Bay,  and  then 
diverging  westward  passed  by  a  large  pond  where  the  halls  of  justice, 
or  The  Tombs,  now  stand.  At  that  pond  they  were  met  by  three 
farm  servants  of  the  governor,  who  robbed  and  murdered  the  men  with 
the  peltries.  The  boy  escaped.  This  deed  was  long  unknown  to  the 
Dutch  authorities,  and  the  guilty  men  probably  escaped  punishment. 
But  the  young  barbarian  vowed  he  would  avenge  the  murder  of  his 
uncle.  It  was  done  with  fearful  usury  years  afterward.  This  atrocious 
deed  made  the  surrounding  Indians,  who  were  disposed  to  be  friendly 
with  the  Europeans,  jealous,  suspicious,  and  vengeful. 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1(509-1830. 


7 


The  little  colony  flourished,  and  the  village  which  grew  up  under  the 
protecting  wing  of  the  fort  was  called  Manhattan,  which  name  it 
retained  until  Stuyvesant  came  in  1647.  The  community  at  Manhattan 
became  cosmopolitan  in  its  composition,  as  New  York  now  is,  because 
of  the  freedom  enjoyed  there,  and  finally  gave  to  the  State  and  nation 
a  race  in  whose  veins  course  the  blood  of  Teuton,  Saxon,  Celt,  and 
Gaul.  Their  passion  for  far-reaching  commerce  and  adventurous  enter- 
prise has  been  a  characteristic  of  the  inhabitants  of  Manhattan  Island 
from  that  time  until  the  present,  through  all  their  social  and  political 
vicissitudes. 

"Within  twenty  veal's  after  Hudson's  discovery  of  the  island  the 
people  there  turned  their  attention  to  ship-building,  and  in  1631  they 
actually  completed  a  ship,  named  Nt -w  Xdherhtnd,  of  six  hundred  or 
eight  hundred  tons,  and  sent  it  to  Holland.  It  was  probably  one  of 
the  greatest  merchant  vessels  then  in  the  world.  It  was  a  costly 
experiment,  and  was  not  repeated  ;  and  it  was  nearly  two  hundred 
years  afterward  when  the  shipwrights  of  Manhattan  began  to  build 
merchant  vessels  of  such  large  proportions. 

The  "West  India  Company,  in  order  to  encourage  emigration  to  New 
Netherland  and  increase  the  population  and  strength  of  the  colony, 
granted  to  some  of  the  directors  large  tracts  of  land,  and  invested  each 
with  the  privileges  of  a  "lord  of  the  manor,"  on  condition  that  he 
should,  within  a  specified  time,  have  on  his  estates  fifty  bona-fide 
settlers.  These  proprietors  were  called  poltroons.  One  of  the  most 
extensive  landholders  among  these  directors  was  Killian  Van  Rens- 
selaer, a  pearl  merchant  in  Amsterdam,  whose  domain  lav  on  each  side 
of  the  Hudson  River  at  or  near  Albany. 

In  the  warehouse  of  the  company  at  Amsterdam  was  a  clerk  named 
Van  Twiller,  who  had  married  Van  Rensselaer's  niece.  He  was 
narrow-minded  and  inexperienced,  but  he  had  served  Van  Rensselaer 
well  in  shipping  cattle  to  his  American  domain.  Through  that 
director's  influence  Van  Twiller  was  appointed  governor  of  Xew 
Xetherland,  to  succeed  Minuit.  He  was  a  sleek,  rotund,  bullet-headed 
Dutchman,  who  loved  ease  of  mind  and  body  ;  was  dull  of  intellect,  yet 
shrewd  and  cunning  ;  always  courageous  where  there  was  no  danger, 
and  undecided  and  wavering.  He  came  to  New  Amsterdam  in  1033, 
and  was  a  dead  weight  upon  the  prosperity  of  the  colony  for  four 
years  ;  vet  it  flourished  in  spite  of  him.  With  him  came  Everardus 
Bogardus,  the  first  clergyman  who  appeared  in  the  colony  ;  also  a 
schoolmaster. 

Bogardus  was  an  able,  earnest,  and  bold  man.    Faithful  to  his 


8 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


mission,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  reprove  Van  Twiller  for  his  short- 
comings in  his  official,  moral,  and  religious  duties.  On  one  occasion  he 
called  him  a  "  child  of  the  devil  "  to  his  face,  and  told  him  that  if  he 
did  not  behave  himself  he  would  "give  him  such  a  shake  from  the 
pulpit"  the  next  Sunday  as  would  make  him  tremble  like  a  bowl  of 
jelly.  Van  T  wilier  lost  the  respect  of  all  the  citizens,  and  was  recalled. 
This  was  a  severe  disappointment  to  him,  for  he  had  dreamed  of  living 
in  ease  and  dying  in  New  Netherland.  He  had  bought  Nutten  Island, 
in  the  harbor,  and  there  he  proposed  to  retire  when  the  cares  of 
government  should  become  too  burdensome  for  him,  and  vegetate  in 
luxurious  comfort.  That  little  domain  has  been  known  as  "  Governor's 
Island  "  ever  since. 

Van  Twiller  was  succeeded  by  William  Keift,  an  energetic,  rapacious, 
and  unscrupulous  man,  who  brought  serious  trouble  upon  the  colony. 
He  endeavored  to  concentrate  all  power  in  his  own  hands,  and  began  a 
tyrannous  rule.  A  small  colony  of  Swedes  had  settled  on  the  Dela- 
ware. With  these  Keift  quarrelled.  He  incurred  the  enmity  of  the 
English  on  the  Connecticut,  and  of  the  Indians  all  around.  Under  a 
flimsy  pretence  he  sent  an  armed  force  to  attack  the  Raritan  Indians 
in  New  Jersey.  Many  of  them  were  killed.  Savage  vengeance  did 
not  slumber  long.  The  Raritans  ravaged  outlying  plantations  and 
murdered  their  occupants.  Keift  prepared  for  war.  The  colonists, 
alarmed,  boldly  opposed  him.  They  held  him  responsible  for  their 
troubles.  Hitherto  they  had  lived  peaceably  with  their  barbarian 
neighbors  ;  now  these  were  all  hostile.  Keift  yielded  to  popular 
clamor  for  the  moment.  He  requested  the  inhabitants  to  choose 
twelve  men,  heads  of  families,  with  whom  lie  might  consult  on  public 
affairs:  It  was  done,  and  this  was  the  germ  of  representative  govern- 
ment in  the  State  of  New  York.  The  Twelve  not  only  refused  to 
sanction  Keift 's  war  schemes,  but  took  cognizance  of  public  grievances, 
when  he  dismissed  them. 

Some  River  Indians  fled  before  the  fiery  Mohawks  and  took  refuge 
with  the  Hackensacks  at  Hoboken.  Keift,  burning  with  a  cruel  desire 
to  "  chastise  savages,"  sent  over  a  body  of  armed  men  at  midnight  in 
February,  1643,  who  fell  upon  the  sleeping  fugitives  and  before  the 
dawn  massacred  a  hundred  men.  women,  and  children,  and  returned  to 
New  Amsterdam  with  the  heads  of  several  of  the  slain.  By  this 
savage  act  the  fierce  hatred  and  thirst  for  vengeance  of  all  the  surround- 
ing barbarians  were  aroused.  A  furious  war  was  kindled.  Villages 
and  farms  were  desolated,  and  white  people  were  butchered  wherever 
the  Indians  found  them.    For  two  years  the  colony  of  New  Netherland 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1830. 


9 


was  threatened  with  destruction.  The  war  finally  ceased.  The  people 
clamored  for  the  recall  of  the  governor,  and  he  was  summoned  to 
Holland.  He  perished  by  shipwreck  while  on  his  way  with  a  large 
fortune,  and  was  succeeded  by  Peter  Stuyvesant  in  KUT,  late  governor 
of  Curacoa,  a  soldier  of  eminence,  and  possessed  of  every  requisite  for 
an  efficient  administration  of  government.* 

Stuyvesant  was  too  frank  and  bold  to  conceal  his  opinions  and  inten- 
tions. At  the  very  outset  he  frowned  at  every  expression  of  republi- 
can sentiment,  defended  Keift's  rejection  of  the  interference  of  the 
Twelve,  and  plainly  told  the  people,  "  If  any  one  during  my  adminis- 
tration shall  appeal,  I  will  make  him  a  foot  shorter  and  send  the  pieces 
to  Holland,  and  let  him  appeal  in  that  way.  ...  It  is  treason  to 
petition  against  one's  magistrate,  whether  there  be  cause  or  not." 
With  such  despotic  sentiments  Stuyvesant  began  his  iron  rule.  He 
was  a  tyrant  ;  yet  honesty  and  wisdom  marked  all  his  acts.  He  set 
about  reforms  with  vigor.  The  morals  of  the  people,  the  sale  of 
intoxicating  liquors  to  the  Indians,  the  support  of  religion,  and  the 
regulation  of  trade  received  his  immediate  attention,  and  he  imparted 
much  of  his  own  energy  to  the  citizens.  Enterprise  took  the  place  of 
sluggishness.  He  treated  the  Indians  so  kindly,  and  so  soon  won  their 
respect  and  friendship,  that  the  foolish  story  went  abroad  that  he  was. 
forming  an  alliance  with  the  savages  to  exterminate  the  English  at  the 
eastward. 

Stuyvesant  found  the  finances  of  the  colony  in  such  a  wretched  con- 
dition that  taxation  was  necessary.  For  two  centuries  a  political 
maxim  of  Holland  had  been,  "  Taxation  without  representation  is 
tyranny" — a  postulate  copied  by  our  patriots  when  they  began  the  old 
war  for  independence.  Stuyvesant  dared  not  disregard  this  great  prin- 
ciple, for  it  would  offend  his  masters  the  States-General,  so  he  called  a 
meeting  of  citizens  and  directed  them  to  choose  eighteen  of  their  best 
men,  of  whom  he  might  select  nine  as  representatives  of  the  taxpayers, 
who  should  form  a  co-ordinate  branch  of  the  local  government.  He 
was  careful  to  hedge  this  popular  council  about  with  restrictions.  The 

*  Peter  Stuyvesant  was  the  last  Dutch  governor  of  New  Netherland.  He  was  born  in 
Holland  in  1C02,  and  died  in  the  city  of  New  York  (formerly  New  Amsterdam)  in  August, 
lfi82.  Serving  as  a  soldier  in  the  West  Indies,  he  became  governor  of  Curacoa.  He 
lost  a  leg  in  battle.  Returning  to  Holland,  he  was  sent  to  New  Netherland  as  First 
Director  or  Governor,  in  lf>47,  where  he  ruled  tyrannically  but  righteously  until  1CG4, 
when  the  province  was  taken  possession  of  by  the  English.  After  that  event  he  went  to 
Holland  to  report  in  person  the  misfortunes  of  the  colony.  He  returned  to  New  York, 
and  resided  on  his  farm,  which  lay  along  the  East  River  on  Manhattan  Island.  His  wife 
was  Judith  Bayard,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons.    He  was  dignified,  honest,  and  brave. 


10 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


first  nine  selected  were  to  choose  their  successors,  so  as  to  prevent  the 
people  having  a  direct  voice  in  public  affairs.  But  the  Nine  proved  to 
be  more  potent  than  the  Twelve.  They  nourished  the  pi'olific  seed  of 
democracy,  and  gave  Stuyvesant  much  uneasiness. 

The  inhabitants  of  Manhattan  asked  the  States-General  for  a  muni- 
cipal government.  It  was  granted  in  1653,  under  the  corporate  title  of 
New  Amsterdam.  Its  government  was  modelled  after  that  of  old 
Amsterdam,  but  with  somewhat  less  political  freedom  in  its  features. 
The  soul  of  Stuyvesant  was  troubled  by  this  "  imprudent  trusting  of 
power  with  the  people/''  The  burghers  wished  for  more  power,  but  it 
could  not  then  be  obtained.  A  silver  seal  was  given  to  the  authorities 
of  the  new  city,  and  a  painted  coat-of-arms  was  sent  to  them. 

A  new  trouble  disturbed  Stuyvesant.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year 
when  New  Amsterdam  was  incorporated,  a  convention  of  nineteen 
delegates,  chosen  by  the  people  of  eight  villages  or  communities,  assem- 
bled at  the  town-hall  in  the  city,  ostensibly  to  take  measures  against  the 
depredations  of  savages  and  pirates.  The  governor  tried  to  control 
their  action,  but  failed.  When  they  adjourned  they  invited  the 
governor  to  partake  of  a  collation  with  them.  Of  course  he  would  not 
so  sanction  their  proceedings,  and  refused,  when  they  plainly  told  him 
he  might  do  as  he  pleased  ;  they  should  hold  another  convention  soon, 
and  he  might  prevent  it  if  he  could.  Stuyvesant  stormed  and  threat- 
ened these  incipient  rebels,  but  prudently  yielded  and  issued  a  call  for 
another  convention,  and  so  gave  legality  to  the  measure.  They  met 
on  December  10, 1653.  Many  English  people  were  now  settled  among 
the  Dutch,  and  had  intermarried  with  them,  anil  of  the  nineteen  dele- 
gates chosen  ten  were  of  Dutch  and  nine  of  English  nativity.  This 
was  the  first  real  representative  government  in  the  great  State  of  New 
York,  now  an  empire  with  a  population  of  over  five  millions. 

Now  and  here  was  fought  the  first  battle  between  democracy  and 
despotism  on  the  soil  of  New  York.  The  convention  adopted  a  remon- 
strance to  the  States-General  against  the  tyrannous  rule  of  the  gov- 
ernor, and  sent  it  to  him,  with  a  demand  For  a  categorical  answer  to 
each  of  the  several  counts.  He  met  it  with  his  usual  pluck.  He 
denied  their  authority.  He  blustered  and  threatened.  They  told  him 
plainly  that  if  he  refused  to  comply  with  their  demand  they  would 
appeal  to  the  States-General.  At  this  threat,  uttered  by  the  lips  of  a 
bold  messenger — Beeckman,  of  Brooklyn — the  governor  took  fire,  and 
seizing  his  cane  ordered  him  to  leave  his  presence.  The  ambassador 
folded  his  arms  and  silently  defied  the  wrath  of  Stuyvesant.  When 
his  anger  cooled  he  asked  Beeckman  to  pardon  his  sudden  ebullition  of 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1830.  1 1 

feeling,  but  he  ordered  the  convention  to  disperse  instantly.  They 
did  no  such  thing,  but  executed  their  threat  by  sending  an  advocate 
to  Holland  with  a  list  of  their  grievances,  and  asked  for  redress.  So 
republicanism,  like  any  other  truth,  has  remarkable  vitality,  and  is 
fostered  by  persecution.  It  never  receded  from  the  position  it  assumed 
in  New  Amsterdam  at  Christmas,  1653. 

Stuyvesant  was  a  faithful  servant  of  the  Dutch  AVest  India  Company, 
watching  and  defending  its  interests  at  all  points.  The  Swedes  on  the 
Delaware  became  aggressive  ;  he  made  war  upon  them,  conquered 
them,  and  as  did  Alfred  of  England  with  the  Danes,  he  absorbed  them 
politically,  and  they  became  loyal  subjects  of  the  Dutch.  This  accom- 
plished, the  long  peace  with  the  Indians  was  suddenly  broken  by  the 
murder  of  a  squaw  by  a  citizen  of  New  Amsterdam,  who  detected  her 
stealing  his  peaches.  The  fury  of  her  tribe  was  fiercely  kindled. 
Before  daybreak  one  morning,  about  two  thousand  River  Indians 
appeared  before  New  Amsterdam  in  sixty  canoes.  They  landed,  and 
searched  for  the  murderer  of  the  squaw.  Stuyvesant  summoned  their 
leaders  to  a  conference  at  the  fort.  They  were  promised  justice,  and 
agreed  to  leave  the  island.  They  did  not,  and  at  midnight  they 
invaded  the  city  and  shot  the  murderer,  whom  they  knew.  The  people 
flew  to  arms  and  drove  the  barbarians  from  the  city.  The  Indians 
crossed  the  surrounding  waters  and  ravaged  New  Jersey  and  Staten 
Island.  Within  three  days  a  hundred  white  inhabitants  wei^e  killed, 
fiftv  were  made  captive,  and  three  hundred  estates  were  utterly 
desolated  by  the  dusky  foe.  Stuyvesant  finally  restored  order, 
and  then  issued  a  proclamation  directing  those  who  lived  in  secluded 
places  in  the  country  to  gather  themselves  into  villages  for  mutual 
defence. 

Another  and  more  serious  crisis  for  New  Amsterdam  and  New 
Netherland  came.  The  British  always  claimed  the  whole  territory  of 
New  Netherland  as  their  own.  The  British  monarch  granted  the 
domain  to  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  York.  In  1664  the  duke  sent  ships 
of  war  and  troops  to  take  possession.  The  people  of  New  Amsterdam 
Avere  quite  willing  to  exchange  Dutch  rule  for  "  English  liberty,"  and 
counselled  submission  when  the  armament  appeared.  Stuyvesant  held 
out,  but  was  finally  compelled  to  yield.  The  English  took  possession. 
The  name  of  the  fort  was  changed  from  Amsterdam  to  James,  and  the 
name  of  the  city  and  province  were  changed  to  New  York.  The  city 
was  held  temporarily  by  the  Dutch  awhile  afterward,  when  New 
Netherland  became  a  permanent  English  possession.  But  the  people 
soon  found  "  English  liberty"  not  so  easy  to  bear  as  "  Dutch  tyranny," 


12 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


for  their  new  masters  taxed  them  almost  without  stint.  Yet  they 
prospered,  and  were  comparatively  happy. 

Republicanism  grew  apace  in  the  city  and  province  of  New  York. 
.Many  of  that  faith  had  fled  from  pei-secution  to  America,  and  inocu- 
lated the  people  here  with  its  doctrines.  The  people  of  New  York 
clamored  for  a  representative  government,  and  in  16S3 — about  thirty 
years  after  the  Dutch  of  the  same  city  made  a  similar  demand — their 
request  was  granted.  Governor  Dongan,  an  enlightened  Roman 
Catholic,  favored  their  wishes,  and  on  the  17th  of  October,  1083,  was 
established  the  first  General  Assembly  of  the  Province  of  New  York, 
which  sat  three  weeks  and  passed  fourteen  acts  which  became  laws. 
The  first  of  these  was  entitled  The  Charter  of  Liberties  and  Privileges 
granted  by  his  Royal  Highness  to  the  inhabitants  of  New  York  and  it ; 
Dependencies."  It  was  ratified  by  the  duke.  The  day  of  that  assem- 
bling  is  a  memorable  one  in  the  history  of  New  York. 

Before  we  proceed  further,  let  us  take  a  brief  glance  at  the  social 
condition  of  New  York  before  its  surrender  to  the  English.  At  that 
time  it  contained  about  three  hundred  houses  and  about  fifteen 
hundred  inhabitants.  The  city  was  then  one  of  considerable  wealth, 
and  many  of  the  inhabitants  were  enjoying  the  comforts  which  riches 
bring.  But  riches  is  a  thing  of  relative  estimate.  A  citizen  then 
worth  a  thousand  dollars  was  esteemed  a  rich  man.  At  first  their 
houses  were  of  logs,  the  roofs  thatched  with  reeds  and  straw,  the 
chimneys  made  of  wood,  and  the  light  of  the  windows  entered  through 
oiled  paper.  Their  tables  were  made  of  rough  planks  ;  their  platters 
Avere  of  wood  or  pewter  ;  the  spoons  of  the  same  ;  and  carpets  were 
unknown  until  the  time  of  the  revolution  in  1688.  Finally  the  unsafe 
thatched  roofs  and  wooden  chimneys  gave  place  to  tiles  and  shingles 
and  brick.  The  better  houses  were  built  of  brick  imported  from 
Holland  until  some  enterprising  citizens  established  a  brickyard  on  the 
island  during  the  administration  of  Stuvvesant. 

Every  house  was  surrounded  with  a  garden,  in  which  cabbage  was 
the  chief  vegetable  cultivated,  and  tulips  the  principal  flowers.  Good 
horses  were  rare  until  they  began  to  import  them  from  New  England, 
but  their  cows  and  swine  were  generally  of  excellent  quality.  There 
were  no  carriages  until  after  the  revolution,  and  the  first  hackney 
coach  was  introduced  into  the  city  of  New  York  in  1P>96.  It  is  said 
that  the  first  carpet — a  big  Turkey  rug — seen  in  the  city  belonged  to 
Sarah  Oort,  the  wife  of  the  famous  Captain  Kidd.  The  clean  floors 
were  daily  strewn  with  white  beach-sand  wrought  into  artistic  forms 
by  the  skilful  motion  of  the  broom.    Huge  oaken  chests  filled  with 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1830. 


13 


household  linen  were  seen  in  a  corner  of  a  room  in  every  house,  and  in 
another  corner  a  triangular  cupboard  with  a  glass  door,  in  which  w  as 
displayed  shining-  pewter  or  other  plates.  As  wealth  increased  a  few 
had  china  tea-sets,  and  solid  silver  tankards,  punch-bowls,  porringers, 
and  ladles.  Tea  had  only  lately  found  its  way  to  New  York  when  the 
revolution  of  KISS  occurred. 

Clocks  and  watches  were  almost  unknown,  and  time  was  measured 
by  sun-dials  and  hour-glasses.  The  habits  of  the  people  were  so  regular 
that  they  did  not  need  clocks  and  watches.  At  nine  o'clock  they  all 
said  their  prayers  and  went  to  bed.  They  arose  at  cock-crowing,  and 
breakfasted  before  sunrise.  Dinner-parties  were  unknown,  but  tea- 
parties  were  frequent.  These  ended,  the  participants  went  home  in 
time  to  attend  to  the  milking  of  the  cows.  In  every  house  were 
spinning-wheels,  and  it  was  the  pride  of  every  family  to  have  an  ample 
supply  of  home-made  linen  and  woollen  cloth.  The  women  spun  and 
wove,  and  were  steadily  employed.  Nobody  was  idle.  Nobody  was 
anxious  to  get  rich,  while  all  practised  thrift  and  frugality.  Books 
were  rare  luxuries,  and  in  most  houses  the  Bible  and  Pra}rer-book 
constituted  the  stock  of  literature.  The  weekly  discourses  of  the 
clergymen  satisfied  their  intellectual  wants,  while  their  own  hands, 
industriously  employed,  furnished  all  their  physical  necessities.  Knit- 
ting and  spinning  held  the  place  of  whist  and  music  in  these  "  degener- 
ate days,"  and  utility  was  as  plainly  stamped  upon  all  their  labors  and 
pleasures  as  is  the  maker's  name  on  our  silver  spoons.  These  were  the 
"good  old  days"  of  simplicity,  comparative  innocence,  and  positive 
ignorance,  when  the  "commonalty"  no  more  suspected  the  earth  of 
the  caper  of  turning  over  like  a  ball  of  yarn  every  day  than  Stuyvesant 
did  the  Puritans  of  candor  and  honesty. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  Duke  of  York  became  King-  of  England  as  James  II.  in  16S5. 
As  king-  he  refused  to  confirm  the  "  Charter  of  Liberties"  which, 
as  duke,  he  had  granted  to  the  inhabitants  of  New  York.  He  ordered 
a  direct  tax,  forbade  the  use  of  a  printing-press  in  the  province,  and 
filled  the  public  offices  with  Roman  Catholics,  whose  faith  he  had 
embraced  and  avowed.  The  liberal  and  just  Governor  Dongan  stood 
by  the  people  as  long  as  he  could,  but  in  the  spring  of  1688  he  was 
ordered  to  surrender  the  government  of  Xew  York  into  the  hands  of 
Sir  Edmund  Andros,  a  supple  tool  of  the  king,  who  had  a  viceregal 
commission  to  rule  that  province  and  all  Xew  England.  Andros  was 
received  in  Xew  York  by  Colonel  Bayard's  regiment  ;  and  in  the  midst 
of  rejoicings  among  the  royalists — the  aristocracy — because  of  his 
arrival,  news  came  that  James's  queen  had  given  birth  to  a  son  and 
heir  to  his  throne.  The  event  was  celebrated  that  evening  bv  a 
banquet  at  the  City  Hall,  while  bonfires  blazed  in  the  streets.  At  the 
festive  table  Mayor  Van  Cortlandt  became  hilarious,  and  testified  his 
loyalty  and  joy  by  making  a  burnt  sacrifice  of  his  hat  and  periwig, 
waving  the  blazing  offerings  over  the  bancmet-table  on  the  point  of  his 
straight  sword. 

Republicanism  had  grown  apace  in  Xew  York,  and  there  was  great 
disappointment  among  the  Protestant  republicans  ;  for  in  case  of  failure 
of  an  heir  on  the  part  of  King  James,  his  daughter  Mary,  who  had 
married  the  Protestant  Prince  William  of  Orange,  would  be  his  suc- 
cessor. Their  disappointment  was  soon  turned  to  joy  when  news  came 
that  James  had  been  driven  from  the  throne,  was  an  exile  in  France, 
and  William  and  Mary  were  joint  monarchs  of  England.  The  people 
seized  Fort  James,  at  the  foot  of  Broadway.  Their  leader  was  Jacob 
Leisler,*  a  popular  and  leading  shipping  merchant,  who  had  come  to 

*  Jacob  Leisler  was  a  native  of  Frankfort,  in  Germany.  He  came  to  America  in  1GG0, 
resided  awhile  in  Albany,  New  York,  when  he  became  a  merchant  in  the  city  of  Xew 
York.  While  on  a  voyage  to  Europe  in  1678,  he,  with  several  others,  were  made 
prisoners  by  Turks,  and  paid  a  high  price  for  their  ransom.  He  entered  public  life 
under  Governor  Dongan,  and  as  a  military  leader  he  was  at  the  head  of  an  insurrec- 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1830. 


15 


New  Amsterdam  a  soldier  in  the  service  of  the  "West  India  Company, 
and  was  captain  of  one  of  the  militia  companies  of  the  city.  He  was  a 
warm  friend  of  William  of  Orange  and  an  ardent  republican.  The 
aristocratic  party  of  Xew  York,  led  by  Mayor  Van  Cortlandt,  Colonel 
Bayard,  and  other  members  of  the  council,  hated  Leisler  because  of  his 
political  principles,  and  when,  obedient  to  the  wishes  of  the  people,  he 
assumed  the  functions  of  governor  of  the  province  in  the  absence  of  a 
representative  of  royal  authority,  they  were  enraged  by  this  democratic 
movement,  led  by  "  an  insolent  plebeian  and  foreigner. "  They  resolved 
on  his  destruction  ;  and  when  a  royal  governor  (Sloughter)  came,  they 
procured  Leister's  arrest  on  a  charge  of  treason.  He  was  unfairly  tried 
and  condemned.  The  governor  hesitated  to  sign  his  death-warrant 
before  the  pleasure  of  the  sovereigns  should  be  known.  Sloughter  was 
made  drunk  at  a  feast,  and  in  that  condition  was  induced  to  sign  the 
fatal  document.  Before  he  was  sober,  Leisler  and  his  son-in-law,  Jacob 
Milborne,  were  hanged.  His  enemies  thought  they  had  crushed 
democracy  in  New  York.  Swift  disappointment  overtook  them.  The 
Earl  of  Bellomont  came  as  governor,  and  under  orders  from  the  Privy 
Council  and  his  king  he  gladly  aided  in  reversing  the  attainder  of 
Leisler  and  procuring  the  restoration  of  the  victim's  confiscated 
property  to  his  children.  The  tables  were  nOw  turned.  Democracy 
obtained  a  stronger  foothold  in  Xew  York  than  ever.  Under  the  very 
law  enacted  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  Leisler  to  trial  for  treason, 
Colonel  Bayard,  its  chief  promoter,  was  tried  for  the  same  offence, 
found  guilty,  and  saved  from  the  gallows  only  by  the  death  of  Bello- 
mont and  the  accession  of  Edward  Hyde,  a  profligate  man  and  a  bitter 
enemy  of  republicanism  in  any  form.    He  liberated  Bayard. 

We  have  now  come  to  a  period  in  the  history  of  Xew  York  when 
the  political  and  social  forces  known  respectively  as  Democracy  and 
Aristocracy  were  organized  for  the  great  conflict  which  resulted  in  the 
triumph  of  the  former  at  the  close  of  the  old  war  for  independence  in 
1783.  From  the  accession  of  Governor  Lovelace  in  1708,  to  that  of 
Governor  Cosby  in  1732,  democracy  prevailed  in  the  General  Assembly 
of  New  York,  and  the  royal  representatives  were  compelled  to  yield  to 
the  will  of  the  people  as  expressed  by  that  assembly. 

A  new  social  element  had  just  been  introduced  into  the  city  of  Xew 

tionary  movement  in  the  city  of  New  York  after  the  accession  of  William  and  Mary.  He 
assumed  the  functions  of  governor  of  the  colony,  but  on  the  arrival  of  a  royally 
appointed  governor  he  was  arrested,  condemned  as  a  traitor,  ami  hanged  on  May  10, 
1691,  with  his  son-in-law,  Milborne.  Leisler  purchased  New  Eochelle  for  the  Hugue- 
nots. 


1 6 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


York  by  Governor  Hunter.  Louis  XIV.  had  caused  the  expulsion 
from  their  country  of  Protestant  Rhenish  Palatines,  who  besought  the 
British  Government  to  give  them  homes  in  America.  It  was  done, 
and  £10,000  were  appropriated  to  defray  their  expenses,  they  pledging 
themselves  to  produce  materials  for  the  royal  navy  in  the  way  of 
reimbursement.  By  command  of  Queen  Anne,  three  thousand  of  the 
German  Palatines  accompanied  Governor  Hunter  to  New  York.  A 
considerable  number  of  them  remained  in  the  city  ;  others  went  up  the 
Hudson  River  to  Livingston's  manor  and  settled  the  region  known  as 
Germantown  ;  others  went  to  the  Mohawk  Valley  and  founded  the 
settlement  of  the  German  Flats  ;  while  the  greater  portion  made  homes 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  so  laid  the  foundations  of  the  German  population 
which  forms  so  large  and  influential  an  element  in  the  social  fabric  of 
that  commonwealth.  These  Germans  were  industrious  and  frugal. 
Those  who  remained  in  the  city  soon  built  a  Lutheran  church  on 
Broadway,  on  the  site  of  the  first  Grace  Church,  near  Trinity.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  the  vast  German  emigration  to  America. 

In  1725  a  new  clement  of  power  in  the  realm  of  opinion  appeared  in 
New  York.  William  Bradford,*  who  had  set  up  the  first  printing- 
press  in  the  province,  issued  the  first  newspaper  published  in  that 
colony  in  October  of  that  year.  He  entitled  it  the  New  York  Weekly 
Gazette.    It  became  the  organ  of  the  aristocratic  party. 

"When  Governor  Montgomerie  died,  in  1731,  Rip  Van  Dam,  the 
senior  member  of  the  council,  took  charge  of  public  affairs  until  the 
arrival  of  Governor  Cosby  the  next  year.  The  latter  was  avaricious 
and  arbitrary  by  nature.  On  his  arrival  he  demanded  of  Van  Dam  an 
equal  share  in  that  officer's  salary  while  acting  as  governor.  It  was 
refused,  and  Cosby  sued  him  in  the  Supreme  Court.  A  majority  of 
the  judges  were  of  the  aristocratic  party,  and  gave  judgment  against 
Van  Dam.  The  chief  justice  (Morris)  decided  against  the  governor, 
and  the  latter  removed  him  and  put  James  De  Lancey  in  his  place. 
The  sympathies  of  the  people  were  with  Van  Dam.    They  wanted  an 

*  William  Bradford  was  a  Friend  or  Quaker,  and  a  printer  by  trade.  He  was  born  in 
Leicester,  England,  in  1659,  and  at  the  age  of  23  years  emigrated  to  America,  landing  on 
the  spot  where  Philadelphia  was  begun.  He  had  learned  his  trade  in  London,  and  set 
up  a  press  (the  first)  in  Pennsylvania.  There  was  a  quarrel  among  the  chief  religionists 
of  Pennsylvania.  Bradford  having  become  unpopular  with  the  dominant  party,  he 
removed  to  New  York,  where  he  introduced  printing  into  that  province  in  1693.  That 
year  he  printed  the  laws  of  the  colony.  He  established  the  first  newspaper  in  New 
York,  called  the  Sew  York  Gazette,  in  the  fall  of  1725,  and  in  1728  he  established  a 
paper-mill  at  Elizabeth,  N.  J.  He  was  printer  to  the  government  for  fully  fifty  years, 
and  the  only  one  in  the  colony  for  thirty  years. 


OUTLINE  HISTOKY,  1609-1830. 


17 


organ,  and  they  persuaded  John  Peter  Zenger,*  who  had  heen  an 
apprentice  with  Bradford  and  his  business  partner  for  a  while,  to  estab- 
lish an  opposition  newspaper.  He  did  so  in  November,  1733,  giving  it 
the  title  of  the  New  York  Weekly  Journal.  Van  Dam,  who  was  a 
leading  merchant,  stood  behind  Zenger  as  his  financial  supporter. 

This  organ  of  the  democratic  party  made  vigorous  war  upon  the 
governor  and  his  political  friends,  and  finally  it  charged  him  and  them 
with  violating  the  rights  of  the  people,  the  assumption  of  tyrannical 
power,  and  the  perversion  of  their  official  stations  for  selfish  purposes. 
When  they  could  not  answer  nor  endure  these  attacks  any  longer, 
Zenger  was  arrested  on  a  charge  of  libelling  the  government,  and  the 
council  ordered  his  papers  containing  these  alleged  libels  to  be  burned 
by  the  common  hangman, 

After  lying  in  jail  several  months  Zenger  was  brought  to  trial. 
Meanwhile  a  republican  association  called  "  Sons  of  Liberty"  worked 
assiduously  for  Zenger,  and  his  friends  employed  the  venerable  Andrew 
Hamilton  of  Philadelphia,  then  eighty  years  of  age  and  the  foremost 
lawyer  in  the  colonies,  as  the  prisoner's  counsel.  The  case  excited 
widespread  interest  and  attention,  for  it  involved  the  great  question  of 
liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press. 

At  that  famous  trial  Chief-Justice  De  Lancey  presided.  The  court- 
room was  crowded.  The  citizens  generally  sympathized  with  Zenger. 
The  prisoner  pleaded  "  Not  guilty,"  admitted  the  publication  of  the 
alleged  libel,  and  offered  full  proof  of  its  justification.  The  attorney- 
genera]  rose  to  oppose  the  admission  of  such  proofs.  At  that  moment 
the  venerable  Hamilton  entered  the  room.  Rumors  had  gone  abroad 
that  he  would  be  there.  The  multitude  rose  to  their  feet  and  welcomed 
him  with  waving  of  hats  and  loud  huzzas.  With  his  long  white  hair 
flowing  over  his  shoulders,  this  Nestor  of  the  bar  in  a  few  eloquent 
words  scattered  all  the  legal  sophistries  of  the  prosecution  to  the  winds, 
lie  declared  that  the  jury  were  themselves  judges  of  the  facts  and  the 
law  ;  that  they  were  a  part  of  the  court  ;  that  they  were  competent  to 
judge  of  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  the  accused  ;  and  he  reminded  them 

*  John  Peter  Zenger  was  a  German,  a  son  of  a  widow  among  the  Palatines  who  came 
to  New  York  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne.  He  was  apprenticed  to  William  Bradford, 
the  printer,  became  his  partner,  and  in  1733  began  a  weekly  newspaper  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  called  the  Weekly  Journal.  For  some  strictures  on  the  conduct  of  the 
governor,  Zenger  was  prosecuted  for  a  libel,  and  was  imprisoned  thirty-five  weeks.  His 
trial  was  a  famous  one.  He  was  defended  by  the  great  lawyer,  Andrew  Hamilton  of 
Philadelphia,  and  was  acquitted.  His  acquittal  was  regarded  as  a  vindication  of  the 
freedom  of  the  press.    Zenger  died  in  New  York  in  1746. 


18 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


that  they  were  the  sworn  protectors  of  the  rights,  liberties,  and  privi- 
leges of  their  fellow-citizens,  which,  in  this  instance,  had  been  violated 
by  a  most  outrageous  and  vindictive  series  of  persecutions.  The  chief- 
justice's  charge  to  the  jury  was  wholly  averse  to  this  doctrine  of  the 
great  advocate,  but  after  a  brief  conference  they  returned  a  verdict  of 
"  Not  guilty."  A  shout  of  triumph  went  up  from  the  multitude,  and 
Hamilton  was  borne  from  the  court-room  upon  the  shoulders  of  the 
people  to  an  entertainment  prepared  for  him.  The  citizens  gave  him  a 
public  dinner  the  next  day,  and  a  few  weeks  later  the  corporation  of 
New  York  gave  Hamilton  their  thanks  and  the  freedom  of  the  city  in 
a  gold  box.  lie  had  served  a  righteous  cause  without  a  fee,  because  it 
was  a  righteous  cause. 

To  the  city  of  New  York  is  due  the  imperishable  honor  of  first  vindi- 
cating the  freedom  of  the  press  in  the  English-American  colonies,  and 
it  has  ever  maintained  the  exalted  position  of  a  champion  of  liberty  and 
the  rights  of  man  under  all  circumstances. 

The  population,  industries,  and  wealth  of  New  York  City  had  rapidly 
increased  since  the  beginning  of  the  century.  In  about  thirty  years 
the  population  had  expanded  from  five  thousand  to  almost  nine  thou- 
sand. Already  the  shipping  employed  in  trade  gave  the  city  the  char- 
acter of  a  commercial  metropolis,  and  its  merchants  were  noted  for 
enterprise,  intelligence,  wealth,  and  probity.  For  a  while  they  had 
serious  difficulties  to  contend  with.  At  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century  the  ocean  SAvarmed  with  pirates.  They  entered  the  harbor  of 
New  York  and  seized  vessels  lying  at  anchor.  It  is  believed  that  men 
in  high  official  station  there  were  confederated  with  the  buccaneers, 
shared  their  booty,  and  shielded  them  from  punishment.  Finally  a 
worthy  shipmaster  of  New  York,  Captain  Kidd,*  was  employed  by  a 

i:"  William  Kidd  was  a  prominent  shipmaster  in  New  York  at  the  close  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  His  wife  was  Sarah  Oort.  Kidd  was  the  son  of  a  Scotch  Nonconformist 
minister,  and  had  followed  the  sea  from  his  youth.  He  was  regarded  as  the  boldest  and 
most  enterprising  mariner  of  New  York,  about  1695,  when  he  was  appointed  captain  of  a 
privateer,  owned  by  King  William,  Governor  Bellomont,  Robert  Livingston,  and  several 
of  the  English  nobility,  and  was  fitted  out  for  the  suppression  of  piracy.  He  received 
his  commission  from  King  William.  He  sailed  in  the  Adventure  Galley  from  Plymouth, 
England,  in  1696,  far  the  Indian  seas,  where,  after  scattering  the  pirates,  he  became  one 
himself,  or  rather  was  compelled  by  his  crew  to  become  the  commander  of  a  pirate  ship. 
He  returned  to  New  York  with  large  booty  in  1698.  The  piratical  partners  of  the  Adven- 
ture Qattey  raised  such  a  hubbub  in  England,  that  her  owners,  to  escape  the  odium  of 
Kidd's  conduct,  made  him  a  scapegoat.  With  virtuous  pretensions  Lord  Bellomont 
caused  Kidd's  arrest  on  the  charge  of  piracy  and  murder.  He  was  convicted  and  hanged 
at  Plymouth,  England,  on  May  24,  1701.  The  charge  of  piracy  was  not  proven,  and 
the  killing  for  which  he  suffered  was  undoubtedly  accidental. 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1830. 


19 


company  to  disperse  or  destroy  the  pirates.  He  succeeded,  but  finally, 
through  great  temptation,  he  turned  pirate  himself  in  distant  seas,  and 
was  hanged  in  England,  an  unfortunate  scapegoat  for  his  more  guiltjr 
titled  confederates. 

Intellectual  forces  of  much  strength  were  early  at  work  in  the  city  of 
New  York.  The  third  printing-press  in  the  English-American  colonies 
was  set  up  there  by  William  Bradford,  and  in  1693  he  printed  the 
laws  of  the  colony  in  a  small  folio  volume.  This  was  the  first  publica- 
tion of  a  book  in  that  city,  where  millions  are  now  issued  every  year. 

Episcopacy  had  been  made  the  leading  ecclesiastical  system  in  New 
York  by  the  fiat  of  royal  governors,  and  on  the  establishment  of 
Trinity  Church,  in  1090,  public  worship  was  conducted  in  the  English 
language  instead  of  the  Dutch,  excepting  in  the  Reformed  Dutch 
Church.  Trinity  Church  edifice — a  small,  square  structure  with  a  very 
tall  spire — was  completed  in  1697,  and  in  1703  Queen  Anne  granted  to 
it  the  "  King's  Farm"  on  the  west  side  of  Broadway— the  famous 
"  Trinity  Church  property1'  claimed  by  the  alleged  hell's  of  Annetye 
Jans-Bogardus. 

The  first  attempt  had  been  made  in  1697  to  light  the  streets  of  New 
York  by  hanging  a  lantern  from  a  pole  projecting  from  a  window  in 
every  seventh  house.  A  night  watch  of  four  men  had  been  established 
at  the  same  time,  and  two  men  were  appointed  to  inspect  the  hearths 
and  chimneys  of  the  six  hundred  houses  in  the  city  once  a  week.  A 
public  ferry  between  Xew  York  and  Long  Island  had  been  established 
by  the  city  authorities,  and  in  1707  Broadway  had  been  first  paved 
from  the  Bowling  Green  to  Trinity  Church.  In  1709  it  was  levelled  as 
far  as  Maiden  Lane.  In  that  year  a  slave-market  had  been  established 
on  the  site  of  the  old  block-house  at  the  foot  of  Wall  Street,  where 
most  of  the  shipping  was  moored.  Rigorous  municipal  laws  concerning 
the  slaves  were  strictly  administered,  which  caused  occasional  out- 
breaks. 

The  first  hospital  for  the  poor  had  been  established  in  1699,  and  in 
1705  the  first  grammar  school  in  New  York  had  been  authorized,  but 
was  not  established  for  some  time  because  a  competent  teacher  could 
not  be  found  in  the  city.  The  first  Presbyterian  church  built  in  the 
city  had  been  erected  in  1719,  on  Wall  Street  near  the  City  Hall  ;  and 
the  previous  year  the  first  ropewalk  in  New  York — the  beginning  of  a 
very  flourishing  industry — had  been  set  up  on  Broadway  between  Bar- 
clay Street  and  Park  Place. 

Public  matters  in  New  York  had  presented  no  phase  of  special 
importance  until  the  arrival  of  John  Montgomerie  as  governor  in  the 


20 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


spring  of  1728,  when  he  was  received  with  more  cordiality  and  granted 
more  favors  than  any  other  magistrate  since  Bellomont.  The  chief 
event  of  his  administration  was  the  granting  an  amended  charter  for 
the  city  in  1730.  The  first  charter  given  to  the  city  under  English 
rule  had  been  "-ranted  in  1686.  Others  have  been  granted  from  time 
to  time.  By  the  new  charter  the  limits  of  the  city  were  fixed  ;  the 
power  of  establishing  ierries,  and  the  possession  of  the  ferries,  market- 
houses,  docks,  etc.,  and  all  profits  arising  from  them,  were  granted  to 
the  city.  Provision  was  made  for  the  establishment  of  courts,  and  the 
privileges  and  duties  of  all  public  officers  were  defined.  The  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  city  was  fixed  to  begin  at  the  King's  Bridge,  near  the  upper 
extremity  of  the  island,  extending  to  Long  Island,  including  small 
islands  at  the  mouth  of  the  Harlem  River,  thence  on  that  side  of  the 
East  River  to  Red  Hook,  and  thence,  embracing  the  islands  in  the 
harbor,  up  the  Hudson  River  to  Spuyten  Duyvel  Creek  to  the  place  of 
beginning:. 

While  this  charter  gave  the  authorities  of  the  city  of  New  York 
jurisdiction  over  the  whole  of  Manhattan  Island  and  adjacent  islands, 
the  streets  of  the  city  were  laid  out  only  as  far  north  on  the  west  side  as 
Courtlandt  Street  on  the  border  of  the  King's  Farm,  and  on  the  east 
side  as  far  as  Frankfort  and  Cherry  Streets.  There  were  only  scat- 
tered houses  above  Maiden  Lane.  But  the  city  was  then  so  densely 
populated  below  Wall  Street  that  in  1720  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church, 
in  Garden  Street  below  Wall,  was  so  crowded  that  a  portion  of  the 
congregation  colonized  and  built  the  "  Middle  Dutch  Church,''  on  the 
corner  of  Nassau  and  Liberty  Streets,  used  (until  a  few  years  ago)  for 
the  city  Post-Office  for  many  years.  Wall  Street  had  been  so  named 
because  along  its  line,  from  river  to  river,  had  extended  the  palisades 
or  wooden  walls  of  the  city  of  New  Amsterdam. 

Pauperism  became  prevalent  and  troublesome  during  Montgomerie's 
administration,  and  measures  were  taken  for  providing  a  public  alms- 
house, which  should  also  be  a  workhouse.  One  was  erected  in  the  rear 
of  the  present  City  Hall  in  1734.  It  was  well  supplied  with  spinning- 
wheels  for  the  women  and  shoemakers'  tools  and  other  implements  of 
labor  for  the  men.    It  was  made  a  sort  of  self-sustaining  institution. 

Nothing  of  special  public  importance  occurred  in  the  city  of  New  York 
after  the  trial  of  Zenger  until  1741,  when  the  famous  "  Negro  Plot" 
produced  a  reign  of  terror  there  for  some  time.  A  similar  occurrence, 
but  of  smaller  proportions,  had  taken  place  in  1712,  when  the  popula- 
tion of  the  city  was  about  six  thousand,  composed  largely  of  slaves. 
There  was  a  suspicion  of  a  conspiracy  of  the  negroes  to  burn  the  city 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1880. 


and  destroy  the  inhabitants.  During  the  panic  that  prevailed  nineteen 
slaves  suspected  of  the  crime  perished. 

In  1741  a  suspected  negro  plot  to  destroy  the  city  and  its  inhabitants 
produced  great  disaster.  New  York  then  contained  about  ten  thousand 
inhabitants,  nearly  one  fifth  of  whom  were  negro  slaves.  The  city 
literally  swarmed  with  them.  There  were  growing  apprehensions 
among  the  people  of  a  servile  insurrection.  The  slave-market  was  at 
the  foot  of  Wall  Street  ;  the  calaboose  was  in  the  "  common"  or  City 
Hall  Park.  The  slaves  were  under  rigorous  discipline,  and  were  keenly 
watched  as  apprehensions  of  danger  from  them  increased. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1741  some  goods  and  silver  were  stolen  from  a 
merchant.  Suspicion  fell  upon  the  keeper  of  a  low  tavern  to  which 
negroes  and  thieves  resorted,  but  on  searching  the  police  found  noth- 
ing. A  maid-servant  of  the  publican  told  a  neighbor  that  the  goods 
were  there,  and  very  soon  she,  her  master,  and  his  family  were  brought 
before  the  court.  Then  the  servant  accused  a  negro  with  being  the 
thief  and  his  master  the  receiver  of  the  stolen  goods.  A  part  of  the 
property  was  found  under  his  master's  kitchen  floor  and  returned  to 
the  owner,  and  here  the  matter  rested  for  a  while. 

Two  or  three  weeks  later  the  governor's  house  in  the  fort  was  laid  in 
ashes.  Within  a  few  days  afterward  other  fires  in  different  parts  of 
the  city  occurred.  These  fires,  breaking  out  in  such  rapid  succession, 
alarmed  the  people,  and  a  rumor  that  the  negroes  had  plotted  to  burn 
the  city  took  wing  and  flew  to  every  dwelling  in  the  course  of  a  few 
hours.  For  several  days  the  slaves  had  been  suspected  of  meditating 
the  crime  ;  now  suspicion  was  changed  to  confirmation. 

It  was  now  noted  that  a  Spanish  vessel,  manned  in  part  by  negroes, 
had  recently  been  brought  into  port  as  a  prize,  and  the  black  men  had 
been  sold  at  auction  for  slaves.  They  were  naturally  exasperated  by 
this  inhuman  treatment,  and  had  let  fall  some  stifled  threats.  No  one 
now  doubted  that  these  desperate  fellows  were  leaders  in  tne  horrid 
plot.  There  was  a  general  cry  of  "  Arrest  the  Spanish  negroes  t" 
They  were  seized  and  cast  into  prison.  On  the  same  afternoon  the 
magistrates  met,  and  while  they  were  in  consultation  the  storehouse  of 
Colonel  Phillipse  was  discovered  to  be  on  fire.  Magistrates  and  people 
were  panic-stricken,  for  the  busy  tongue  of  rumor  positively  declared 
the  negroes  were  about  to  fire  the  city,  murder  the  inhabitants,  and 
possess  themselves  of  their  masters'  property.  Negroes  Were  seized 
indiscriminately,  and  very  soon  the  prisons  were  filled  with  them. 

The  Common  Council  offered  a  reward  of  one  hundred  pounds  and  a 
full  pardon  to  any  conspirator  who  should  reveal  the  plot  and  the 


22 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


mimes  of  the  incendiaries.  The  imprisoned  servant  of  the  tavern- 
keeper  spoken  of  took  advantage  of  this  offer  to  gain  her  liberty  and 
fill  her  purse,  and  told  a  most  ridiculous  story  of  negroes  whom  she 
named  bringing  stolen  goods  to  her  master,  and  talking  about  their 
design  to  burn  the  city  and  destroy  the  inhabitants,  and  the  riches  and 
power  they  would  possess  afterward.  The  excited  and  credulous  mag; 
istrates  received  this  absurd  story  as  truth,  and  persons  arrested  were 
induced  to  make  all  sorts  of  confessions  in  the  hope  of  averting  danger 
to  themselves.  There  was  a  reign  of  terror  throughout  the  city.  The 
victims  of  the  lying  servant's  pretended  revelations  were  imprisoned, 
tried,  condemned,  and  executed.  Among  these  were  her  master  and 
his  wife.  On  her  testimony  alone  many  negroes  were  from  time  to 
time  accused  and  imprisoned,  and  in  May  several  of  them  were  burned 
alive  in  a  green  vale  on  the  site  of  the  (present)  Five  Points.  In  June 
others  were  burned,  and  before  the  middle  of  August  one  hundred  and 
fifty-four  negroes  and  twenty-four  white  people  had  been  imprisoned. 
Of  these  four  white  persons  were  hanged  ;  fourteen  negroes  were 
burned  alive,  eighteen  were  hanged,  and  seventy-one  were  transported. 
The  last  victim  was  Ury,  a  schoolmaster,  who  was  accused  by  the  lying 
servant  (Mary  Burton)  of  being  concerned  in  the  plot.  He  was  sus- 
pected of  being  a  Roman  Catholic  priest.  The  bigoted  magistrates 
took  advantage  of  an  old  unrepealed  law  for  hanging  any  priest  who 
should  voluntarily  come  into  the  province,  and  Ury  was  doomed. 
They  seemed  to  be  hungry  for  his  life.  In  vain  he  offered  to  prove 
that  he  was  a  clergjnnan  of  the  Church  of  England.  Mary  Burton  was 
considered  infallible,  and  poor  Ury  was  hanged.  Then  the  "  state's 
witness"  became  bolder,  and  accused  "  persons  of  quality  ;"  and,  as  in 
the  case  of  "  Salem  witchcraft,"  when  leading  citizens,  who  had  been 
active  in  persecuting  the  poor  negroes,  were  implicated,  men  took  meas- 
ures to  end  the  tragedy — "  stop  the  delusion."  It  was  done,  and  the 
24th  of  September  was  set  apart  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving  for  the  great 
deliverance.  The  "  Kegro  Plot"  may  be  classed  among  the  foremost 
of  popular  delusions. 

It  was  at  about  this  time  that  a  few  men  Avho  played  important  parts 
in  the  social  and  political  drama  of  the  city  of  Xew  York  appeared 
conspicuous  upon  the  stage  —  Dr.  Cadwallader  Colden,  James  De 
Lancey,  Philip  Livingston,  Peter  Schuyler,  Abraham  De  Peyster, 
Frederick  Phillipse,  William  Smith  the  elder,  and  a  few  others.  Some 
of  these,  hke  Colden,  were  lovers  of  science  and  literature.  So 
absorbed  in  trade,  and  in  efforts  to  increase  the  wealth  and  material 
property  of  themselves  and  the  city  had  the  citizens  become,  that  edu- 


OUTLINE  HISTORY.  IG09-1830. 


23 


cation  was  neglected.  Some  of  these  gentlemen  clearly  perceived  the 
evils  to  be  feared  from  such  a  want,  and  set  about  supplying  it.  There 
were  then  but  few  collegians  in  the  province  ;  Messrs.  Smith  and  De 
Lancey  were  the  only  ones  in  the  legal  profession.  There  was  a  small 
public  library,  but  it  was  little  used.  The  chaplain  of  Lord  Bellomont 
(Rev.  John  Sharp)  had  presented  to  the  city  a  collection  of  books  in 
1700,  for  a  "  Corporation  Library,''  and  in  1720  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  added  to  these,  for  the 
same  purpose,  1022  volumes,  which  had  been  given  to  them  by  Rev. 
John  Millington,  of  England.  The  first  librarian  appointed  died  ;  the 
books  were  neglected,  and  their  very  existence  was  almost  forgotten 
until  1751:,  when  some  public-spirited  citizens  organized  and  founded 
the  "  Society  Library.?5  The  Common  Council  added  the  "  Corpora- 
tion Library'1  to  the  institution,  and  for  several  years  the  books  of  the 
Society  Library  were  kept  in  the  City  Hall. 

Meanwhile  £'2250  had  been  raised  by  lottery  for  the  foundation  of  a 
college.  This  sum  was  increased,  and  in  1754  King's  (now  Columbia) 
College  was  chartered.  Sectarianism  was  then  rampant  in  the  city, 
and  there  was  a  sharp  straggle  for  the  denominational  control  of  the 
institution  between  the  Episcopalians,  headed  by  James  De  Lancey,  and 
the  Presbyterians,  led  by  Philip  Livingston.  The  former  gained  the 
mastery. 

In  1752  the  first  merchants'  exchange  in  New  York  was  erected  at 
the  foot  of  Broad  Street.  Beekman  Sti*eet  was  opened  the  same  year, 
and  St.  George's  Chapel  was  erected  on  it  by  Trinity  Church  corpora- 
tion. 

This  period  in  the  history  of  the  city  of  New  York  is  particularly 
distinguished  for  political  and  theological  controversies.  The  lines  be- 
tween sects  in  religion  and  politics  were  sharply  drawn.  Bigotry  and 
intolerance  were  rampant.  The  Jews  had  been  allowed  to  establish  a 
cemetery  near  the  present  Chatham  Square,  east  side  ;  now  they  were 
disfranchised.  The  Moravians,  who  closely  resembled  the  Episco- 
palians in  the  form  of  their  liturgical  worship,  and  who  had  built  a. 
church  on  Fair  (now  Fulton)  Street  *  and  established  a  mission  in 
Duchess  County,  were  persecuted  as  Jesuits  in  disguise.  In  the  colonial 
assembly  political  controversies  became  bitter.  This  bitterness  was 
augmented  by  the  conduct  of  the  royal  governor.  Admiral  Sir  George 
Clinton,  who  speedily  made  himself  unpopular  with  the  leaders  of  all 

*  On  the  west  side  of  Broadway  it  was  called  Partition  Street,  the  partition  line 
between  the  King's  Farm  and  others. 


24 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


parties.  His  best  supporter  at  the  beginning  of  his  administration 
was  Chief-Justice  De  Lancey.  Clinton  soon  offended  him  and  allied 
himself  to  Dr.  Colden,*  who  was  then  a  power  in  the  province  ;  but 
De  Lancey,  who  was  more  prominent  socially  and  politically  than 
Colden,  made  war  upon  the  governor.  He  engendered  a  fierce  contest 
between  Clinton  and  the  assembly.  The  governor  soon  offended 
Colden,  who  joined  the  opposition.  At  length  the  admiral,  wearied 
with  the  contest  and  becoming  more  and  more  unpopular,  left  the  office, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Sir  Dan  vers  Osborne. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  his  council  Osborne  laid  his  instructions  before 
them,  when  they  said,  "  The  assembly  will  never  yield  obedience." 
"  Is  this  true  I"  he  asked  William  Smith.  "  Most  emphatically," 
replied  the  councillor.  "  Then  what  am  I  come  here  for  V  said 
Osborne  musingly.  The  next  morning  his  dead  body  was  found  sus- 
pended by  a  handkerchief  from  the  garden  wall  of  his  lodgings.  He 
had  destroyed  himself  in  despair.  James  De  Lancey, f  the  lieutenant- 
governor,  assumed  the  direction  of  public  affairs.  The  political  leaders 
had  zealous  partisans  among  the  citizens,  and  New  York  for  many 
years  was  a  seething  caldron  of  adverse  opinions. 

The  quarrel  of  De  Lancey  with  Clinton  %  had  caused  the  former  to 

*  Cadwallader  Colden  was  a  native  of  Scotland  ;  was  born  at  Dunse,  February  17, 
1088,  graduated  from  the  University  of  Edinburgh  in  1705,  and  in  1708  emigrated  to 
America,  and  died  at  his  country  seat  on  Long  Island,  September  28,  177G.  He  was 
a  physician  and  skilful  mathematician.  He  practised  medicine  in  Pennsylvania  a  few 
years,  and  went  to  England  in  1715.  The  next  year,  after  visiting  Scotland,  he  returned 
to  Pennsylvania,  but  at  the  request  of  Governor  Hunter  settled  in  New  York  in  1718, 
when  he  was  appointed  surveyor-general,  a  master  in  chancery,  and  in  1720  a  member 
of  the  King's  Council.  Obtaining  a  patent  for  lands  in  Orange  County,  he  settled  there. 
He  was  acting  governor  of  New  York  from  1700  until  his  death.  During  the  Stamp  Act 
excitement  in  New  York  in  1705,  the  populace  destroyed  his  carriage  and  burned  him  in 
effigy.  When  Governor  Tryon  returned  to  New  York  in  1775,  Colden  retired  to  Long 
Island.    He  wrote  a  history  of  the  Five  Nations  of  Indians. 

f  James  De  Lancey  was  born  in  New  York  in  1703,  the  son  of  a  Huguenot  emigrant 
from  Caen,  Normandy.  He  was  educated  at  Cambridge,  England,  and  returned  to 
America  in  1721),  soon  after  which  he  was  made  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New 
York.  In  1733  he  was  elevated  to  the  seat  of  chief  justice.  De  Lancey  was  acting  gov- 
ernor for  nearly  seven  years,  from  1753  to  1700.  He  was  an  astute  lawyer,  a  sagacious 
legislator,  a  skilful  intriguer,  and  a  demagogue  of  great  influence  and  political  strength. 
These  qualities  and  vast  estates  secured  to  him  triumphs  when  most  other  men  would 
have  failed. 

\  Admiral  George  Clinton  was  governor  of  New  York  for  ten  years  -1743 -1753.  He 
was  the  youngest  son  of  the  sixth  Earl  of  Lincoln,  and  was  appointed  commodore  and 
governor  of  Newfoundland  in  1732.  His  administration  in  New  York  was  a  stormy  one, 
for  he  did  not  possess  qualifications  for  the  position,  or  any  skill  in  civil  affairs.  He 
found  in  De  Lancey  a  most  annoying  opponent.    Colden  was  Clinton's  champion  on  all 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1830. 


25 


oppose  the  governor's  unpopular  schemes,  and  so  made  himself  a  favor- 
ite with  the  people.  The  representative  "  aristocrat"  became,  by  the 
legerdemain  of  party  politics,  the  representative  "  democrat"  of  the 
hour  ;  and  the  late  royalist  faction,  composed  of  the  wealthiest  and 
most  influential  citizens,  was  now  arrayed  on  the  side  of  the  people's 
rights.  13ut  De  Lancey  found  it  difficult  to  maintain  that  position  and 
render  obedience  to  royal  instructions.  He  was  soon  relieved  of  the 
embarrassment  by  the  arrival  of  Admiral  Hardy  as  governor,  when  De 
Lancey  resumed  his  seat  as  chief  justice.  He  soon  afterward  became 
acting  governor  again,  and  was  performing  its  duties  when,  on  the 
morning  of  July  30,  1760,  he  was  found  dying  in  his  study,  the  victim 
of  chronic  asthma. 

The  French  and  Indian  war  then  in  progress  had  taxed  the  patriot- 
ism and  the  resources  in  men  and  money  of  the  citizens  of  New  York. 
The  war  was  raging  on  the  northern  frontier  of  their  province,  and 
they  cheerfully  and  generously  responded  to  every  reasonable  call.  At 
the  same  time,  jealous  of  their  political  rights,  they  warmly  resented 
any  violation  of  them.  Lord  Loudoun,  the  commander  of  the  British 
forces  in  America,  sent  a  thousand  troops  to  the  city  of  New  York  with 
orders  for  the  authorities  to  billet  them  upon  the  inhabitants.  This 
was  an  infraction  of  their  rights.  The  city  authorities  quartered  the 
soldiers  in  the  barracks  on  Chambers  Street,  leaving  the  officers  to 
take  care  of  themselves.  The  angry  Loudoun  hastened  to  New  York 
and  commanded  the  authorities  to  find  free  quarters  for  the  officers, 
and  threatened  if  it  were  not  done  he  would  bring  all  the  soldiers  under 
his  command  and  billet  them  upon  the  inhabitants  himself.  The  gov- 
ernor was  disposed  to  comply,  but  the  indignant  people  refused,  and 
defied  the  general.  The  matter  was  finally  adjusted,  to  avert  serious 
trouble,  by  furnishing  free  quarters  to  the  officers  by  means  of  a  pri- 
vate subscription.  This  demand  was  afterward  several  times  repeated, 
and  was  one  of  the  principal  grievances  which  impelled  the  citizens  of 
New  York  to  armed  resistance  to  royal  authority. 

On  the  accession  of  George  III.  in  170<>,  followed  by  ministerial 
schemes  for  burdening  colonial  commerce  with  restrictions,  the  murmurs 
of  the  king's  subjects  in  America,  which  had  been  heard  in  almost  in- 
audible whispers  by  his  immediate  predecessors,  became  loud  and 
menacing.  As  occasions  for  complaint  multiplied,  the  colonists  showed 
symptoms  of  absolute  resistance  to  acts  of  Parliament,  and  in  this  none 


occasions.  Clinton  was  made  vice-admiral  of  the  rear  in  1745,  and  vice-admiral  of  the 
fleet  in  17-">7.    He  died  governor  of  Newfoundland  in  1761. 


26 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


were  more  prompt  and  defiant  than  the  citizens  of  New  York.  Unwise 
and  oppressive  navigation  laws  were  put  in  force,  and  these  weighed 
heavily  upon  New  York,  then  become  a  decidedly  commercial  city. 
These  laws  were  at  first  mildly  resisted.  The  collectors  of  customs 
finally  called  for  aid,  and  writs  of  assistance  were  issued,  by  which 
these  officers  or  their  deputies  might  enter  every  house  they  pleased, 
break  locks  and  bars  if  necessary  in  search  of  dutiable  goods,  and  in 
tins  way  become  the  violators  of  the  great  principles  of  Magna  Charta, 
which  made  every  Englishman's  house  his  "castle."  These  writs 
were  denounced  everywhere,  and  were  followed  soon  afterward  by  the 
famous  and  obnoxious  Stamp  Act,  which  required  every  piece  of  paper, 
parchment,  or  vellum  containing  a  legal  document,  such  as  a  promis- 
sory note  or  a  marriage  certificate,  to  have  a  stamp  affixed  upon  it,  for 
which  a  specified  sum  was  to  be  paid  to  the  government  of  Great 
Britain. 

This  indirect  system  of  taxation  was  very  offensive,  and  the  scheme 
was  stoutly  opposed  everywhere  on  the  continent,  but  nowhere  with 
more  firmness  than  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Dr.  Golden,  then  nearly 
eighty  years  of  age,  was  acting  governor  of  the  province,  and  duty  to 
his  sovereign  and  his  own  political  convictions  compelled  him  to  oppose 
the  popular  movements  around  him.  When,  late  in  Gctober  (1765), 
stamps  arrived  at  New  York  consigned  to  a  u  stamp  distributor,"  the 
"  Sons  of  Liberty,"  recently  reorganized,  demanded  that  agent's  resig- 
nation ;  Colden  upheld  and  protected  him,  and  had  the  stamps  placed 
m  the  fort.    This  covert  menace  exasperated  the  people. 

Though  British  ships  of  war  riding  in  the  harbor,  as  well  as  the  fort, 
had  their  great  guns  trained  upon  the  city,  the  patriots  were  not  dis- 
mayed, and  appearing  in  considerable  number  before  the  governor's 
house  at  the  fort,  demanded  the  stamps.  The  demand  was  refused, 
and  very  soon  the  large  group  of  orderly  citizens  was  swelled  into  a 
roaring  mob.  They  bore  to  The  Fields  (the  City  Hall  Park)  an  effigy 
of  the  governor,  which  they  burned  on  the  spot  where  Leisler  was 
hanged  three  fourths  of  a  century  before  because  he  was  a  republican. 
Then  they  hastened  back  to  the  foot  of  Broadway,  tore  up  the  wooden 
railing  around  the  Bowling  Green,  piled  it  up  in  front  of  the  fort, 
dragged  the  governor's  coach  out  and  cast  it  upon  the  heap,  and  made 
a  huge  bonfire  of  the  whole.  After  committing  other  excesses,  and 
parading  the  streets  with  a  banner  inscribed  "England's  Folly  and 
America's  Ruin,"  they  dispersed  to  their  homes. 

Earlier  in  the  same  month  a  colonial  convention  known  as  the 
"  Stamp  Act  Congress"  assembled  in  New  York,  discussed  the  rights 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1830. 


27 


of  the  colonists,  and  adopted  a  Declaration  of  Rights,  a  Petition  to  the 
King,  and  a  Memorial  to  both  Houses  of  Parliament.  Already  the 
idea  of  union  had  been  suggested  by  a  newspaper  called  the  Constitu- 
tional Courcmt,  bearing  the  device  of  a  snake  separated  into  several 
parts,  each  with  an  initial  of  a  colony,  and  bearing  the  injunction,  Join 
ok  Die  !  Only  one  issue  of  the  Courcmt  was  made,  but  its  suggestion 
was  potent.  The  idea  of  the  device  was  like  an  electric  spark  that 
kindled  a  flame  which  was  never  quenched.  The  merchants  of  New 
York  immediately  "joined"  in  creating  a  Committee  of  Correspond- 
ence instructed  to  solicit  the  merchants  of  other  cities  to  join  with  them 
in  a  solemn  agreement  not  to  import  any  more  goods  from  Great  Britain 
until  the  Stamp  Act  should  be  repealed.  There  was  general  acquies- 
cence. This  measure  produced  a  powerful  impression  upon  the  com- 
mercial interests  of  Great  Britain.  The  people  at  the  centres  of  trade 
there  clamored  for  a  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  act,  and  in  the  course 
of  three  months  this  much-desired  measure  was  effected.  Then  the 
citizens  of  New  York,  in  the  plenitude  of  their  gratitude  and  joy, 
caused  a  leaden  equestrian  statue  of  the  king  to  be  erected  in  the  centre 
of  the  Bowling  Green,  and  a  marble  one  to  Pitt  (who  had  effected  the 
repeal)  in  the  attitude  of  an  orator,  at  the  junction  of  Wall  and  William 
Streets. 

To  New  York  merchants  is  due  the  honor  of  having  invented  those 
two  powerful  engines  of  resistance  to  the  obnoxious  acts  of  the  British 
Parliament,  and  with  so  much  potency  at  the  beginning  of  the  old  war 
for  independence — namely,  the  Committee  of  Correspondence  and  the 
No7i-im portation  Leay  ue. 


CHAPTER  III. 


IROM  the  period  of  the  Stamp  Act  until  the  beginning  of  the  old 


-L  war  for  independence,  in  1775,  the  merchants  of  New  York  bore 
a  conspicuous  part  in  political  events  tending  toward  independence. 
They  were  leading  "  Sons  of  Liberty."  For  a  while  the  liberal  char- 
acter of  the  administration  of  the  new  governor,  Sir  Henry  Moore,* 
allayed  excitements  and  animosities  ;  but  the  stubborn  king  and  stupid 
ministry,  utterly  unable  to  comprehend  the  character  of  the  American 
people  and  the  loftiness  of  the  principles  which  animated  them,  con- 
tinued to  vex  them  with  obnoxious  schemes  of  taxation,  and  kept  them 
in  a  state  of  constant  irritation. 

Before  the  echoes  of  the  repeal  rejoicings  had  died  away,  troops 
were  sent  to  New  York,  and  under  the  provisions  of  the  Mutiny  Act 
they  were  to  be  quartered  at  the  partial  expense  of  the  province.  They 
were  sent  as  a  menace  and  as  a  check  to  the  growth  of  republican  ideas 
among  the  people  there.  Led  by  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  the  inhabitants 
resolved  to  resist  the  measure  for  their  enslavement.  The  Provincial 
Assembly  steadily  refused  compliance  with  the  terms  of  the  Mutiny 
Act,  and  early  in  1707  Parliament  passed  an  act  prohibiting  the  gov- 
ernor and  Legislature  of  New  York  passing  any  bill  for  any  purpose 
whatever.  The  assembly  partially  yielded,  but  a  new  assembly,  con- 
vened early  in  1708,  stoutly  held  an  attitude  of  defiance,  and  the  colony 
was  made  to  feel  the  royal  displeasure.  But  the  assembly  remained 
faithful  to  the  cause  of  liberty  down  to  the  death  of  Governor  Moore, 
in  1709.  Then  Dr.  Colden  again  became  acting  governor,  and  an  un- 
natural  coalition  was  formed  between  him  and  James  De  Lancey,  son  of 
Peter  De  Lancey,  who  was  a  leader  of  the  aristocracy  in  the  assembly. 

Meanwhile  the  city  had  been  almost  continually  disquieted  by  the 
insolent  bearing  and  outrageous  conduct  of  the  troops,  who  were 

*  Sir  Henry  Moore  was  a  native  of  Jamaica,  W.  I.,  where  he  was  horn  in  1713.  He 
became  governor  of  his  native  island  in  175G,  and  was  created  a  baronet  as  a  reward  for 
his  services  in  suppressing  a  slave  insurrection  there.  From  1764  until  his  death,  in 
September,  1769,  he  was  governor  of  New  York.  He  arrived  in  New  York  in  the  midst 
of  the  Stamp  Act  excitement  in  1765,  and  acted  very  judiciously. 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1G09-1830. 


29 


encouraged  by  their  officers.  On  the  king's  birthday,  in  176G,  the 
citizens,  grateful  for  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  celebrated  it  with 
great  rejoicing.  On  that  occasion  they  erected  a  flagstaff  which  bore 
the  words  "  The  King,  Pitt,  and  Liberty."  They  called  it  a  Liberty 
Pole,  and  it  became  the  rallying-place  for  the  Sons  of  Liberty.  This 
New  York  idea  became  popular,  and  liberty  poles  soon  arose  in  other 
provinces  as  rallying-places  for  political  gatherings  of  the  patriots. 
"When  the  soldiers  came  to  New  York  this  pole  became  an  object  of 
their  dislike,  and  they  cut  it  down.  "When,  the  next  day,  the  citizens 
were  preparing  to  set  up  another,  they  were  attacked  by  the  troops,  and 
two  of  the  leading  Sons  of  Liberty  were  wounded.  But  the  pole  was 
set  up.  It,  too,  was  soon  prostrated,  and  a  third  pole  was  raised,  when 
Governor  Moore  forbade  the  soldiers  to  touch  it. 

The  next  spring  the  citizens  of  New  York  celebrated  the  first  anni- 
versary of  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  around  the  liberty  pole.  That 
night  the  soldiers  cut  it  down.  Another  was  set  up  the  next  day,  pro- 
tected from  the  axe  by  iron  bands.  An  unsuccessful  attempt  to  cut  it 
down,  and  also  to  prostrate  it  with  gunpowder,  were  made.  The  Sons 
of  Liberty  set  a  guard  to  watch  it,  and  Governor  Moore  again  forbade 
interference  with  it.  That  liberty  pole  stood  in  proud  defiance  until 
January,  1770,  when,  at  midnight,  soldiers  issued  from  the  barracks  on 
Chambers  Street,  prostrated  it,  sawed  it  in  pieces,  and  piled  them  up 
in  front  of  the  headquarters  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty.  The  bell  of  St. 
George's  chapel  was  rung,  and  the  next  morning  three  thousand  indig- 
nant people  stood  around  the  mutilated  liberty  pole,  and  by  resolutions 
declared  their  rights  and  their  determination  to  maintain  them.  The 
city  was  fearfully  excited  for  three  days.  In  frequent  affrays  with  the 
citizens  the  soldiers  were  generally  worsted,  and  in  a  severe  conflict  on 
Golden  Hill,  an  eminence  near  Burling  Slip  at  Cliff  and  Fulton  Streets, 
several  of  the  soldiers  were  disarmed.  "When  quiet  was  restored 
another  liberty  pole  was  erected  on  private  ground,  on  Broadway  near 
"Wall  Street.  This  fifth  flagstaff  remained  undisturbed  until  the  Brit- 
ish took  possession  of  the  city  in  1770,  when  it  was  hewn  down  by 
Cunningham,  the  notorious  provost  marshal.  That  fight  on  Golden 
Hill  in  the  city  of  New  York  between  its  citizens  and  royal  troops  was 
the  first  battle  of  the  Revolution.  The  last  battle  of  that  war  was 
fought  there  between  Cunningham  anil  Mrs.  Day,  at  the  foot  of  Murray 
Street. 

With  the  coalition  between  Colden  and  De  Lancey  a  gradual  change 
in  the  political  complexion  of  the  Provincial  Assembly  was  apparent. 
The  leaven  of  aristocracy  had  begun  a  transformation.    A  game  for 


30 


HISTOKY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


political  power,  bused  upon  proposed  financial  schemes,  was  begun.  A 
grant  for  the  support  of  the  troops  was  also  made.  These  things  men- 
aced the  liberties  of  the  people.  The  popular  leaders  sounded  the 
alarm.  Among  the  most  active  at  that  time  were  Isaac  Sears,  John 
Lamb,*  Alexander  McDougall, f  and  John  Morin  Scott  \ — names 
which  will  be  ever  associated  as  efficient  and  fearless  champions  of 
liberty  in  the  city  of  New  York  when  the  tempest  of  the  Revolution 
was  impending. 

In  December,  1TG9,  a  handbill  signed  "  A  Son  of  Liberty"  was 
posted  throughout  the  city  calling  a  meeting  of  "  the  betrayed  inhabi- 
tants" in  the  Fields.  It  denounced  the  inone}r  scheme  and  the  assem- 
bly, and  pointed  to  the  coalition  as  an  omen  of  danger  to  the  State. 
The  call  was  heeded,  and  the  next  day  a  large  concourse  of  citizens 
assembled  around  the  Liberty  Pole,  where  they  were  harangued  by 
John  Lamb,  one  of  the  most  ardent  patriots  of  New  York.    By  unani- 

*  John  Lamb  was  bom  in  New  York  on  January  1,  1735,  and  died  there  May  31, 
1800.  He  was  at  first  an  optician,  but  in  1700  he  engaged  in  the  liquor  trade.  In  the 
ten  years'  quarrel  between  the  American  colonists  and  the  British  ministry,  Lamb  was 
an  earnest  and  active  patriot.  He  accompanied  Montgomery  to  Quebec  in  1775,  where 
he  was  wounded  and  made  prisoner.  He  was  then  a  captain  of  artillery.  Exchanged 
the  next  summer,  he  returned  to  New  York,  was  promoted  to  major,  and  attached  to  tho 
regiment  of  artillery  under  General  Knox.  From  the  expedition  to  Quebec  at  the  begin. 
Ding  of  the  war  to  the  siege  of  Yorktown  at  the  end  of  it,  Lamb  was  a  gallant  and  most 
useful  officer.  He  became  a  member  of  the  New  York  Assembly.  He  was  appointed 
collector  of  customs  at  the  port  of  New  York  by  President  Washington,  which  office  he 
held  until  his  death. 

f  Alexander  McDougall  was  born  in  Scotland  in  1731  ;  died  in  New  York  June  8, 
178G.  He  came  to  New  York  about  1755,  and  was  a  printer  and  seaman  when  the 
quarrel  between  Great  Britain  and  her  American  colonies  was  progressing.  He  issued 
an  inflammatory  address  in  1700,  concerning  the  action  of  the  Provincial  Assembly, 
headed  "  To  the  Betrayed  Inhabitants  of  the  Colony,"  and  signed  "  A  Son  of  Liberty." 
This,  the  assembly  declared,  was  an  infamous  and  seditious  libel.  McDougall  was 
put  in  prison,  and  was  there  visited  and  regaled  by  patriotic  men  and  women.  He  was 
finally  released,  and  became  one  of  the  leading  men  in  civil  and  military  life  throughout 
the  war  for  independence.  He  entered  the  army  as  colonel,  and  was  a  major-general  in 
1777.  A  delegate  in  Congress  in  1781,  he  was  soon  appointed  "  Minister  of  Marine" 
(Secretary  of  the  Navy),  but  did  not  hold  the  office  long.  He  returned  to  the  army. 
He  was  chosen  a  senator  of  the  State  of  New  York  in  1783,  and  held  that  position  at  the 
time  of  his  death. 

\  John  Morin  Scott  was  born  in  New  York  in  1730  :  died  there  September  14,  1784. 
He  was  a  graduate  of  Yalo  College,  became  a  lawyer,  and  holding  a  forcible  pen,  he 
joined  William  Livingston  in  writing  against  ministerial  measures  for  years  before  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war  for  independence.  He  was  a  most  active  and  influential  member 
of  the  Provincial  Congress  of  New  Y'ork,  and  of  committees.  In  177G  he  was  made  a 
brigadier-general,  and  fought  in  the  battle  of  Long  Island.  In  1777  he  was  chosen  State 
senator  ;  was  Secretary  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  was  a  member  of  Congress  1780-83. 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1009-1830. 


31 


mous  vote  the  proceedings  of  the  assembly  were  disapproved.  A  com- 
mittee presented  the  proceedings  of  the  meeting  to  the  assembly,  and 
were  courteously  received.  Another  handbill  from  the  same  hand, 
signed  "  Legion,"  appeared  the  next  day,  in  which  the  action  of  the 
assembly  was  denounced  as  "  base  and  inglorious,"  and  charged  that 
body  with  a  betrayal  of  their  trust.  This  second  attack  was  pro- 
nounced a  libel  by  the  assembly,  only  the  stanch  patriot  Philip  Schuy- 
ler voting  No.  They  offered  a  reward  for  the  discovery  of  the  writer. 
The  printer  of  the  handbills,  menaced  with  punishment,  told  them  it 
was  Alexander  McDongall,  a  seaman,  who  was  afterward  a  conspicuous 
olKcer  in  the  Continental  army.  He  was  arrested,  and  refusing  to 
plead  or  give  bail,  was  imprisoned  many  weeks  before  he  was  brought 
to  trial.  Regarded  as  a  martyr  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  his  prison  was 
the  scene  of  daily  public  receptions.  Some  of  the  most  reputable  of 
the  citizens  sympathizing  with  him  frequently  visited  him.  Being  a 
sailor,  he  was  regarded  as  the  true  type  of  "  imprisoned  commerce." 
On  the  anniversary  of  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  his  health  was  drank 
with  honors  at  a  banquet,  and  the  meeting  in  procession  visited  him  in 
his  prison.  Ladies  of  distinction  daily  thronged  there.  Popular  songs 
were  written,  and  sung  under  his  prison  bars,  and  emblematic  swords 
were  worn.  His  words  when  ordered  to  prison  were,  "  I  rejoice  that  I 
am  the  first  to  suffer  for  libertv  since  the  commencement  of  our  glorious 
struggle."  He  was  finally  released  on  bail,  and  the  matter  was  wisely 
dropped  by  the  prosecutors.  McDougall  was  a  true  type  of  what  is 
generally  known  as  the  "  common  people" — the  great  mass  of  citizens 
who  carry  on  the  chief  industries  of  a  country — its  agriculture,  com- 
merce, manufactures,  and  arts — and  create  its  wealth. 

Comparative  quiet  prevailed  in  New  York  from  the  time  of  the 
McDougall  excitement  until  the  arrival  of  the  news  of  Lord  North's 
famous  Tea  Act,  which  set  the  colonies  in  a  blaze.  The  people  every- 
where resolved  to  oppose,  and  not  allow  a  cargo  of  tea  to  be  landed 
anywhere.  The  earliest  public  meeting  to  consider  the  reception  that 
should  be  given  to  the  tea-ships,  which  had  actually  sailed  for  America, 
was  held  in  the  city  of  New  York  on  the  15th  of  October,  1773.  Inti- 
mations had  reached  the  city  on  the  11th  that  a  tea-ship  had  been 
ordered  to  that  port  ;  and  at  the  meeting  held  at  the  Coffee-House  in 
Wall  Street,  grateful  thanks  were  voted  to  the  patriotic  American 
merchants  and  shipmasters  in  London  who  had  refused  to  receive  tea  as 
freight  from  the  East  India  Company. 

When  the  tea-ship \Ncmcy)  arrived  at  Sandy  Hook  (April  IS,  1774) 
the  captain  was  informed  by  a  pilot  of  the  drift  of  public  sentiment  in 


32 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


New  York,  and  he  wisely  went  up  to  the  city  without  his  vessel.  lie 
found  that  sentiment  so  strong  against  allowing  him  to  land  his  cargo 
that  he  resolved  to  return  to  England  with  it.  While  he  was  in  the 
city  a  merchant  vessel  arrived  with  eighteen  chests  of  tea  hidden  in  her 
cargo.  The  vigilant  Sons  of  Liberty  discovered  them  and  cast  their 
contents  into  the  waters  of  the  harbor,  and  advised  the  captain  of  the 
vessel  to  leave  the  city  as  soon  as  possible.  As  he  and  the  commander 
of  the  Saucy  put  off  in  a  small  boat  at  the  foot  of  Broad  Street  for 
their  respective  vessels,  ;i  multitude  on  shore  shouted  a  farewell,  while 
the  thunders  of  Qannon  fired  in  the  Fields  shook  the  city,  and  the 
people  hoisted  a  Hag  on  the  Liberty  Pole  in  token  of  triumph.  This 
Xew  York  Tea  Party  occurred  several  months  after  the  famous  Boston 
Tea  Party. 

At  this  juncture  the  state  of  political  society  in  Xew  York  was  pecul- 
iar. Social  differences  had  produced  two  quite  distinct  parties  among 
professed  republicans,  which  were  designated  respectively  Patrician* 
and  Tribunes  ;  the  former  were  composed  of  the  merchants  and  gentry, 
and  the  latter  mostly  of  mechanics.  The  latter  were  radicals,  and  the 
former  joined  with  the  Loyalists  in  attempts  to  check  the  influence  of 
the  zealous  democrats.  Most  of  the, influential  merchants  were  with 
these  Conservatives,  and  were,  as  usual,  averse  to  commotions  which 
disturb  trade.  They  hesitated  to  enter  into  another  non-importation 
league.  They  held  a  public  meeting,  and  appointed  a  Committee  of 
Fifty-one  as  "representatives  of  public  sentiment  in  Xew  York." 
They  publicly  repudiated  a  strong  letter  which  the  radicals  had  sent  to 
their  brethren  in  Boston  ;  and  while  the  people  of  other  colonies 
approved  non-intercourse,  Xew  York,  as  represented  by  this  Grand 
Committee,  stood  alone  in  opposition  to  a  stringent  non-intercourse 
league.  The  Loyalists  rejoiced,  and  a  writer  in  Rivington's  Gazette 
exclaimed  with  exultation  : 

"  And  so,  my  good  masters,  I  find  it  no  joke, 
For  York  lias  stepped  forward  and  thrown  off  the  yoke 
Of  Congress,  Committees,  and  even  King  Sears, 
Who  shows  you  good  nature  by  showing  his  ears." 

The  "  Committee  of  Yigilance"  appointed  by  the  Radicals  disre- 
garded the  action  of  the  Grand  Committee.  They  called  a  mass- 
meeting  of  the  citizens  in  the  Fields  on  the  10th  of  June,  1774.  That 
meeting  denounced  the  lukewarmness  of  the  Committee  of  Fifty-one, 
and  resolved  to  support  the  Bostonians  in  their  struggle.  The  port  of 
the  latter  had  been  closed  to  commerce  by  a  royal  order.    It  was  an  insult 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1000-18:50. 


33 


and  an  injury  to  the  whole  continent,  and  ought  to  be  resented  by  the 
whole.  Another  meeting-  was  called  in  the  Fields  at  six  o'clock  in  the 
evening  of  the  6th  of  July,  "  to  hear  matters  of  the  utmost  importance 
to  the  reputation  of  the  people  and  their  security  as  freemen."  It  was 
an  immense  gathering,  and  was  ever  afterward  known  as  The  Great 
Meeting  in  the  Field*.  A  strong  resolution  in  favor  of  non-importation 
was  adopted,  and  other  patriotic  measures  were  approved.  In  the 
crowd  was  a  lad,  seventeen  years  of  age,  delicate  and  girl-like  in  per- 
sonal grace  and  stature.  Some  who  knew  him  as  a  student  at  King's 
(now  Colombia)  College,  of  much  intellectual  vigor,  urged  him  to  make 
a  speech.  After  much  persuasion  he  complied.  With  rare  eloquence 
and  logic  he  discussed  the  principles  involved  in  the  controversy,  de- 
picted the  sufferings  Americans  were  enduring  from  the  oppression  of 
the  mother  country,  and  pointed  to  the  means  which  might  secure 
redress.  All  listened  in  wonder  to  the  words  of  widsom  from  the  lips 
of  the  youth,  and  when  he  ceased  speaking  there  was  a  whispered 
murmur  in  the  crowd,  "It  is  a  collegian  !  it  is  a  collegian  !"  That 
young  orator  was  Alexander  Hamilton. 

Preparations  were  now  on  foot  for  a  general  council  of  the  English- 
American  colonies.  The  citizens  of  New  York  took  the  first  step  in 
that  direction.  The  Sons  of  Liberty,  whom  the  Loyalists  called  "  The 
Presbyterian  Jesuits,"  moved  by  the  injustice  and  menaces  of  the  Boston 
Port  Bill,  proposed,  in  May,  1774,  by  their  representative  committee,  a 
General  Congress  of  delegates.  They  sent  this  proposition  to  Boston, 
urging  the  patriots  there  to  second  the  proposal.  They  also  sent  the 
same  to  the  Philadelphia  committee,  and  through  them  to  the  southern 
colonies.  There  was  general  acquiescence,  and  early  in  September 
delegates  from  twelve  of  the  colonies  met  in  Philadelphia  and  formed 
the  First  Continental  Congress. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  world's  history.  The 
tempest  of  revolution  which  the  British  king,  lords  and  commons  had 
engendered  was  about  to  sweep  over  the  English-American  colonies, 
and  by  its  energy  dismember  the  British  Empire  and  create  a  new 
power  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  In  the  preliminary  events 
which  ushered  in  that  era  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  New  York  had 
home  a  conspicuous  part.  They  had  first  planted  the  seeds  of 
democracy  in  America,  first  vindicated  the  freedom  of  the  press,  and 
first  suggested  the  use  of  three  great  forces  which  led  in  the  successful 

DO  o 

struggle  for  the  independence  of  the  American  people — namely,  Com- 
mittees of  Correspondence,  Non-importation  Leagues,  and  a  General 
Congress  which,  foreshadowed  a  permanent  union.    In  that  Congress 


34 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


the  city  of  New  York  was  represented  by  James  Duane,*  John  Jay, 
Philip  Livingston,  and  Isaac  Low — men  who  took  an  important  part  in 
its  deliberations.  One  of  them  (John  Jay),  then  only  twenty -nine  years 
of  age,  wrote  the  able  Address  to  the  People  of  Great  Britain,  adopted 
by  the  Congress,  and  formed  one  of  those  admirable  state  papers  put 
forth  by  that  body,  concerning  which  William  Pitt  said  in  the  British 
Parliament  :  ik  I  must  declare  and  avow  that  in  all  my  reading  and  study 
of  history  (and  it  has  been  my  favorite  study — I  have  read  Thucydides, 
and  have  studied  and  admired  the  master  states  of  the  world) — that  for 
solidity  of  reasoning,  force  of  sagacity,  and  wisdom  of  conclusion, 
under  such  a  complication  of  circumstances,  no  nation  or  body  of  men 
can  stand  in  preference  to  the  General  Congress  at  Philadelphia." 

At  that  time  the  city  of  New  York  contained  a  population  of  about 
twenty-two  thousand.  The  city  had  expanded  northward  on  the 
narrow  island.  Streets  were  opened  on  the  west  side  of  Broadway  as 
far  as  Reade  Street,  at  which  point  had  just  been  erected  the  New 
York  Hospital  It  was  so  far  out  of  town  that  nobody  dreamed  the 
little  city  would  extend  so  far  inland  within  a  hundred  years.  Up  the 
Bowery  Lane  (now  the  Bowery),  then  running  through  the  open  country 
to  Stuyvesant's  country  seat,  the  streets  were  laid  out  as  far  as  Hester 
Street,  and  up  Division  Street,  then  also  a  country  road,  as  far  as 
( )rchard  Street. 

There  were  three  newspapers  published  in  the  city  at  that  time — 
Hugh  Game's  New  York  Mercury,  John  Holt's  X<m  York  Journal, 
and  James  Rivington's  New  York.  Gazette.  The  two  former  were  in 
sympathy  with  the  patriots  ;  the  latter  favored  the  royal  side  in 
political  discussions.  The  .Journal  was  the  successor  of  Zenger's  Jour- 
nal, revived  by  Holt  in  17<>7.  When  the  war  for  independence  broke 
out,  and  the  British  took  possession  of  the  city,  Gaine  and  Holt  fled, 
the  first  to  New  Jersey,  the  second  up  the  Hudson  River  to  Kingston, 
and  resumed  the  publication  of  their  respective  papers  at  the  places  of 

*  James  Duane  was  liorn  in  the  city  of  Xew  York,  February  6,  1733  ;  died  in  Duanes- 
burg,  N.  Y.,  February  1,  1797.  He  began  a  settlement  in  1765  on  the  site  of  Duanes- 
burg,  a  part  of  a  large  estate  which  he  inherited.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Colonel 
Robert  Livingston  of  the  "  manor."  An  active  patriot,  he  was  chosen  a  delegate  to  the 
first  Continental  Congress  in  1774  ;  was  a  member  of  the  New  York  Provincial  Conven- 
tion, and  was  on  the  committee  that  drafted  the  first  Constitution  of  the  State  of  New 
York.  After  the  British  evacuation  in  1783  he  returned  to  the  city  of  New  York,  and  was 
elected  the  first  mayor  under  the  new  Constitution.  In  1783-84  he  was  a  member  of  the 
council  and  State  Senator,  and  was  also  a  member  of  the  convention  of  the  State  of  New 
York  which  adopted  the  National  Constitution.  Mr.  Duane  was  United  States  District 
Judge  from  1789  to  1794. 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1830. 


35 


their  exile.  At  that  time  John  Anderson,  a  Scotchman,  was  publish- 
ing a  small  "Whig  newspaper  entitled  the  Constitutional  Gazette.  He 
fled  to  Connecticut.  Rivington,  who  had  become  zealous  in  the  cause 
of  the  crown,  remained.  His  vigorous,  sharp,  and  witty  thrusts  at  the 
patriotic  party  so  irritated  the  Sons  of  Liberty  that  Isaac  Seal's,*  in 
the  fall  of  1775,  at  the  head  of  a  hundred  light-horsemen  from  Con- 
necticut, went  to  the  city  at  noonday,  entered  Rivington's  printing 
establishment  at  the  foot  of  "Wall  Street,  destroyed  his  press,  and  put- 
ting his  type  into  bags  carried  them  away  and  made  bullets  of  them. 

The  First  Continental 'Congress  took  a  strong  position  in  opposition 
to  the  obnoxious  measures  of  the  British  Government.  They  adopted 
a  general  non-importation  league  under  the  name  of  "  The  American 
Association."  They  denounced  the  slave  trade,  put  forth  some  able 
state  papers,  above  mentioned,  and  sent  a  copy  of  their  proceedings  to 
Dr.  Franklin,  then  in  England.  Vigilance  committees  were  appointed 
to  see  that  the  provisions  of  the  association  were  not  evaded.  The 
Congress  adjourned  to  meet  again  the  following  May,  if  public  necessity 
should  require  them  to  do  so. 

The  patriotic  party  in  the  New  York  Assembly  tried  in  vain  to  have 
that  body  officially  sanction  the  proceedings  of  the  Continental  Con- 
gress. The  leaven  of  loyalty  was  at  work  in  that  body,  and  there  was 
much  timidity  exhibited  as  the  great  crisis  approached.  Conservatism 
was  too  strong  for  the  patriots  in  that  body  to  effect  more  than  the 
adoption  of  a  remonstrance,  but  it  was  so  bold  in  its  utterances  that 
Parliament  refused  to  accept  it. 

"When  the  assembly  adjourned  in  April,  1775,  it  was  final.  It  never 
met  again.  The  people  in  the  city  took  public  matters  into  their  own 
hands.    They  had  appointed  a  committee  of  sixty  to  enforce  the  regu- 

*  Isaac  Sears  was  born  at  Norwalk,  Conn.,  in  1729;  died  in  Canton,  China,  October 
28,  178G.  He  was  one  of  the  most  zealous  and  active  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty  in  New 
York,  when  the  war  for  independence  was  a-kindling.  When  political  matters  arrested 
his  attention,  Sears  was  a  successful  merchant  in  New  York,  carrying  on  trade  with 
Europe  and  the  AVest  Indies.  Previous  to  engaging  in  trade  he  commanded  a  privateer. 
He  lost  his  vessel  in  1761,  and  then  settled  in  New  York.  In  the  Stamp  Act  excitement 
he  became  a  leader  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  and  so  bold  and  active  did  he  become  that 
he  received  the  name  of  "King  Sears."  The  Tories  and  the  Tory  newspaper  (Riving- 
ton's) maligned,  ridiculed,  and  caricatured  him  without  stint.  Sears  retaliated  on 
Rivington.  One  day  in  November,  1775,  he  entered  the  city  at  the  head  of  a  troop  of 
Connecticut  horsemen,  and  in  open  day  destroyed  Rivington's  printing  establishment. 
He  became  General  Charles  Lee's  adjutant  in  1776,  but  did  not  remain  long  in  the  mili- 
tary service.  When  the  war  was  ended  his  business  and  fortune  were  gone,  and  in  1785 
he  sailed  for  Canton  as  a  supercargo.  He  sickened  on  the  passage,  and  died  soon  after 
his  arrival  in  China. 


36 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


lations  of  the  association.  The  assembly  having  refused  to  make 
provision  for  the  appointment  of  delegates  to  the  Second  Continental 
Congress,  it  was  determined  to  organize  a  Provincial  Congress.  Dele- 
gates from  the  several  counties  met  in  New  York  on  the  2<»th  of  April 
and  appointed  delegates  to  the  Congress  —  namely,  Philip  Livingston, 
James  Duane,  John  Alsop,  John  Jay,  Simon  Boerum,  William  Floyd, 
Henry  Wisner,  Philip  Schuyler,  George  Clinton,  Lewis  Morris,  Francis 
Lewis,  and  Robert  R.  Livingston. 

When  news  of  the  conflicts  at  Lexington  and  Concord  reached  New 
York,  five  days  after  their  occurrence,  the  citizens  were  greatly  excited. 
All  business  was  suspended.  The  Sons  of  Liberty,  who  had  gathered 
arms,  distributed  them  among  the  people,  and  a  party  formed  them- 
selves into  a  revolutionary  corps  under  Captain  Samuel  Broome,  and 
assumed  temporarily  the  functions  of  the  municipal  government,  for  it 
was  known  that  the  mayor  was  a  loyalist.  They  obtained  the  keys  of 
the  Custom-IIouse,  closed  it,  and  laid  an  embargo  upon  every  vessel  in 
port,  This  done,  they  proceeded  to  organize  a  provisional  government 
for  the  city,  and  on  the  Mi  of  May  the  people  assembled  at  the  Coffee- 
Ilouse,  chose  one  hundred  of  their  fellow-citizens  for  the  purpose, 
invested  them  with  the  charge  of  municipal  affairs,  and  pledged  them- 
selves to  obey  the  orders  of  the  committee.  It  was  composed  of  the 
following  substantial  citizens  : 

Isaac  Low,  chairman  ;  John  Jay,  Francis  Lewis,  John  Alsop,  Philip 
Livingston,  James  Duane,  Evert  Duyckman,  AVilliam  Seton,  William 
W.  Ludlow,  Cornelius  Clopper,  Abraham  Brinkerhoff,  Henry  Remsen, 
Robert  Ray,  Evert  Bancker,  Joseph  Totten,  Abraham  P.  Lott,  David 
Beekman,  Isaac  Roosevelt,  Gabriel  II.  Ludlow,  AVilliam  AValton,  Daniel 
Phoenix,  Frederick  Jay,  Samuel  Broome,  John  De  Lancey,  Augustus 
Van  Home,  Abraham  Duryee,  Samuel  Yerplanck,  Rudolphus  Ritzema, 
John  Morton,  Joseph  Hallet,  Robert  Benson,  Abraham  Brasher, 
Leonard  Lispenard,  Nicholas  Hoffman,  Peter  Van  Brugh  Livingston, 
Thomas  Marsten,  Lewis  Pintard,  John  Imlay,  Eleazer  Miller,  Jr.,  John 
Broome,  John  P,.  Moore,  Nicholas  Bogart,  John  Anthony,  Victor 
Bicker,  AVilliam  Goforth,  Hercules  Mulligan,  Alexander  McDougall, 
John  Reade,  Joseph  Ball,  George  Janeway,  John  AVhite,  Gabriel  W. 
Ludlow,  John  Lasher,  Theophilus  Anthony,  Thomas  Smith,  Richard 
A.  ales,  Oliver  Templeton,  Jacobus  Yim  Landby,  Jeremiah  Piatt,  Peter 
S.  Curtenius,  Thomas  Randall,  Lancaster  Burling,  Benjamin  Kissam, 
Jacob  Lefferts,  Anthony  A"an  Dam,  Abraham  AValton,  Hamilton 
Young,  Nicholas  Roosevelt,  Cornelius  P.  Loav,  Francis  Bassett,  James 
Beekman,  Thomas  Ivers,  AVilliam  Dunning,  John  Berrien.  Benjamin 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1009-1830. 


37 


Ilehne.  William  AV.  Gilbert,  Daniel  Dunscombe,  John  Lamb,  Richard 
Sharp,  John  Morin  Scott,  Jacob  Van  Voorhis,  Comfort  Sands,  Edward 
Elemming,  Peter  Goelet,  Gerrit  Kettletas,  Thomas  Buchanan,  James 
Desbrosses,  Petrua  Byvanck,  and  Lott  Embree. 

This  committee  was  composed  of  the  leading-  citizens  of  New  York, 
engaged  in  various  professions  and  industries,  the  bone  and  sinew  of 
society  at  that  time.  Many  of  them  were  conspicuous  actors  in  the 
important  events  which  ensued  ;  and  thousands  of  citizens  of  Xew 
York  to-day  may  find  among,  and  point  with  just  pride  to,  the  names 
of  ancestors  which  appear  upon  that  roll  of  honor. 

This  committee  immediately  assumed  the  control  of  the  city,  taking 
care  to  secure  weapons  for  possible  use,  sending  away  all  cannon  not 
belonging  to  the  province,  and  prohibiting  the  sale  of  arms  to  persons 
suspected  of  being  hostile  to  the  patriots,  and  they  were  many.  They 
presented  an  address  to  Governor  Golden  explaining  the  object  of  their 
appointment,  and  assuring  him  that  they  should  use  every  effort  to 
maintain  peace  and  quiet  in  the  city. 

It  was  known  that  royal  regiments  were  coming  to  New  York,  and 
the  committee  asked  the  Continental  Congress  for  instructions  how  to 
act  in  the  premises.  They  were  advised  not  to  oppose  their  landing, 
but  not  to  suffer  them  to  erect  fortifications,  and  to  act  on  the 
defensive.  In  the  Provincial  Congress  there  was  a  strong  infusion  of 
Tory  elements,  and  they  exhibited  a  timid  or  temporizing  policy  on  this 
occasion.  The  troops  landed  ;  the  Provincial  Congress  obsequiously 
showed  great  deference  to  crown  officers  ;  the  Asia  man-of-war  lying 
in  the  harbor  was  allowed  supplies  of  provisions  ;  some  of  the  acts  of  the 
Sons  of  Liberty  were  rebuked,  and  there  seemed  to  be  more  of  a  dis- 
position to  produce  reconciliation  than  to  assert  the  rights  of  the  people. 
Edmund  Burke,  who  had  been  an  agent  for  the  province,  expressed  his 
surprise  "  at  the  scrupulous  timidity  which  could  suffer  the  king's 
forces  to  possess  themselves  of  the  most  important  port  in  America." 

When,  soon  after  this,  the  troops  were  ordered  to  Boston,  the  com- 
mittee directed  that  they  should  take  no  munitions  of  war  with  them, 
excepting  their  anus  and  accoutrements.  Unmindful  of  this  order, 
they  were  proceeding  down  Broad  Street  to  embark  with  several 
wagons  loaded  with  arms,  when  they  were  discovered  by  Colonel 
Marinus  Willett,*  who  hastily  gathered  some  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty, 

*  Marinas  Willett  was  born  at  Jamaica,  L.  L,  July  31,  1740,  and  died  in  New  York 
City  August  23,  1830.  He  was  graduated  at  King's  (Columbia)  College  in  1700.  He 
served  under  Abercrombie  and  Bradstreet  in  1758,  and  when  the  quarrel  between  Great 
Britain  and  her  American  colonies  began,  Willett  was  one  of  the  most  energetic  of  the 


38 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY 


confronted  the  troops,  seized  the  horse  that  was  drawing  the  head 
wagon,  and  stopped  the  whole  train.  While  disputing  with  the  com- 
mander, the  Tory  mayor  of  the  city  came  up  and  severely  reprimanded 
Willett  for  thus  "  endangering  the  public  peace,"  when  the  latter  was 
joined  by  John  Morin  Scott,  one  of  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred, 
who  told  him  he  was  right  ;  that  the  troops  were  violating  orders,  and 
they  must  not  be  allowed  to  take  the  arms  away.  The  wagons  were 
turned  back,  and  the  troops,  in  light  marching  order,  were  allowed  to 
embark. 

War  had  now  begun.  Blood  had  flowed  at  Lexington.  Ticonderoga 
had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  patriots.  Ethan  Allen  had  seized  it 
in  the  name  "of  the  Great  Jehovah  and  the  Continental  Congress." 
The  battle  of  Bunker's  Hill  soon  followed.  The  army  of  volunteers 
gathered  at  Cambridge  was  adopted  by  the  Congress  as  a  Continental 
army,  and  Washington  was  appointed  commander-in-chief.  With  his 
suite  he  arrived  in  New  York  on  the  25th  of  June.  The  royal  governor 
Tryon  had  arrived  the  night  before  and  been  cordially  received  by  the 
Tory  mayor  (Mathews)  and  the  common  council.  Here  were  the 
representatives  of  the  two  great  parties  in  America — Whig  and  Tory — 
face  to  face.  The  situation  was  embarrassing,  and  for  a  moment  the 
people  were  at  their  wit's  end.  The  two  municipal  governments  were 
hostile  to  each  other.  The  Provincial  Congress  then  in  session  in  the 
city  came  to  the  rescue  by  timidly  presenting  "Washington  with  a  cau- 
tious address,  containing  nothing  that  would  arouse  the  anger  of  the 
British  lion.  For  a  moment  the  patriotic  heart  of  the  city  beat  noise- 
lessly, and  Washington  passed  on,  sure  of  the  public  sympathy,  which 
was  only  suppressed,  and  on  the  3d  of  July  he  took  formal  command 
of  the  army  at  Cambridge. 

The  Continental  Congress  ordered  Xew  York  to  raise  regiments  of 
troops  and  to  fortify  the  passes  in  the  Hudson  Highlands.  The  Pro- 
vincial Congress  directed  the  great  guns  of  the  Battery,  in  the  city,  to 
be  removed  and  sent  up  the  river.  This  order  brought  matters  to  a 
crisis.    Captain  Lamb,  with  some  Sons  of  Liberty  and  other  citizens, 

opponents  of  the  ministry.  A  leading  Son  of  Liberty,  he  was  a  leader  in  the  rebellious 
movements  in  New  York  City.  -He  entered  McDongaU'g  regiment  as  captain,  and  partici- 
pated in  the  invasion  of  Canada.  Promoted  to  lieutenant-colonel,  he  was  ordered  to 
Fort  Stanwix,  in  May,  1777,  and  participated  in  the  stormy  events  of  that  neighborhood 
during  the  summer.  In  June,  177fi,  he  joined  the  army  under  Washington,  and  was 
active  in  the  military  service  during  the  remainder  of  the  war.  At  the  close  he  was 
chosen  sheriff  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  filled  the  office  eight  years.  In  1807  he 
was  chosen  mayor  of  the  city.  Colonel  Willett  was  created  a  brigadier-general  in  1792, 
but  never  entered  upon  the  duties  of  that  rank. 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1G09-1830. 


39 


proceeded  to  execute  the  order  on  a  pleasant  night  in  August.  While 
so  engaged,  a  musket  was  fired  upon  them  from  a  barge  belonging  to 
the  Asia.  The  fire  was  returned  by  Lamb's  party,  killing  one  of  the 
crew  and  wounding  several  others.  The  Asia  opened  a  cannonade 
upon  the  town,  which  caused  great  consternation  and  the  flight  of 
many  of  the  inhabitants.  Lamb  and  his  men  persisted  in  this  work  in 
spite  of  the  cannonade,  and  took  away  the  whole  twenty-one  cannon 
from  the  Battery.  After  that  the  Asia  was  denied  supplies  from  the 
city,  and  Governor  Try  on,  perceiving  his  danger,  took  counsel  of  his 
fears  and  fled  for  refuge  on  board  a  British  man-of-war  in  the  harbor, 
where  he  attempted  to  exercise  civil  government  for  a  while.  After 
these  events  the  city  enjoyed  comparative  quiet  until  the  following 
spring,  disturbed  only  by  Sears's  raid  upon  Kivington's  printing  estab- 
lishment, ah'eady  mentioned. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


BRITISH  army  commanded  by  General  Howe  had  been  besieged 


^LJl.  iii  Boston  during  the  winter  of  1775-76,  and  in  March  was  com- 
pelled to  fly  to  Halifax,  N.  S.,  by  sea,  leaving  New  England  in  posses- 
sion of  the  "  rebels/''  Meanwhile  the  British  ministry  had  conceived  a 
plan  for  separating  New  England  from  the  rest  of  the  colonies  by  the 
establishment  of  a  line  of  military  posts  in  the  valleys  of  the  Hudson 
and  Lake  Champlain,  between  New  York  and  the  St.  Lawrence.  To 
do  this  New  York  must  be  seized. 

Aside  from  this  scheme,  New  York  appeal's  to  have  been  a  coveted 
prize  for  the  British,  and  early  in  177<>  Howe  despatched  General 
Clinton  secretly  to  attack  it.  Suspecting  New  York  to  be  Clinton's 
destination,  Washington  sent  General  Charles  Lee  thither  ;  and  on  the 
evacuation  of  Boston  in  March,  the  commander-in-chief  marched  with 
nearly  the  whole  of  his  army  to  New  York,  arriving  there  at  the 
middle  of  April.  He  pushed  forward  the  defences  of  the  city  begun  by 
General  Lord  Stirling.  Fort  George,  on  the  site  of  Fort  Amsterdam, 
was  strengthened,  numerous  batteries  were  constructed  on  the  shores 
of  the  Hudson  and  East  rivers,  and  lines  of  fortifications  were  built 
across  the  island  from  river  to  river  not  far  from  the  city.  Strong  Fort 
Washington  was  finally  built  on  the  highest  land  on  the  island  (now 
Washington  Heights),  and  intrenchments  were  thrown  up  on  Harlem 
Heights.  In  the  summer  "Washington  made  his  headquarters  at  Rich- 
mond Hill,  then  a  country  retreat  at  the  (present)  junction  of  Charlton 
and  Varick  streets. 

On  the  10th  of  July  copies  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  were 
received  in  New  York.  The  army  was  drawn  up  into  hollow  squares 
by  brigades,  and  in  that  position  the  important  document  was  read  to 
each  brigade.  That  night  soldiers  and  citizens  joined  in  pulling  down 
the  equestrian  statue  of  King  George,  which  the  grateful  citizens  had 
caused  to  be  set  up  in  the  Bowling  Green  only  six  years  before.  They 
dragged  the  leaden  image  through  the  streets  and  bi'oke  it  in  pieces. 
Some  of  it  was  taken  to  Connecticut  and  moulded  into  bullets. 

It  was  while  Washington  had  his  headquarters  at  Richmond  Hill  that 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1600  1830 


41 


a  plot,  suggested,  it  is  said,  by  Governor  Try  on,  to  murder  him  was 
discovered.  One  of  his  Life  Guard  was  bribed  to  do  the  deed.  He 
attempted  to  poison -his  general.  lie  had  secured,  as  he  thought,  a 
confederate  in  the  person  of  the  maiden  who  waited  upon  Washington's 
tal>le.  She  allowed  the  miscreant  to  put  the  poison  in  a  dish  of  green 
peas  she  was  about  to  set  before  the  commander-in-chief,  to  whom  she 
gave  warning  of  his  danger  when  she  placed  them  on  his  table.  The 
treacherous  guardsman  was  arrested,  found  guilty,  and  hanged.  This 
was  the  first  military  execution  in  New  York. 

At  the  close  of  June,  177(i,  a  British  fleet  arrived  at  Sandy  Hook 
with  General  Howe's  army,  which  was  landed  on  Staten  Island,  and 
soon  afterward  the  British  general,  who  was  also  a  peace  commissioner, 
attempted  to  open  a  correspondence  with  AVashington.  He  addressed 
his  letter  to  "  George  AVashington,  Esq."  The  latter  refused  to  re- 
ceive it,  as  the  address  "  was  not  in  a  style  corresponding  with  the  dig- 
nity of  the  situation  which  he  held.''  Another  was  sent,  addressed 
"  George  AVashington,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.''  This  was  refused,  as  it  did  not 
recognize  his  public  character.  The  bearer  of  the  letters  explained  to 
AVashington  their  purport,  which  was  to  "grant  pardons,"  etc. 
AVashington  replied  that  the  Americans  had  committed  no  offences 
which  needed  pardons,  and  the  affair  was  dropped.  Afterward  Gen- 
eral and  Admiral  Howe  met  a  committee  of  Congress  on  Staten  Island 
to  confer  on  the  subject  of  peace,  but  it  was  fruitless  of  any  apparent 
good. 

Soon  after  Howe's  troops  had  landed  they  were  joined  by  forces 
under  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  which  had  been  repulsed  in  an  attack  upon 
Charleston,  S.  C.  Hessians — German  mercenaries  hired  by  the  British 
Government— also  came  ;  and  late  in  August  the  British  force  on 
Staten  Island  and  on  the  ships  was  more  than  twenty-five  thousand  in 
number.  On  the  25th  of  August  over  ten  thousand  of  these  had 
landed  on  the  western  end  of  Long  Island,  prepared  to  attempt  the 
capture  of  New  York.  AVashington,  whose  army  was  then  about 
seventeen  thousand  strong,  had  caused  fortifications  to  be  constructed  at 
Brooklyn,  and  he  sent  over  a  greater  part  of  his  forces  to  confront  the 
invaders.  The  battle  of  Long  Island  ensued,  and  was  disastrous  to  the 
Americans. 

AVashington  skilfully  conducted  the  remainder  not  killed  or  captured, 
in  a  retreat  across  the  East  River,  under  cover  of  a  fog,  to  New  York, 
and  thence  to  Harlem  Heights  at  the  northern  end  of  the  island.  The 
conquering  British  followed  tardily,  crossed  the  East  River  at  Kip's 
Bay,  and  after  a  sharp  battle  on  Harlem  Plains  took  possession  of  the 


42 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


city  of  New  York,  or  what  was  left  of  it.  The  British  had  pitched 
their  tents  near  the  city,  intending  to  enter  the  next  morning,  and 
were  in  repose.  Suddenly  at  midnight  arrows  of  lurid  Maine  shot 
heavenward  from  the  lower  part  of  the  town.  A  conflagration  had 
heen  accidentally  kindled  at  the  foot  of  Broad  Street.  Many  of  the 
inhabitants  had  fled  from  the  city,  and  few  were  left  to  fight  the 
flames,  which,  in  the  space  of  a  few  hours,  devoured  about  five  hundred 
buildings.  The  soldiei-s  and  sailors  from  the  vessels  in  the  river  stayed 
the  flames  before  they  reac  hed  Wall  Street.  The  British  took  posses- 
sion^ the  city  of  New  York  in  September,  177(>,  and  held  it  until  No- 
vember, 1783.  Ex-Governor  Colden  died  a  few  days  alter  the  fire, 
aged  eighty-nine  years. 

A  day  or  two  after  the  occupation  began.  Captain  Nathan  Hale,  of 
Connecticut,  was  brought  to  the  headquarters  of  General  Howe  in  the 
Beekman  mansion  at  Turtle  Bay  (Forty-fifth  Street  and  East  River), 
where  he  was  condemned  as  a  spy.  He  was  confined  in  the  greenhouse 
that  night,  and  hanged  the  next  morning  under  the  supervision  of  the 
notorious  provost-marshal,  Cunningham,  who  behaved  in  the  most 
brutal  manner  toward  his  victim.  Hale  is  justly  regarded  as  a  martyr 
to  the  cause  of  freedom  ;  Andre,  who  suffered  for  the  same  offence, 
was  the  victim  of  his  own  ambition. 

New  York  exhibited  scenes  of  intense  suffering  endured  by  American 
prisoners  during  the  British  occupation  of  the  city.  It  was  the  British 
headquarters  throughout  the  war.  The  provost  jail  (now  the  Hall  of 
Records)  was  the  prison  for  captured  American  officers,  and  was  under 
the  direct  charge  of  Cunningham.  The  various  sugar-houses — the 
largest  buildings  in  the  city — were  also  used  for  prisons,  and  some  of 
the  churches  were  converted  into  hospitals.  Old  hulks  of  vessels  were 
moored  in  the  Hudson  and  East  rivers,  and  used  as  floating  prisons. 
There  were  five  thousand  Americans  suffering  in  the  prisons  and  prison- 
ships  at  New  York  at  one  time,  and  they  were  dying  by  scores  every 
day.  Ill-treatment,  lack  of  humanity,  and  starvation  everywhere  pre- 
vailed. "  No  care  was  taken  of  the  sick,"  wrote  one  of  the  victims, 
"and  if  any  died  they  were  thrown  at  the  door  of  the  prison,  and  lay 
there  till  the  next  day,  when  they  were  put  on  a  cart  and  drawn  out  to 
the  intrenchments,  beyond  the  Jews'  burial-ground  [Chatham  Square], 
where  they  were  interred  by  their  fellow-prisoners,  conducted  thither 
for  that  purpose.  The  dead  were  thrown  into  a  hole  promiscuously, 
without  the  usual  rites  of  sepulture." 

The  "  prison-ships,"  as  the  old  hulks  were  called,  were,  if  possible, 
more  conspicuous  as  scenes  of  barbarous  treatment  than  the  jails  on 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1830. 


43 


shore.  The  most  famous  (or  infamous)  of  these  was  the  Jersey,  the 
largest  of  the  group  and  the  longest  retained  in  that  service.  She  was 
moored  at  the  Wallabout  (now  the  Navy-Yard  at  Brooklyn),  and  was 
called  by  the  captives  "the  hell  afloat."  These  captive  American 
sailors  composed  the  bulk  of  the  prisoners.  The  most  wanton  outrages 
were  suffered  by  the  poor  victims.  For  example  .:  "  One  night,"  said 
one  of  them  who  escaped,  "  while  the  men  were  eagerly  pressing  to  the 
grate  at  the  hatchway  to  obtain  a  breath  of  pure  air  while  awaiting 
their  turn  to  go  on  deck,  the  sentinel  thrust  his  bayonet  among  them, 
killing  twenty-five  of  the  number  ;  and  this  outrage  was  frequently 
repeated."  The  number  of  deaths  in  this  "  hell  "  from  fever,  starva- 
tion, and  even  actual  suffocation  in  the  pent-up  and  exhausted  air,  was 
frightful  ;  and  every  morning  there  went  down  the  hatchway  from  the 
deck  the  fearful  cry  of  Rebels,  turn  out  your  dead  !"  Then  a  score, 
sometimes,  of  dead  bodies  covered  with  vermin  would  be  carried  up  by 
tottering  half  skeletons,  their  suffering  companions,  when  they  were 
taken  to  the  shore  and  buried  in  the  sands  of  the  beach. 

Such  was  the  fate  of  eleven  tJiousand  American  2>riso7iers.  The  rem- 
nants of  their  bones  were  gathered  by  the  Tammany  Society  of  New 
York  and  deposited  in  a  vault  near  the  entrance  to  the  Navy- Yard, 
with  funeral  ceremonies,  in  1S0S.  By  arrangements  made  by  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  for  an  exchange  of  prisoners,  and  the  humane  and 
energetic  exertions  of  Elias  Boudinot,  commissary  of  prisoners,  the  con- 
dition of  the  captives  was  much  ameliorated  during  the  later  years  of 
the  war.  But  the  sufferings  of  the  officers  in  the  provost  prison,  at  the 
hands  of  the  brutal  Cunningham,  continued.  lie  seemed  to  be  acting 
under  direct  orders  from  his  government  and  independent  of  the  mili- 
tary authorities.  In  his  confession  before  his  execution  in  England  for 
a  capital  crime,  he  said  :  "  I  shudder  to  think  of  the  murders  I  have 
been  accessory  to,  witii  and  without  orders  from  i/nrmtim-nt,  especially 
while  in  New  York,  during  which  time  there  were  more  than  two 
thousand  prisoners  starved  in  the  different  churches  by  stopping  their 
rations,  which  I  sold  !" 

In  July,  f  777,  the  State  of  New  York  was  organized  under  a  consti- 
tution adopted  at  Kingston  on  the  Hudson.  George  Clinton  was 
elected  governor,  and  continued  in  the  office  about  twentv  vears  eon- 
secutively.  The  first  session  of  the  Legislature  was  held  at  Pough- 
keepsie  at  the  beginning  of  177S. 

In  the  summer  of  1778  New  York  suffered  from  another  great  con- 
flagration. About  three  hundred  buildings  were  destroyed  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Cruger's  wharf,  on  the  East  River.    It  broke  out  in 


44 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Pearl  Street  (then  Dock  Street),  and  raged  for  several  hours.  The  fire 
companies  had  been  disbanded,  and  the  soldiers  who  tried  to  extinguish 
the  flames  effected  but  little,  owing"  to  inexperience. 

The  winter  of  1779-SO  was  remarkable  for  intense  cold.  The  suffer- 
ings in  the  city  of  New  York,  especially  among  the  poor,  were  fearful. 
Sufficient  fuel  could  not  be  obtained,  for  the  city  was  blockaded  on  the 
land  side  by  the  Americans.  Some  of  the  citizens  were  reduced  to 
great  extremities.  There  were  instances  of  their  splitting  up  chairs 
and  tables  for  fuel  to  cook  their  breakfasts,  and  the  women  and  children 
lay  in  bed  the  rest  of  the  day  to  keep  warm.  The  waters  about  the 
city  were  frozen  into  a  solid  bridge  of  ice  for  forty  days,  and  the 
British  sent  eighty  heavy  cannon  over  it  from  New  York  to  Staten 
Island  to  repel  an  expected  invasion. 

The  arrest  and  execution  of  Andre  produced  great  commotion  in 
New  York  society  in  the  fall  of  17n>.  The  inhabitants  were  mostly 
Tories.  The  Whigs  had  left  the  city,  and  Tory  refugees  in  different 
parts  of  the  country  had  flocked  back  to  the  city.  The  Americans 
were  anxious  to  obtain  the  person  of  Arnold  and  save  Andre.  Clinton 
would  not  give  him  up,  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  seize  him.  Ser- 
geant Champe  pretended  to  desert  from  the  American  army,  and  was 
warmly  received  by  the  traitor  at  Clinton's  headquarters.  It  was 
arranged  for  Champe  and  some  comrades  to  seize  Arnold  in  the  garden 
at  night,  gag  him,  take  him  to  a  boat,  and  carry  him  to  "Washington's 
headquarters  at  Tappan.  Unfortunately,  Champe  was  ordered  by  the 
British  commander  to  go  south  with  the  troops  on  the  very  day  when 
the  plot  was  to  be  executed,  and  it  failed. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  French  allies  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  the 
next  year,  the  Americans  prepared  to  attack  New  York,  but  the  whole 
force  finally  marched  to  Virginia,  and  in  October  captured  Cornwallis 
and  his  army  at  Yorktown.  This  victory  virtually  ended  the  war,  but 
British  troops  continued  to  occupy  New  York  for  more  than  a  year 
afterward.  It  was  the  last  place  evacuated  by  them.  Preparations 
for  that  event  caused  a  fearful  panic  among  the  Tory  inhabitants  of  the 
city,  who  dreaded  to  face  the  indignation  of  their  Whig  fellow-citizens 
whom  the}'  had  oppressed,  and  who  would  now  return  in  force  as 
victors.  So  more  than  a  thousand  of  them  left  their  homes  and  coun- 
try, and  fled  to  Nova  Scotia  in  British  transports.  The  troops  left  the 
harbor  on  the  25th  of  November,  lb73— a  day  yet  celebrated  in  the 
city  each  year  as  "  Evacuation  Day." 

Before  the  troops  left,  under  the  provisions  of  an  honorable  treaty, 
they  committed  an  act  unworthy  of  the  British  name.    They  nailed 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1830. 


45 


their  flag  to  the  staff  in  Fort  George,  unreefed  the  halliards,  knocked 
off  the  cleats,  and  "  slushed  "  the  pole  to  prevent  Americans  ascending 
it  and  unfurling  the  Stars  and  Stripes  there  before  the  departing  troops 
should  be  out  of  sight.  They  were  frustrated  by  a  young  American 
sailor  (John  Van  Arsdale,  who  died  in  1836),  who  ascended  the  flagstaff 
by  nailing  on  the  cleats  and  applying  sand  to  the  greased  pole.  In 
this  way  he  soon  reached  the  top,  hauled  down  the  British  colors,  and 
placed  those  of  the  United  States  in  the  position.  This  was  accom- 
plished while  the  British  vessels  were  yet  in  the  Lower  Bay. 

Now  occurred  the  closing  scene  of  the  Revolution.  In  the  "great 
room'1  of  the  tavern  of  Samuel  Fraunces,  at  the  corner  of  Broad  and 
Pearl  streets,  Washington  parted  with  his  officers  on  the  4th  of  De- 
cember, 1TS3.  It  was  a  scene  marked  by  great  tenderness  of  feeling 
on  the  part  of  all  present.  Filling  a  glass  with  wine  for  a  farewell 
sentiment,  Washington  turned  to  the  assembled  officers  and  said, 
"  With  a  heart  full  of  love  and  gratitude,  I  now  take  leave  of  you,  and 
most  devoutly  wish  that  your  latter  days  may  be  as  prosperous  and 
happy  as  your  former  ones  have  been  glorious  and  honorable. "  lie 
raised  the  glass  to  his  hps,  and  continued,  "  I  cannot  come  to  each  of 
you  to  take  my  leave  ;  but  I  shall  be  obliged  if  each  one  will  come  and 
take  my  hand."  They  did  so.  Xone  could  speak.  They  all  embraced 
him  in  turn,  when  he  silently  left  the  room,  walked  to  Whitehall,  and 
entered  a  barge  to  convey  him  to  Paulus's  Hook  (now  Jersey  City),  on 
his  way  to  Annapolis  to  surrender  his  commission  to  the  Continental 
Congress  sitting  there.  What  a  sublime  leave-taking,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances ! 

New  York  now  began  the  task  of  recuperation.  The  evil  effects  of 
a  seven  years'  occupation  by  foreign  troops  were  seen  on  every  side. 
Its  buildings  had  been  consumed  by  fire,  its  churches  desecrated  and 
laid  waste,  its  commerce  destroyed  by  the  war,  its  treasury  empty, 
its  people  estranged  from  each  other  by  differences  in  political  opin- 
ions ;  feuds  existing  everywhere,  and  criminations  and  recriminations 
producing  deep  bitterness  of  feeling  in  society  in  general.  New  York 
was  compelled  to  begin  life  anew,  as  it  were.  The  tribute  which  it  had 
paid  to  the  cause  of  freedom  was  large,  but  had  been  freely  given. 

The  Whig  refugees  returned  to  the  city,  many  of  them  to  find  their 
dwellings  in  ruins.  There  was  no  change  made  in  the  city  govern- 
ment. The  old  charter,  the  organic  law,  was  resumed,  and  in  Febru- 
ary. 1784,  James  Duane.  an  ardent  Whig  who  had  left  the  city  and 
had  returned  to  his  farm  near  (present)  Gramercy  Park  and  found  his 
home  burned  and  his  fortune  wrecked,  was  chosen  mayor.  Although 


46 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY 


the  vitality  of  the  city  had  been  paralyzed,  yet  men — high-minded  and 
energetic  men,  who  constitute  a  state — were  left,  and  their  influence 
was  soon  manifested  in  the  visible  aspects  of  public  spirit  and  a  revival 
of  commerce. 

Public  improvements  Avere  soon  projected;  but  not  much  was  done 
before  the  close  of  the  century.  The  population  numbered  about 
23,000,  and  there  was  only  here  and  there  a  dwelling  above  Murray 
Street  on  the  west  side,  and  Chatham  Square  on  the  east  side.  There 
was  not  at  that  time  a  bank  nor  insurance  company  in  the  city.  Wall 
Street,  where  they  now  abound,  was  then  the  most  elegant  part  of  the 
city,  where  the  aristocracy  resided,  anil  yet  most  of  the  buildings  were 
of  wood,  roofed  witli  shingles.  The  sides  of  many  were  so  covered. 
Brick  and  stone  were  seldom  used.  Between  Broadway  and  the  Hudson 
River,  above  Reade  Street,  might  be  seen  hundreds  of  cows  belonging 
to  the  citizens  grazing  in  the  fields. 

The  first  public  improvement  begun  was  the  filling  in  of  the  "  Col- 
lect"" or  Fresh  Water  Bond,  where  the  Tombs  or  Halls  of  Justice,  or 
City  Prison,  now  stand.  This  task  was  begun  about  1790,  but  not 
completed  until  the  close  of  the  century.  Dunne  and  Reade  streets 
were  opened  through  the  southern  portion  of  the  district.  At  near  the 
close  of  the  century  a  canal  was  cut  through  Lispenard's  meadows  from 
the  "  Collect"  to  the  Hudson  River,  along  the  line  of  (present)  Canal 
Street,  forty  feet  wide,  with  a  narrow  street  on  each  side  of  it.  Tin's 
accounts  for  the  greater  width  of  Canal  Street.  This  canal  was 
spanned  at  the  junction  of  Broadway  and  Canal  Street  by  an  arched 
stone  bridge,  which  was  subsequently  buried  when  the  ground  was 
heightened  by  filling  in,  and  the  canal  disappeared.  That  bridge  may 
be  discovered  in  future  ages,  and  be  regarded  by  antiquarians  as  a 
structure  belonging  to  a  buried  city  older  than  Xew  York. 

OCT  *J 

The  "  Commons"  (City  Ball  Park)  yet  lay  open,  and  occupied  only 
by  the  "  New  Bridewell,"  the  "  Xew  Jail,"'  and  the  Almshouse  at  the 
northern  part.    Between  the  latter  and  the  Bridewell  stood  the  gallows. 

In  1790  the  first  sidewalks  in  the  city  were  laid  on  each  side  of  Broad* 
way,  between  Vesey  and  Murray  streets.  They  were  of  stone  and 
brick,  and  were  so  narrow  that  only  two  persons  might  walk  abreast. 
Above  Murray  Street,  Broadway  passed  over  a  series  of  hills,  the 
highest  at  (present)  Worth  Street.  The  grade  from  Duane  to  Canal 
Street  was  fixed  by  the  corporation  in  1797,  and  when  the  improve- 
ment was  made  Broadway  was  cut  through  the  hill  at  Worth  (formerly 
Anthony)  Street  about  twenty-three  feet  below  its  surface.  The 
streets  were  first  systematically  numbered  in  1793. 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  IfiOO  18:30. 


47 


During  the  deliberations  of  the  State  Convention  of  New  York,  at 
Poughkeepsie  in  the  summer  of  1788,  to  consider  the  National  Consti- 
tution, the  city  Avas  much  excited  by  the  discussions  of  opposing  fac- 
tions. On  the  8th  of  July,  eighteen  days  before  that  instrument  was 
ratified  by  the  convention,  a  frigate  called  "  The  Federal  ship  Hamil- 
ton" manned  by  seamen  and  marines,  commanded  by  Commodore 
Nicholson  and  accompanied  by  a  vast  procession,  was  drawn  from  the 
Bowling  Green  to  Bayard's  farm,  near  Grand  Street,  where  tables  were 
spread  and  dinner  provided  for  about  five  thousand  people.  At  the 
head  was  a  table  of  circular  form,  somewhat  elevated,  at  which  were 
seated  members  of  Congress,  their  principal  officers,  foreign  ambassa- 
dors, and  other  persons  of  distinction.  From  this  table  diverged  thir- 
teen other  tables,  at  which  the  great  concourse  sat.  It  was  the  first 
procession  of  the  kind  ever  seen  in  the  city. 

Greenleaf's  Pairnotie  Register  spoke  so  sarcastically  of  this  "  Federal 
procession'1  that  the  friends  of  the  Constitution  were  greatly  irritated  ; 
and  when  news  came  of  its  ratification,  a  mob  broke  into  Greenleaf's 
office  and  destroyed  the  type  and  presses.  They  next  attacked  the 
house  of  John  Lamb,  in  Wall  Street,  whic  h  was  so  well  defended  by 
the  owner  and  some  friends  below  armed  with  muskets,  and  by  his 
daughter,  a  maiden  sister,  and  a  colored  servant  stationed  in  the  attic 
with  a  plentiful  supply  of  Dutch  tiles  and  broken  bottles,  that  the  riot- 
el's  soon  raised  the  siege. 

By  far  the  most  notable  event  in  the  history  of  the  city  of  New 
York  after  the  Revolution  was  the  organization  of  the  National  Gov- 
ernment under  the  new  Constitution,  and  the  inauguration  of  Washing- 
ton as  the  first  President  of  the  United  States.  The  National  Consti- 
tution, framed  at  Philadelphia  in  17*7,  had  been  duly  ratified  in  1788, 
and  elections  for  electors  of  President  and  for  members  of  Congress 
had  been  held.  The  first  Congress  under  the  new  Constitution  was 
called  to  meet  at  New  York  on  the  4th  of  March,  1780.  Only  a  few 
members  wore  present  on  that  day,  and  it  was  not  until  the  0th  of 
April  that  a  sufficient  number  appeared  to  form  a  quorum.  On  that 
day  the  electoral  vote  was  counted,  and  George  Washington  was  de- 
clared to  be  elected  President,  and  John  Adams  Yice- President. 

Adams  arrived  first.  He  was  met  at  King's  Bridge,  near  the  north- 
ern extremity  of  the  island,  on  the  21st  of  April,  by  both  houses  of 
Congress,  and  escorted  into  the  city  by  several  military  companies.  At 
the  City  Hall  he  delivered  an  inaugural  address.  "Washington  arrived 
soon  afterward.  His  journey  from  Mount  Vernon  had  been  a  continuous 
triumphal  march.     He  was  greeted  by  the  citizens  everywhere  with 


48 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


enthusiasm,  and  his  reception  at  Murray's  wharf  in  New  York  was  an 
event  long-  to  be  remembered.  lie  was  escorted  to  his  future  residence 
in  Cherry  Street,  near  Franklin  Square,  and  dined  with  Governor 
Clinton  at  the  same  house  where  he  had  parted  with  his  officers.  In 
the  evening  the  city  was  brilliantly  illuminated.  On  the  30th  of  April, 
upon  the  outer  gallery  of  Federal  Hall,  overlooking  "Wall  and  Broad 
streets,  he  took  the  oath  of  office,  administered  by  Chancellor  Livings- 
ton in  the  presence  of  a  large  multitude  of  citizens  who  crowded  the 
two  streets  in  the  vicinity  of  the  hall.  "When  Mrs.  Washington  arrived, 
a  month  later,  she  was  received  with  a  national  salute  of  thirteen  guns 
at  the  Battery. 

The  most  exciting  event  in  New  York  from  the  evacuation  of  the 
city  until  the  organization  of  the  National  Government  was  a  riot 
known  as  "  The  Doctors'  Mob."  It  occurred  in  17SS.  Graves  in  the 
Potter's  Field  (now  "Washington  Square)  and  the  negro  burial-ground 
(at  Chambers  and  Reade  streets,  east  of  Broadway),  and  in  private  cem- 
eteries, had  been  rifled  of  their  contents.  The  discovery  created  much 
public  excitement.  Rumor  exaggerated  the  facts,  and  every  physician 
in  the  city  was  suspected  of  the  act.  The  hospital  on  Broadway,  the 
only  one  in  the  city,  suddenly  became  an  object  of  horror,  as  the  sus- 
pected recipients  of  the  stolen  dead  bodies.  One  day  a  student  there 
thoughtlessly  exhibited  a  limb  of  a  body  he  was  dissecting  to  some 
boys  playing  near.  They  told  the  story.  It  spread  over  the  city,  and 
very  soon  an  excited  multitude  appeared  before  the  hospital.  They 
broke  into  the  building  and  destroyed  some  line  anatomical  prepara- 
tions, which  had  been  imported.  The  terrified  physicians  were  seized, 
and  would  have  been  murdered  by  the  mob  had  not  the  authorities 
rescued  them  and  placed  them  in  the  jail.  The  populace,  foiled, 
became  comparatively  quiet,  but  the  riot  was  renewed  with  more  vio- 
lence the  next  morning.  Hamilton,  .lay,  and  others  harangued  the 
rioters,  but  were  assailed  with  bricks  and  stones.  In  the  afternoon 
matters  became  worse,  and  toward  evening  the  mayor  appeared  with  a 
body  of  militia,  determined  to  fire  on  the  rioters  if  they  did  not  disperse 
or  desist.  The  friends  of  law  and  order  tried  to  prevent  bloodshed,  and 
beco-ed  the  mayor  not  to  fire  until  cverv  other  measure  had  failed. 

Do  t/  «- 

Again  they  harangued  the  mob,  and  were  answered  by  a  shower  of 
missiles.  The  Baron  von  Steuben  begged  the  mayor  not  to  fire.  At 
that  moment  a  stone  struck  and  prostrated  him.  As  he  was  falling  he 
shouted,  "  Fire  !  Mayor,  fire  !"  The  mayor  no  longer  hesitated. 
He  ordered  the  militia  to  fire,  and  they  obeyed.  Five  of  the  rioters 
were  killed  and  several  were  wounded,  when  the  rest  dispersed. 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1G09  1830. 


19 


New  York  was  the  seat  of  the  Colonial  Government  until  the  Revo- 
lution, and  from  178-1  to  1707  it  was  the  State  capital,  when  Albany- 
became  permanently  so.  During  that  period  two  sessions  of  the  State 
Legislature  were  held  at  Poughkeepsie,  and  three  at  Albany.  From 
1785  to  1790  it  was  the  seat  of  the  National  Government,  part  of  the 
time  under  the  Confederation,  and  a  part  of  the  .  time  under  the  new 
Constitution. 

During  the  residence  of  President  Washington  in  New  York,  from 
April,  1789,  until  the  autumn  of  1790,  he  occupied  first  the  house  of 
Osgood,  in  Cherry  Street,  and  after  February,  1790,  a  dwelling  on 
Broadway,  a  little  below  Trinity  Church,  which  was  subsequently  used 
as  a  hotel  called  "  The  Mansion  House."  His  public  and  private  life 
was  marked  by  much  simplicity.  His  house  was  plainly  furnished  ;  he 
held  public  receptions  on  Tuesdays,  had  congressional  dinner-parties 
on  Thursdays,  and  on  Friday  evenings  Mi's.  Washington  held  recep- 
tions. On  Saturday  he  rode  in  the  country  on  horseback  or  in  his  car- 
riage with  the  family,  often  taking  the  "  fourteen-mile  circuit"  on  the 
island.  On  Sundays  he  usually  attended  divine  service,  and  in  the 
evening  read  to  his  family,  receiving  no  visitors. 

Washington  sometimes  attended  the  theatre  on  John  Street,  a  small 
wooden  structure  used  by  the  British  for  amateur  performances  during 
their  occupation  of  the  city.  It  was  then  called  "  The  Theatre  Royal," 
and  was  first  opened  by  them  in  January,  1777.  Its  playbills  were 
headed  "  Charity,"  and  sometimes  "  For  the  Benefit  of  the  Orphans 
and  Widows  of  Soldiers."  The  British  officers  were  the  actors,  and 
feminine  parts  were  played  by  young  subalterns.  When  Ma  jor  Andre 
was  in  the  city  he  was  actor  and  scene-painter. 

The  first  regular  theatre  in  New  York  was  erected  in  1750,  in  the 
rear  of  the  church  on  Nassau  Street,  late  the  Post-Office.  Hallam 
was  the  manager.  When  he  left  it  was  pulled  down.  A  second  was 
built  on  Beekman  Street,  near  Nassau  Street,  which  was  destroyed  by 
the  Sons  of  Liberty  during  the  Stamp  Act  excitement.  Another  was 
built  in  1767  on  John  Street — an  unsightly  object  painted  red.  It  was 
used,  as  we  have  seen,  during  the  Revolution  ;  and  in  it  was  played,  in 
1786,  the  first  American  drama  performed  on  a  regular  sta^e  by  a  com- 
pany of  regular  comedians.  It  was  called  The  Contrast,  and  was  writ- 
ten by  Royal  Tyler,  of  Boston.  The  first  native-born  American  actor 
(John  Martin)  was  a  New  Yorker,  and  first  appeared  on  the  sta^e  in 
New  York  as  Young  Nerval,  in  the  winter  of  1790.  The  Park  Thea- 
tre, which  remained  until  a  comparatively  few  years  ago,  was  first 
opened  early  in  1798. 


50 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Tn  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century  New  York  City  was 
scourged  by  yellow  fever.  It  had  appeared  there  in  1742,  when  many 
died  of  the  disease.  It  broke  out  in  1791,  near  Burling  Slip,  but  it 
was  so  late  in  the  season  that  it  was  soon  checked  by  frosts.  It  reap- 
peared early  in  August,  1795,  and  702  persons  died  before  frosts  ended 
it.  It  made  a  more  dreadful  visit  in  1798,  beginning  at  the  latter  part 
of  July  and  ending  in  November.  About  2100  died  in  the  city,  besides 
almost  300  who  had  fled  from  it.  The  population  of  the  city  was  then 
about  55,000.  It  prevailed  more  slightly  in  1790,  1800,  1803  (when 
over  600  perished),  1805,  1819,  1822,  and  1823.  When  the  fever 
appeared  in  180$,  so  great  was  the  panic  that  one  third  of  the  popula- 
tion, then  numbering  75,000,  fled  to  the  country.  The  fugitives  were 
mostly  from  the  four  lower  wards  in  the  city. 

The  French  Revolution  caused  the  division  of  the  Americans  into 
two  great  parties — Frth-rulixtx,  and  Ii<'jnihllo(tnn  or  Democrat*.  The 
latter,  led  by  Jefferson,  espoused  the  cause  of  the  French  ;  the  former, 
led  by  Hamilton,  opposed  the  influence  of  the  revolutionists.  Demo- 
cratic societies  in  imitation  of  the  Jacobin  clubs  in  Paris  were  formed, 
and  in  secret  promoted  violent  opposition  to  Washington's  administra- 
tion. These  politicians  encouraged  l<  Citizen  Genet"  in  his  defiance  of 
our  government.  He  met  with  an  enthusiastic  reception  in  New  York. 
The  liberty  cap  was  hoisted  on  the  flagstaff  of  the  Tontine  Coffee- 
House  near  the  foot  of  Wall  Street,  tricolored  cockades  were  worn, 
and  the  "  Marseillaise"  was  chanted  in  the  streets  of  New  York.  The 
Federalists  denounced  the  conduct  of  the  French  minister.  They  were 
backed  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  warmly  sustained  the  Presi- 
dent's proclamation  of  neutrality. 

When  Jay's  treaty  was  negotiated,  the  "  French  party,"  as  the 
Democrats  were  called,  opposed  it  with  much  violence.  An  anony- 
mous handbill  called  a  mass-meeting  in  front  of  the  City  Hall  in  Wall 
Street,  on  July  18,  1795,  to  consider  the  treaty.  Both  parties  attended 
in  full  force.  Aaron  Burr  was  the  chief  speaker  for  the  Democrats  ; 
Alexander  Hamilton  was  the  chief  speaker  for  the  Federalists.  In  the 
course  of  the  proceedings  a  scene  of  violence  ensued.  Hamilton 
mounted  the  "  stoop"  of  a  Dutch  house  at  the  corner  of  Broad  and 
Wall  streets,  and  began  to  speak  in  favor  of  the  treaty.  He  was 
dragged  to  the  ground  by  the  opposing  party  and  roughly  handled  in 
the  street.  Then  the  Democrats  ran  to  the  Bowling  Green,  shouting 
and  huzzaing,  where  the  treatv  was  burned  under  the  united  folds  of 
the  French  and  American  flags  to  the  sound  of  the  Carmagnole. 

These  turbulent  events  in  New  York  and  elsewhere,  and  the  support 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1830. 


51 


given  by  the  secret  Democratic  societies  to  the  Whiskey  Insurrection 
the  year  before,  caused  Washington  to  denounce  secret  associations  as 
dangerous  to  the  public  welfare.  The  Tammany  Society  or  Columbian 
Order,  which  had  been  formed  at  the  beginning  of  "Washington's 
administration  as  a  patriotic  and  benevolent  institution,  regarding  itself 
as  pointed  at,  and  being  largely  composed  of  Republicans  or  Demo- 
crats, was  transformed  into  a  political  organization  in  opposition  to  the 
Federalists.  It  still  exists,  and  plays  an  important  part  in  the  politics 
of  the  city  and  State. 

Merchants  of  New  York  formed  a  Tontine  Association  and  built  the 
"  Tontine  Coffee-House"  at  the  corner  of  Wall  and  Water  Streets.  It 
was  opened  in  1794  as  a  sort  of  Merchants'  Exchange.  The  shares 
were  #200  each.  Each  subscriber  might  select  a  nominee  for  each 
share  held  ,  by  him,  during  whose  lifetime  he  or  she  was  to  receive  an 
equal  proportion  of  the  net  profits  from  the  investment  of  the  fund. 
When  the  number  of  nominees  should  be  reduced  to  seven  by  death, 
the  property  was  to  be  conveyed  to  the  survivors  in  fee  simple.  That 
number  was  reached  in  187<i.  The  longevity  of  the  nominees  has  been 
remarkable.  Of  the  two  hundred  and  three  at  the  beginning,  fifty-one 
were  living  sixty  years  afterward. 

On  the  south-east  side  of  the  Bowling  Green  a  spacious  and  elegant 
mansion  was  built,  in  1790,  for  the  purpose  of  a  residence  for  the 
President  of  the  United  States.  It  was  then  supposed  New  York  City 
would  be  the  permanent  seat  of  the  National  Government.  When  that 
government  was  transferred  to  Philadelphia,  this  mansion  was  devoted 
to  the  use  of  the  governors  of  the  State  of  New  York,  while  this  city 
was  the  seat  of  the  State  Government.  In  it  Governors  Clinton  and 
Jay  resided.  It  was  known  as  the  Government  House.  It  was  built 
of  red  brick,  with.  Ionic  columns  forming  a  portico  in  front.  The 
building  was  on  a  slight  elevation  of  ground. 


CHAPTER  Y. 


T  the  beginning  of  this  century  the  city  of  New  York  contained 


Broadway  by  Anthony  Street,  on  the  Hudson  River  by  Harrison 
Street,  and  on  the  East  River  by  Catharine  Street.  Within  these 
limits  the  dwellings  were  much  scattered,  with  gardens  and  vacant  lots 
between  them.  Broadway  then  ended  at  Astor  Place,  then  the  south- 
ern boundary  of  the  farm  of  Captain  Randall,  afterward  the  endow- 
ment of  the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor. 

The  old  Boston  post-road  turned  eastward  below  Madison  Square, 
and  running  along  the  Rose  Hill  farm  made  its  crooked  way  to  Harlem. 
The  Rose  Hill  farm  was  owned  by  General  Gates.  His  house  stood 
near  the  corner  of  (present)  Twenty-second  Street  and  Second  Avenue, 
and  there  he  died  in  1806.  A  weeping-willow  tree  that  stood  at  the 
entrance  to  the  lane  leading  to  the  mansion  flourished  on  the  corner  of 
Twenty-second  Street  and  Third  Avenue  until  a  few  years  ago.  Near 
there  a  middle  road  branched  off  and  led  directly  to  Harlem.  The 
Kingsbridge  or  Pdoomingdalc  Road  was  a  continuation  of  the  Bowery 
Lane,  passing  through  Manhattanville  to  Kingsbridge,  and  was  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Albany  post-road. 

Harlem  had  been  founded  by  the  early  Dutch  settlers  of  Manhattan 
Island.  There  farmers  seated  themselves  and  raised  vegetables  for 
New  Amsterdam,  on  the  fertile  Harlem  Plains.  Greenwich  and  Chelsea 
were  two  little  villages  on  the  west  side  of  the  island,  which,  like 
Harlem,  have  been  swallowed  in  the  voracious  maw  of  the  great  city. 
On  the  site  of  Washington  Square  was  the  Potter's  Field;  a  place  of 
sepulture  for  the  poor  and  strangers. 

Public  gardens  had  now  become  favorite  places  of  resort,  the  most 
famous  of  which  were  the  "  Indian  Queen's"  and  "  Tyler's"  at  Green- 
wich, "  Yauxhall  "  at  the  junction  of  Warren  and  Greenwich  Streets, 
and  afterward  "  Yauxhall "  between  Lafayette  Place  and  Fourth 
Avenue,  on  the  site  of  the  Astor  Library.  Near  the  junction  of  Broad- 
way and  Thirty-fourth  Street,  on  the  Bloomingdale  Road,  was  the 
"  Strawberry  Hill  House."  and  at  the  junction  of  Charlton  and  Yarick 


The  city  proper  was  bounded  on 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1009-1830. 


53 


streets  was  the  "  Richmond  J I  ill  "  mansion,  built  in  177",  where 
Washington  had  his  quarters  for  a  while  in  the  summer  of  1776.  It 
was  the  property  and  residence  of  Aaron  Burr  at  the  time  of  his  duel 
with  Hamilton,  in  1804.  'lie  sold  it  to  John  Jacob  Astor,  and  it  was 
converted  into  a  house  of  summer  entertainment  and  the  Richmond 
Hill  Theatre.  The  "  Chelsea  House"  was  upon  elevated  ground  not  far 
from  the  (present)  General  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church. 

Pleasant  country  seats  now  adorned  the  island,  some  of  which  be- 
came historically  famous.  On  the  Incleberg  (Murray  Hill)  was  the  fine 
mansion  of  the  eminent  Quaker  merchant  of  the  Revolution,  Robert 
Murray,  father  of  the  grammarian,  whose  patriotic  wife,  by  her  personal 
charms,  conversation,  and  wine,  detained  the  British  officers  on  the  day 
they  crossed  over  from  Long  Island,  long  enough  to  allow  Putnam, 
with  the  remnant  of  the  American  army  left  in  the  city,  to  pass  by, 
hidden  by  intervening  woods,  and  safely  join  the  American  army  on 
Harlem  Heights.  A  little  further  up  the  Bloomingdale  Road  is  the 
Apthorpe  mansion,  where  "Washington  gave  instructions  to  Nathan 
Hale  when  he  went  on  his  fatal  errand  to  Long  Island,  and  where  the 
commander-in-chief  narrowly  escaped  capture  by  the  troops  whose 
officers  were  detained  by  Mrs.  Murray.  Near  Carmansville  is  "  The 
Grange,"  the  country  seat  of  General  Hamilton  at  the  time  of  his 
death  ;  and  upon  Harlem  Heights  near  the  High  Bridge  is  the  mansion 
of  Roger  Morris,  used  as  headquarters  by  Washington  in  1776,  both 
Avell  preserved.    It  is  known  as  the  Jumel  estate. 

The  hospital  already  mentioned  was  the  only  one  in  the  city  at  the 
beginning  of  this  century.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  by  Governor 
Tryon  in  1773.  A  State  prison,  the  second  one  built  in  the  United 
States,  was  completed  in  1706.  It  was  a  large  stone  building  in  Green- 
wich Village,  on  the  shores  of  the  Hudson.  The  only  medical  school  in 
the  city  was  the  Medical  Faculty  of  Columbia  College,  organized  in 
176S.  There  was  a  small  city  dispensary  instituted  in  17!»<»  and  located 
in  the  rear  of  the  present  City  Hall,  fronting  on  Tryon  Row. 

Of  the  benevolent  institutions  in  the  city  at  the  beginning  of  this 
century,  the  most  prominent  were  the  Marine  Society,  incorporated  in 
1776  ;  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  incorporated  the  same  year,  with  pro- 
visions for  benevolent  work  ;  the  Humane  Society,  founded  in  1787  ; 
the  Manumission  Society,  established  chiefly  by  the  Friends,  or 
Quakers,  in  1785  ;  the  Sailors1  Snug  Harbor,  founded  by  Captain  Ran- 
dall in  1801  ;  the  General  Society  of  Mechanics  <ni<l  Tradesmen,  incor- 
porated in  1702,  as  an  almoner  for  the  necessities  of  the  families  of  its 


54 


HISTOHV  OF  NEW  YORE  CITY. 


members  ;  the  Tammany  Society,  or  Columbian  Order,  founded  in 
1781)  ;  the  St.  Andrew's  Society,  and  several  Masonic  lodges. 

The  principal  church  edifices  were  the  South  Dutch  Reformed,  in 
Garden  Street  ;  the  Middle  Dutch  Reformed,  corner  of  Nassau  and 
Liberty  streets  (late  the  city  Post -Office),  in  which  the  English  service 
was  first  introduced  in  17(54  ;  *  the  North  Dutch  Reformed,  on  William 
Street  between  Fulton  and  Ann  streets  ;  Trinity  Church,  the  principal 
of  seven  Episcopal  churches,  the  most  remote  from  the  City  Hall  then 
being  St.  Mark's,  at  Eleventh  Street  and  Second  Avenue,  built  in  1795  ; 
the  Lutheran  Church,  on  the  corner  of  William  and  Frankfort  streets  ; 
German  Reformed,  in  Nassau  Street  near  John  Street,  built  in  17(55  ; 
First  Presbyterian  Church,  now  on  Fifth  Avenue;  the  "  Prick  Church,'' 
in  Beekman  Street,  at  an  angular  lot  known  as  "  the  Vineyard,"  built 
in  17(57  ;  the  Rutgers  Street  Church,  erected  in  1797  ;  Scotch  Presby- 
terian Church,  on  Cedar  Street,  built  in  1758  ;  and  the  Reformed 
Presbyterian  Church,  in  Chambers  Street,  erected  in  1797. 

There  were  two  Baptist  churches.  The  first  erected  in  the  city  was 
built  of  bluestone,  in  Gold  Street  near  Fulton,  in  1790;+  the  second  was 
in  Oliver  Street,  near  Chatham  Square,  built  in  1795.  The  Methodists 
had  three  churches  -one  in  John  Street,  built  in  17G8  ;  another  in 
Forsyth  Street,  erected  in  1790  ;  and  a  third  in  Duane  Street,  built  in 
1795.  The  Friends  had  a  meeting-house  in  Greene  Street,  near  Lib- 
erty, which  they  built  about  L703.  It  was  rebuilt  on  a  larger  scale  in 
Liberty  Street  in  1S02,  and  was  afterward  transformed  into  a  seed-store 
by  Grant  Thorburn.  Their  second  meeting-house  was  built  on  Pearl 
Street  in  1775,  and  was  taken  down  in  l>--24.  The  Moravians  had  a 
church  in  Fulton  Street,  near  William  Street,  erected  in  1751,  and  the 
Roman  Catholics  had  one  church — St.  Peter's — on  the  corner  of  Church 
and  Barclay  streets,  erected  in  178(5.  The  Jews  had  a  synagogue  on 
Mill  Street,  a  lane  near  Hanover  Square,  built  in  1730. 

The  only  public  library  in  the  city  at  the  beginning  of  the  century 
was  the  Society  Library,  founded  in  1754.  The  Post-Office  was  kept 
in  a  room  of  the  dwelling  of  the  postmaster  (General  Theodore  Bailey), 
on  the  corner  of  William  and  Garden  streets.    It  contained  about  one 

*  The  bell  of  this  church  (now  used  by  the  Reformed  Church  in  Lafayette  Place)  was 
made  in  Amsterdam  in  1731,  when  many  citizens  cast  in  silver  coins  while  the  metal 
was  in  fusion  before  the  casting.  It  was  the  gift  of  Abraham  De  Peyster,  who  was 
mayor  of  New  York  1691-95,  and  died  in  1728.  while  this  edifice  was  a-building.  He 
directed  in  his  will  that  a  bell  should  be  procured  for  it  at  the  expense  of  his  estate. 

\  The  stone  of  this  building  was  afterward  worked  into  the  church  edifice  on  the 
corner  of  Mott  and  Broome  streets. 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1820. 


55 


hundred  boxes.  Three  banks  were  in  operation  in  the  city,  one  of 
which  was  a  branch  of  the  United  States  Bank,  whose  capital  was 
$10,000,000.  There  were  also  three  insurance  companies,  and  these, 
like  the  banks,  were  in  Wall  Street.  From  that  time  Wall  Street  has 
been  the  financial  centre  of  the  city.  There  were  then  seven  daily 
newspapers  published  in  the  city  of  New  York,  one  weekly  paper, 
two  medical  journals  (one  published  quarterly  and  one  semi-annually), 
and  a  religious  weekly  published  by  T.  <fc  J.  Swords,  who  established 
the  first  permanent  book-publishing  establishment  in  the  city  of  New 
York. 

The  Park  Theatre  was  then  the  only  playhouse  in  the  city.  There 
were  four  principal  public  market-houses  and  two  ferries — one  to 
Brooklyn,  the  other  to  Jerse}r  City.  The  wells  in  the  city  were  un- 
wholesome, and  water  from  the  "  Tea-water  Pump,"  at  the  corner  of 
Pearl  and  Chatham  streets,  was  carried  about  the  town  and  sold  for  a 
penny  a  gallon.  The  Manhattan  Water  Company  was  organized  at 
about  this  time,  with  banking  privileges.  They  erected  a  distributing 
reservoir  on  Chambers  Street — then  "  out  of  town" — pumped  the 
water  from  wells  sunk  in  the  vicinity,  and  distributed  it  through  bored 
logs.  So  early  as  lTT-t  Christopher  Colles  had  proposed  to  bring  water 
into  the  city  from  the  Bronx  River,  in  Westchester  County,  but  the 
scheme  was  not  favorably  received  ;  but  he  was  allowed  to  construct 
water-works  at  the  public  expense  on  the  east  side  of  Broadway,  near 
Anthony  Street,  in  1770.  The  water  was  pumped  from  wells  and  the 
"  Collect."  The  scheme  was  a  failure.  These  were  the  forerunneis 
of  the  grand  Croton  supply  begun  in  1842. 

The  corner-stone  of  the  present  old  City  Hall  was  laid  in  1803,  and 
it  was  finished  in  1812,  at  a  cost  of  half  a  million  dollars.  Meanwhile 
the  most  important  practical  achievement  in  science  and  mechanics  in 
modern  times,  in  its  influence  upon  commerce  and  civilization,  occurred. 
It  was  the  permanent  establishment  of  navigation  by  steam.  Robert 
Fulton  and  Chancellor  Livingston  had  constructed  the  steamboat 
Clervumt,  and  early  in  September,  1807,  she  made  a  successful  voyage 
with  passengers  to  Albany,  in  spite  of  wind  and  tide,  and  continued 
regular  trips  thereafter  between  New  York  and  Albany.  The  com- 
mercial value  of  this  event  to  the  city  of  New  York  cannot  be  estimated. 

During  the  first  decade  of  this  century  De  Witt  Clinton  was  mayor 
of  New  York,  and  under  his  auspices  the  initiatory  steps  toward  the 
establishment  of  the  free  public  school  system  in  New  York  were 
taken.  In  1805  the  Public  School  Societ}T,  formed  chiefly  by  the 
Society  of  Friends,  was  incorporated,  and  Mr.  Clinton  was  its  first 


56 


HISTORY  OF  NEW"  YORK  CITY. 


president.  Their  first  school  was  opened  on  Madison  Street  near  Pearl 
Street,  with  forty  pupils,  gathered  chiefly  from  the  humble  and  desti- 
tute families  of  the  city.  Many  were  taught  free,  and  others  at  a  mere 
nominal  price.  This  society  did  noble  work  in  the  cause  of  education 
until  1S42,  when  ward  schools  were  established.  This  was  followed  by 
the  present  public  free  school  system,  under  a  Board  of  Education. 
Then  the  Public  School  Society  passed  out  of  existence.  Its  mission 
was  accomplished:  Its  one  school  with  forty  scholars  has  expanded 
into  almost  three  hundred  schools  and  a  free  college,  with  thousands 
of  pupils. 

Until  IS  10  the  ferry-boats  at  Xew  York  were  skiffs  or  row-boats  and 
pirogues.  In  1814  the  horse-boat — a  horizontal  treadmill — was  intro- 
duced, and  the  same  year  a  steam  ferry-boat  was  placed  on  the  river 
between  Xew  York  and  Brooklyn.  It  remained  the  only  steam  ferry- 
boat for  many  years.    The  horse-boats  disappeared  in  1825. 

The  city  was  now  extending  gradually  northward,  and  streets  were 
laid  out  beyond  the  ("anal  Street  marsh.  The  "  Collect"  was  filled  up, 
and  the  citizens  began  to  covet  residences  on  the  wooded  hills  beyond 
Canal  Street.  This  movement  of  the  population  was  stimulated  by 
the  yellow  fever,  which  drove  a  third  of  the  people  of  the  city  to  the 
fields  and  woods  north  of  the  "  Collect"  or  Fresh  Water  Pond  in  1805. 

From  1811  various  causes  checked  the  growth  of  the  city  temporarily. 
Embargoes  to  force  the  British  Government  to  be  just  had  fearfully 
smitten  its  commerce.  In  1811  a  fire  occurred  in  Chatham  Street, 
which  consumed  nearly  one  hundred  houses.  In  the  summer  of  IS  12 
war  was  declared  against  Great  Britain,  which  gave  a  check  to  ail 
foreign  commerce,  and  the  chief  industry — the  mercantile — of  the  city 
of  Xew  York  was  paralyzed. 

From  time  to  time  the  people  were  excited  by  menaces  of  attacks  by 
the  British  forces.  They  Avere  notably  so  in  the  summer  of  IS  14. 
There  was  a  powerful  British  force  in  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  a  block- 
ading squadron  appeared  on  the  Xew  England  coasts.  Mayor  Clinton 
issued  a  stirring  address  to  the  people  on  the  immediate  danger  of  an 
attack,  recommending  the  militia  to  be  in  readiness,  and  calling  upon 
the  citizens  to  aid  in  completing  the  defences  of  the  city.  A  mass- 
meeting  of  citizens  was  held  in  the  City  Hall  Park  on  August  9th, 
when  a  committee  of  the  common  council  was  chosen,  to  whom  was 
given  ample  power  to  direct  the  inhabitants  m  efforts  to  secure  the 
safety  of  the  city.  To  this  end  men  of  every  class  in  society  worked 
daily  in  squads,  under  chosen  leaders,  on  fortifications  near  Harlem  and 
at  Brooklyn.    Members  of  churches  led  by  their  pastors,  and  those  of 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1880. 


5? 


benevolent  societies  and  the  various  trades  with  chosen  leaders,  went 
out  in  groups  to  the  patriotic  task,  under  appropriate  banners.  These 
workers  were  designated  as  follows  by  the  poet  AVoodworth,  who  was 
a  participant  in  their  labors  : 

"Plumbers,  founders,  dyers,  tinners,  tanners,  shavers, 
Sweeps,  clerks  and  criers,  jewellers,  engravers, 
Clothiers,  drapers,  players,  cartmen,  hatters,  tailors, 
Gangers,  sealers,  weighers,  carpenters,  and  sailors." 

The  zeal  of  the  people  was  intense,  and  very  soon  New  York  was 
well  defended  by  fortifications  superintended  in  their  construction  by 
Joseph  G.  Swift,  the  first  graduate  of  West  Point  Military  Academy, 
and  by  militia,*  who  flocked  thither  from  the  river  comities. 

Although  a  large  proportion  of  the  citizens  of  New  York  were 
opposed  to  the  war  at  the  beginning,  once  begun  their  patriotism 
flamed  out  conspicuously  by  public  acts.  At  a  meeting  held  in  the 
Park  five  days  after  the  declaration  of  war,  they  pledged  their  "  lives, 
their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor"  in  support  of  their  "  beloved 
country. "  They  made  their  words  good.  Men  and  money  were  freely 
contributed  to  the  cause,  and  four  months  after  the  declaration  of 
war  twenty-six  privateers,  carrying  212  guns,  all  fully  manned,  were 
fitted  out  in  the  port  of  New  York.  Throughout  the  entire  war  the 
patriotism  of  the  citizens  was  conspicuously  displayed.  And  when,  on 
Saturday  evening,  February  11,  1815,  the  British  sloop-of-war  Favorite 
arrived  at  New  York  with  the  treaty  of  peace  ratified  by  the  British 
Government,  the  unexpected  glad  tidings  created  intense  joyfulness  in 
the  city.  The  streets  were  soon  thronged  with  the  happy  people,  and 
as  a  placard  headed  "  Peace"  was  printed  at  the  office  of  the  Mercan- 
tile Advertiser  and  was  thrown  out  of  a  window  into  the  street,  it  was 
eagerly  caught  up  and  read  to  the  crowd,  who  received  the  news  with 
shouts  of  joy.  The  immediate  effect  upon  business  was  wonderful. 
Coin,  which  was  ten  per  cent  premium,  fell  to  two  per  cent  in  forty- 
eight  hours.  Sugars  fell  from  820  a  hundredweight  to  812. 50  ;  tea 
from  §2.25  to  $1  a  pound. 

In  1811  a  system  of  laying  out  the  city  above  Houston  Street  was 
adopted,  and  surveys  were  begun.  The  work  was  somewhat  inter- 
rupted by  the  war.  It  was  completed  in  1821.  The  streets  were  laid 
out  in  rectangles  above  Houston  Street.  Beginning  at  one,  they  were 
numbered  upward  to  the  northern  extremity  of  the  island.  These  were 
intersected  by  avenues,  numbering  westward  from  the  eastern  side  of 
the  island  to  the  Hudson  River.    First  Avenue  was  a  continuation  of 


58 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Allen  Street.  Between  it  and  the  East  River  were  Avenues  A,  B, 
and  C. 

The  war  created  utter  confusion  among  politicians.  The  men  of 
each  party,  for  various  reasons,  had  abandoned  old  creeds  and  adopted 
new  ones.  The  most  prominent  result  was  the  almost  entire  dissolution 
of  the  Federal  party  and  the  breaking  up  of  the  Republican  party  into 
factions.  From  the  election  of  Madison  to  the  presidency  in  1809  the 
Republicans  in  New  York  were  called  Madisonians.  To  this  party  the 
Tammany  Society  adhered,  and  their  hall,  built  in  1811,  was  the  ren- 
dezvous of  the  Madisonians.  At  the  close  of  the  war  the  Republican 
party  was  split  into  two  great  divisions,  called  respectively  Madisoni- 
ans and  Clintonians,  the  latter  being  adherents  of  De  Witt  Clinton, 
who  in  1818  was  elected  governor  of  the  State  of  New  York.  He 
had  personally  urged  upon  the  attention  of  the  people  the  great  scheme 
for  the  construction  of  the  Erie  Canal  ;  now  he  brought  his  official 
influence  to  bear  upon  it,  and  it  was  completed  in  1825. 

The  first  regular  line  of  packet  ships  between  New  York  and  Liverpool 
was  established  in  1*17  by  Isaac  Wright  &  Son,  Francis  Thompson, 
Benjamin  Marshall,  Jeremiah  Thompson,  and  James  Cropper.  It  was 
called  the  "  Black  Ball  Line,"  and  consisted  of  four  ships.  A  packet 
sailed  the  first  day  of  every  month.  Soon  afterward  Byrnes,  Trimble 
&  Co.  established  the  "  Red  Star  Line,"  of  four  ships,  one  sailing  on 
the  2-tth  of  each  month.  These  were  soon  followed  by  the  establish- 
ment of  the  "  Swallow  Tail  Line,"  by  Fish,  Grinnell  6z  Co.,  of  four 
ships,  which  sailed  on  the  8th  of  each  month.  Meanwhile  four  ships 
had  been  added  to  the  "  Black  Ball  Line,"  but  in  1818  there  was  a 
fleet  of  sixteen  packet-ships  sailing  from  New  York,  with  a  weekly 
departure. 

The  war  had  left  the  country  in  an  impoverished  condition,  but  its 
recuperation  was  wonderful.  Commerce  had  rapidly  revived.  The 
growth  of  the  city  and  its  trade  was  abnormal,  and  a  commercial 
revulsion  occurred  in  1818-11).  in  which  New  York  merchants  suffered 
severely. 

The  yellow  fever  appeared  in  1819.  It  soon  disappeared,  but  its  visit 
in  1822,  and  especially  in  1823,  was  very  fatal,  and  produced  a  great 
panic.  Hitherto  it  had  appeared  at  first  in  the  vicinity  of  the  East 
River  ;  now  it  began  in  Rector  Street,  on  the  Hudson  River  side, 
which  had  always  been  regarded  as  a  particularly  healthy  locality. 
The  disease  was  now  regarded  with  peculiar  consternation.  All  per- 
sons who  were  able  fled  from  the  city.  The  town  south  of  the  Park 
was  fenced  off  and  nearly  deserted,  and  all  intercourse  with  the  "  in- 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1830. 


59 


fected  district,"  as  all  within  this  temporary  wall  was  called,  was 
strictly  forbidden.  The  residents  within  it  who  were  unwilling  to  leave 
their  homes  were  forcibly  removed  from  them  by  the  Board  of  Health. 
The  city  became  an  almost  absolute  solitude,  broken  only  by  the  noise 
of  moving  hearses  and  sad  funeral  processions  of  a  few  near  relatives  of 
the  dead.  The  city  government  fled  to  Greenwich  Village  (now  the 
Ninth  Ward),  and  there  performed  their  official  duties.  The  fields  and 
woods  beyond  Canal  Street  and  at  the  upper  part  of  Broadway  were 
filled  with  fugitives,  and  this  panic  materially  stimulated  the  improve- 
ment of  property  in  that  vicinity.  The  cit}T  then  contained  about 
125,000  inhabitants. 

In  1821  Lafayette  came  to  the  United  States  as  the  guest  of  the 
nation.  He  arrived  at  New  York  in  the  ship  Cadmus,  at  the  middle  of 
August.  His  visit  was  a  great  event  in  the  social  history  of  New 
York.  He  first  landed  on  Staten  Island  on  Sunday,  and  remained 
there,  the  guest  of  ex-Governor  Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  until  Monday, 
when  he  was  escorted  over  the  bay  by  a  large  naval  procession  and 
landed  at  Castle  Garden,  while  peals  of  bells  and  booming  of  cannon 
gave  him  a  noisy  but  hearty  welcome.  From  the  Battery  he  was 
escorted  to  the  City  Hall,  where  he  was  received  by  the  corporation 
and  welcomed  by  Mayor  Paulding.  During  his  sojourn  in  New  York 
he  had  daily  receptions  at  the  City  Hall,  where  thousands  of  citizens 
waited  upon  him.  On  the  evening  of  the  8th  of  September  there  was 
a  grand  performance  at  the  Park  Theatre  in  his  honor.  Some  of  the 
playbills  were  printed  on  white  satin. 

The  next  year  New  York  and  its  surrounding  waters  became  the 
theatre  of  one  of  the  most  momentous  events  in  the  history  of  the  city 
and  State.  The  great  Erie  Canal,  dimly  dreamed  of  by  prescient 
minds  at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  was  completed  that  year,  and 
the  event  was  celebrated  with  most  imposing  ceiemonies  at  New  York. 
It  was  the  consummation  of  a  scheme  to  connect  the  waters  of  the 
Great  Lakes  with  the  Atlantic  Ocean  by  means  of  an  artificial  river 
three  hundred  and  sixty  miles  in  length,  and  the  grand  stream  of  the 
Hudson.  The  United  States  Government  had  been  asked  to  construct 
it.  It  refused  :  when  the  State  of  New  York,  prompted  by  the 
energy  and  foresight  of  some  of  its  leading  citizens,  resolved  to  do  the 
work  unaided.  The  Legislature  was  induced  to  appoint  a  board  of 
Canal  Commissioners  in  1811,  with  full  power  to  act.  The  war  of  1812 
caused  a  suspension  of  the  scheme.  At  the  beginning  of  1810  it  was 
revived  by  a  few  citizens  of  New  York,  among  the  most  prominent  of 
whom  was  De  Witt  Clinton,  who  had  taken  great  interest  in  the 


60 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


project  from  the  beginning.  They  called  a  public  meeting  ;  William 
Bayard  was  its  chairman,  and  John  Pintard  its  secretary.  A  memorial 
to  the  Legislature  was  adopted,  and  in  April  a  new  board  of  Canal 
Commissioners  was  appointed,  with  Clinton  as  president.  A  law  was 
passed  authorizing  the  construction  of  the  canal,  and  providing  funds 
for  the  same.  It  was  vehemently  opposed.  It  was  ridiculed,  during 
almost  the  seven  years  of  its  progress  to  completion,  as  "  Clinton's 
ditch.1'  The  ground  was  first  broken  on  the  4th  of  July,  1817,  near 
Rome,  X.  Y.  The  middle  section  was  completed  in  the  fall  of  1S19, 
and  the  lirst  boat  floated  upon  it  between  Utica  and  Rome,  with  Gov- 
ernor Clinton  and  others  as  passengers.  When  the  great  work  was 
completed  the  city  of  New  York  was  selected  as  the  place  for  celebrat- 
ing the  triumph.  An  account  of  that  celebration  maybe  found  in  a 
future  chapter. 

The  year  1825  was  remarkable  for  other  notable  events  in  the  city  of 
New  York — namely,  the  introduction  of  illuminating  gas,  the  begin- 
ning of  the  erection  of  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  the  first  appearance 
of  the  Italian  opera  and  the  Sunday  newspaper,  and  the  first  move- 
ment toward  founding  the  National  Academy  of  Design.  The  city 
then  contained  160,000  inhabitants,  was  divided  into  twelve  wards, 
and  had  two  hundred  and  forty  avenues,  streets,  and  lanes  designated 
by  names.  It  then  began  to  grow  at  the  rate  of  1000  or  1800  houses  a 
year.  It  contained  ninety  c  hurches  (including  a  Hebrew  synagogue), 
of  which  seventy-one  belonged  to  five  denominations.  The  Presby- 
terians had  twenty-one,  Episcopalians  seventeen,  Baptists  fourteen, 
Reformed  Dutch  twelve,  and  Methodists  seven.  There  were  three 
public  libraries,  one  college  (Columbia),  two  medical  colleges,  eight 
(almost)  free  schools,  two  high  schools,  two  medical  colleges,  one 
eye  infirmary  and  a  city  dispensary,  two  hospitals  and  one  lunatic 
asylum,  one  medical  society,  about  twenty-five  charitable  and  benev- 
olent societies,  and  about  twenty  societies  for  the  dissemination  of  the 
Christian  religion.  There  were  ten  daily,  seven  semi-weekly,  and 
eighteen  weekly  newspapers  ;  four  magazines  (two  of  them  religious 
and  one  medical),  and  seven  principal  book-publishers  in  the  city.  In 
1825  the  first  Sunday  newspaper  published  in  New  York  was  issued. 
It  was  the  Sunday  Courier,  published  by  Joseph  C.  Melcher  at  the 
Tontine  Coffee-House,  on  the  corner  of  Wall  and  Water  streets. 

There  was,  at  that  time,  an  Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  a  Lyceum  of 
Natural  History,  an  Athenaeum,  a  Historical  Society  (founded  in  1804), 
and  a  Horticultural  Society.  There  were  eleven  public  markets,  five 
public  prisons,  a  State  prison,  a  House  of  Refuge,  and  an  ahnshouse. 


OUTLINE  HISTORY,  1609-1830. 


61 


There  were  nineteen  banks,  and  ten  marine  and  thirty-two  fire  insur- 
ance companies,  with  a  well-organized  volunteer  fire  department. 

The  chief  public  buildings  were  the  elegant  City  Hall  in  the  Park, 
built  of  marble  ;  the  Masonic  Hall,  on  Broadway,  nearly  opposite  the 
hospital,  and  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  then  just  begun,  on  "Wall  Street 
below  William  Street.  For  public  amusement  the  citizens  had  the 
American  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  on  Barclay  Street,  the  Rotunda  in 
the  Park',  where  panoramic  paintings  were  exhibited,  three  museums, 
three  public  gardens,  two  circuses,  and  four  theatres.  The  commerce 
and  manufactures  of  the  city  were  now  extensive.  The  value  of  the 
total  foreign  commerce  (imports  and  exports)  of  the  district  from  1821 
to  1830  averaged  about  $58,000,000,  or  37  per  cent  of  that  of  the  whole 
United  States.  The  district  embraced  the  greater  portion  of  Long 
Island,  Brooklyn,  Staten  Island,  the  New  Jersey  shore  above  Staten 
Island,  including  Jersey  City  and  the  shores  of  the  Hudson  River.  The 
assessed  valuation  of  property  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1825  was 
above  $100,000,000,  on  which  a  little  less  than  $30,000  taxes  were  paid 
annually. 

Such  was  New  York  City  at  the  end  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  pres- 
ent century — the  dawn  of  its  new  era  of  growth  and  prosperity.  And 
here  the  narrative  sketched  in  brief  outline,  of  its  progress  from  an 
obscure  Dutch  trading-post  among  barbarians,  planted  early  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  to  a  great  commercial  metropolis,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  almost  170,000,  is  ended.  Henceforth  the  story  of  that  growth, 
until  New  York  has  become  one  of  the  most  populous  cities  in  the 
world,  and  destined  to  become  the  metropolis  of  the  nations,  will  be 
told  in  much  greater  detail.  That  story  is  divided  into  decades  of 
years,  beginning  with  1830,  the  time  when  the  forces  back  of  the 
great  prosperity  of  the  city  had  gathered  potency  and  were  actively  at 
work. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


CHAPTER  I. 


I FIRST  saw  the  city  of  New  York  in  the  year  1832.  It  was  then 
a  marvellous  sight  for  the  eyes  of  a  rustic  lad  whose  home  was  in 
a  quiet  village  on  the  Hudson  River  about  half  way  between  New  York 
and  Albany. 

The  city  limits  were  then  (as  now)  commensurate  with  the  County  of 
New  York,  and  comprehended  the  whole  of  Manhattan  Island,  which 
is  about  fourteen  miles  in  length  and  from  one  fourth  of  a  mile  to  two 
and  a  quarter  miles  in  breadth.  The  city  proper — the  more  thickly 
inhabited  portions  of  it — extended  from  the  Battery  along  the  Hudson 
River  about  a  mile  and  a  half,  and  from  the  same  point  along  the  East 
River  about  two  miles.  The  city  included  the  several  islands  in  the 
harbor  north  of  Staten  Island,  and  those  in  the  East  River. 

Along  Houston  Street  on  the  east  and  Hamersley  Street  on  the 
west,  the  inhabitants  were  essentially  suburban.  There  were  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  streets,  alleys,  and  avenues  south  of  those  which 
are  designated  by  numerals.  Many  of  these  streets  above  Canal  Street 
were  very  thinly  populated.  The  avenues  were  then  mere  prophecies 
of  future  population  and  business.  Only  the  Third  and  Eighth  Ave- 
nues were  opened  to  the  Harlem  River  ;  the  Fourth,  Seventh,  and 
Eleventh  were  not  opened  at  all. 

Northward  of  the  inhabited  portions  of  the  city  limits  were  several 
villages  and  hamlets,  the  most  important  of  which  were  Greenwich, 
Bloomingdale,  and  Manhattanville  on  the  Hudson  River  ;  Yorkville 
in  the  centre  of  the  island  ;  and  on  the  Harlem  River  was  Harlem,  the 
senior  of  them  all,  for  it  was  planted  by  Dutch  emigrants  from  New 
Amsterdam  (New  York  below  Wall  Street)  more  than  two  centuries 
ago.  They  settled  there  for  the  purpose  of  cultivating  cabbages  and 
other  "  garden  truck"  for  the  villagers  at  the  southern  end  of  the 
island. 

The  human  population  of  New  York  City  in  1830  was  a  little  more 
than  two  hundred  thousand  in  number.  Over  these  citizens  and  aliens 
presided,  as  their  chief  magistrate,  Mayor  Walter  Bowne,  a  thrifty 
hardware  merchant  in  Pearl  Street,  a  gray-haired  man  of  sixty,  and 


66 


HISTORY  OP  NEW  YORE  CITY. 


a  scion  of  the  Quaker  family  at  Flushing,  Long  Island,  \y1io  entertained 
George  Fox,  the  founder  of  the  sect  of  Friends  or  Quakers,  late  in  the 
seventeenth  century. 

The  half  decade  of  years  immediately  preceding  the  year  1830  pre- 
sented in  New  York  City  a  most  exciting  drama  to  the  eye  of  the 
social  philosopher.  These  years  embraced  the  great  transition  period 
in  the  life  of  that  city.  They  were  the  closing  years  of  the  long-reign- 
ing dynasty  of  the  "Knickerbockers,''  as  the  Dutch  element  of  the 
population  of  New  York  w  as  called,  and  the  successful  enthronement 
of  an  energetic  cosmopolitan  spirit,  which  speedily  transformed  the 
hitherto  quiet,  restful,  satisfied,  and  conservative  inhabitants  of  the 
staid  Dutch  town  into  a  w  ide-awake,  bustling,  elbowing,  and  ever-rest- 
less and  aspiring  multitude  of  men  and  women,  scrambling  for  the 
headship  of  every  class  in  the  great  school  of  human  activity.  This 
change  had  been  largely  wrought  by  the  infusion  of  a  new  social  ele- 
ment from  neighboring  communities. 

The  slumbering  city  of  New  York  had  been  surprised  and  invaded 
by  "  Green  Mountain  Boys,"  as  aggressive  as  Allen's  band,  and  other; 
from  the  granite  hills  of  New  England,  with  some  congenial  spirits  from 
the  West.  They  were  all  panoplied  in  the  armor  of  indomitable  will 
and  abiding  -faith,  with  a  determination  to  conquer  every  difficulty  in 
their  way,  and  win  fortunes  by  their  industry,  thrift,  wit,  and  skill. 
They  infused  their  own  spirit  into  the  life  of  the  conservative  dwellers 
in  the  city,  and  very  soon  society  became  a  vast  kaleidoscope,  present- 
ing at  every  turn  new  and  startling  aspects  in  the  wondrous  combina- 
tions produced  by  energetic  and  well-balanced  enterprise.  The  invad- 
ers with  rare  prescience  had  interpreted  the  grand  prophecies  of  the 
future  business  possibilities  of  that  island  city  seated  where  the  Hudson 
pours  its  flood  into  the  sea— that  beautiful  river  just  wedded,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  the  Great  Lakes,  with  their  magnificent  dowry  of  thou- 
sands of  square  miles  of  fertile  territory. 

This  was  the  period  of  the  awakening  to  new  and  prosperous  life  of 
the  whole  country.  Pmsiness  of  every  kind  had  been  readjusted  after 
the  great  disruption  caused  by  the  second  Avar  for  independence  ;  the 
national  debt  had  been  reduced  to  less  than  *r,o, 000,000  before  1828  ; 
the  political  atmosphere  was  more  serene  than  it  had  been  since  the 
creation  of  the  Republic,  and  solid  and  permanent  prosperity  seemed  to 
be  assured. 

The  celebration  of  the  most  important  and  propitious  event  in  the 
history  of  the  city  of  New  York— the  completion  of  the  great  Erie 
Canal— deserves  more  than  a  passing  notice.    It  occurred  in  the  month 


FIRST  DECADK.  1830  1840. 


67 


of  November,  1826.  The  day  fixed  for  the  celebration  in  the  city  of 
New  York  was  the  4th  day  of  that  month. 

At  ten  o'clock  on  a  balmy  morning  (the  26th  of  October)  the  waters 
of  Lake  Erie  at  Buffalo  flowed  into  the  "  Big  Ditch"  (as  it  was  con- 
temptuously called  by  doubters  and  its  opponents)  for  the  first  time. 
The  event  was  hailed  with  loud  huzzas,  the  swinging  of  hats,  and  the 
waving  of  handkerchiefs  by  a  multitude  assembled  on  the  occasion. 

The  news  of  this  first  inflowing  was  communicated  from  Buffalo  to 
New  York  in  the  space  of  one  hour  and  thirty  minutes.  This  was 
done  long  before  the  electro-magnetic  telegraph  began  its  marvellous 
career.  The  creator  of  its  intelligence  was  then  a  portrait  painter  in 
the  city  of  New  York.  That  message  was  conveyed  on  the  wings  of 
sound  from  booming  cannon  placed  at  intervals  along  the  line  of  the 
canal  and  the  Hudson  River,  and  a  response  was  returned  by  the  same 
voices  and  in  the  same  space  of  time. 

A  flotilla  of  canal-boats,  all  beautifully  decorated,  led  by  a  large  one 
named  the  Seneca  Chief,  left  Buffalo  on  a  journey  eastward  at  the 
moment  of  the  first  cannon  peal.  The  Chief "was  drawn  by  four  richly 
caparisoned  gray  horses.  It  bore,  as  passengers.  Governor  De  Witt 
Clinton,  Lieutenant-Governor  General  James  Tallmadge,  Genera.  1 
Stephen  Van  Rensselaer,  the  Albany  patroon  ;  General  Solomon  Van 
Rensselaer,  Colonel  William  L.  Stone,"  a  delegation  from  New  York 
City,  and  numerous  invited  guests  and  ladies. 

One  of  the  canal-boats  named  X<><th"x  Ark  bore  a  bear,  two  fawns, 
two  eagles,  and  a  variety  of  birds  and  "  four-footed  beasts,"  with  two 
Seneca  Indian  youths  in  the  costume  of  their  dusky  nation. 

Everywhere  along  the  route  from  Buffalo  to  Albany  the  people 
gathered  in  crowds  at  villages  and  hamlets,  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and 
night,  to  see  and  greet  the  novel  procession.  At  Rochester,  where  the 
canal  crossed  the  Genesee  River  by  an  aqueduct  supported  by  stone 
arches,  a  little  drama  was  performed.    A  man  in  a  small  boat  on  the 

*  William  L.  Stone  was  for  many  years  an  eminent  journalist  in  New  York  City.  He 
was  born  at  Esopus,  N.  Y.,  April  20,  1792  ;  removed  to  Cooperstown  in  1800,  where  he 
assisted  his  father  in  the  care  of  a  farm,  and  became  a  printer.  In  1813  he  entered  upon 
his  career  of  a  newspaper  editor,  and  pursued  it  in  several  places,  and  finally  became  one 
of  the  proprietors  and  editors  of  the  Xew  York  Commercial  Advertiser  in  1838.  which  ho 
conducted  until  the  time  of  his  death  at  Saratoga  Springs,  in  August,  1841.  Colonel 
Stone  was  a  genial  writer.  He  published  volumes  of  Tales  and  Essays,  Memoirs  of  I!rant 
and  Red  Jacket,  and  had  gathered  and  prepared  materials  for  a  life  of  Sir  William  John- 
son, which  was  afterward  completed  by  his  son.  He  published  other  careful  books  from 
his  own  pen.  For  several  years  Colonel  Stone  was  superintendent  of  common  schools  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  and  was  an  efficient  worker  in  the  cause  of  education. 


68 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOKE  CITY. 


Genesee,  stationed  ostensibly  as  a  sentinel,  called  out  to  the  Seneca 
Chief  as  the  flotilla  entered  the  aqueduct  : 
"  Who  comes  there  V 

"  Your  brothers  from  the  "West,  on  the  waters  of  the  Great  Lakes," 
responded  a  voice  from  the  Chief. 

"  By  what  means  have  they  been  diverted  so  far  from  their  natural 
course  ?"  inquired  the  sentinel. 

"Through  the  channel  of  the  grand  Erie  Canal."  answered  the 
Chut. 

"  By  whose  authority  and  by  whom  was  a  work  of  such  magnitude 
accomplished  '."  asked  the  sentinel. 

"  By  the  authority  and  Irv  the  enterprise  of  the  people  of  iS'ew 
York,"  cried  many  voices  as  one  from  the  deck  of  the  Chief. 

At  Rochester  another  canal-boat,  The  Young  Lion  of  the  Wegt, 
joined  the  flotilla.  It  had  on  board,  among  other  products  of  the  West, 
two  living  wolves,  a  fawn,  a  fox,  four  raccoons,  and  two  eagles. 

The  flotilla  rested  over  the  Sabbath  at  Utica,  where  it  arrived  late 
on  Sunday  morning.  The  governor  and  his  company  were  escorted  to 
a  place  of  public  worship  in  the  afternoon  by  a  deputation  of  citizens, 
and  early  on  Monday  morning  the  grand  procession  moved  on  down 
the  beautiful  and  magnificent  Mohawk  Valley,  the  natural  and  the 
artificial  river  running  parallel  to  each  other  for  scores  of  miles. 

At  Albany,  the  State  capital  and  the  eastern  terminus  of  the  canal, 
the  voyagers  were  met  by  a  large  civic  and  military  procession,  which 
escorted  the  governor  and  other  projectors  and  friends  of  the  enterprise 
to  the  Capitol,  where  interesting  services  were  held.  People  had  gath- 
ered in  Albany  from  all  parts  of  eastern  and  northern  Xew  York,  from 
Vermont,  and  even  from  Canada,  to  witness  the  imposing  spectacle.  A 
grand  public  dinner  was  given  by  the  corporation  of  Albany,  at  which 
the  Hon.  Philip  Hone,  the  mayor  of  the  city  of  New  York,  made  a 
stirring  congratulatory  speech,  and  in  behalf  of  the  corporation  of  his 
city  invited  that  of  Albany  to  accompany  the  voyagers  down  the  Hud- 
son River  and  accept  the  hospitalities  of  the  commercial  metropolis. 
The  celebration  at  Albany  ended  with  a  general  illumination  of  the 
little  city  of  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants,  and  an  appropriate' perform- 
ance at  the  theatre,  in  which  was  exhibited  a  picturesque  and  truthful 
canal  scene,  with  many  boats  and  horses,  locks  and  other  accessories. 

From  Albany  to  New  York  the  flotilla  of  canal-boats  was  towed  by 
Hudson  River  steamers.  The  Chancellor  Lieincjston  was  the  "  flag- 
ship" of  the  fleet,  having  in  tow  the  Seneca  Chief,  whose  distinguished 
passengers  were  transferred  to  her  escort,  and  were  joined  by  many 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


69 


others.  They  moved  at  an  early  hour  in  the  morning.  Groups  or 
crowds  of  men,  women,  and  children  were  seen  on  the  shores  of  the 
Hudson  at  many  points,  and  here  and  there  the  great  aquatic  procession 
was  hailed  with  huzzas,  the  flinging  out  of  banners,  and  the  thunder  of 
cannon.  It  was  a  sort  of  gala  time  in  the  valley  of  the  lower  Hudson, 
that  clear,  crisp,  November  day  in  1825. 

Ample  preparations  had  been  made  in  the  city  of  New  York  for  the 
celebration  of  this  great  event.  So  early  as  September  7th  the  mer- 
chants and  citizens  of  New  York  had  held  a  "Teat  meeting  in  the  rooms 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  in  the  Tontine  Coffee-House,  to  make 
arrangements  for  the  celebration.  John  Pintard  was  secretary  of  the 
meeting,  and  appropriate  resolutions  concerning  arrangements,  embody- 
ing a  programme,  were  adopted.  They  were  prepared  beforehand  by 
Pintard. 

Before  the  dawn  of  the  morning  of  November  4th  the  great  fleet, 
under  the  command  of  Charles  Rhind  as  admiral,  was  anchored  off 
Greenwich  Village,  then  a  sort  of  suburb  of  New  York  City.  The  sky 
was  cloudless,  and  at  sun-rising  the  day  was  welcomed  by  the  ringing 
of  the  city  bells  and  the  roar  of  cannon.  At  a  signal  from  the  Chan- 
cellor Livingston  flags  were  run  up  and  unfurled  all  over  the  city,  and 
at  the  naval  and  military  posts  in  the  vicinity. 

A  few  minutes  after  this  demonstration  the  large  and  new  steamboat 
Washington,  bearing  aloft  the  great  banner  of  the  corporation  display- 
ing the  arms  of  the  city  on  a  spotless  white  field,  proceeded  to  the 
anchored  fleet.  On  her  taffrail  was  displayed  a  beautiful  design,  made 
especially  in  honor  of  Washington  and  Lafayette.  In  the  centre  was  a 
trophy  of  various  emblems  of  war  and  peace.  This  was  surmounted  by 
a  bald  eagle.  On  the  right  side  of  the  trophy  was  the  portrait  of 
Washington,  and  on  the  left  the  portrait  of  Lafayette.  The  former 
was  crowned  with  the  civic  wreath  and  laurel,  the  latter  with  the 
laurel  only.  The  Genius  of  America  was  in  the  act  of  crowning  Wash- 
ington, and  the  incarnated  Spirit  of  Independence,  waving  a  flaming 
torch,  was  binding  the  brow  of  Lafayette.  Near  each  of  these  por- 
traits was  a  medallion  bearing'  emblems  of  agriculture  and  commerce. 
The  whole  rested  on  a  section  of  the  globe,  and  the  background  was  a 
glory  from  the  trophy.  Each  corner  of  the  taffrail  was  filled  with  a 
cornucopia  completing  the  whole  design,  "on  which,"  wrote  Colonel 
Stone,  the  historian  of  the  celebration,  "  neither  painting  nor  gilding 
had  been  spared  to  enhance  the  effect."1 

The  Washington,  with  a  committee  of  the  corporation  and  the  officers 
of  the  governor's  guard,  proceeded  to  the  fleet.    "When  she  came 


70 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


within  hailing  distance  of  the  Seneca  Chief,  one  of  her  officers  inquired 
of  the  strange  craft  : 

Where  are  you  from,  and  what  is  your  destination  ?" 
The  reply  was  sent  back  : 

"  From  Lake  Erie,  and  bound  for  Sandy  Hook." 

The  Washington  then  ran  alongside  the  Chancellor  Livingston,  when 
the  committee  went  aboard  the  latter  and  tendered  congratulations  to 
the  governor  in  behalf  of  the  citizens  of  New  York,  represented  by  the 
corporation.  These  congratulations  were  presented  in  a  speech  by 
Alderman  Cowdry.  He  finally  welcomed  the  governor  and  his  fellow- 
travellers,  who  had  come  all  the  way  by  water  from  Lake  Erie  through 
the  heart  of  the  State  of  New  York.  They  were  the  pioneers  in  that 
new  aqueous  highway  of  commerce. 

At  an  early  hour  the  waters  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  and  of  New 
York  Harbor  were  dotted  with  floating  craft  of  every  kind,  from  the 
stately  British  sloop-of-war  to  the  pirogue  and  skiff,  all  alive  with 
human  beings.  The  fine  packet-ship  Llamlet,  prepared  by  the  Marine 
and  Nautical  Societies,  and  dressed  in  the  flags  of  various  nations  and 
private  signals,  appeared  in  the  Hudson  River  at  sunrise.  Commodore 
Chauncey  sent  an  officer  and  twenty  men  from  the  Navy -Yard  at 
Brooklyn  to  assist  Captain  Collins  in  the  duties  of  the  ship  during  the 
day.    The  two  societies  went  on  board  of  her  soon  after  eight  o'clock. 

At  about  nine  o'clock  the  corporations  and  invited  guests  proceeded 
to  the  steamboats  Washington,  Fulton,  and  Providence,  lying  at  the 
foot  of  Wall  Street.  There  was  also  the  steamboat  Commerce,  with  the 
elegant  safet v-barges  Ladg  ('Union  and  La/fg  Van  Rmxselaer.  These 
barges  had  been  prepared  by  the  corporation  for  the  use  of  invited 
ladies  and  their  attendants.  The  Lady  I  'Ivnton  was  profusely  decorated 
with  evergreens  hung  in  festoons,  interwoven  with  roses  and  other 
Sowers.  In  a  niche  below  the  upper  deck  was  a  bust  of  Governor 
Clinton,  with  a  wreath  of  laurel  and  roses  encircling  the  brow.  On 
this  barge  were  the  wife  of  the  governor  and  a  crowd  of  distinguished 
ladies  in  their  best  attire. 

The  fleet  from  Albany  in  the  Hudson  River,  led  by  the  Chancellor 
Livingston,  went  around  to  the  East  River  to  the  Navy- Yard,  where  a 
salute  was  fired.  The  flagship  here  took  on  board  the  officers  of  the 
station  with  their  fine  band  of  music,  and  were  greeted  by  the  officers 
from  West  Point,  who  had  been  received  on  the  Livingston  the  previous 
evening.  They  also  were  accompanied  by  their  celebrated  band.  At 
this  time  the  wharves  and  buildings  and  the  heights  of  Brooklyn  and 
the  shores  of  New  York  from  Corlear's  Hook  to  the  Battery  were 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


71 


densely  crowded  with  eager  spectators.  It  was  an  outpouring  of  the 
population  such  as  had  never  been  seen  on  the  shores  of  the  East 
River. 

The  fleet  proceeded  to  the  waters  between  the  Battery  and  Governor's 
Island,  where  it  was  joined  by  the  gayly -decorated  Hamlet,  in  tow  by 
the  Olive)"  Ellsworth  and  Boll  car.  Other  steamboats  towed  pilot  ves- 
sels and  a  small  flotilla  belonging  to  Whitehall  boatmen.  At  that  point 
the  admiral  of  the  fleet  for  the  occasion  (Mr.  Rhind)  signalled  the 
different  vessels  to  take  their  appointed  stations.  This  was  a  most  in- 
teresting spectacle,  ami  these  movements  were  continually  applauded 
by  loud  huzzas  from  the  crowded  vessels  of  every  kind. 

In  New  York  Harbor  were  two  British  sloops-of-war,  ISicallow  and 
Kmafisher.  When  everything  was  in  readiness,  the  Meet,  saluted  by 
the  guns  at  the  Battery  and  of  the  castle  on  Governor's  Island,  made 
a  sweep  toward  Jersey  City  around  these  vessels.  The  latter  saluted 
them  with  their  heavy  guns  and  cheers  and  the  tune  of  "  Yankee 
Doodle."  In  response  to  this  compliment  the  bands  on  the  Chancellor 
Livingston  played  "  God  save  the  King.'"  Then  the  whole  procession, 
led  by  the  Llclngxton,  composed  of  twenty-nine  steam-vessels,  and  sail- 
ing ships,  schooners,  barges,  canal-boats  and  sail-boats,  moved  toward 
Sandy  Hook,  within  which  the  United  States  schooner  Dolphin  was 
moored.  As  the  grand  procession  emerged  from  the  Narrows  after 
receiving  a  salute  from  Forts  Lafayette  and  Tompkins,  it  was  ap- 
proached by  the  Dolph  In ,  as  a  deputation  from  Neptune,  to  inquire 
who  the  visitors  were,  and  what  was  the  object  of  their  coming.  A 
satisfactorv  answer  having;  been  given,  the  whole  fleet  formed  a  circle 
around  the  schooner,  about  three  miles  in  circumference,  preparatory  to 
the  crowning  and  most  important  ceremony  of  the  occasion,  namely, 
the  commingling-  of  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie  with  those  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean. 

The  Seneca  (Jliief  had  borne  from  Buffalo  two  handsome  kegs, 
painted  green,  with  gilded  hoops,  and  having  the  device  of  a  spread 
eagle  carrying  in  its  beak  a  ribbon  on  which  were  the  words  "  Water 
of  Lake  Erie."  One  of  these  kegs  was  taken  to  the  ChaneeUor  Lvo- 
ingston  and  received  by  the  governor,  when  Admiral  Rhind  addressed 
his  excellency,  saying  he  had  a  request  to  make.  He  was  desirous,  he 
said,  "of  preserving  a  portion  of  the  water  used  on  that  memorable 
occasion,  in  order  to  send  it  to  our  distinguished  friend  and  late  illus- 
trious visitor,  Major-General  Lafayette,"  to  be  conveyed  to  him  in 
bottles  in  a  box  made  from  a  log  of  cedar  brought  from  Lake  Erie  in 
the  Seneca  ( 'kief.    The  governor  thanked  Mr.  Rhind  for  his  suggestion, 


72 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


and  said  that  a  more  pleasing  task  could  not  have  been  imposed  upon 
him. 

There  was  now  silence  and  eager  watching  among  the  vast  multitude 
floating  on  the  unruffled  bosom  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  near  Sandy 
Hook.  It  was  the  supreme  moment  of  the  occasion.  Governor  Clin- 
ton, lifting  the  keg  of  Erie  water  in  full  view  of  the  spectators,  stepped 
to  the  side  of  the  Chancellor  U/oing«ton  and  poured  its  contents  into 
the  sea,  saying  : 

"  This  solemnity,  at  this  place,  on  the  first  arrival  of  vessels  from 
Lake  Erie,  is  intended  to  indicate  and  commemorate  the  navigable 
communication  which  has  been  accomplished  between  our  Mediter- 
ranean seas  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean  in  about  eight  years  to  the  extent 
of  more  than  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles,  by  the  wisdom,  pub- 
lic spirit,  and  energy  of  the  people  of  the  State  of  New  York  ;  and  may 
the  God  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth  smile  most  propitiously  on  this 
work,  and  render  it  subservient  to  the  best  interests  of  the  human 
race. ' '  * 

The  eminent  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchill,  of  New  York,  who  possessed 
water  from  many  countries,  concluded  the  ceremonies  on  the  sea  by 
pouring  into  its  bosom  small  vials  of  water  from  the  Ganges,  Indus,  and 
Jordan  in  Asia  ;  the  Nile  and  the  Gambia  in  Africa  ;  the  Thames,  the 
Seine,  the  Rhine,  and  the  Danube  in  Europe  ;  the  Mississippi  and 
Columbia  of  North  America  ;  and  the  Orinoco,  La  Plata,  and  Ama- 
zon of  South  America.    Dr.  Mitchill  then  delivered  a  long  address. 

"  While  the  fleet  was  here  at  anchor,'"  says  Colonel  Stone  in  his 
narrative  of  the  celebration,  "  a  deputation  from  the  members  of  the 
Assembly  from  different  parts  of  the  State,  who  were  on  board  one  of 
the  steamboats  as  guests  of  the  corporation,  preceded  by  Clarkson 
Crolius,  Esq..f  then  Speaker,  paid  a  visit  to  the  Seneca  Chiefs  to  recip- 

*  The  keg  from  which  water  from  Lake  Erie  was  poured  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  is 
preserved,  as  a  precious  memento  of  the  great  event,  among  the  collections  of  the  New 
York  Historical  Society. 

\  Clarkson  Crolius,  Sr.,  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York  just  previous  to  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war  for  independence — October  5,  1773.  His  ancestors  came  from 
Germany  and  settled  at  New  York  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  They  settled 
in  the  ward  (the  Sixth)  in  which  he  was  born,  which  he  represented  in  the  municipal 
legislature,  .and  in  which  he  died.  His  grandfather  established  the  first  stoneware  man- 
ufaetory  in  the  colonies,  and  that  business  was  pursued  by  his  descendants  for  several 
generations.  His  father  was  an  ardent  Whig,  and  when  the  British  took  possession  of 
the  city,  in  the  fall  of  1776,  he  left  the  city.  His  property  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  in 
vaders,  and  was  not  recovered  by  the  family  until  the  evacuation  of  the  city  by  the  Brit- 
ish troops  late  in  1783.  His  brother  John  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution, 
and  lived  to  the  age  of  more  than  80  year-;,  dying  about  the  year  1835. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1880-1840. 


73 


rocate  congratulations  with  the  Buffalo  Committee  on  the  Completion 
of  the  Grand  Canal,  to  which  the  Legislature,  of  which  they  were 
members,  had  made  the  last  and  finishing  appropriation." 

The  great  fleet,  after  several  vessels  had  tired  a  salute,  returned  to 
the  city  in  triumphal  procession,  the  passengers  of  the  steamboats  par- 
taking of  a  collation  on  the  way.    Again  the  grand  flotilla  swept 

Mr.  Crolius  pursued  the  business  of  his  father,  the  manufacturing  of  pottery,  and 
being  of  an  active  temperament  and  possessed  of  positive  convictions,  entered  the  arena 
of  political  strife  soon  after  attaining  to  his  majority.  He  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
Democratic  (or  Republican,  as  it  was  called)  party,  founded  by  Jefferson,  and  was  active 
in  the  canvass  which  raised  that  great  Virginian  to  the  Presidency  of  the  Republic  in 
1801.    He  was  also  an  active  member  of  the  Tammany  Societ)'. 

At  about  the  opening  of  the  present  century  Mr.  Crolius  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
common  council,  representing  the  Sixth  Ward,  in  which  lie  was  born.  As  such  he  offici- 
ated at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  new  City  Hall,  in  the  lields,  afterward 
known  as  City  Hall  Park,  or  the  Park.  In  1842  he  was  the  last  surviving  member  of  the 
common  council  who  were  present  on  that  occasion.  The  city  was  then  divided  into 
nine  wards.  De  Witt  Clinton  was  mayor,  and  John  B.  Prevost  was  recorder.  The  fol- 
lowing are  the  names  of  the  aldermen  and  assistant  aldermen  then  present  : 

Aldermen. — Wynandt  Van  Zandt,  Philip  Brasher,  John  Bogert,  John  P.  Ritter,  Jacob 
de  la  Montagnie,  George  Janeway,  Mangle  Minthorne,  Jacob  Martin,  Jacob  Hansen. 
Assistants. — Andrew  Morris,  Caleb  S.  Riggs,  Jacob  Le  Roy,  Robert  Bogardus,  Clarkson 
Crolius,  John  Beekman,  Whitehead  Fish,  James  Striker. 

Mr.  Crolius  remained  in  the  council  several  years.  He  was  the  grand  sachem  or  saga- 
more of  the  Tammany  Society  in  1811,  and  as  such  laid  the  corner-stone  of  Tammany 
Hall  ;  and  early  in  the  war  of  1812  he  was  major  of  the"  Adjutant-General's  Regiment." 
He  soon  afterward  was  appointed  to  the  same  rank  in  the  regular  service,  and  assigned 
to  duty  on  Governor's  Island,  in  the  harbor  of  New  York.  During  the  absence  of  his 
superior  officer  he  held  command  of  that  post,  also  of  Bath  and  Sandy  Hook.  At  the  close 
of  the  war  he  resumed  his  business.  He  was  a  very  popular  leader  in  the  Democratic 
party,  and  for  ten  years  was  a  representative  of  the  city  of  New  York  in  the  Assembly  of 
the  State.  Mr.  Crolius  was,  with  many  other  members  of  the  Legislature,  opposed  to  the 
Canal  scheme,  chiefly  under  a  conviction  that  the  State  was  not  then  in  a  condition  to 
sustain  the  expense  or  to  assume  the  inevitable  heavy  debt  its  construction  would  create. 
When  it  was  begun  he  was  among  the  first  to  join  in  voting  means  for  its  completion. 

Being  a  favorite  with  the  country  members  of  the  Assembly,  he  was  chosen  Speaker  of 
that  body  in  1825,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  an  unprecedented  circumstance.  He  soon  after- 
ward retired  from  active  political  life,  but  official  stations  under  the  city  authorities  and 
the  general  government  were  conferred  upon  him.  He  was  one  of  the  most  active  of  the 
founders  of  the  American  Institute,  and  was  one  of  its  vice-presidents  for  seven  years. 
He  died  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  the  ward  in  which  he  was  born,  on  October  3,  1843. 
He  married,  in  1793,  Elizabeth  Meyer,  who  survived  him  many  years. 

As  an  honorable  and  energetic  business  man,  a  promoter  of  the  b^st  interests  of  his 
native  city,  as  a  patriotic  soldier,  and  as  a  faithful  representative  of  his  fellow-citizens 
in  the  city  and  State  legislatures,  Clarkson  Crolius,  Sr.,  was  an  eminently  representative 
citizen.  His  son,  Clarkson  Crolius,  Jr.,  now  living  in  the  city,  venerable  in  years,  has 
also  been  an  alderman  in  New  York,  a  member  of  the  State  Senate,  and  ever  active  in 
the  promotion  of  measures  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow-men. 


7i 


HISTORY  OF  NEW   YORK  CITY. 


around  the  British  war-vessels,  receiving  a  salute  from  them.  Each 
party  complimented  the  other  with  cheers  and  the  playing  of  "  God 
save  the  King"  and  "  Yankee  Doodle"  by  their  respective  musicians. 
The  passengers  were  all  landed  at  about  four  o'clock. 

Meanwhile  a  vast  civic  procession,  such  as  had  never  before  been  seen 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  had  been  formed  and  paraded  through  the 
principal  streets,  under  the  direction  of  the  marshal  of  the  day,  Major- 
General  Flemming.  It  was  composed  of  representatives  of  every  re- 
spectable class  of  society,  arranged  in  organized  groups.  There  ap- 
peared the  several  benevolent  and  industrial  societies,  the  Volunteer 
Fire  Department,  the  literary  and  scientific  institutions,  the  members 
of  the  bar,  the  officers  of  the  State  artillery  and  infantry  in  uniform, 
and  the  members  of  many  occupations  and  callings  not  formally 
organized  into  societies,  accompanied  by  bands  of  music. 

This  procession,  six  abreast,  was  formed  in  Greenwich  between  nine 
and  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  right  resting  on  Marketfield  Street, 
near  the  Battery.  It  moved  up  Greenwich  Street  (then  a  fashionable 
place  of  residence)  to  Canal  Street  ;  through  Canal  Street  to  Broad- 
way ;  up  Broadway  to  Broome  Street  (then  the  upper  part  of  the  city 
proper)  ;  up  Broome  Street  to  the  Bowery  ;  down  the  Bowery  to 
Pearl  Street  ;  down  Pearl  Street  to  the  Battery  ;  over  the  Battery 
to  Broadway  ;  and  thence  to  the  new  City  Hall,  in  the  Park. 
At  the  Battery  the  procession  was  joined  by  the  voyagers  returning 
from  the  ocean— the  mayor  and  common  council  and  distinguished 
guests. 

~  The  scene  along  the  line  of  the  procession  presented  a  most  imposing 
spectacle.  Each  society  seemed  emulous  to  excel  in  the  richness  and 
beauty  of  its  banner  and  the  respective  badges  and  decorations.  Many 
of  the  banners  displayed  exquisite  art  in  design  and  execution.  Many 
of  the  industrial  societies  (twenty-two  in  number)  had  furnished  them- 
selves with  large  cars,  upon  which  their  respective  artisans  were  busily 
engaged  in  their  several  occupations. 

The  most  attractive  performance  of  the  kind  was  on  the  printers' 
car,  on  which  was  a  printing-press  constantly  at  work  striking  off 
copies  of  a  long  "Ode  for  the  Canal  Celebration/-  written  for  the 
occasion  at  the  request  of  the  printers  of  New  York,  and  distributed  to 
the  populace.    The  following  are  the  opening  stanzas  : 

"  'Tis  done  !  'tis  clone  !    The  mighty  chain 
Which  joins  bright  Erie  to  the  Main, 
For  ages  shall  perpetuate 
The  glory  of  our  native  State. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


75 


"  'Tis  done  !    Proud  Akt  o'er  Nature  lias  prevailed  ! 
Genius  and  Perseverance  have  succeeded  ! 
Though  selfish  Prejudice  in  strength  assailed, 
While  honest  Prudence  pleaded. 

"  'Tis  done  !    The  monarch  of  the  briny  tide, 
Whose  giant  arms  encircle  Earth, 
To  virgin  Erie  is  allied, 

A  bright-eyed  nymph  of  mountain  birth. 

"  To-day  the  Sire  of  Ocean  takes 
A  sylvan  maiden  to  his  arms, 
The  Goddess  of  the  crystal  Lakes, 
In  all  her  native  charms  ! 

"  She  conies,  attended  by  a  sparkling  train  ; 
The  Naiads  of  the  West  her  nuptials  grace  ; 
She  meets  the  sceptred  Father  of  the  Main, 

And  in  his  heaving  bosom  hides  her  virgin  face." 

Some  of  the  cars  were  beautifully  ornamented  and  profusely  deco- 
rated with  evergreens.  Turkey  or  Brussels  carpets  covered  the  floors 
of  some  of  them,  and  some  fairly  glittered  with  gilding  in  the  light  of 
the  unclouded  sun  on  that  fair  November  day. 

In  that  procession  was  appropriately  carried  a  bust  of  Christopher 
Colles,*  an  Englishman  who  came  to  New  York  before  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  was  undoubtedly  the  first  man  who  suggested  the  possibility 
and  the  advantage  of  an  artificial  water-communication  between  the 
Hudson  River  and  the  Lakes.  lie  lectured  on  canal  navigation  in  New 
York  so  early  as  1772.  He  actually  made  a  survey  of  the  Mohawk 
River  and  the  country  to  Wood  Creek,  that  empties  into  Lake  Ontario. 
He  had  been  in  his  grave  four  yeai-s  when  this  grand  canal  celebration 
occurred. 

The  gallant  Colonel  Stone,  the  appointed  historian  of  the  event,  was 
so  deeply  impressed  with  the  whole  affair  that  his  pen,  with  seeming 

*  Christopher  Colles  was  born  in  Ireland  about  1738  ;  studied  under  Richard  Pococke, 
an  eminent  Oriental  traveller,  and  became  an  expert  linguist  and  man  of  science.  On 
the  death  of  his  patron,  in  17G5,  he  came  to  America,  and  first  appeared  in  public  here  as 
a  lecturer  on  canal  navigation  about  the  year  1772.  He  was  a  good  civil  engineer,  and 
proposed  to  the  authorities  of  the  city  of  New  York  schemes  for  supplying  the  city  with 
pure  water.  But  his  projects  were  never  carried  out.  Colles  constructed  and  published 
a  series  of  sectional  road  maps,  which  were  engraved  by  his  daughter.  He  was  a  land 
surveyor,  made  paper  boxes,  and  assisted  almanac-makers  in  their  calculations.  Colles 
also  manufactured  painters'  colors,  and  at  length  was  made  actuary  of  the  Academy  of  the 
Fine  Arts.  Eminent  men  in  New  York  City  highly  esteemed  him,  but  he  died  in  com- 
parative obscurity  in  New  York  in  1821.  Only  Dr.  J.  W.  Francis  and  John  Pintard,  with 
the  officiating  clergyman.  Rev.  Dr.  Creighton,  accompanied  his  body  to  its  burial  in  the 
little  cemetery  on  Hudson  Street. 


76 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


spontaneity,  recorded  almost  grandiloquent  expressions  when  dwelling 
on  the  subject  of  the  participation  of  the  fairer  sex  in  the  unrivalled 
pageant.    He  wrote  : 

"  The  eye  of  beauty,  too,  gazed  with  delight  upon  the  passing 
scene  ;  for  every  window  was  thronged,  and  the  myriads  of  handker- 
chiefs which  fluttered  in  the  air  were  only  rivalled  in  whiteness  by  the 
delicate  hands  which  suspended  them  ;  while  the  glowing  cheeks,  the 
ingenuous  smiles  of  loveliness  and  innocence,  and  the  intelligence  which 
beamed  brightly  from  many  a  sparkling  eye,  proclaimed  their  posses- 
sors worthy  of  being  the  wives,  mothers,  and  daughters  of  freemen.  It 
was,  in  line,  a  proud  spectacle  ;  but  language  fails  in  attempting  its 
description — much  more  in  imparting  to  paper  the  sensations  which  it 
created.  It  is  not  difficult  to  describe  individual  objects  correctly,  but 
it  is  impossible  to  portray  their  general  effect  when  happily  grouped 
together.  It  is  amid  scenes  like  these— a  fain;  gleam  of  which  can 
only  be  conveyed  to  the  future  antiquary  or  historian— that  the  mind  is 
absorbed  in  its  own  reflections,  musing  in  solitude,  though  surrounded 
by  the  gay  and  the  thoughtless,  and  literally  lost  in  its  own  imagin- 
mgs.  * 

The  festivities  of  the  day  were  closed  in  the  evening  by  the  illumina- 
tion of  the  public  buildings,  the  principal  hotels,  the  theatres,  museums, 
and  many  private  dwellings.  On  several  of  these  were  transparencies 
with  appropriate  devices,  conceived  by  good  taste  and  intelligence,  and 
artistically  executed.  The  City  Hall  was  the  chief  point  of  attraction. 
No  expense  had  been  spared  by  the  corporation  in  making  its  illumina- 
tion and  attendant  fireworks  unsurpassed  in  brilliancy.  There  was  an 
immense  transparency  on  its  front,  exhibiting  views  of  the  canal  and  a 
variety  of  emblematical  figures.  The  fireworks  exceeded  the  public 
expectations.  The  Park  was  crowded  with  delighted  spectators,  of 
both  sexes  and  of  all  ages,  from  the  crowing  infant  to  the  tottering  old 
man,  from  eight  to  ten  thousand  being  the  computed  number.  At  the 
Park  Theatre  an  interlude  composed  for  the  occasion  by  M.  M.  Noah 
was  performed,  and  elicited  great  applause.  A  similar  production  pre- 
pared by  Samuel  Woodworth,  the  printer-poet,  for  the  occasion  was 
performed  at  the  Chatham  Theatre. 

On  the  following  day  (Saturday,  the  5th)  committees  from  the  TTest 
were  entertained  at  a  dinner  given  in  their  honor  on  board  the  C7um- 

*  Colonel  William  L.  Stone's  narrative  of  the  celebration,  published  by  the  common 
council  of  the  city  of  New  York,  under  the  title  of  "  The  Grand  Erie  Canal  Celebration." 
This  was  accompanied  by  a  memoir  of  the  great  public  work,  by  Cadwallader  D.  Colden. 
Stone's  narrative  has  furnished  the  materials  for  our  sketch. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


cellor  Livingston.  They  enjoyed  the  hospitalities  of  the  citizens  in 
great  plenitude.  The  public  institutions  were  thrown  open  to  their 
visits  and  inspection,  and  they  returned  to  their  respective  homes 
deeply  impressed  with  the  vast  importance  of  the  Grand  Canal  in  the 
promotion  of  the  prosperity,  not  only  of  the  city  of  New  York,  but  to 
the  whole  State  and  the  region  drained  by  the  Great  Lakes.  One  of 
them  (Dr.  Alexander  Coventry,  of  Utica)  wrote  to  the  mayor  of  New 
York  in  behalf  of  the  several  committees,  saying  : 

"  The  Erie  Canal  insures  to  us  a  reward  for  industry  ;  to  our  posterity 
an  antidote  for  idleness  ;  nor  is  it  the  least  valuable  of  our  acquired 
privileges  to  have  in  the  future  our  prosperity  closely  identified  with 
the  city,  our  connection  with  which  has  always  been  our  proudest 
boast/' 

The  festivities  in  the  city  were  concluded  on  Monday  evening,  the 
7th,  by  a  grand  ball  given  by  the  officers  of  the  militia  associated  with 
a  committee  of  citizens.  For  that  occasion  the  vast  rooms  of  the 
Lafayette  Amphitheatre,  in  Laurens  Street  near  Canal  Street,  was  used. 
The  hippodrome  was  floored  over  for  the  occasion,  and  with  the  stage 
used  for  dramatic  entertainments  formed  the  largest  ball-room  in  the 
United  States.  It  was  divided  into  three  compartments,  the  whole 
being  about  two  hundred  feet  in  length,  and  from  sixty  to  one  hundred 
feet  in  breadth.  The  dancing-room. was  the  most  spacious  of  any.  At 
one  end  was  an  immense  mirror,  composed  of  thirty  pier-glasses  without 
frames  and  neatly  joined  together.  At  the  other  end  of  the  room,  on 
the  removal  of  drapery  at  a  proper  time,  a  beautifully  supplied  supper- 
room  was  revealed.  From  the  roof  was  suspended  many  chandeliers, 
and  from  it  the  "  Stars  and  Stripes'"  hung  in  gay  festoons.  The  whole 
of  the  interior  of  the  Amphitheatre  was  brilliantly  lighted  with  scores 
of  chandeliers,  lamps,  and  candles,  and  on  every  side  were  seen  elegant 
and  costly  decorations.  The  front  of  the  building  was  illuminated,  and 
across  it,  over  the  doors,  were  the  words,  "The  Grand  Caxal,"  formed 
by  the  light  of  burning  lamps. 

A  brilliant  assemblage  appeared  in  the  Amphitheatre  that  night.  It 
was  estimated  that  fully  three  thousand  persons  were  present,  among 
them  Governor  Clinton  and  his  wife.  The  gallant  chronicler  (Colonel 
Stone)  again  grew  warm  as  he  described  the  scenes  on  that  eventful 
evening,  and  referred  to  the  ladies.    He  wrote  : 

"  But  entrancing  above  all  other  enchantments  of  the  scene  was  the 
living  enchantment  of  beauty — the  trance  which  wraps  the  senses  in 
the  presence  of  loveliness  when  woman  walks  the  hall  of  beauty — 
magnificence  herself — the  brightest  object  in  the  midst  of  brightness  and 


78 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


beauty.  A  thousand  faces  were  there,  bright  with  intelligence  and 
radiant  with  beauty,  looking  joy  and  congratulation  to  each  other,  and 
spreading  around  the  spells  which  the  loves  and  the  graces  bind  on  the 
breast  of  the  sterner  sex." 

To  every  guest  of  the  corporation  of  the  city  of  New  York,  both 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  a  beautiful  medal  was  presented,  bearing  on  one 
side  images  of  Pan  and  Neptune  in  loving  embrace,  also  a  well-filled 
cornucopia  showing  the  production  of  the  land  and  sea,  with  the  words, 
••  Onion  of  Erie  with  the  Atlantic  ;"  and  on  the  other  side  the  arms 
of  the  State  of  New  York — the  State  which  had  borne  the  whole  burden 
in  the  construction  of  the  great  work  —and  a  representation  of  a  section 
of  the  canal,  its  locks  and  aqueducts,  and  a  view  of  the  harbor  of  New 
York.  On  this  side  were  the  words,  "  Erie  Canal,  commenced  4th  of 
July,  1817  ;  completed  26tii  October,  1S25.  Presented  by  the  City 
of  New  Yoek." 

These  medals  were  made  of  white  metal.  Some  were  of  silver. 
There  were  also  fifty-one  gold  medals  struck  and  sent  to  European 
monarchs  and  other  distinguished  men.  They  were  presented  by  a 
committee  composed  of  Recorder  Richard  Biker,  John  Agnew, 
Thomas  Bolton,  and  William  A.  Davis. 

So  ended  the  celebration  of  the  completion  and  opening  of  the  Grand 
Erie  Canal.  It  was  the  beginning  of  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy  of 
Joel  Barlow  in  his  "  Vision  of  Columbus,1'  published  in  1787,  in  which, 
alluding  to  the  great  discoverer,  he  wrote  : 

"  He  saw,  as  widely  spreads  th'  inchannelled  plain, 
Where  inland  realm  for  ages  bloomed  in  vain. 
Canals,  long  winding,  ope  a  watery  flight, 
And  distant  streams  and  seas  and  lakes  unite. 

"  From  fair  Albania,  toward  the  setting  sun. 

Back,  through  the  midland,  length 'ning  channels  ran  ; 
Meet  the  fair  lakes,  there  beauteous  towns  that  lave, 
And  Hudson's  joined  to  fair  Ohio's  wave." 

It  was  also  the  dawning  of  a  brighter  day  in  the  history  of  New 
York — its  entrance  upon  its  marvellous  career  of  growth  and  pros- 
perity. The  prophecies  of  the  earnest  friends  of  the  canal,  that  the  im- 
petus it  would  give  to  business  of  every  description  in  the  city  and  in 
the  interior  of  the  State  would  speedily  produce  a  wonderful  increase  in 
the  commerce  and  wealth  of  both  sections,  was  speedily  fulfilled,  and  in 
a  measure  beyond  the  expectation  of  the  most  sanguine  dreamer. 

In  1812,  when  the  project  had  but  lately  assumed  a  really  tangible 
shape  by  the  appointment  of  canal  commissioners,  these  men  (Gov- 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


7!) 


erneur  Morris,  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer,  De  Witt  Clinton,  Peter  B. 
Porter,  and  others)  gave  the  following  prophetic  utterance  : 

"  Viewing  the  extent  and  fertility  of  the  country  with  which  this 
canal  is  to  open  communication,  it  is  not  extravagant  to  suppose  that, 
when  settled,  its  produce  will  equal  the  present  export  of  the  United 
States  [80S, 000,000].  AVill  it  appear  improbable  that  twenty  years 
hence  [1832]  the  canal  should  annually  bring  down  250,000  tons  V 

Twenty  years  after  the  completion  of  the  canal  (1845)  there  came 
upon  it  to  tidewater  1,107,000  tons  of  produce,  valued  at  $45,000,000, 
and  the  tolls  amounted  to  $2,500,000.  In  1872,  the  year  before  the 
great  panic  depressed  business,  the  value  of  property  transported  on 
that  canal,  notwithstanding  a  three-track  railway  is  laid  parallel  with 
it,  was  about  8168,000,000.* 

In  the  same  year  when  the  Erie  Canal  was  completed,  and  not  more 
than  a  fortnight  before  the  great  celebration  of  the  event  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  the  first  ripple  of  the  tide  of  emigration  from  Scandinavia 
appeared.    It  consisted  of  a  band  of  Norwegians,  53  in  number,  who 

*  At  the  time  of  the  completion  of  the  Erie  Canal,  De  Witt  Clinton  was  fifty-six  years 
of  age,  having  been  born  in  March,  17G9,  at  Little  Britain,  Orange  County,  N.  Y.,  and 
died  at  Albany  February  11,  1828.  He  was  a  son  of  General  James  Clinton,  and  nephew 
of  the  eminent  first  governor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  George  Clinton. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1788,  but  never  practised  much.  For  several  years  he 
was  the  private  secretary  of  Governor  Clinton,  and  the  champion  of  his  administration 
through  the  public  press,  being  a  chaste,  vigorous,  and  prolific  writer,  and  a  sound  states- 
man in  early  life.  For  several  years  he  was  the  leader  of  the  Eepublican  or  Democratic 
party  in  the  State  of  New  York.  Mr.  Clinton  was  a  member  of  the  State  Assembly  in 
1797,  of  the  State  Senate  1798  1802,  of  the  United  States  Senate  1802-03,  and  mayor 
of  the  city  of  New  York  1803-07,  1809-10,  1811-14.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  State 
Senate  1805-11,  lieutenant-governor  of  New  York  1811-13,  and  being  opposed  to  the 
war  of  1812-15,  was  the  peace  candidate  for  the  Presidency  in  1812.  He  was  governor  of 
the  State  of  New  York  1817-22  and  1824-27. 

By  his  wisdom,  sagacity,  and  public  spirit,  De  Witt  Clinton  did  more  than  any  other 
citizen  to  promote  the  growth,  prosperity,  and  good  name  of  the  city  and  State  of  New 
York.  He  was  active  and  efficient  in  every  good  work,  whether  municipal,  benevolent, 
literary,  philosophical  and  scientific,  moral  and  educational.  He  was  one  of  the  found- 
ers of  the  American  Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  of  the 
public-school  system  of  New  York  State  and  city,  and  was  one  of  the  powerful  supporters 
of  the  canal  policy  of  the  State  from  its  inception.  He  did  more  than  any  other  man, 
privately  and  officially,  in  the  face  of  fierce  opposition  and  implacable  ridicule,  to  push 
forward  to  completion  the  great  Erie  Canal,  which  gave  a  new  birth,  as  it  were,  to  the 
commercial  metropolis  of  the  nation.  And  yet.  while  the  public  parks  and  scpiares  of 
New  York  are  displaying  statues  of  distinguished  Americans  and  Europeans,  no  person 
has  yet  (midsummer  of  1883)  proposed  the  erection  in  the  Central  Park,  or  elsewhere, 
of  a  statue  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  the  brilliant  statesman,  the  profound  scholar,  and  the 
munificent  benefactor  of  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the  nation  ! 


80 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


came  in  a  vessel  of  their  own.  She  was  a  small  craft.  They  landed  in 
New  York,  and  sold  their  vessel  for  &7<>0.  Like  Cortez,  who  when  he 
landed  with  his  followers  in  Mexico  burned  the  ships  that  brought 
them  thither,  they  came  to  stay. 

This  was  the  first  Scandinavian  emigration  to  our  shores,  save  the 
Swedes  who  came  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  there  was  none  other 
until  1836.  In  the  latter  year  Bjorn  Andersen,  father  of  the  Nor- 
wegian scholar  R.  B.  Andersen,  who  was  a  Quaker,  came  to  New  York 
with  two  shiploads  of  coreligionists,  who  fled  from  mild  persecutions 
in  Norway.  They  proceeded  to  the  Western  States.  This  was  the 
beginning:  of  the  ever-increasing;  stream  of  emigration  from  Scandinavia 
to  AVestern  and  North-Western  States  and  Territories  of  the  Republic — 
Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  and  Dakota— where 
they  now  number  more  than  1,500,000  persons. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  new  social  elements  which  had  been  gradually  infused  into  the 
life  of  the  city  of  New  York  for  many  years  previous  to  the  com- 
pletion of  the  Erie  Canal  were  much  more  conspicuously  displayed 
immediately  after  that  event,  in  an  energetic  and  daring  spirit  of  busi- 
ness enterprise. 

That  spirit  had  for  its  solid  basis  and  wise  regulation  and  restraint 
the  conservative  elements  of  the  old  order  of  things — the  Knickerbocker 
Age,  as  it  has  been  called — the  time  when  the  Dutch  spirit  of  broad 
charity,  thi'ift,  economy,  liberal  benevolence,  and  steadiness  in  all 
things  prevailed.  That  life  was  characterized  by  the  practise  of  the 
sterner  virtues  :  equable  lives,  common-sense,  indomitable  persever- 
ance in  every  undertaking,  whether  for  personal  benefit  or  for  the 
public  welfare  ;  contented  industry,  the  establishment  of  institutions 
of  religion,  benevolence,  science,  art,  and  literature  ;  in  solid  intel- 
lectual cultivation,  and  in  quiet  dignity,  courtliness,  and  refinement  of 
manners  on  all  occasions. 

"Knickerbocker  frugality,' 1  says  a  late  writer,  "was  a  blessing  to 
such  of  the  present  generation  who  can  trace  their  genealogy  on  Man- 
hattan Island  for  a  century,  while  those  whose  titles  date  back  only 
fifty  or  sixty  veal's  possess  millions  of  substantial  reasons  to  be  thank- 
ful. They  have  not  toiled,  neither  have  they  spun  ;  yet  while  they 
have  slumbered  in  idle  comfort  their  inherited  acres  have  changed  to 
city  lots,  and  city  lots,  no  matter  how  situated,  represent  dollars  and 
produce  income."  * 

The  Knickerbocker's  Sabbath  symbolized  in  a  degree  the  conspicuous 
characteristics  of  Knickerbocker  life  :  steady,  conservative,  dispassion- 
ate, orderly,  and  devotional. 

The  Knickerbockers  regarded  the  Sabbath  as  truly  the  Lord's  Day — 
a  day  to  be  devoted  specially  to  the  service  of  God,  and  not  to  temporal 
pleasures  and  enjoyments — entertainments  and  mere  recreation.  In 

*  Dayton's  "  Last  Days  of  Knickerbocker  Life  in  New  York." 


82 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


household  affairs  as  little  labor  as  possible  was  performed.  As  a  rule, 
the  meals  on  Sunday  were  cold  collations  of  the  baked  meats  of  Satur- 
day and  so  the  servants  were  allowed  to  rest.  Attendance  upon  public 
worship  was  general  and  punctual.  Three  times  a  day  were  seen  staid 
processions  in  the  streets  of  men,  women,  and  children  going  to  or 
returning  from  places  of  divine  worship.  Friends,  when  they  met,  gave 
only  a  nod  of  recognition.  Few  vehicles  were  seen  in  the  streets,  for 
omnibuses  and  street-cars  were  then  unknown,  and  coaches  were  seldom 
out  on  Sundays.  Every  precaution  was  taken  to  prevent  disturbance 
of  worshippers  by  noises  in  the  streets.  So  agreed  was  public  opinion 
on  the  subject  of  the  holiness  of  the  Sabbath  and  the  necessity  for  its 
reli-ious  observance,  that  the  few  gay  young  men  who  disregarded  it 
and  took  rides  into  the  country  beyond  Murray  Hill  and  Bloomingdale 
rather  shvlv  avoided  the  more  public  thoroughfares.  These  sinners 
were  often  the  subject  of  earnest  intercession  at  evening  prayers. 

I  o  »  one  churches  the  methods  were  as  inflexible  as  cast-iron.  There 
were  no  instruments  of  music  heard  ;  the  singing  was  inharmonious  ; 
the  opening  prayers  were  as  long  as  sermons,  and  the  sermons- were 
ri<>idlv  doctrinal  protracted,  and  tedious. 

The  Middle  Dutch  Reformed  Church  (late  the  city  Post-Office)  was 
one  of  the  oldest  and  most  noted  of  the  places  of  public  worship  on 
Manhattan  Island.    Its  interior  arrangements  were  in  strong  contrast 
with  the  church  edifices  of  to-day.    The  pulpit  was  very  spacious, 
occupying  the  space  between  the  two  entrance  doors  to  the  church.  It 
was  reached  by  a  flight  of  carpeted  stairs  on  each  side  of  nearly  a  dozen 
Steps  with  mahogany  balustrades.    Over  the  pulpit  was  suspended  a 
soundiiK'-board  to  send  the  voice  of  the  preacher  in  full  force  to  his 
hearers"  Upon  the  pulpit  was  a  square  cushion  of  velvet  for  the  Bible 
to  rest  on,  with  heavy  silk  tassels  at  each  corner.    The  pews,  with 
straight,  high  backs  and  narrow  seats,  forbade  all  lounging,  or  even  real 
comfort  ;  they  seemed  to  have  been  contrived  for  doing  penance. 
"  On  each  side  of  the  pulpit  in  special  pews  sat  the  six  elders  and  six 
deacons,  in  a  position  to  bring  the  whole  congregation  under  their  in- 
spection    "  These  twelve  men;'  wrote  a  regular  attendant  on  the 
service  there  sixty  years  ago,  »  seemed  to  the  youthful  and  irreligious 
portion  of  the  congregation  the  incarnation  of  cold,  relentless  piety, 
deserted  of  every  human  frailty.    .    -        When  one  rose,  they  all 
stood  up  :  when  one  sat  down,  they  all  followed  suit,  as  ,f  acted  upon 
simultaneously  by  an  electric  wire.    Their  black  dress-coats  seemed  to 
have  been  made  by  one  tailor  ;  their  white  neckcloths  cu  from  one 
piece  of  cambric,  washed,  ironed,  and  folded  by  the  same  laundress  ; 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


the  bow-knots,  even,  seemed  to  have  been  adjusted  by  the  same 
hand."  * 

When  the  sermon  began  the  twenty-four  eyes  of  the  dozen  elders  and 
deacons  were  fixed  on  the  minister,  and  the  younger  portion  of  the 
congregation  felt  a  relief,  for  irregularities  would  not  be  seen  by  these 
devout  worshippers  while  the  sermon  lasted.  ;'  They  sat  as  motionless 
as  statues,"  says  Dayton.  "  The  terrors  of  the  bottomless  pit  pro- 
claimed by  the  uncompromising  Brownlee  ;  the  beatitude  of  the  blest 
hopefully  dwelt  on  by  the  gentle  Knox  ;  the  pressing  invitations  to 
repentance  heralded  in  powerful  tones  by  the  more  youthful  and 
impulsive  De  Witt,  were  alike  unavailing  to  produce  the  slightest 
variation  in  the  stereotyped  countenances  of  these  twelve  leading 
dignitaries  of  the  Middle  Dutch  Church." 

There  was  no  organ.  In  the  space  under  the  pulpit  stood  the  choris- 
ter with  a  tuning-fork,  who  pitched  the  tune  and  led  the  congregation 
m  singing,  sometimes  twelve  stanzas  with  the  Doxology.  In  that 
capacity  chorister  Earl  served  the  church  many  years. 

Xow,  how  changed  !  The  architecture  of  the  church  edifices,  the 
sermons,  the  music,  and  the  Sunday  demeanor  of  deacons  and  elders 
and  other  subordinate  adjuncts  of  the  church  service  have  been  trans- 
formed. As  a  rule  the  sermons  are  short  moral  essays  on  the  beauty  of 
holiness,  the  love  of  God  and  man,  and  exhortations  to  be  more  and 
more  Christlike  in  daily  life.  Dayton  may  have  drawn  the  contrast 
with  a  rather  free  pen  when  he  wrote  ten  years  ago  :  "  Smiling  clergy- 
men delight  their  listeners  ;  smart,  dapper  elders  and  deacons,  with 
beaming  countenances,  gay  neckties,  and  jewelled  shirt-fronts,  are  the 
admiration  of  the  young.  No  chorister  and  tuning-fork,  hut  instead 
a  charming  prima  donna,  sustained  by  a  tenor  and  basso  of  acknowl- 
edged operatic  reputation,  is  hidden  from  public  gaze  by  the  rich 
curtains  of  the  organ-loft,  where  she  warbles  with  exquisite  skill  the 
choicest  solos  of  modern  art,  while  the  new  school  reclines  on  velvet 
cushions,  so  enchanted  by  the  perfonnance  that  were  it  not  for  some 
vague,  mist}'  associations  connected  with  the  day  and  place,  it  would 
be  acknowledged  by  the  claiming  of  jewelled  hands  and  a  floral 
tribute." 

Then  the  psalms  and  hymns  were  so  clearly  enunciated  in  church 
singing  that  no  listener  was  puzzled  ;  now  some  church  choirs  so 
muffle  the  words  in  pronunciation  that  no  listener  can  follow  them  in- 
telligently without  a  book.    Was  not  the  exasperated  hearer  justified 


*  Dayton's  "Last  Days  of  Knickerbocker  Life  in  New  York.' 


*4 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY 


when,  after  trying  in  vain  to  follow  the  words  so  disguised,  wrote  on 
the  fly-leaf  of  a  psalm-book  : 

"  If  old  King  David  should,  for  once, 
To  this  good  house  repair, 
And  hear  his  psalms  tlms.warbled  forth. 
Good  gracious  !  how  he'd  swear." 

The  Puritanic  Sabbath,  with  all  its  order  and  solemn  gravity  and  its 
rigid  observances,  has  also  been  transformed.  To  a  large  portion  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  metropolis  to-day  the  interior  of  a  church  is  a 
less  familiar  place  than  the  theatre  or  concert-room. 

Knickerbocker  Jife  was  like  its  Sabbaths:  steady,  orderly,  calm, 
real,  devoted  to  a  purpose,  and  always  marked  by  unswerving  observ- 
ance of  all  ethical  requirements.  It  was  distinguished  by  plodding,  un- 
tiring industry,  accompanied  by  generous  thrift,  which  always  secured 
a  competence  for  the  time  of  old  age.  Speculating  schemes  were  sel- 
dom conceived  or  undertaken.  Their  tastes  were  sensible,  their  desires 
were  moderate,  and  their  wants  were  comparatively  few  ;  and  society 
was  not  made  feverish  by  rivalries  in  the  structure  of  mansions  or  in 
equipages  and  entertainments.  The  ladies  were  modestl}'  attired, 
often  in  rich  stuffs,  but  plainly  made  up.  Indeed,  there  were  not  deft 
fingers  enough  then  to  have  met  a  tithe  of  the  requirements  of  fashion 
in  dress  in  our  generation,  for  the  sewing-machine  was  not  yet  in- 
vented. Only  the  tiny  needle  wielded  by  expert  lingers  performed  the 
labor  on  every  garment. 

Knickerbocker  life  was  marked  by  the  best  features  of  genuine  hospi- 
tality, heartfelt,  unostentatious,  and  informal.  Hospitality  so  adminis- 
tered to-day  would  be  regarded  as  parsimonious,  if  not  stingy  and 
selfish.  AVhile  it  was  on  occasion  far-reaching,  the  chief  sphere  of  its 
operations  was  the  circle  of  relations  by  blood  or  marriage.  Its  princi- 
pal power  and  beneficence  was  generated  in  the  home,  where  the  wife 
and  mother  reigned  as  queen.  In  those  days  homes — genuine  homes — 
abounded.  Frugality  was  the  rule,  extravagance  the  exception. 
Frugality  was  the  sceptre  that  ruled  all  hospitality,  and  order,  cleanli- 
ness, abundance,  and  good  taste  distinguished  all  entertainments. 
Parental  authority  was  supreme  in  all  things,  and  filial  love  and  obedi- 
ence everywhere  abounded.  Overflowing  social  pleasures  were  tem- 
pered by  wise  moderation. 

The  tables  of  the  Knickerbockers  were  very  simple  in  the  variety  of 
their  viands,  but  prodigal  in  quantity.  Generally  there  Avas  a  bountiful 
repast  of  meats  or  poultry,  or  both,  with  vegetables.    These  constituted 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


85 


one  course,  and  were  followed  by  pies,  puddings,  tarts,  wine,  and  fruit 
— apples,  nuts,  and  raisins.  All  of  these  viands  were  prepared  under 
the  direct  supervision  of  the  mistress  of  the  household,  for  she  was  too 
well  instructed  in  cooking  matters  and  too  jealous  of  the  good  name  of 
her  cookery  to  delegate  this  business  to  hirelings. 

The  finest  furniture  then  in  general  use,  in  kind  and  quantity,  would 
now  be  called  mean.  There  were,  of  course,  exceptions.  The  parlors 
and  drawing-rooms  were  furnished  with  stiff,  high-backed,  and  ponder- 
ous mahogany  chairs,  upholstered  with  shining  hair-cloth  coverings  and 
standing  at  measured  distances  along  the  walls  of  the  rectangular 
rooms.  There  were  rocking-chairs  of  the  same  pattern  ;  also  sofas  of 
the  same  materials,  with  rounded  seats  and  hard  rolls  at  each  end,  which 
were  dignified  with  the  name  of  pillows — pillows  of  stone  ;  a  high 
mahogany  "secretary,'"  with  a  bookcase  with  glazed  doors  standing 
upon  it  ;  a  pier-table  for  the  family  Bible,  a  commentary,  and  a  psalm- 
and  hymn-book  ;  a  pier  (and  possibly  a  mantel)  mirror  ;  a  modest 
chandelier  for  the  use  of  wax  or  sperm  candles  (for  illuminating  gas  had 
not  yet  set  the  city  in  a  blaze  of  artificial  light);*  a  heavy  and  spacious 
mahogany  sideboard,  well  furnished  with  dumpy  decanters  filled  with 
Madeira  wine,  Santa  Cruz  rum,  and  cordials,  of  which  the  favorite 
was  called  "  perfect  love."  These  were  flanked  by  baskets  of  dough- 
nuts and  crullers,  free  to  all,  and  symbolized  the  universal  hospitality. 
"  I  went  to  housekeeping  in  1820,"  said  the  venerable  John  W.  De- 
grauw,  an  octogenarian  merchant,  to  the  writer,  "  and  the  largest  item 
of  our  expense  in  furnishing  the  building  was  for  a  sideboard  and  an 
elegant  collection  of  cut-glass  to  put  on  it."  A  spindle-legged  piano- 
forte (nearly  all  forte),  perhaps  the  most  extravagant  piece  of  furni- 
ture in  the  room,  nearly  completed  the  outfit.  The  windows  were 
veiled  with  green  Venetian,  inside  blinds,  and  modest  curtains,  while 
on  the  walls  hung  family  portraits,  a  "  sampler"  from  the  skilled  fingers 
of  a  loving  feminine  friend  or  relative,  and  in  the  houses  of  the  more 
wealthy  one  or  more  fine  paintings,  generally  copies  from  the  works  of 
the  old  masters  ;  also  a  few  choice  engravings. 

*  Illuminating  gas  was  first  permanently  introduced  into  New  York  in  1825.  Its  intro- 
duction had  been  unsuccessfully  attempted  in  1812.  The  New  York  Gas  Light  Company 
was  incorporated  in  1823,  with  a  capital  of  $1,000,000  The  extent  of  its  privileges  was 
limited  to  the  city  below  Canal  and  Grand  streets.  Pipes  were  first  laid  under  Broad- 
way from  the  Battery  to  Canal  Street.  Prejudices  had  to  be  encountered,  and  for  several 
years  the  progress  of  lighting  the  city  by  gas  was  slow.  In  1830  the  Manhattan  Gas 
Light  Company  was  incorporated,  with  a  capital  of  $500,000,  for  the  purpose  of  lighting 
the  upper  part  of  the  city.  The  method  soon  became  popular.  To-day  almost  the 
entire  island  has  a  network  of  gas-pipes  beneath  its  surface. 


80 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  fireplaces  in  these  houses  were  bordered  by  slabs  of  variegated 
Italian  marble,  the  shelves  supporting  high  silver  candlesticks  with 
snuffers  and  tray,  and  china  vases  on  pedestals  tilled  with  artificial 
flowers,  and  sometimes  with  natural  grasses. 

Most  of  the  better  class  of  dwellings  were  elegantly  finished  with 
solid  mahogany  doors  and  wainscoted  with  oak  or  other  woods.  The 
ceilings  were  high,  the  rooms  spacious,  and  even  the  country-seats  that 
dotted  the  island  here  and  there  were  beautifully  laid  out  with  well-cul- 
tivated gardens  and  lawns.  A  fine  house  on  Broadway  could  then  be 
rented  for  eight  hundred  dollars. 

In  these  houses  there  was  solid  domestic  enjoyment.  Great  oak  or 
hic  kory  logs  burned  on  huge  brass  andirons  in  the  spacious  fireplaces, 
tilling  the  rooms  with  a  soft  and  soothing  ruddy  glow,  for  anthracite 
was  not  in  common  use,  and  few  persons  indulged  in  the  luxury  of 
Liverpool  coal.  Hundreds  of  sloops  and  schooners  from  Hudson  River 
towns  and  from  Connecticut  and  Long  Island,  laden  with  fuel,  filled  the 
slips  in  autumn  in  the  North  and  East  rivers,  and  those  who  could 
afford  it  would  buy  a  sloop-load  of  oak  or  hickory  wood  in  the  fall  and 
have  it  sawed  and  piled  in  the  cellar  for  the  winter. 

It  was  the  hain't  of  many  families  to  have  the  servant  man  saw  and 
pile  the  wood,  and  to  give  him  as  a  perquisite  the  proceeds  of  the  sales 
of  the  ashes,  then  a  considerable  sum.  This  privilege  sometimes  quick- 
ened the  ambition  and  cupidity  of  servants,  and  impelled  them  to  make 
ashes  faster  than  a  prudent  housekeeper  would  permit.  The  eminent 
merchant,  Stephen  B.  Munn  (who  died  in  1856),  used  to  tell  the  story 
of  this  propensity  in  an  old  negro  servant  of  his.  Munn  had  put  into 
his  cellar  a  cargo  of  fine  hickory  wood.  He  was  aroused  one  night  by 
a  fearful  roaring  in  the  kitchen  chimney.  He  rushed  to  the  kitchen, 
where  he  found  the  old  negro  fast  asleep  before  a  blazing  pile  of  wood. 
On  demanding  what  this  meant,  the  dazed  old  man,  suddenly  aroused 
from  slumber,  said,  "  I — I — I'se  making  ashes,  to  be  sure,  master." 

The  domestic  amusements  of  the  Knickerbockers  were  simple  and 
pleasant.  In  the  summer  tea-parties  and  quilting-parties,  and  in  winter 
"  apple  cuts,"  were  the  staple  domestic  amusements  of  the  young  peo- 
ple. Assemblies  or  balls,  or  "  publics,"  as  they  were  called,  held  at 
early  hours,  and  the  theatre  and  circus  constituted  their  most  expensive 
amusements.  At  their  home-parties  the  chief  refreshments  offered 
were  apples,  nuts,  doughnuts,  cider,  and  mulled  wine. 

These  simple  and  healthful  homes — healthful  for  mind  and  body  — 
have  passed  away. 

Some  of  the  solid  old  furniture  yet  remains  with  families  of  Knicker- 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


booker  descent,  but  it  is  generally  concealed  from  view  in  garrets  or 
storerooms.  Its  presence  in  the  extravagantly  furnished  apartments  of 
to-day  would  be  an  unmistakable  indication  that  there  had  been  a 
family  back  of  it. 

The  barriers  which  guarded  these  homes  of  more  than  half  a  century 
ago  have  been  broken  down  by  those  twin  enemies  of  domestic  happi- 
ness, luxury  and  pride,  and  to-day  few  adult  persons  in  the  city  of  New 
York  are  living  in  mansions  wherein  they  were  born.  Society  lias  be- 
come restless  and  migratory,  and  every  member  seems  to  be  impelled  to 
motion  by  a  persistent  voice  like  that  forever  heard  behind  the  'k  Wan- 
dering Jew"'' — Go  on  ! 

The  modest,  unostentatious,  and  true  home  of  sixty  years  ago  has 
given  place  to  structures  and  interior  decorations  and  furnishings  which 
rival  the  creations  of  Aladdin  with  his  wonderful  lamp.  The  fashion- 
able quarters  of  the  city  now  present  long  lines  of  real  palaces — lines  of 
marvellous  specimens  of  skilled  labor  and  artistic  taste,  without  and 
within.  Are  these  structures  and  their  furnishings  homes  in  the  sense 
of  the  best  meaning  of  that  precious  word  ?  How  many  families  who 
now  occupy  these  palaces — these  temples  of  luxury — will  be  their  occu- 
pants even  at  that  period  in  the  near  future  when  the  resounding  hell 
of  Time  shall  toll  the  knell  of  the  departing  nineteenth  century  Of 
many  residents  of  the  city  who  were  boys  in  its  streets  fifty  years  ago, 
it  might  be  truthfully  recorded  : 

"  The  city,  he  saith,  is  fairer  far 

Than  one  which  stood  of  old  ; 
It  gleams  in  the  light  all  crimson  bright 

With  shifting  glimmers  of  gold. 
Where  be  the  homes  my  fathers  built, 

The  houses  where  they  prayed? 
I  see  in  no  sod  the  paths  they  trod, 

Nor  the  stones  my  fathers  laid. 
On  the  domes  they  spread,  the  roofs  they  reared, 

Has  passed  the  levelling  tide  ; 
My  fathers  lie  low,  and  their  sons  outgrow 

The  bounds  of  their  skill  and  pride." 

The  chief,  indeed  the  only  elegant  promenade  for  the  citizens  in  the 
Knickerbocker  days  was  the  Battery,  an  irregular  (in  outline)  piece  of 
level  ground  fifteen  or  twenty  acres  in  extent  at  the  foot  of  Broadway 
and  facing  the  harbor  of  New  York.  It  was  shaded  with  trees,  trav- 
ersed by  irregular  gravelled  walks,  and  beautified  by  more  irregular 
plots  of  grass.  It  was  furnished  with  benches  along  the  sea-front  and 
occasionally  in  other  parte  of  the  ground  :  and  there,  late  on  summer 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


afternoons  and  early  evenings,  might  always  be  seen  crowds  of  well- 
dressed  people  and  Hocks  of  happy  c  hildren,  enjoying  social  intercourse 
and  invigorating  sea-breezes  on  sultry  da  vs.  It  w  as  a  fashionable  resort 
and  a  genuine  luxury  for  all. 

State  Street,  w  hich  skirted  the  land  side  of  the  Battery,  the  vicinity 
of  the  Bowling  Green  and  Markettield  and  lower  Greenwich  streets, 
from  all  of  which  glimpses  of  the  harbor  might  be  obtained,  were  the 
chosen  places  of  residence  of  some  of  the  wealthier  and  fashionable 
citizens.  Mr.  Edgar,  a  famous  dry-goods  auctioneer  sixty  years  ago, 
built  a  house  on  Greenwich  Street,  a  few  doors  from  Battery  Place, 
which  was  admired  by  all  people  of  taste  ;  and  next  to  it  Luman 
Reed,  an  extensive  wholesale  grocer  and  a  great  patron  of  the  fine  arts, 
erected  a  splendid  mansion  adjoining  Edgar's.  It  was  tilled  with  tine 
paintings  and  other  works  of  art.  No.  1  Broadway  (demolished  in 
18*2),  a  spacious  mansion  clustered  with  historic  associations  of  the 
period  of  the  Revolution,  was  the  residence  of  Edward  Prime,  of  the 
great  banking-house  of  Prime,  Ward  &  King.  Next  to  it  had  been  the 
residence  of  Robert  Fulton.  Stephen  Whitney,  a  wholesale  grocer, 
w  ho  at  his  death  left  an  estate  worth  several  million  dollars,  occupied 
one  of  a  row  of  spacious  brick  houses  fronting  the  Bowling  Green  fifty 
veal's  ago.  Whitney's  was  on  the  comer  of  State  Street.  At  the  other 
end  of  the  row,  corner  of  Whitehall  Street,  lived  John  Hone,  of  the 
great  dry-goods  auction  house  of  Philip  and  John  Hone.  They  had 
amassed  a  fortune  and  dissolved  partnership  in  1S26,  when  Philip  had 
built  a  tine  mansion  on  Broadway,  near  Park  Place,  and  was  then,  or 
just  before,  mayor  of  the  city.  The  whole  neighborhood  of  the  Bowl- 
ing Green  was  occupied  by  some  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  enterprising 
business  men  in  the  city. 

On  State  Street  were  the  fine  residences  of  leading  business  men  of 
the  day.  No.  0  was  the  dwelling  of  Mr.  I  lowland  (Ilowland  &  Aspin- 
wall).  Next  to  it  was  the  house  of  a  son  of  Bishop  Moore.  Near  the 
corner  of  State  and  Bridge  streets  AVashington  Irving  lived,  and  at  29 
Whitehall  Street  was  the  dwelling  of  James  K.  Paulding,  a  large 
double  frame  house.  At  13  State  Street  was  the  residence  of  General 
Jacob  Morton,  the  chief  commander  of  the  city  militia,  and  directly  in 
front  of  his  house,  on  the  Battery,  was  the  Hollow — a  little  shallow 
pond  in  winter  whereon  the  boys  skated,  and  which  was  a  dry,  grassy 
playground  in  summer. 

General  Morton  always  reviewed  the  city  troops — the  "Tompkins 
Blues,"  the  "Pulaski  Cadets,"  and  others— on  the  Battery.  Indeed 
that  little  irregular  park  was  a  favorite  rendezvous  for  the  military  on 


JOHN  JACOB  ASTOR. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


"  training  days"  until  the  Washington  Parade-Ground  (now  Washing- 
ton Square)  was  established.  When  General  Morton  became  too  feeble 
to  mount  his  horse  he  reviewed  the  troops  from  his  balcony,  and  on 
these  occasions  received  from  them  the  compliment  of  a  marching 
salute. 

On  State  Street,  near  Pearl,  in  the  later  days  of  Knickerbocker  life  in 
New  York,  was  a  modest  two-storied  house,  the  inn  of  Peter  Bayard, 
himself  a  pure  Knickerbocker  of  Huguenot  descent.  For  many  years 
it  was  the  popular  resort  of  well-to-do  people  of  the  town  and  country, 
avIio  were  always  sure  of  finding  there  most  unexceptionable  turtle-soup 
and  other  gastronomic  delicacies.  The  house  was  always  full,  for  tran- 
sient sojourners  in  New  York  from  distant  cities  well  knew  the  house 
of  Peter  Bayard. 

Castle  Clinton  (now  known  as  Castle  Garden)  stood  near  the  western 
end  of  the  Battery,  and  was  reached  by  a  bridge.  It  has  undergone 
many  transformations,  while  the  Battery  has  been  enlarged  and  is  now 
known  as  Battery  Park.  At  its  eastern  extremity  is  a  station  of  an 
elevated  railway,  a  contrivance  for  rapid  transition  from  one  part  of 
the  city  to  another  which  the  Knickerbockers  never  dreamed  of.  These 
will  be  considered  hereafter. 

In  the  later  days  of  Knickerbocker  life  in  Xew  York,  Broadway, 
from  the  Battery  to  Prince  Street,  was  the  fashionable  street  prom- 
enade. Few  strolled  above  Canal  Street,  for  it  was  then  on  the  north- 
cm  border  of  the  business  domain. 

Broadway  was  then  a  modest,  quiet  lane  compared  with  the  great 
bustling  and  crowded  business  thoroughfare  of  to-day.  Where  now 
commercial  buildings  from  six  to  ten  stories  in  height  rise  in  splendor 
and  grandeur,  and  are  seen  miles  away,  into  what  was  then  the  green 
and  wooded  country  toward  Bloomingdale,  plain  brick  (and  many 
wooden)  buildings,  the  loftiest  three  stories  high,  were  seen.  These 
were  not  only  places  for  merchandise  and  traffic,  but  largely  for  dwell 
ings,  for  in  those  days  it  was  the  almost  universal  practice  for  the  fami- 
lies of  merchants  to  occupy  the  apartments  above  the  stores,  and  to 
board  the  few  clerks.  These  buildings  were  ornamented  only  with 
green  blinds,  and  the  front  door  of  entrance  to  the  family  apartments 
was  garnished  with  a  huge  and  shining  brass  knocker  and  door-plate. 
The  tinkling  door-bell  was  yet  an  undiscovered  luxury. 

Below  Park  Place  were  clustered  the  fashionable  retail  stores  of  the 
city,  distinguished  for  style  and  high  prices.  Among  these  the  more 
elderly  reader  will  remember  the  famous  furnishing  store  of  Clark  & 
Saxton,  where  only  the  fashionable  young  man  could  be  sure  of  being 


90 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


equipped  in  an  irreproachable  manner  with  minor  articles  of  his  toilet, 
alter  being  clothed  in  exquisite  style  at  the  establishment  of  Tryon, 
Wheeler  &  Derby,  booted  by  the  manufactures  of  Kimball  &  Rogers, 
and  crowned  with  a  St.  John  hat. 

Costume  in  the  latter  days  of  Knickerbocker  life  in  New  York,  say 
fifty  yeare  ago,  was  so  strictly  conventional  as  to  modes  and  colors  that 
any  departure  from  the  prescriptions  of  fashion  was  regarded  almost  as 
a  transgression  of  the  laws  of  taste.  In  this  matter  the  inexorable 
tyrant  fashion  ruled  supreme. 

Black  was  the  prevailing  color  for  men,  whether  in  the  counting- 
room,  the  parlor,  or  the  church  ;  at  dinner,  at  the  theatre,  or  at  a  ball. 
In  the  street  the  heads  of  men  were  covered  with  heavy,  high,  bell- 
crowned  hats  of  real  fur  (the  light,  shining  plush  silk  hat  was  then 
unknown),  long-napped  and  abundant.  Their  necks  were  encircled 
with  broad  satin  stocks,  which  tightly  inclosed  high  standing  sharp 
linen  collars  that  seemed  to  support  the  head  by  the  ears,  and  were 
pointed  like  the  cutwater  of  a  steamboat.  They  wore  short-waisted, 
long  and  narrow-skirted  black  frock-coats,  with  high  collars  and  tight 
sleeves  ;  black  pantaloons,  skin-tight,  the  legs  kept  in  place  by  straps 
beneath  the  boots  ;  and  boots,  high-heeled,  narrow  and  pointed  toes, 
and  made  so  tight  that  only  by  the  free  use  of  hooks  and  soap  could 
they  be  drawn  on.  Black  kid  gloves,  and  among  the  extremely  fash- 
ionable young  men  known  as  "  dandies"  a  small  black  cane,  completed 
the  costume. 

The  women  were  a  little  less  restricted  as  to  color,  but  in  form  were 
no  less  slaves  to  the  dressmaker  and  the  milliner.  They  appeared  in 
the  streets  with  a  hideous-appearing  bonnet  with  high  crown,  in  shape 
not  unlike  a  coal-scuttle,  and  often  trimmed  with  huge  bunches  of  arti- 
ficial flowers,  sometimes  with  a  full-blown  peony.  From  their  shoul- 
ders depended  loose  cloaks  or  shawls  which  effectually  hid  all  charm  of 
figure,  and  under  these,  plain  untrimmed  skirts  reaching  only  to  the 
ankles.  Below  the  skirts  appeared  spotless  white  hose  and  black  slip- 
pers, kept  in  place  by  black  silk  strings  wound  around  the  ankles. 
Their  heads  were  canopied  with  a  spacious  parasol  of  silk  deeply 
fringed,  and  with  a  ponderous  carved  ivory  handle.  From  their  arms 
depended  bags  of  richly  colored  silk  embroidered  with  many-hued 
beads.  In  their  hands  they  carried  a  pocket-handkerchief  trimmed 
with  lace  and  daintily  held  at  the  middle  by  the  forefinger  and 
thumb,  so  that  its  whole  dimensions  and  quality  might  be  seen,  for  upon 
these  was  often  estimated  the  pecuniary  standing  of  the  family.  In 
winter  their  necks  were  encircled  with  serpentine  rolls  of  fur  called  a 


FIRST  DECADE,  1330-1840. 


91 


"  boa,"  with  the  long  ends  dangling  in  front  ;  in  summer  its  comple- 
ment was  a  long  thin  scarf. 

Indoors  the  belles  of  that  clay  appeared  in  rather  low-necked  dresses, 
sometimes  fashioned  over  the  bust  in  the  form  of  a  bodice,  stilf  as  steel 
and  whalebone  could  make  it,  with  an  elastic,  steel  or  hickory  "  corset- 
board."  Generally  there  was  a  broad  waist-belt,  fastened  with  a  large 
and  sometimes  highly  ornamented  buckle.  The  sleeves  were  very 
large,  full,  and  puffed  above  the  elbows  into  a  pattern  styled  "  mutton- 
leg,"  which  gave  undue  breadth  to  the  shoulders  and  the  appearance  of 
small  span  to  the  waist.  The  "  mutton-leg,"  it  is  said,  was  intro- 
duced by  an  English  duchess  to  conceal  an  enormous  wen  on  one  of  her 
arms.  Below  the  elbow  the  sleeves  were  very  tight.  The  skirt,  as  in 
the  walking-dress,  was  short  and  composed  of  ample  materials.  Flow- 
ing over  the  shoulders  was  a  broad  and  elaborately  wrought  collar  of 
cambric  muslin  and  tine  needlework,  and  the  hair  was  arranged  in 
many  "puffs"  surmounted  by  a  bunch  of  artificial  flowers  or  a  tiny 
lace  cap.  Around  the  neck  was  coiled  a  massive  gold  chain,  having  a 
pendant  of  sufficient  length  to  secure  a  gold  watch,  which  was  slipped 
into  the  waist-belt. 

In  those  days  Contoit's  Garden,  on  the  west  side  of  Broadway,  be- 
tween Leonard  and  Franklin  streets,  was  a  fashionable  resort  for  all 
reputable  citizens  of  both  sexes,  young  and  old,  on  summer  afternoons 
and  evenings.  The  garden  was  comprised  in  a  long  narrow  lot  densely 
shaded  with  trees — so  densely  that  the  rays  of  the  sun  could  rarely 
enter.  It  presented  a  cool  retreat  on  sultry  afternoons  and  evenings, 
where  the  most  delicious  ice-cream  in  ample  dishes  and  ice-cold  lemon- 
ade with  pound-cake,  served  by  very  black  waiters  wearing  very  white 
aprons,  might  be  had  for  a  moderate  sum  of  money.  It  was  dimly 
lighted  at  evening  by  tiny  tapers  swimming  in  sperm  oil  in  hanging 
glass  globes,  appearing  but  little  brighter  than  so  many  fire-flies  on  a 
June  evening.  On  each  side  of  the  garden  were  stalls  painted  white 
and  green,  with  a  narrow  table  in  the  middle  of  each  and  furnished 
with  seats  for  four — if  packed,  for  six.  Contoit's  was  regarded  by  pru- 
dent parents  as  an  eminently  proper  resort  for  3roung  people  as  well  as 
elders  to  have  refreshments,  for  no  liquor  was  sold  there,  and  there 
were  never  any  naughty  scenes  enacted  there. 

It  was  at  about  this  time,  or  perhaps  a  few  years  earlier,  that  the 
families  of  the  wealthier  and  more  aristocratic  citizens  were  pushed  out 
of  Broadway  by  the  pressure  of  encroaching  business,  and  found  more 
quiet  residences  away  from  the  turmoil  of  trade  and  the  din  of  vehicles 
on  the  cobble-stones.    Cedar  and  Liberty,  John  and  Fulton  streets  had 


92 


HISTOUY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


been  given  up  .almost  wholly  to  business  ;  yet  in  all  of  these  some  fam- 
ilies—scions of  the  old  Knickerbocker  race — still  remained,  even  then 
clinging  to  homes  in  Wall  Street.  The  dwellings  in  Cortlandt,  Yesey, 
and  Dey  streets  were  rapidly  becoming  hoarding-houses,  while  in  Park 
Place,  Murray,  Warren,  and  Chambers  streets  many  members  of  the 
oldest  families  occupied  fine  residences,  such  as  the  Crugers,  Pauldings, 
Lees,  Bayards,  De  Peysters,  Aliens,  Clintons,  Van  Cortlandts,  Lau- 
renses,  Beekmans,  Duanes,  and  others— men  who  had  assisted  in  laying 
the  broad  foundations  of  the  amazing  prosperity  of  the  city  of  New 
York  since  that  time. 

Some  of  these  men  removed  farther  away  from  the  husiness  portions 
of  the  city  and  built  fine  residences  on  Leonard,  Franklin,  and  White 
streets,  also  on  St.  John's  Park,  in  front  of  St.  John's  Chapel.  White 
Street  was  the  most  direct  way  from  Broadway  to  the  chapel,  and  very 
soon  elegant  brick  dwelling-houses  were  built  on  it.  It  was  for  many 
years  the  fashionable  part  of  the  city. 

On  White  Street,  near  Broadway,  lived  Francis  Depau,  the  owner  of 
a  line  of  Havre  packets,  whose  wife  was  Silvio,  one  of  the  daughters  of 
Count  de  Grasse.  They  had  a  family  of  most  beautiful  daughters. 
One  of  these  married  Washington  Coster.  She  was  pronounced  "the 
most  beautiful  girl  that  over  trod  Broadway." 

Hotel  and  boarding-house  life  for  families  was  almost  unknown  fifty 
or  sixty  years  ago.  A  family  who,  from  choice  and  without  pressing 
necessity,  took  up  their  permanent  abode  in  a  hotel  or  boarding-house 
lost  caste  ;  and  those  who  were  compelled  to  do  so  by  circumstances 
were  objects  of  pity  and  commiseration.  The  consequence  was  that  the 
few  hotels  in  the  city  at  that  time  depended  for  support  on  transient 
visitors  and  unmarried  men. 

The  grandest  inn  and  the  most  noted  boarding-house  at  that  time 
were  the  City  Hotel,  which  occupied  the  entire  front  between  Cedar 
and  Thames  streets,  and  the  boarding-house  of  Miss  Margaret  Mann, 
popularly  known  as  "  Aunt  Margaret,"  at  01  Broadway.  Her  house, 
in  size  and  accommodations,  might  have  been  called  an  inn.  There  from 
time  to  time  distinguished  persons  found  comfortable  temporary  homes. 
Among  these  were  John  Sinclair,  the  famous  Scotch  vocalist  (father  of 
Mi's.  Edwin  Forrest),  at  his  first  appearance  at  the  Park  Theatre  in  the 
fall  of  1831.  There,  too,  Tyrone  Power,  the  inimitable  Irish  come- 
dian, was  a  "  guest"  for  a  time,  when  he  first  appeared  in  America,  in 
the  summer  of  1S33.  Aunt  Margaret"  will  be  remembered  by  some 
of  the  older  citizens  as  a  driving  business  woman,  masculine  in  appear- 
ance and  manners,  thick-set  and  stout,  but  nimble  of  foot  and  more 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


93 


nimble  of  tongue  when  it  was  loosened  by  provocation.  But  under 
her  rough  exterior  was  concealed  as  kindly  a  heart  as  ever  throbbed  in 
the  breast  of  woman,  and  those  who  knew  her  best  respected  her 
most. 

The  City  Hotel  was  a  plain  brick  structure  four  stories  in  height,  and 
pierced  in  front  by  nearly  forty  windows.  It  was  the  most  noted  hotel 
in  the  Union,  and  magnates  from  everywhere  visiting  the  city  found 
an  agreeable  home  there.  It  was  almost  without  adornment,  inside  and 
outside.  Tight  inside  shutters  at  the  windows  excluded  light  and  air, 
the  furniture  was  plain  but  substantial,  and  the  table  was  always  a 
model  of  cleanliness  and  abundance.  While  Jennings  and  "Willard 
were  its  proprietors  the  City  Hotel  was  the  theatre  of  public  banquets, 
receptions  of  distinguished  persons,  the  fashionable  rendezvous  of 
dancers  at  balls  or  assemblies,  and  conceits  ;  indeed  it  was  a  focal 
point  of  public  entertainments  outside  the  theatres. 

Dancing  was  indulged  in  to  a  very  moderate  extent  in  the  later  days 
of  Knickerbocker  life  in  New  York.  It  was  discountenanced  by  the 
Church,  was  considered  almost  improper  by  fastidious  people,  and  plain 
cotillons  and  even  the  more  exacting  Spanish  dance  were  regarded  by 
the  gayer  people  as  too  tame  to  be  very  attractive. 

At  that  time  John  Charaud  was  the  "Teat  "  dancing-master"  in  the 
city,  and  taught  the  art  to  many  of  the  elderly  men  and  women  of 
to-day  who  were  natives  of  New  York.  He  used  the  ladies1  dining- 
room  of  the  City  Hotel  for  giving  instructions  in  dancing,  and  there, 
with  its  eminently  respectable  surroundings,  he  gave  "publics,'"  or 
gatherings  of  the  parents  of  boys  and  girls  who  were  his  pupils,  at 
stated  times,  to  witness  the  scientific  movements  of  their  children. 
Charaud  used  this  room  until  he  built  his  famous  ball-room  in  White 
Street,  between  Church  and  Chapel  streets.  He  lived  until  he  was 
about  fourscore  and  ten,  and  danced  until  the  last.  He  had  lived  to 
see  the  best  population  of  the  town  flee  before  rapacious  business,  miles 
to  the  northward  and  yet  within  the  thronging  city,  and  his  famous 
ball-room  became  a  dog-pit,  where  the  dregs  of  society  herded. 

The  ladies'  dining-room  of  the  City  Hotel  was  hired  for  concert  pur- 
poses by  foreign  artists  Avho  came  to  New  York.  A  little  later  than 
the  time  Ave  are  considering,  Henry  Russell,  an  English  vocalist,  sang 
in  that  room,  and  there  he  first  introduced  to  the  public  General 
Morris's  famous  song,  "  Woodman,  Spare  that  Tree." 

Russell,  though  regarded  by  educated  musicians  and  musical  critics 
as  an  inferior  artist,  became  quite  a  "  lion"  in  New  York.  He  and 
the  author  of  "  Woodman,  Spare  that  Tree,"  often  met  in  social  circles. 


94  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

It  is  related  that  on  one  of  these  occasions,  when  Captain  Marryat,  the 
eminent  English  novelist,  was  of  the  company,  Russell  was  invited  to 
sing  the  popular  song.  As  he  was  singing  the  closing  stanza,  Marryat 
approached  the  piano  and  laid  before  the  vocalist  the  following  para- 
phrase of  the  first  stanza,  written  in  pencil  : 

"  Lady,  give  me  tea, 

And  I  will  make  a  bow  ; 
In  youth  it  pleased  me, 

And  I  do  love  it  now. 
'Twas  my  old  mother's  hand 

That  poured  it  from  the  pot  ; 
Pray,  lady,  let  it  stand. 

For  it  is  too  d— d  hot !" 

Russell  sang  the  paraphrase  amid  great  merriment,  in  which  the 
author  heartily  joined. 


V 


CHAPTEE  III. 


HE  methods  in  the  conduct  of  funerals  in  the  Knickerbocker  era 


-L  were  peculiar.  The  religious  ceremonies  were  usually  performed 
at  the  home  of  the  deceased,  where,  after  they  were  ended,  liquors  were 
dispensed  to  the  whole  company  in  attendance.  Those  who  for  want 
of  room  were  compelled  to  remain  outside  the  house,  were  served  by 
colored  waiters  with  towels  on  their  arms,  and  bearing  rilled  decanters 
with  glasses  on  a  salver.  These  liquors  were  generally  cordials,  which 
exhilarated  but  did  not  intoxicate. 

The  graveyards  were  usually  not  far  from  the  dwellings,  and  instead 
of  employing  a  hearse  the  coffin  was  carried  on  a  bier,  on  the  shoulders 
of  four  men,  while  the  pall-bearers  walked  alongside  and  held  the  black 
tassels  of  the  pall.  Each  of  these  pall-bearers,  as  well  as  the  minister 
and  the  physician,  was  furnished  with  a  fine  white  linen  scarf  having 
sufficient  material  to  make  a  shirt.  This  fashion  of  furnishing  scarfs 
became  an  arbitrary  custom,  which  often  bore  heavily  upon  the 
resources  of  families  in  moderate  circumstances.  Many  worthy  people 
were  sorely  pinched  to  provide  this  apparently  necessary  mark  of 
respect  for  deceased  relatives. 

At  length  members  of  the  old  Tontine  Association — the  most  re- 
spectable society  in  the  city — resolved  to  relieve  the  community  of  this 
burden.  Some  prominent  member  called  a  meeting  at  the  old  Tontine 
Coffee- House,  in  Wall  Street,  to  discuss  the  subject.  Nearly  two 
hundred  persons  were  present — men  of  weight  in  social  influence— and 
these  all  signed  a  pledge  that  they  would  abstain  from  the  custom  of 
supplying  scarfs  at  funerals,  except  to  the  clergyman  and  attending 
physician.  Their  action  was  immediately  felt  in  a  rapid  decline  of  the 
custom,  and  a  happy  relief  of  the  community  from  a  grievous  burden  to 
many. 

Eestaurants  (then  called  "eating-houses")  were  almost  unknown 
even  in  the  later  days  of  Knickerbocker  life  in  New  York.  They 
were  among  the  earlier  indications  of  "  foreign  influence' 1  in  the  social 
system  of  the  city,  which  has  transformed  homo  diners  at  noon  into 
absentees  from  the  mid-dav  meal.    At  the  tallies  of  these  "  eating- 


96 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


houses"'  a  curious  collection  of  men,  young  and  old,  might  be  seen. 
The  spruce  merchant's  clerk,  neatly  attired,  sat  silently  by  the  side  of 
a  drayman  in  coarse  blouse  or  a  begrimed  street  laborer  in  overalls. 

For  a  long  time  these  places  were  shunned  by  the  conservative  and 
home  loving  Knickerbockers  as  vulgar  ;  and  so  they  were.  ]N"o  re- 
spectable woman  was  ever  seen  entering  their  doors.  She  would  faint 
with  hunger  before  she  would  risk  the  social  stigma.  Even  so  late  as 
1S35,  when  James  Thompson  opened  a  "  saloon"  at  117  Broadway  for 
the  sale  of  cakes  and  other  delicacies  for  the  special  accommodation  of 
ladies  out  a-shopping,  and  presented  delicious  temptations  in  his 
windows,  shoppers  were  seldom  beguiled  into  the  attractive  room, 
although  the  sisters  of  the  proprietor,  middle-aged  women,  were  in 
attendance.  Society  said  it  was  not  proper  ;  but  society,  like  an 
individual,  changes  its  opinions.  Thompson,  after  patient  waiting  in 
faith  and  after  preparing  a  palace,  richly  decorated,  up  Broadway,  near 
where  Contort  flourished,  found  society  yielding.  The  taboo  was 
gradually  removed.  Society  said  ladies  and  gentlemen,  and  even  ladies 
alone,  might  with  propriety  enter  and  partake  of  good  things  offered. 
Knickerbocker  fastidiousness  and  shrinking  modest v  gave  wav. 

Alter  a  while,  when  families  left  apartments  over  stores  and  moved 
up  town,  dining-rooms  for  gentlemen  became  popular.  Among  the 
earlier  of  these  was  that  of  Clarke  &  Brown,  near  the  junction  of 
Maiden  Lane  and  Liberty  Street.  It  became  a  daily  resort  for  mer- 
chants and  professional  men.  For  a  long  time  it  was  visited  almost 
exclusively  by  Englishmen,  who  there  found  their  favorite  rare  roast 
beef,  steaks  barely  warmed  through,  plum-puddings,  and  "  Burton's 
stock  ale,"  though  brewed  by  Mr.  Yassar  at  Poughkeepsie  or  at  Phila- 
delphia. The  Knickerbockers  did  not  take  kindly  to  this  fare.  They 
were  accustomed  to  thoroughly  cooked  food,  and  did  not  like  the  crim- 
son juice  as  a  substitute  for  gravy.  But  after  a  while  Knickerbocker 
prejudice  gave  way  ;  Knickerbocker  taste  changed,  and  the  dining- 
rooms  of  Clarke  6c  Brown  became  a  cosmopolitan  resort  for  hungry 
men. 

Meanwhile  a  thoroughly  American  restaurant,  which  was  dignified 
with  the  name  of  the  Auction  Hotel,  was  opened  in  "Water  Street,  near 
Wall  Street.  It  derived  its  title  from  its  proximity  to  the  great  auc- 
tion rooms  of  Ilaggerty  6c  Sons.  "Wilmerding  &  Co.,  and  other  famous 
auctioneers.  The  proprietor  had  been  a  merchant,  failed  in  business, 
opened  this  restaurant,  and  was  very  prosperous.  One  day  he  invited 
all  his  creditors  to  a  bountiful  repast.  The  table  was  spread  in  an 
upper  private  room.    In  the  napkins  placed  before  each  guest  was 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


97 


found  a  sealed  envelope,  which  when  opened  was  found  to  contain  a 
check  for  the  principal  and  interest  of  their  respective  claims.  This 
honest  act  brought  to  the  proprietor  the  substantial  reward  of  vastly 
increased  business,  and  he  died  a  rich  man. 

At  about  this  time  a  colored  man  named  Downing  became  famous 
among  lovers  of  oysters — and  who  is  not  a  lover  of  oysters  ? — because 
of  his  rare  skill  in  preparing  them  for  the  table.  Downing's  "  oyster 
cellar"  consisted  of  the  basement  of  two  small  buildings  in  Broad 
Street,  near  Wall  Street.  It  became  the  favorite  resort  of  merchants, 
bankers,  brokers,  lawyers,  and  politicians — a  sort  of  social  exchange. 
Downing  flourished,  was  called  "  Prince  Saddleback,"  accumulated  a 
fortune,  and  at  a  ripe  old  age  left  the  establishment  and  its  "good 
will  "  to  his  son,  George  T. 

Another  famous  restaurant -keeper  was  Edward  Windust,  who  occu- 
pied a  basement  on  Park  Row,  near  the  old  Park  Theatre.  It  was  a 
favorite  resort  of  theatrical  and  literary  people  of  every  degree.  Be- 
tween the  plays  at  the  Park  it  was  always  crowded  with  jolly  fellows. 
The  walls  were  adorned  with  quaint  and  curious  reminiscences  of  the 
drama:  musty  old  theatre  bills,  a  piece  of  some  ancient  wardrobe,  a 
frame  with  a  lock  of  Shakespeare's  hair,  a  sword  used  on  the  stage  by 
Garrick,  on  a  shelf  a  rare  volume  of  plays  and  other  antiquated  arti- 
cles familiar  to  players.    It  was  an  actor's  museum. 

At  Windust's  half  a  century  ago,  or  even  within  a  generation, 
actors  and  literary  magnates  met  nightly  in  social  intercourse.  There 
might  have  been  seen,  fifty  or  more  years  ago,  Cooper,  Edmund  Kean, 
Junius  Brutus  Booth  (father  of  Edwin  Booth),  T.  G.  Hamblin,  the 
Wallacks  (Henry  and  James),  Henry  Placide,  Simpson,  the  manager  of 
the  Park  ;  "  Old  Barnes,"  and  a  score  of  lesser  theatrical  lights,  with 
leading  men  in  the  realm  of  literature  and  art  in  the  city  at  that  time. 

Windust  became  rich,  and  with  riches  came  undue  ambition.  He 
left  his  famous  basement  in  Park  Bow  and  opened  the  Athenaeum 
Hotel,  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Leonard  Street,  where  his  beau- 
tiful daughters  and  nieces  might  have  been  seen  flitting  through  the 
halls  and  up  the  staircases.  Windust  had  entered  waters  too  deep 
for  him,  in  trying  to  keep  a  hotel.  The  Athenaeum  was  soon  closed. 
He  went  back  to  his  basement,  but  its  prestige  had  departed  never  to 
return. 

These  were  the  principal  restaurant-keepers  in  New  York  half  a  cen- 
tury ago,  and  were  participants  in  the  social  transformation  to  which 
allusion  has  been  made. 

Another  feature  of  this  social  transformation  in  Xew  York  appeared 


1JS 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


more  than  fifty  years  ago,  when  Dehnonico  and  Guerin  established 
cafes — a  purely  European  innovation.  They  were  the  pioneers  in  the 
business  in  New  York.  They  began  on  a  small  scale.  Delmonico's 
establishment  was  in  a  small  store  on  William  Street,  opposite  the 
North  Dutch  Church.  It  contained  a  half-dozen  pine  tables,  and 
wooden  chairs  to  match,  and  on  a  board  counter  covered  with  snow- 
white  napkins  was  ranged  the  scanty  assortment  of  delicacies  to  be 
served.  lie  had  earthenware  cups  and  saucers,  two-tined  forks  and 
knives  with  buck-bone  handles,  common  "  blown"'  glassware,  and  a 
large  tin  coffee-pot.  His  tiny  bill  of  fare  contained  the  mysterious 
words  now  so  common— "  filets,"  "cafe,"  "chocolat,"  "macaroni," 
"  petit  verne,"  and  other  French  names.  These  were  served  by  Del- 
monico  in  person,  who  was  distinguished  by  a  white  paper  cap  and 
apron.  His  courteous  manner  and  his  novelties  soon  attracted  the 
young  Knickerbockers,  who  acknowledged  his  cookery  to  be  superior 
to  any  known  in  the  city.  13ut  these  youths  made  their  visits  at  in- 
tervals, generally  indulging  in  the  pleasures  of  the  cafe  on  a  Saturday 
afternoon,  when  two  or  three  would  agree  to  meet  there,  but  in  a 
secret  way,  for  it  seemed  to  them  as  almost  forbidden  ground. 

The  customers  of  Dehnonico  gradually  increased  until  his  little  shop 
became  too  small  for  their  accommodation,  and  he  removed  to  Hanover 
Square,  where,  in  the  great  conflagration,  his  continually  growing 
establishment  was  licked  up  by  the  rapacious  flames  and  disappeared  in 
smoke.  Phcenix-like,  it  arose  from  the  ashes  rejuvenated,  and  on  the 
corner  of  William  and  Beaver  streets  he  built  a  spacious  restaurant, 
where  he  and  his  brothers,  with  their  sons  and  nephews,  accumulated 
fortunes.  "  Delmonico's"  to-day  is  the  most  extensive,  magnificent, 
and  expensive  cctfe  on  this  continent. 

Delmonico's  rival  at  first  was  Francis  Guerin,  a  Frenchman,  who 
opened  a  cafe  on  Broadway,  opposite  the  City  Hotel.  His  slum-window 
was  a  most  inviting  temptation  to  the  palate.  There  was  pastry  of  all 
kinds,  French  confectionery  in  handsome  boxes,  bottles  of  cordials, 
and  all  kinds  of  fruit  in  their  season.  Inside,  on  a  long  table,  were  dis- 
played tarts  and  confections  in  abundance.  Sandwiches,  sardines,  and 
the  sweet  things  just  mentioned  were  the  staple  offerings  of  the  estab- 
lishment to  its  customers.  It  was  never  a  real  cafe,  though  a  little 
coffee  and  chocolate  were  furnished  in  a  small  room  at  the  rear  of  the 
store  ;  and  there,  in  summer,  ice-cream  might  be  procured.  It  was 
never  entered  by  laches,  and  it  finally  degenerated  into  a  cosmopolitan 
drinking-saloon.  As  such  it  became  very  popular,  and  Guerin  soon 
made  a  fortune. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


99 


Delmonico  was  a  generous,  enterprising  Italian,  who  started  on  a 
fixed  plan,  and  adhered  to  it;  a  sound,  intelligent  man,  who  aimed  to 
please  both  the  eye  and  palate,  and  lived  to  find  his  fame  established 
all  over  the  United  States,  and  even  in  Europe.  Guerin  was  a  penuri- 
ous Frenchman,  without  personal  ambition,  who  accumulated  an  im- 
mense estate,  but  left  no  record  of  how  he  lived  or  how  he  died. 

It  was  at  near  the  close  of  the  Knickerbocker  era  in  Xew  York  that 
the  convenient  omnibus  was  first  introduced  into  the  city  by  a  shrewd 
Connecticut  man  (Humphrey  Phelps),  who  afterward  became  quite  an 
extensive  map  publisher  in  the  metropolis.  He  was  the  driver  of  his 
own  vehicle.  The  hint  was  instantly  acted  upon,  and  when  the  sys- 
tem was  fairly  inaugurated  there  were  three  rival  lines,  and  Phelps  left 
the  field  to  his  competitors.  Before  the  advent  of  these  vehicles  citizens 
who  could  not  afford  to  own  a  coach  depended  on  their  own  natural 
powei^s  of  locomotion. 

The  first  omnibus  appeared  in  1830.  It  traversed  Broadway,  from 
the  Bowling  Green  to  Bleecker  Street.  In  stormy  weather,  or  Avhen 
there  was  a  lady  among  the  passengers,  the  obliging  driver  would  go 
as  far  as  the  Kip  mansion,  on  the  site  of  the  Xew  York  Hotel. 

The  omnibuses  were  few  in  number.  They  were  finely  decorated, 
and  bore  the  names  of  distinguished  American  citizens  emblazoned 
on  their  sides.  There  was  the  "  Lady  Washington,"  the  "  Lady 
Clinton,"  the  "George  Washington,"  'the  "  De  Witt  Clinton,"  the 
"  Benjamin  Franklin."  the  "  Thomas  Jefferson,"  etc.  These  vehicles 
were  drawn  by  four  matched  horses. 

The  rival  lines  of  stages  were  owned  respectively  by  Abraham 
Brower,  Evan  Jones,  and  —  Colvill.  Brower's  "  stables"  were  mere 
sheds,  on  Broadway,  opposite  Bond  Street  ;  Jones's  were  on  White 
Street,  and  ColvilPs  on  Grand  Street,  just  east  of  Broadway.  The 
fetes  (one  shilling  each)  were  collected  by  a  small  boy  who  stood  on 
the  step  at  the  entrance  to  the  omnibus. 

Yery  soon  a  fourth  line  of  omnibuses  was  established  by  Asa  Hall,  a 
hatter  on  Dey  Street,  which  started  from  the  corner  of  Pine  and  Xas- 
sau  streets,  went  up  Broadway  to  Canal  Street,  thence  to  Hudson 
Street,  and  by  the  green  fields  and  gardens  until  it  reached  the  village 
of  Greenwich,  the  terminus  of  the  route  being  (present)  Charles  Street. 
The  fare  was  twenty-five  cents  each.  This  afterward  famous  "  Green- 
wich Line"  of  stages  Hall  sold  to  two  enterprising  young  men,  Messrs. 
Kip  and  Brown.  They  made  money  rapidly.  Kip  became  the  soul  of 
enterprise  and  good  deeds  in  Greenwich  Yillage.  The  business  of  the 
route  was  finally  ruined  by  the  building  of  the  Eighth  Avenue  Rail- 


100 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


road.  Kip  lost  his  fortune  largely  in  litigation  with  the  huge  monopoly, 
and  died  poor. 

In  those  days  the  livery  business  was  so  risky  that  its  accommoda- 
tions were  few.  If  a  gentleman  desired  to  take  a  lady  on  a  ride  out  of 
town,  and  did  not  possess  a  carriage  of  his  own,  he  was  compelled  to 
search  the  city  for  a  nice  one,  and  give  a  day  or  two's  notice  in  order  to 
secure  it. 

Society,  so  called,  near  the  close  of  the  Knickerbocker  era  in  Xew 
York,  was  not  subdivided  as  now.  Business  was  open,  straightforward, 
truthful,  and  sincere.  ^len  made  fortunes  by  industry  and  thrift,  and 
kept  them  by  the  exercise  of  prudence  and  sound  judgment.  They  did 
not,  as  a  rule,  retire  from  business  to  live  an  idle  life,  unless  compelled 
to  do  so  by  old  age  or  sickness.  Tbere  seemed  to  be  no  royal  road  to 
wealth  or  distinction.  The  road  to  these  acquisitions  was  the  old 
beaten  track,  and  pursued  by  men  of  every  degree.  Fortunes  were  not 
made  and  lost  in  a  day.  Gambling  in  stocks  was  unknown.  Credit 
was  based  more  upon  personal  character  than  upon  estates. 

There  were  few  overshadowing  fortunes  in  those  days.  Rich  men 
(then  so  esteemed)  did  not,  as  a  rule,  possess  more  of  an  estate  in  value 
than  the  sums  now  annually  spent  by  many  men  in  meeting  the 
expenses  of  their  respective  princely  habitations.  Everyman  who  paid 
his  debts  punctually,  thrived  by  frugality,  and  rigidly  conformed  to  the 
requirements  of  social  ethics,  was  thoroughly  respected  by  all  classes, 
whether  he  was  a  professional  man,  a  merchant,  or  an  artisan,  for  it 
was  the  prevailing  sentiment  in  society  that 

"  Worth  makes  the  man,  the  want  of  it  the  fellow." 

Dinner  and  evening  parties  were  not  frequent,  even  among  the  rich, 
and  stated  reception  days  or  evenings  were  not  known,  for  calls  or 
visits  were  acts  of  genuine  friendship,  and  not  of  mere  ceremony,  as 
now.  There  was  always  a  warm  welcome  for  all  proper  visitors,  and 
the  recipient  of  guests  was  not  "put  out"  by  an  unceremonious 
call. 

On  particular  occasions,  like  that  of  a  wedding,  cards  of  invitation 
were  sent  out  ;  outside  experts  were  employed,  and  much  ceremony, 
as  in  the  olden  time,  was  observed.  About  1830  a  colored  man  named 
Jackson,  who  lived  in  Howard  .Street,  was  the  renowned  caterer  on 
such  occasions.  He  was  the  final  umpire  in  all  cases,  excepting  when  a 
jury  of  old  ladies,  whose  youth  had  been  spent  in  the  last  century,  de- 
cided otherwise.    He  was  pompous  and  fussy,  and  was  seen  at  all  the 


FIR^T  DECADE,  18:J0-1840. 


101 


great  wedding  parties.  The  wedding-cake  in  those  days  was  almost 
invariably  made  by  good  Katie  Ferguson,  a  colored  woman  in  Warren 
Street,  who  organized  the  first  Sunday-school  in  the  city  of  New  York. 
The  cake  was  made  at  the  home  of  the  bride,  and  Katie  was  sent  for 
from  all  quarters  to  superintend  its  composition. 

At  the  wedding  feast  everything  bore  the  features  of  solidity,  though 
dainty  delicacies  were  not  wanting.  Abundance  was  a  conspicuous 
feature.  Hams,  chickens,  turkeys,  sometimes  game,  home-made  pre- 
serves, brandy-peaches,  nuts,  lady-apples,  oranges,  grapes,  and  raisins 
were  seen  in  high  china  dishes.  A  towering  form  of  ice-cream  from 
Contoit's  graced  the  table  and  gave  promise  to  the  palate  of  delicious 
enjoyment.  Champagne  was  seldom  used,  but  port,  sherry,  and 
Madeira  always  enlivened  the  marriage-supper.  Wherever  in  the  room 
a  silver  candlestick  could  be  placed,  wax  candles  added  their  soft,  mel- 
low light  to  that  of  astral  lamps. 

Social  evening  gatherings  were  preceded  by  invitations  "  to  tea"  or 
"to  spend  the  evening."  In  either  case  it  was  understood  that  the 
guests  were  to  appear  as  early  as  seven  o'clock,  and  retire  not  later 
than  ten  o'clock.  To  "  spend  the  evening"  implied  engaging  in 
simple  social  enjoyment,  untrammelled  by  conventional  rules.  Their 
enjoyment  consisted  in  dancing,  singing,  a  quiet  game  of  whist  by  the 
elders,  and  "  plays,"  such  as  "  button,  button,  who's  got  the  button  ?" 
"  hunt  the  slipper, "  "pawns,"  etc.,  by  the  young  people.  Only  the 
modest  cotillon  and  sometimes  the  ancient  minuet  were  allowed,  for 
New  York  had  not  yet  consented  to  let  its  sons  and  daughters  engage 
in  the  round  dances  or  the  exciting  waltz.  Refreshments  were  handed 
round  by  waiters. 

At  "  tea"  everything  was  informal.  The  mistress  of  the  household 
presided  at  the  table.  The  family  silver,  china,  and  cut-glass  ware 
were  displayed,  and  there  was  a  bountiful  provision  of  shortcake,  bis- 
cuits, preserves,  dried  beef,  sweet-cake,  and  tea  and  coffee.  At  these 
evening  gatherings  of  friends,  the  majority  of  the  company  were  of  the 
gentler  sex. 

Public  balls"  or  "  assemblies"  at  the  Apollo  Rooms,  in  Broadway 
near  Canal  Street,  though  conducted  with  great  propriety,  were 
regarded  as  indelicate  if  not  vulgar  by  the  staid  Knickerbockers,  and  it 
was  not  until  balls,  disguised  under  the  name  of  "  reunions,"  conducted 
by  the  reigning  prince  of  dancers,  Charaud,  were  held  at  the  City 
Hotel  that  Knickerbocker  fastidiousness  consented  to  give  free  rein  to 
the  inclination  of  the  young  people  in  that  direction.  Charaud  had 
taught  their  mothers  and  even  grandmothers  the  art  of  dancing,  and 


102 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


he,  as  floor  manager,  stamped  these  "  reunions''  with  the  seal  of  pro- 
priety. 

The  drama,  presenting  the  great  masters  in  literature  and  the  histri- 
onic art,  was  always  a  fascinating  and  instructive  amusement  ;  hut  the 
theatre  was  not  generally  popular  among  thoughtful  Knickerbockers, 
hecause  of  its  shortcomings  in  intellect  and  morals,  until  the  judicious 
management  of  the  Park  Theatre,  by  Price  and  Simpson,  overcame  all 
serious  objections.  More  and  more  frequently  Knickerbocker  families 
of  influence  (excepting  church-members^  were  seen  in  the  dress-circle  at 
the  Parle,  and  it  was  admitted  that  the  playhouse  so  conducted  was 
highly  reputable. 

The  Park  Theatre  was  built  in  179S.  It  was  destroyed  by  fire  and 
rebuilt  in  1821,  and  its  auditorium  was  so  extensive  that  twenty-five 
hundred  persons  might  be  comfortably  seated  in  it.  The  scenery  was 
mostly  painted  by  the  skilful  hand  of  John  Evers,  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design,  yet  (1883)  living  at 
Hempstead,  L.  I.  Its  interior  decorations  were  attractive,  but  its 
front,  on  Park  Bow.  was  so  plain  that  it  might  have  been  mistaken  for 
an  old-fashioned  Methodist  meeting-house,  had  not  a  wooden  statue  of 
Shakespeare,  standing  over  the  main  entrance,  proclaimed  it  a  temple 
of  the  histrionic  muse. 

The  entrances  to  the  Park  Theatre  were  narrow  and  dark,  the  utter 
blackness  being  subdued  by  the  feeble  light  of  oil  lamps.  The  lobbies 
were  dingy  and  dirty,  and  as  plain  as  the  mason  and  carpenter  could 
make  them.  The  auditorium  consisted  of  three  tiers  of  seats  and  the 
pit,  now  styled  the  parcmet.  In  the  former  were  settees,  with  backs 
covered  with  dark  maroon.  The  pit,  wholly  occupied  by  men  and  boys, 
was  entered  by  a  subterranean  passage.  The  benches  were  with- 
out cushions,  with  barely  enough  room  between  them  for  persons  to 
crowd  by. 

Such  was  the  "  finest  playhouse  in  America"  half  a  century  ago. 
Between  1821  and  lS:5o  eminent  actors  (chiefly  English)  trod  its  boards 
— Matthews.  Cooper,  Cook,  Edmund  Kean,  Macreadv,  Junius  Brutus 
Booth,  the  excellent  Mrs.  "Wheat  ley.  and  several  young  aspirants  for 
Thespian  fame  who  afterward  became  bright  luminaries  in  the  theatrical 
firmament.  It  was  at  the  Park  Theatre,  on  the  evening  of  November 
12,  1S2<>,  that  the  beautiful  domestic  drama  entitled  Clari,  th<-  Mfrid  of 
Milan,  written  by  our  countryman,  John  Howard  Payne,  was  first 
performed  in  America.  It  was  operatic  in  style,  and  contained  that 
pathetic  song,  "  Home,  Sweet  Home,"  which  gave  the  author  immor- 
tality in  the  world's  literature.    The  music  of  the  play  was  written  by 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


103 


Sir  Henry  Bishop,  who  composed  a  large  portion  of  the  music  for 
Moore's  Irish  melodies,  the  air  being  suggested  by  Payne  himself.* 

Near  the  close  of  the  Knickerbocker  era  the,  Italian  opera  was 
first  introduced  into  New  York  by  Signor  Manuel  Garcia,  an  eminent 
tenor  from  Italy.  He  and  his  troupe  were  brought  to  this  country  by 
Dominick  Lynch,  a  wealthy  New  York  wine-merchant.  This  novel 
performance — novel  to  most  Americans — began  at  the  Park  Theatre 
on  the  29th  of  November,  1825,  and  was  given  two  nights  in  each 
week  as  an  experiment.  The  opera  was  Kossini's  Barber  of  Seville. 
The  leader  of  the  orchestra  was  De  Leon.  Thei*e  were  seven  violins, 
two  tenors,  two  basses,  three  violoncellos,  two  flutes,  two  clarinets, 
two  horns,  two  trumpets,  one  bassoon,  and  one  kettledrum.  The  cast 
was  as  follows  : 

Count  Almaviva  Signor  Garcia     Florello   Signor  Crevilli 

Doctor  Bartolo  Signor  Rosich     Figaro  Signor  Garcia,  Jr. 

Basulio  Signor  Angrisani  I  RosrNA   Signorini  Garcia 

Barta  Signora  Garcia 

The  house  was  thronged  in  every  part  with  the  most  brilliant  assem- 
blage ever  seen  in  an  American  theatre.  The  receipts  were  $2980. 
The  next  morning  one  of  the  city  newspapers  contained  the  following 
remarks  : 

"  The  repeated  plaudits  with  which  the  theatre  rung  were  unequivo- 
cal, unaffected  bursts  of  rapture.  The  signorini  [Garcia's  daughter] 
seems  to  us  a  being  of  a  new  creation.    .    .    .    The  best  compliment 

*  The  history  of  this  song  is  interesting.  At  about  1822  or  1823  Charles  Kemble,  then 
the  manager  of  Covent  Garden  Theatre,  London,  engaged  Payne,  then  in  Paris,  to  write 
a  play  for  him.  He  translated  the  play  of  Angioletta.  It  was  accepted  by  Keinble,  but  at 
that  juncture  it  was  brought  out  at  a  rival  theatre.  Thereupon  Payne  slightly  altered 
the  plot,  introduced  several  songs  and  duets  into  the  piece,  and  transformed  it  into  an 
opera  under  the  title  of  Clari,  the  Maid  of  Milan.  The  song  of  <:  Home,  Sweet  Home' 
was  introduced  in  the  second  act,  and  was  sung  with  great  pathos  by  a  sister  of  Ellen 
Tree  (afterward  Mrs.  Charles  Kean^  as  Clari,  the  heroine  of  the  play.  The  opera,  first 
produced  in  May,  1823,  was  a  wonderful  success.  Payne  had  written  to  Bishop  from 
Paris  before  the  opera  was  produced  that  he  had  not  "  time  to  polish  the  songs,"  but 
thought  "  'Home,  Sweet  Home,'  as  a  refrain,  would  come  in  nicely."  When  the  song 
was  published  one  hundred  thousand  copies  were  at  once  disposed  of,  and  the  profits  of 
the  publishers  two  years  afterward,  it  is  said,  amounted  to  $10,000.  In  these  profits 
Payne  did  not  share. 

John  Howard  Payne  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York,  at  No.  3I>  Broad  Street,  ntar  the 
corner  of  Pearl  Street,  on  June  9,  1791.  He  was  a  precocious  youth,  and  inclined  toward 
the  stage.  His  father  tried  to  prevent  his  pursuing  this  inclination,  but  failed.  He 
began  his  dramatic  career  when  he  was  only  sixteen  years  of  age.  He  first  appeared  at 
the  Park  Theatre.    He  went  to  England,  where  he  obtained  the  title  of  the  "  American 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


that  can  be  paid  to  the  company  was  the  unbroken  attention  that  was 
yielded  throughout  the  entire  performance,  except  that  it  was  now  and 
then  interrupted  by  judiciously  bestowed  marks  of  applause,  which  were 
simultaneously  given  from  all  parts  of  the  house."' 

The  singing  of  Signorini  Garcia  produced  a  new  sensation  in  the 
city.  She  performed  at  the  Bowery  Theatre  (then  just  opened)  the 
next  year,  when  she  received  §lo,ooo  for  seventeen  nights'  perform- 
ance. But  the  excitement  in  the  public  mind  was  only  temporary. 
The  attendance  fell  off,  and  at  the  end  of  two  years  the  troupe  aban- 
doned the  enterprise  and  returned  to  Europe.    In  1S32  Dunlap  wrote  : 

"  We  doubt  not  but  those  patriots  [citizens  who  had  been  active  in 
procuring  the  presence  of  the  troupe]  who  introduced  the  Italian  opera 
into  America  will  be  immortalized  in  the  history  of  the  march  of  mind." 

Garcia's  was  a  florid  style  of  singing.  His  voice  was  exquisite,  and 
he  gave  unbounded  pleasure.  Angrisani's  bass  was  deemed  almost 
miraculous.    It  was  unequalled  in  depth  and  sweetness. 

Garcia's  daughter,  Signorini  Maria  Felicite,  was  a  marvellous 
singer.  Her  voice  was  what  the  Italians  call  a  contralto.  In  person 
she  was  about  the  middle  height,  plump,  eyes  dark  and  expressive,  and 
a  sweet  smile  was  almost  constantly  upon  her  lips  and  in  her  eyes.  In 
March,  1  while  at  the  height  of  her  brilliant  career,  she  married 
Eugene  Malibran,  an  aged  and  wealthy  French  merchant  of  New 
York,  and  expected  to  retire  from  the  stage.  In  this  matter  she  had 
yielded  her  own  inclinations  to  the  will  and  commands  of  her  father. 
The  brilliant  vision  of  wealth  that  dazzled  the  eyes  of  Garcia  were  illu- 
sory. Misfortune  overtook  Malibran.  He  became  a  bankrupt,  and  she 
was  compelled  to  resume  her  profession  for  her  own  support.  She 
sang  in  old  Grace  Church,  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Thames 
Street,  on  Sundays.  Early  in  1827  she  appeared  at  the  Bowery  Theatre, 
and  in  October  of  the  same  year  she  bade  farewell  to  the  American 
stage  as  the  Princess  of  Navarre  in  John  of  Paris.    In  November  she 

Roscins."  He  was  cordially  greeted  in  Paris  by  the  great  tragedian  Talma.  For  nearly 
twenty  years  be  pursued  a  career  of  varied  success  as  actor,  playwright,  and  manager, 
and  returned  to  the  United  States  in  1832.  In  1841  he  was  appointed  American  Consul 
at  Tunis,  where  he  died  April  9,  1852.  At  the  suggestion  and  at  the  expense  of  W.  W. 
Corcoran,  of  Washington,  his  remains  were  brought  to  the  United  States,  and  received 
with  public  honors  at  his  native  city,  on  March  22,  1883.  Thence  they  were  conveyed  to 
Washington  and  interred  in  Oak  Hill  Cemetery,  Georgetown,  District  of  Columbia.  The 
tombstone,  of  white  Italian  marble,  which  was  originally  placed  at  the  head  of  his  grave 
in  a  cemetery  at  Tunis,  bearing  the  erroneous  inscription,  "  He  died  at  the  American 
Consulate,  in  this  city  [Tunis],  April  1,  1852.  He  was  born  in  the  city  of  Boston,  State 
of  Massachusetts,  June  the  8th,  1792,"  was  also  set  up  at  the  place  of  his  new  interment. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


105 


sailed  for  Europe,  sang  with  great  applause  in  London  and  Paris,  and 
from  that  time  remained  the  unrivalled  Queen  of  Song.  As  Madame 
Malibran  she  filled  all  Europe  with  her  admirers.  She  had  procured  a 
divorce  from  her  husband  soon  after  her  return  to  Europe,  and  bestowed 
her  hand  upon  the  man  of  her  choice,  De  Beriot,  the  celebrated  vocal- 
ist ;  but  she  ever  afterward  retained  the  name  of  Malibran  profession- 
ally. She  died  of  a  nervous  fever  at  Manchester,  England,  when  she 
was  only  twenty-eight  years  of  age.*  Her  generosity  was  unbounded. 
A  greater  part  of  her  enormous  earnings  were  lavished  on  her  relatives 
and  various  objects  of  charity. 

The  favorite  drives  into  the  country  for  sporting  characters  and 
fashionable  young  men  half  a  century  ago  was  to  Burnham's,  on  the 
Hudson  River  side  of  the  city,  and  to  Cato's,  on  the  East  River  side. 
To  those  citizens  who  indulged  in  long  walks,  a  stroll  out  to  Corporal 
Thompson's  cottage,  which  stood  on  the  site  of  the  Fifth  Avenue 
Hotel,  was  a  favorite  resort.  There  the  young  men  returning  from  the 
more  distant  points  of  a  drive  usually  stopped  and  enjoyed  rollicking 
fun,  sometimes  until  late  in  the  evening,  when  they  were  compelled  to 
grope  their  way  slowly  along  the  dark  road  that  led  into  the  city. 

Thompson's  was  a  diminutive  tavern.  It  was  a  cottage  built  by  Mr. 
Milderberger,  a  leather-mei'chant  in  Vandewater  Street,  for  a  country 
residence.  He  had  bought  several  acres  of  ground  near  the  junction  of 
Broadway  and  Fifth  Avenue  for  the  purpose.  He  afterward  built 
himself  a  fine  brick  mansion  on  the  south-west  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue 
and  Twenty-third  Street,  and  rented  the  cottage  to  Thompson.  When 
the  streets  about  Madison  Square  were  graded,  Corporal  Thompson's 
little  yellow  tavern  remained  standing  upon  a  bank  several  feet  above 
the  general  level,  as  long  as  possible. 

Cato's  was  the  special  favorite  resort  of  young  characters  now  known 
as  "fast"  young  men.  His  place  was  not  far  from  the  old  Beekman 
mansion,  near  Turtle  Bay,  on  the  East  River.  It  was  in  a  shaded 
lane  running  east  from  Third  Avenue  (then  a  famous  trotting  road), 
about  three  fourths  of  a  mile  to  the  East  River,  near  the  lofty  shot- 
tower.  Cato  was  black — very  black.  He  had  been  a  slave.  Inter- 
course with  white  people  and  his  natural  bent  made  him  a  gentleman, 
and  he  was  greatly  respected  by  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him.  He 
kept  the  choicest  liquors  and  cigars,  and  his  barroom  and  small  sitting- 
room  adjoining  were  models  of  neatness.  Cato  sold  real  cigars  "  five 
for  a  shilling,"  and  pure  brandy  "  sixpence  a  glass."    He  was  always 

*  See  "Records  of  the  New  York  Stage,"  by  Joseph  X.  Ireland. 


100 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


polite,  kind-hearted,  and  obliging— too  obliging  sometimes  for  his 
own  interest,  for  some  of  his  "  fast  "  customers,  scions  of  wealthy 
families,  borrowed  considerable  sums  of  money  of  him,  and  forgot  to 
refund. 

The  Hazard  House,  on  Yorkville  Hill,  through  which  the  railway 
tunnel  was  pierced  many  years  ago,  was  another  famous  stopping-place 
in  the  rural  regions  of  Manhattan  Island  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago  ;  but 
a  place  more  famous  than  all,  and  near  the  northern  limit  of  the 
"  drives,''  was  the  Red  House,  on  the  verge  of  Harlem  Plains.  It  had 
been  the  mansion  of  the  MeOowan  family.  It  was  reached  by  a 
shaded  lane  at  about  One  Hundredth  Street,  running  westward  from 
Third  Avenue  (the  first  cut  through  to  Harlem  River). 

The  Red  House  was  a  spacious  residence  surrounded  by  several  acres 
of  ground,  in  which  was  a  well-kept  half-mile  trotting-course.  It  was 
a  place  of  great  resort  for  the  owners  of  fast  trotting  horses.  There 
might  have  been  seen,  almost  any  fine  day.  a  peculiar  person  well 
known  in  the  city  about  titty  years  ago.  It  was  Henry  Carroll  Marx, 
of  Hebrew  descent.  He  was  a  man  of  much  intellectual  force  and  fine 
accomplishments,  but  because  of  his  peculiar  style  of  dress  and  deport- 
ment was  styled  "  Dandy  Marx,"  the  representative  of  the  Xew  York 
"exquisite,"  who  was  generally  accounted  as  lacking  common-sense — 
a  class  which  passed  away  many  years  ago,  but  has  been  replaced  in 
our  day  by  a  more  silly  class  called  "  dudes." 

Marx  lived  a  bachelor,  with  his  motherand  sisters,  at  673  Broadway. 
They  possessed  an  ample  fortune.  Mr.  Marx  affected  the  European  style 
m  everything — dress,  equipage,  and  speech.  He  wore  a  carefully 
waxed  mustache,  such  as  was  seen  on  the  lip  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon 
III.  in  after  years,  and  this  was  an  abomination  to  the  Knicker- 
bockers. His  style  of  dress  was  English  in  the  extreme.  His  speech 
had  the  peculiar  drawl  of  the  London  cockney,  and  his  dogs  and  horses 
were  of  the  best  blood.  Marx  was  reticent,  seldom  mingled  in  social 
life  in  the  city,  dressed  his  servants  in  livery,  had  a  variety  of  car 
riages  of  English  styles,  drove  a  splendid  team  of  horses — sometimes 
four-in-hand,  and  was  seldom  accompanied  by  any  one  but  his  sister, 
who  was  a  very  expeit  horsewoman.  All  the  fashionable  tailors  in  the 
city  were  anxious  to  have  their  handiwork  displayed  on  the  person  of 
"Dandy  Marx." 

Mr.  Marx  was  not  at  all  effeminate.  Whatever  he  undertook  he 
persisted  in  with  extraordinary  perseverance.  He  joined  a  fire  hose 
company.  One  night,  while  at  an  entertainment  at  Xiblo's,  there  was 
an  alarm  of  fire.    Marx  rushed  to  the  hose-house  in  patent-leather 


FlllST  DE'  AUK,  18'.!0-1840. 


107 


boots,  white  kid  gloves,  and  dressed  in  the  extreme  of  fashion.  It  had 
rained  heavily,- and  the  streets  were  filled  with  mud.  He  seized  the 
ropes,  ran  "  with  the  machine"  from  Mercer  to  Broad  Street,  and 
worked  as  hard  as  any  one  in  extinguishing  the  fire.  His  costume  was 
ruined,  but  he  had  done  his  duty  faithfully.  At  the  cost  of  thousands 
of  dollars  he  got  up  the  famous  Hussar  regiment,  one  of  the  most 
attractive  military  corps  in  the  city.  To  prepare  himself  for  the  com- 
mand he  went  to  Canada,  mixed  with  the  cavalry  corps  then  in  the 
service  of  young  Queen  Victoria,  studied  their  tactics  for  several  months, 
and  so  secured  success. 

Wall  Street,  at  the  closing  period  of  Knickerbocker  life  in  New  York, 
was  not  the  seething  caldron  of  stock-gambling  and  the  arena  of 
financial  bull-baiting  and  bear-fighting  it  is  now.  Although  Wall 
Street  in  1S30  was  a  far-famed  mart  for  bankers,  brokers,  underwriters, 
and  stock-jobbers,  and  the  focal  point  of  commercial  enterprise,  where 
speculation  of  every  kind  was  planned  and  executed,  and  for  five  hours 
each  day  was  a  scene  of  hurry  and  bustle  and  anxiety  nowhere  else  to 
be  seen  on  the  continent  exhibited  in  such  a  degree,  it  was  a  quiet, 
sober  street  compared  with  Wall  Street  since  the  Civil  War.  There  a 
few  private  dwellings  yet  lingered,  and  several  kinds  of  business  beside 
monetary  affairs  were  carried  on. 

Let  us  stand  at  the  head  of  Wall  Street,  in  front  of  Trinity  Church, 
and  take  a  glance  at  that  famous  thoroughfare  from  Broad  Street 
toward  the  East  River.  On  the  right  you  see  a  neat  white  marble 
building,  the  front  like  a  Grecian  temple.  That  is  the  Phcenix  Bank. 
The  stately  building  of  granite,  with  a  towering  dome  and  short  spire,  in 
the  middle  distance,  is  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  completed  in  1827. 
Between  the  Phcenix  Bank  and  William  Street  you  see  three  brick 
buildings,  three  stories  in  height.  They  are  occupied  by  the  Manhat- 
tan Fire  Insurance  Company,  Peter  Mesier's  spacious  bookstore  (for 
the  time),  S.  W.  Benedict's  watch  and  jewelry  establishment,  and  the 
exchange  office  of  R.  L.  Xevins.  The  families  of  Mesier,  Benedict, 
and  Nevins  live  in  the  apartments  above. 

You  see  the  large  building  on  the  next  corner.  There  Mapes  & 
Waldron  (the  former  the  father  of  the  late  Professor  Mapes)  had  their 
establishment  as  merchant  tailors,  but  it  is  now  the  office  of  the  Xew 
York  American  Advocate ;  and  between  that  and  the  offices  of  the 
Standard  and  American  you  see  the  offices  of  three  fire-insurance  com- 
panies. Next  to  the  Exchange  is  a  small  confectionery  shop  ;  and 
below  the  Exchange,  on  the  corner  of  Hanover  Street,  are  the  offices  of 
the  Atlantic  and  other  fire-insurance  companies.    At  the  foot  of  the 


108 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


street,  ending  at  the  East  River,  von  see  the  shipping  in  Coffee-House 
Slip. 

On  the  left  side  of  the  street  the  Tontine  Coffee-House  looms  up,  at 
the  corner  of  Pearl  Street,  and  as  your  eve  passes  westward  you  per- 
ceive hank  building's,  insurance  offices,  and  the  place  of  business  of  the 
Morris  Canal  Company.  Bat  nearly  all  the  banks  and  insurance  com- 
panies then  in  the  city  could  now  be  accommodated  in  one  of  the  mod- 
ern edifices  in  Xew  York. 

At  that  period,  and  even  so  early  as  when  Halleck  wrote  of  the 
father  of  his  "  Fanny,1'  Wall  Street  seems  to  have  had  some  features 
of  its  ethics  to-day.    The  poet  wrote  : 

"  For  Rumor  (she's  a  famous  liar  yet — 

'Tis  wonderful  how  easy  we  believe  her  !) 
Had  whispered  he  was  rich,  and  all  he  met 

In  Wall  Street  nodded,  smiled,  and  tipped  the  beaver  : 
All  from  Mr.  (Jelston,  the  collector, 
Down  to  the  broker  and  the  bank  director. 

"  A  few  brief  years  passed  over,  and  his  rank 

Among  the  worthies  of  that  street  was  fix'd  : 
He  had  become  director  of  a  bank 

And  six  insurance  offices,  and  mix'd 
Familiarly,  as  one  anions  his  peers, 
With  grocers,  dry-goods  merchants,  auctioneers, 

"  Brokers  of  all  grades    stock  and  pawn    and  Jews 

Of  all  religions,  who,  at  noonday,  form, 
On  'Change,  that  brotherhood  my  moral  muse 

Delights  in.  when  the  heart  is  pure  and  warm, 
And  each  exerts  his  intellectual  force 
To  cheat  his  neighbor    honestly,  of  course." 

At  the  period  we  are  considering-  transactions  in  securities  were  few 
and  insignificant,  mainly  for  investment.  "  The  greed  for  specula- 
tion," says  Mr.  Dayton,  "  had  not  tainted  the  plodding  habits  of  busi- 
ness men,  wrapped  up  as  they  were  in  their  peculiar  calling,  satisfied 
with  limited  credit,  and  contented  with  moderate  gains.  The  railway 
and  mining  mania  was  unborn.  The  stocks  and  mortgage  bonds, 
which  now  form  the  staple  of  the  gigantic  operations  which  daily,  nay 
hourly,  make  and  unmake  scores  of  desperate  speculators,  were  not  in 
existence  ;  they  had  not  drawn  into  the  seething  caldron  of  Wall 
Street  wealth  from  every  corner  of  the  civilized  globe.  .  .  .  Thou- 
sands of  well-to-do  men  lived  and  died  without  ever  puzzling  their 
brains  about  the  ups  and  downs  of  the  stock  hst. " 


CHAPTER  IV. 


BEFORE  the  year  1830  New  York  had  acquired  the  character  of 
being  the  leading  city  in  the  Republic  in  all  that  constitutes 
desirable  metropolitan  life.    Ilardie  wrote  in  1827  : 

"  The  city  of  New  York,  from  its  rapid  growth,  commercial  charac- 
ter, and  unrivalled  prosperity,  has  justly  been  called  the  London  of 
America.  But  it  is  now  high  time  to  change  the  appellation.  The 
extensive  patronage  extended  to  the  liberal  arts  and  works  of  taste,  the 
unexampled  increase  of  public  amusements,  with  the  consequent  prog- 
ress of  morals  and  refinement,  have  at  length  rendered  Xew  York  the 
Paris  of  America.  Like  that  gay  and  splendid  emporium  of  fashion 
and  literature,  Xew  York  is  constantly  filled  with  strangers,  who  are 
drawn  hither  by  the  celebrity  of  our  institutions,  our  commerce,  opu- 
lence, and  multiplied  sources  of  rational  pleasure.  Our  fame  in  these 
respects  has  gone  abroad  to  the  remotest  cornel's  of  the  Western  hemi- 
sphere, and  is  rapidly  spreading  through  every  part  of  Christendom.''  * 
The  staid  inhabitants  of  Xew  York,  especially  the  Knickerbocker 
element,  may  not  have  considered  every  point  of  this  view  as  compli- 
mentary to  the  city,  yet  it  was  undoubtedly  true.  Society  in  almost 
every  feature  was  changing  its  tone  and  hue  in  many  things,  from 
causes  already  alluded  to.  Existing  institutions — benevolent,  charitable, 
scientific,  literary,  artistic,  and  religious — were  feeling  the  electric  thrill 
of  new  life,  and  in  this  inspiration  commerce  and  manufactures,  and  all 
the  varied  industrial  interests  of  the  rapidly  growing  city,  participated. 
Let  us  briefly  consider  the  public  institutions  in  the  city  of  Xew  York 
which  were  in  existence  in  the  half  decade  before  the  year  1830. 

Those  institutions  which  most  largely  minister  to  the  physical  well- 
being  of  society  are  regarded  as  most  worthy  earliest  and  grateful 
recognition.  To  provide  for  the  wants  of  the  poor  and  destitute,  who 
suffer  most  from  misfortunes,  accidents,  and  diseases,  is  the  prime  object 
of  a  larger  portion  of  the  public  benevolent  institutions  of  the  city. 
The  hospital  is  the  rich  fruit  of  the  teachings  of  Jesus  the  Christ. 

*  "  The  Description  of  the  City  of  New  York,"  by  James  Hardie,  A.M.,  p.  339. 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


His  great  lesson  of  the  (  rood  Samaritan  prefigured  the  divine  mission  of 
the  hospital,  the  influence  of  which  is  permeating  human  society  every- 
where. 

The  pagan  nations  looked  with  contempt  upon  physical  weakness, 
and  made  no  provision  for  the  care  of  the  wounded,  the  sick,  and  the 
infirm.  With  the  dawn  of  the  new  era  began  the  practical  observance 
of  the  Golden  Rule,  and  provision  for  the  weary  and  worn  first  ap- 
peared as  places  of  refreshment  for  travellers.  These  finally  became 
transformed  into  refuges  for  invalids. 

At  the  period  we  are  considering,  the  city  of  New  York  was 
provided  with  two  hospitals  (the  City  Hospital  and  the  Bellevue  Alms- 
house and  Asylum)  ;  also  a  city  dispensary,  an  asylum  for  the  insane, 
an  eye  infirmary,  a  lying-in  hospital,  an  institution  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  deaf  and  dumb,  so  called,  and  several  minor  charitable 
associations.  These  institutions — those  fountains  of  untold  blessings — 
are  all  in  active  operation  now  in  the  midst  of  scores  of  others  engaged 
in  the  same  holy  cause. 

Tin;  Xkw  York  City  Hospital  was  the  generous  offspring  of  the 
active  brain  and  sympathetic  heart  of  Dr.  John  Bard,*  an  eminent 
New  York  physician.  At  the  first  medical  graduation  at  King's  (now 
Columbia)  College  in  the  city  of  Xew  York,  in  May,  1709,  Dr.  Bard 
delivered  an  address,  in  which  he  so  pathetically  and  earnestly  set 
forth  the  necessity  and  utility  of  a  public  infirmary  that  Sir  Henry 
Moore,  then  governor  of  the  province,  who  was  present,  immediately 
started  a  subscription  for  that  purpose,  to  which  he  and  most  of  the 
gentlemen  present  liberally  contributed.  The  sum  of  $3500  was  soon 
obtained,  and  the  governor  (who  died  the  next  autumn)  warmly  urged 
the  Provincial  Assembly  to  render  the  proposed  institution  liberal 
pecuniary  aid.  The  corporation  of  the  city  soon  afterward  appropri- 
ated sl5,5.")^.    Contributions  were  also  received  from  London  and 

*  John  Bard,  M.D.,  an  eminent  physician,  was  horn  at  Burlington,  N.  J.,  in  February, 
1716.  His  family  was  of  the  Huguenot  refugees  who  lied  from  persecution  in  France. 
His  father  was  a  privy  councillor  and  judge  in  New  Jersey.  John  was  educated  in  Phil- 
adelphia, where  he  was  a  surgeon's  apprentice  seven  years,  and  formed  a  lasting  friend- 
ship with  Dr.  Franklin.  Bard  established  himself  as  a  physician  in  New  York  in  1746, 
and  very  soon  took  a  front  rank  in  the  profession.  In  1750  he  assisted  Dr.  Middleton  in 
the  first  recorded  dissection  of  the  human  body  in  America.  During  a  portion  of  the 
British  occupation  of  New  Y'ork  he  withdrew  from  the  city,  but  returned  after  the  Bevo- 
lution.  Bard  was  the  first  president  of  the  New  York  Medical  Society  in  1788.  When, 
in  17!).'),  yellow  fever  raged  in  New  Y'ork,  Bard,  though  eighty  years  of  age,  remained 
at  his  post.  Ho  gave  up  practice  in  1798,  and  died  at  his  country-seat  at  Hyde  Park, 
Dutchess  County,  N.  Y'.,  in  March,  1799. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1S30-1S40. 


Ill 


other  parts  of  Great  Britain,  on  the  earnest  solicitations  of  Drs.  Fother- 
a-ill  and  Sir  William  Duncan. 

The  following-  year  (1770)  Drs.  Bard.  Middleton,  and  Jones  peti- 
tioned Lieutenant-Governor  Golden  to  grant  a  charter  for  a  hospital. 
This  was  done  the  following  year  by  Lord  Dnnniore,  then  governor  of 
the  province.  That  charter,  dated  June  13,  1771,  bears  the  names  of 
the  mayor  of  ]S'ew  York,  the  recorder,  aldermen  and  assistants,  the 
rector  of  Trinity  Church,  one  minister  of  each  religious  denomination 
in  the  city,  the  president  of  King's  (now  Columbia)  College,  and  a 
number  of  the  most  respectable  citizens  as  members.  They  were 
incorporated  with  the  title  of  The  Society  of  the  Hospital  in  the  City 
of  New  Yi&rk,  in  Ameriea.  This  title  was  altered  by  the  Legislature, 
in  March,  1S10,  to  that  of  The  Society  of  the  New  Tori-  Hospital.* 

The  charter  limited  the  number  of  governors  to  twenty -six.  In  177:2 
the  Legislature  granted  the  institution  an  annuity  of  $2000  for  twenty 
years,  and  the  building  was  soon  afterward  begun  on  five  acres  of 
ground  on  the  west  side  of  Broadway,  between  (present)  Duane  and 
Worth  streets,  which  the  governors  had  purchased.  The  corner-stone 
was  laid  on  July  27,  1773.  Just  as  the  building  was  completed,  a  tire 
accidentally  lighted  laid  the  most  of  it  in  ashes.  That  was  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1775.  It  inflicted  upon  the  society  a  loss  of  $17,500.  The 
Legislature  generously  came  to  their  relief,  and  gave  the  governors 
$10,000  toward  repairing  their  loss. 

Another  and  more  discouraging  calamity  now  fell  upon  the  institu- 
tion. The  war  for  independence  began,  and  filled  the  land  with  con- 
fusion. The  repairs  of  the  building  were  nearly  completed,  when  it 
was  required  for  the  use  of  sick  and  wounded  Continental  soldiers. 
When  the  British  took  possession  of  the  city,  in  1776,  their  troops  oc- 
cupied it  for  the  same  purpose,  and  wounded  British  and  Hessian  sol- 
diers tilled  it. 

It  was  over  four  years  after  the  British  forces  left  the  city,  in  17S3, 
before  the  society  were  able  to  resume  work  on  the  btiilding.  The 
Legislature  of  the  State  of  Xew  York  directed  (March  1,  17S8)  §2000 
annually  to  be  given  them  for  four  years,  but  such  was  the  dreadful 
state  of  affairs  in  the  city  for  several  years  after  the  war  that  the 
building  was  not  ready  to  receive  patients  until  1701. 

In  1702  the  Legislature  granted  the  hospital  $5000  a  year  for  five 
years.    This  act  was  suspended,  in  1795,  by  another  granting  Sl(),ooit 

*  The  first  hospital  on  Manhattan  Island  was  established  by  the  Dutch.  It  had  the 
capacity,  it  is  said,  of  "five  houses,"  and  stood  near  the  fort,  at  the  southern  extremity 
<>f  the  island.    It  was  demolished  after  the  English  took  possession  of  the  country. 


112 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


a  vear  for  five  years.    In  1795  an  additional  grant  of  S2500  a  year 
was  made,  making  the  whole  annual  sum  $12,500. 

The  governors  now  appropriated  the  sum  of  $500  for  the  founding  of 
a  medical  library  for  the  use  of  the  hospital.  To  this  generous  dona- 
tions were  made*,  and  in  1830  the  library  contained  over  six  thousand 
volumes.  The  hospital  continually  enjoyed  the  bounty  of  the  State 
Legislature  and  of  the  citizens  of  New  York. 

In  the  year  1808  the  first  building  ever  devoted  to  the  care  of  the 
insane  in  the  State  of  New  York  was  erected  on  the  hospital  grounds, 
and  opened  with  sixty-seven  patients.  For  the  accommodation  of  the 
increasing  number  of  such  patients,  a  new  asylum  was  established  at 
Bloomingdale,  a  remote  suburb  of  the  city,  in  1821.  Then  the  old 
,,uarters°were  remodelled  as  a  hospital  for  seamen,  and  called  the 
"  Marine  Building,"  and  in  182S  it  was  devoted  exclusively  to  their 
use.  It  was  so  occupied  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  when  it  was 
demolished,  and  a  more  commodious  building  was  erected  on  its  site, 
and  first  occupied  by  them  in  1  *;>:>.  The  Marine  Building,  which  had 
been  furnished  with  wings,  had  also  been  remodelled,  and  was  much 
improved  in  lsr>o. 

At  an  early  date  in  its  history  the  hospital  became  known  at  home 
and  abroad  as  an  almost  unrivalled  school  for  teaching  the  practice  of 
medicine  and  surgery.  In  his  history  of  the  institution,  published  in 
ls.~><>,  (Julian  ('.  Yerplanck,  who  had  served  as  one  of  its  governors 
thirty-five  years,  said  :  The  New  York  Hospital  has  now  become  the 
most  extensive  school  of  practice  in  the  country."' 

The  annual  grants  of  the  State  Legislature  had  been  increased  to  the 
sum  of  *22,ooo.  The  term  of  this  grant  expired  in  1855,  and  was  not 
renewed,  vet  some  aid  was  given  to  the  hospital  by  the  Legislature 
from  time  to  time.  Owing  to  various  causes  the  institution  became 
crippled  with  debt  during  the  Civil  War,  notwithstanding  the  gov- 
ernors had  paid  out  of  their  own  pockets  $72,000  to  support  its  vitality. 
They  were  compelled  to  restrict  the  admission  of  charity  patients. 
That  service  was  supplemented,  in  a  degree,  by  Bellevue,  and  by  other 
institutions  which  had  sprung  up. 

An  attempt  was  made  to  relieve  the  society  of  debt,  but  failed,  and 
in  l^r.s  it  was  resolved  to  lease  the  whole  or  a  part  of  the  Broadway 
lots.  This  proved  to  be  a  fortunate  measure,  for  the  property  finally 
yielded  an  annual  income  of  $150,000,  which  was  allowed  to  accunm- 
late.  The  modest  old  building  of  gray  stone,  its  green  lawn  shaded 
with  stately  elm  trees,  Avas  demolished  in  1869,  and  commercial  estab- 
lishments soon  occupied  the  space. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840.  113 

Resolved  to  establish  a  hospital  within  the  city  limits,  the  governors 
purchased  lots  on  West  Fifteenth  and  Sixteenth  streets  in  1874,  and 
the  next  year  the  governors  resumed  charitable  work  by  opening  a 
House  of  Belief  on  Chambers  Street,  to  which  place  the  library  was 
then  removed.  The  new  building  was  begun  in  the  spring  of  1875, 
and  was  completed  and  formally  opened  in  March,  1877. 

The  hospital  building  is  probably  the  most  luxurious  and  best 
equipped  in  the  world.  It  is  seven  stories  in  height,  including  the 
basement  ;  has  a  frontage  on  Fifteenth  Street  of  one  hundred  and 
seventy-live  feet,  and  a  Mansard  roof  ;  extends  through  the  block  to 
Sixteenth  Street,  and  is  heated  and  ventilated  scientifically.  The 
front  of  the  hospital  faces  the  south,  admitting  the  full  light  of  the  sun 
through  its  numerous  and  generous  windows.  Two  steam  elevators 
give  ease  to  the  internal  travellers  from  basement  to  roof,  and  it  has  a 
capacity  of  one  hundred  and  sixty -three  beds,  exclusive  of  the  chil- 
dren's wauls. 

At  the  top  of  the  building  is  a  spacious  hall,  separated  from  the  sky 
only  by  a  translucent  canopy  of  glass.  This  room  is  sixty-four  feet  in 
width,  ninety  feet  in  length,  and  of  an  average  height  of  eighteen  feet. 
There  the  convalescents  may  enjoy  an  invigorating  sun-bath,  in  a 
temperature  of  summer  heat  or  upward,  at  any  season  of  the  year. 
The  room  is  furnished  with  native  and  exotic  shrubs  and  flowering 
plants,  little  gurgling  fountains,  and  curious  aquariums  with  salt  and 
fresh  water.  In  this  Elysium  the  poorest  patient  may  enjoy  luxuries 
seldom  vouchsafed  to  the  rich. 

The  number  of  patients  treated  in  the  hospital  during  1S82  was  3083. 
The  number  treated  in  the  House  of  Relief,  or  Chambers  Street  Hos- 
pital, the  same  year,  was  1S28.  The  number  of  out-patients  treated 
by  the  hospital  staff  was  4499,  and  the  number  of  visits  was  25,718. 
In  the  corresponding  department  at  the  House  of  Relief  the  number  of 
patients  treated  was  9659. 

These  statistics  show  the  immense  benefits  bestowed  upon  the  poor 
and  unfortunate  by  the  New  York  Hospital  and  its  annex,  the  House 
of  Relief  in  Chambers  Street. 

The  Bi.oomixgdalk  Asylum  for  the  Insane  was  opened  for  the 
reception  of  patients  in  June,  1821.  It  was  the  result  of  a  communica- 
tion to  the  governors  of  the  New  York  Hospital  by  Thomas  Eddy,  a 
well-known  philanthropist,  in  April,  1815,  in  which  he  set  forth  the 
advantages  of  moral  treatment  for  the  insane  patients  in  that  institu- 
tion, and  proposing  that  a  number  of  acres  near  the  city  should  be 
purchased  and  suitable  buildings  be  erected  for  the  purpose.    The  gov- 


1  14 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


ernors  acted  promptly  on  the  suggestion,  and  the  Legislature  of  New 
York  granted  the  hospital  an  additional  sum  of  $10,000  a  year  until 
18.~>7.  The  governors  first  bought  a  little  more  than  seven  acres  front- 
ing on  the  Bloomingdale  Road  (now  One  Hundred  and  Seventeenth 
Street,  between  Tenth  and  Eleventh  avenues),  seven  miles  north-west 
of  the  City  Hall.  It  is  on  elevated  ground,  commanding  beautiful  and 
extensive  views  in  every  direction,  and  the  buildings  are  about  a 
fourth  of  a  mile  from  the  Hudson  River,  which  it  overlooks.  More 
ground  was  purchased,  and  the  domain  now  includes  between  forty  and 
fifty  acres.  The  farm  is  highly  cultivated,  chiefly  for  the  production 
of  vegetables  and  hay,  and  also  ornamental  shrubbery.  It  has  many 
noble  shade-trees. 

The  corner-stone  of  the  Bloomingdale  Asylum  was  laid  May  7,  1818, 
and  the  main  building  was  completed  in  1*21,  after  designs  by  Thomas 
C.  Taylor.    Extensive  additions  have  since  been  made. 

The  system  of  moral  treatment  of  the  insane  has  ever  been  pursued 
with  great  success  in  the  Bloomingdale  Asylum.  The  patients  are 
arranged  in  classes  according  to  the  form  which  their  mental  ailments 
have  assumed,  whether  mania,  monomania,  dementia,  idiotism,  or 
delirium  a  potu.  Harsh  treatment  and  all  needless  restraint  are 
avoided,  and  even  confinement  to  the  rooms  is  seldom  resorted  to. 
Many  patients  are  allowed  to  work  on  the  farm  or  in  the  garden,  are 
taken  out  to  ride,  and  permitted  to  participate  in  social  enjoyments. 
There  is  a  library  of  several  hundred  volumes,  an  ample  supply  of 
magazines  and  newspapers,  and  the  patients  are  diverted  by  lectures 
illustrated  by  the  magic  lantern,  and  other  entertainments. 

The  estate  and  all  its  interests  are  under  the  care  of  six  of  the  gov- 
ernors. A  warden  and  matron  have  charge  of  the  household  depart- 
ment. Xone  but  pay  patients  are  admitted,  unless  by  express  direction 
of  the  board  of  governors.  According  to  the  annual  report  of  the 
Bloomingdale  Asylum  for  1882,  the  whole  number  of  patients  admitted 
since  the  spring  of  1821  was  7500  ;  whole  number  discharged  and  died, 
7277  ;  whole  number  recovered,  3121  ;  whole  number  improved,  1869  ; 
whole  number  not  improved,  1271  ;  whole  number  died,  1008.  The 
greatest  average  number  in  the  institution  during  one  year  was  233  (in 
18S2),  and  the  greatest  number  of  recoveries  was  40  (in  1881). 

At  this  time  (1883)  the  President  of  the  board  of  governors  of  the 
hospital  and  Bloomingdale  Asylum  is  William  II.  Macy  ;  vice-presi- 
dent, James  M.  Brown  ;  treasurer,  George  Cabot  "Ward  ;  and  secre- 
tary, David  Colden  Murray. 

Bbllevde  Hospital,  the  great  pauper  asylum  of  the  city  originally, 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


115 


owes  its  existence  chiefly  to  the  exertions  of  that  eminent  physician. 
Dr.  David  Hosack.  It  is  one  of  the  noblest  monuments  of  municipal 
benevolence  in  the  world.    The  story  of  its  origin  may  be  briefly  told. 

In  the  year  1820  Dr.  Hosack  was  the  resident  physician  of  the 
Health  Department  of  the  city,  and  in  that  capacity  he  had  been 
brought  into  contact  with  many  of  the  sick  poor,  whose  wretched  con- 
dition excited  his  warmest  sympathy  and  commiseration.  He  found 
several  sick  with  typhus  fever  crowded  in  small,  ill-ventilated  apart- 
ments, and  forming-  nurseries  of  infectious  and  contagious  diseases.  At 
his  request  an  extraordinary  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Health  was 
called,  July  27,  1820,  to  whom  he  made  a  statement  of  the  condition 
of  the  poor,  and  declared  that  humanity  to  the  indigent  as  well  as  care 
for  the  health  of  the  city  imperatively  required  that  some  provision 
should  be  made  for  the  removal  of  the  sick  poor  from  their  unhealthy 
dwellings  to  some  airy  and  well-ventilated  place.  At  a  subsequent 
meeting  a  committee,  of  which  Hosack  was  one,  was  appointed  to  take 
into  consideration  the  expediency  of  such  an  establishment,  and  to 
ascertain  where  a  proper  site  might  be  found.  A  majority  of  the  com- 
mittee opposed  the  measure,  the  chief  objection  being  the  expense. 

Dr.  Hosack,  deeply  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  such  an  institu- 
tion, persevered.  In  the  ensuing  autumn  he  addressed  the  students  of 
the  Medical  Society,  in  the  presence  of  many  citizens  and  members  of 
the  Board  of  Health,  on  the  subject,  urging  the  necessity  of  a  fever 
hospital — a  place  where  contagious  fever  patients  might  be  received  and 
find  benefit.  The  lecture  was  published,  and  much  interest  was  excited 
in  the  public  mind.  But  apathy  succeeded,  and  it  was  not  until  yellow 
fever,  like  a  malignant  demon,  ravaged  the  city  in  1822  that  the  city 
authorities  were  induced  to  approve  the  founding  of  a  fever  hospital. 
Stephen  Allen  was  then  mayor.  The  Legislature  was  appealed  to,  and 
granted  $25,0(10  for  the  purpose.  A  beautiful  and  salubrious  site  on 
the  banks  of  the  East  River  belonging  to  the  city  was  selected,  and 
there  a  building  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  long,  fifty  feet  wide 
(excepting  the  centre,  which  is  fifty-eight  feet),  and  four  stories  in 
height,  was  completed  in  i826.  It  was  built  of  blue-stone,  from  a 
quarry  on  the  premises.  This  building  was  dedicated  with  appropriate 
ceremonies  in  November,  182<>.  It  has  since  been  extended  not  only 
on  the  front,  but  in  depth  of  wings,  and  is  now  three  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  in  length.    The  grounds  in  front  are  laid  out  in  beautiful  lawns.* 

*  David  Hosack,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  a  skilful  and  beneficent  physician  in  New  York  nearly 
forty  years,  was  born  in  that  city  in  August,  17G9.    He  was  a  son  of  a  Scotch  artillery 


110  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

This  institution  was  at  first  known  as  the  Hellenic  Almshouse.  In 
1S4S  the  paupers  were  all  transferred  to  BlackwelTs  Island,  and  the 
whole  spacious  budding  was  appropriated  to  the  uses  of  a  hospital, 
with  ample  accommodations  for  twelve  hundred  patients.  It  has  eight 
hundred  beds.  This  hospital  is  a  department  of  the  City  Almshouse, 
and  is  under  the  charge  of  the  Commissioners  of  Public  Charities  and 
Correction.    Its  support  is  derived  from  the  city  treasury. 

Bellevue  Hospital  now  holds  a  front  rank  as  a  school  for  medical  and 
surgical  instruction,  and  the  number  in  daily  attendance  upon  the 
clinical  lectures,  admitted  free,  is  very  large. 

In  1866  two  new  features  were  added  to  Bellevue  Hospital,  namely: 
a  bureau  of  medical  and  surgical  relief  for  out-door  poor,  and  a  morgue, 
or  a  receptacle  for  the  unknown  dead.  Patients  who  are  able  to  pay 
are  admitted  at  the  maximum  charge  of  $3.50  a  week.  The  cost  of 
sustaining  the  institution  is  about  sloo.ooo  ;i  year. 

Bellevue  Hospital  is  not  only  a  blessing  to  the  suffering  poor,  but  an 
efficient  agency  for  diffusing  widely  over  the  land  sound  and  scientific 
medical  and  surgical  knowledge. 

Tin:  New  York  Crrv  Dispensary  was  founded  in  1791.  At  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  City  of  New  York,  in  October,  1790,  a 
committee  was  appointed  to  digest  and  publish  a  plan  for  a  dispensary 
for  the  medical  relief  of  the  sick  poor,  and  to  make  an  offer  of  the  pro- 
fessional services  of  the  member's  of  the  society  to  carry  it  into  effect. 
Eloquent  appeals  were  made  to  the  public  through  the  city  newspapers, 
and  on  January  4,  1791,  there  was  a  meeting  of  a  number  of  respect- 
able citizens  at  the  City  Hall  convened  to  effect  an  organization.  It 
was  done,  and  Hon.  Isaac  lioosevelt  was  chosen  president,  and  Drs. 
Richard  Bay  ley  and  Samuel  Bard  were  chosen  senior  physicians.  The 
dispensary  was  then  established  on  Tryon  Street  (afterward  Tryon 
Bow),  which  extended  along  the  north-eastern  side  of  the  City  Hall 
Park,  between  Chambers  and  Chatham  streets. 

officer  at  the  capture  of  Louisburg,  in  17-18.  He  studied  medicine  and  surgery  with  Dr. 
Richard  Barley,  and  completed  his  medical  education  under  the  most  distinguished  pro- 
fessors in  Edinburgh  and  London.  In  1794  he  returned  to  America  with  the  first  collec- 
tion of  minerals  ever  seen  here  ;  also  a  collection  of  specimens  of  plants.  The  next 
year  he  was  appointed  professor  of  botany  in  Columbia  College,  and  from  179(i  to  lfcOO 
he  was  a  professional  partner  with  Dr.  Samuel  Bard.  Iu  1-797  the  chair  of  materia 
medica  was  also  assigned  to  him,  which,  with  that  of  botany,  he  held  until  1807,  when  ho 
accepted  that  of  materia  medica  and  midwifery  in  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons. Meanwhile  he  had  established  the  Elgin  Botanic  Garden  (the  second  founded  in 
the  United  States'*,  noticed  in  a  future  chapter.  A  catalogue  of  the  plants  lie  had  brought 
together  gave  him  a  high  position  as  a  botanist.    Dr.  Tlosack.  in  connection  with  hl3 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


117 


In  1790)  the  dispensary  was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  of  New 
York.  In  1805  a  union  was  effected  between  the  dispensary  and  the 
"  Kinepox  Institution."  which  had  been  established  three  years  pre- 
viously for  the  purpose  of  inoculating  or  vaccinating  the  poor  with 
tow-pox  instead  of  small-pox. 

In  1810  the  city  corporation  gave  the  dispensary  a  lot  ot  land  on 
Tryon  Street,  afterward  Tryon  Row.  The  number  of  patients  so 
rapidly  increased  in  1S2S  (10,000  in  that  year)  that  the  trustees  were 
compelled  to  seek  larger  space.  They  procured  from  the  city  authori- 
ties the  gift  of  a  lot  at  the  corner  of  Centre  and  White  streets,  and 
there  was  erected  a  brick  building  three  stories  in  height,  which  was 
first  occupied  in  1829.  The  first  floor  was  used  by  the  dispensary  ;  the 
two  upper  floors  and  the  basement  were  rented  for  business  purposes.  i 
On  that  spot  is  still  (1883)  the  home  of  the  dispensary. 

During  the  first  year  of  the  occupancy  of  the  new  building  the  num- 
ber of  patients  treated  was  nearly  18,000.  The  medical  staff  consisted 
of  ten  attending  physicians  and  eight  consulting  physicians.  These 
gentlemen  were  faithful  and  self-sacrificing.  It  is  said  that  during  the 
cholera  season  of  1832  the  dispensary  physicians  "  were  found  in  every 
quarter  of  the  widely  extended  city,  breathing  the  atmosphere  of 
death,  and  stopping,  as  far  as  they  were  able,  the  ravages  of  the  all- 
devouring  element." 

According  to  the  ninety-second  annual  report  of  the  New  York 
Dispensary  (January  1,  18S2)  the  number  of  cases  treated  that  year 
was  25,171,  and  the  number  of  prescriptions  furnished  was  -fli/JSS. 
The  number  of  persons  treated  from  the  organization  of  the  dispensary 
to  January,  1882,  was  1,800,485. 

The  districts  of  the  dispensary  extend  on  the  north  to  Fourteenth 
Street,  on  the  north-west  to  Spring  Street  and  Broadway,  on  the  north- 
east to  First  Avenue,  Allen  and  Pike  streets,  and  on  the  east,  south, 
and  west  the  district  is  bordered  by  the  East  and  Hudson  rivers.* 

pupil.  Dr.  J.  W.  Francis,  conducted  tne  American  Medical  and  Philosophical  Register  about 
four  years— 1810-14.  He  remained  a  member  of  tbe  faculty  of  tbe  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  until  182fi,  when  with  Drs.  Macneven,  Mott,  Godman,  Francis,  and  Griscom, 
he  assisted  in  the  establishment  of  Rutgers  Medical  College  in  New  York,  and  retained 
his  connection  with  it  until  its  demise,  in  1830.  He  filled  various  medical  offices  in 
hospitals,  asylums,  and  public  institutions  in  the  city  of  New  York  and  for  the  city  in 
general,  and  was  actively  engaged  in  literary  and  philosophical  institutions.  He  was 
one  of  the  originators  and  for  twelve  years  president  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society, 
and  was  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Great  Britain.  Dr.  Hosack  died  in  December, 
1835.    He  was  the  author  of  several  scientific  works  and  a  life  of  De  Witt  Clinton. 

*  The  presidents  of  the  New  York  Dispensary  from  its  organization  to  the  year  1882 


118 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Tin:  Xkw  Yobs  Asylum  for  (destitute)  Lying-in  "Women  was 
founded  in  1798,  after  the  city  had  been  scourged  by  the  yellow  fever. 
In  October  of  that  year  Dr.  David  llosack,  already  a  successful  young 
physician,  and  noted  for  his  benevolent  impulses,  started  a  subscription 
for  the  purpose,  and  soon  raised  the  sum  of  $5000.  An  appropriate 
budding  was  procured  in  Cedar  Street,  and  there,  in  the  winter  of 
1798-99,  this  noble  charity  was  inaugurated.  A  committee  of  manage- 
ment was  appointed,  consisting  of  Thomas  Pearsall,  Robert  Lenox,  Dr. 
llosack,  and  other  good  citizens.  It  was  agreed  that  every  person  who 
should  subscribe  $20  should  have  the  privilege  of  recommending  a 
patient  for  the  institution,  if  approved  by  the  visiting  committee. 

The  asylum  was  incorporated  in  1799.  It  soon  became  evident  that 
the  interest  of  the  society's  fund  was  inadequate  to  meet  the  expenses 
of  the  establishment,  and  an  arrangement  was  made  with  the  New 
York  Hospital  to  receive  that  interest,  on  condition  that  the  governors 
'should  provide  a  lying-in  ward.  By  this  means  the  noble  charity  was 
perpetuated  until,  by  appropriations,  subscriptions,  and  bequests,  the 
institution  was  enabled  to  reorganize,  and  work  independent  of  the 
New  York  Hospital.  That  point  was  reached  in  1827,  when  it  secured 
a  charter  as  an  independent  institution.  It  is  now  in  the  eighty-first 
year  of  its  age,  though  it  is  only  fifty-six  years  since  it  became  an 
independent  association. 

This  institution  has  done  a  vast  amount  of  substantial  good  work, 
and  is  now  (1883) as  active  and  benevolent  as  ever.  It  lias  added  to  its 
regular  benefactions  instructions  in  practical  lying-in  nursing,  so  essen- 
tial for  every  midwife.  The  beneficiaries  are  of  various  nationalities. 
Of  those  cared  for  in  1SS3,  iJ!t  were  from  Ireland,  12  from  England, 
and  20  were  American  mothers.* 

The  Xkw  Yobs  Institution  fob  thk  Instruction  ok  tiik  Dkak  and 
Dumb  dates  its  origin  from  the  later  months  of  the  year  1816,  when  a 
few  benevolent  and  professional  citizens  matured  a  plan  of  such  an 
institution  and  proceeded  to  put  it  into  practical  operation.    The  most 

have  been  :  Isaac  Roosevelt,  1701  ;  Rev.  John  Rodgers,  D.D.,  1794  ;  General  Matthew 
Clarkson,  1810  ;  John  Watts,  1821  ;  General  Edward  Laight,  1836  ;  George  T.  Trimble, 
1852  ;  James  T.  De  Peyster,  1861  ;  Adam  Norrie,  1874  :  William  M.  Halsted,  1882.  The 
officers  in  1882  were  ;  Adam  Norrie,  president  ;  Benjamin  H.  Field,  vice-president  ;  D. 
Golden  Murray,  treasurer,  and  Robert  B.  Campbell,  secretary. 

*  The  officers  of  the  institution  for  1883  are  :  Mrs.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  (the  first), 
Mrs.  Charles  A.  Morford,  Mrs.  Stephen  Tyng,  Mrs.  Beverly  Robinson,  Mrs.  Frederick 
Jones,  Mrs.  John  H.  Mortimer,  directresses  ;  Mrs.  J.  R.  Nevins,  treasurer  ;  Mrs.  Henry 
H.  Anderson,  secretary  ;  Mrs.  Hope,  matron  :  Stanton  Allen,  M.D.,  resident  physician. 
There  is  a  board  of  managers,  consisting  of  nineteen  ladies. 


Engraved  by  G«o.E  Perme  after  original  drawings  ty-  J.  L.  Giles 


CHURCHES  AND  HOSPITALS. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1S30- 1840. 


119 


prominent  men  in  the  movement  were  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchill,*  Rev. 
John  Stanford,  and  Dr.  SamueLAkerlv.  To  the  latter  gentleman  has 
been  awarded  the  credit  of  having  been  instrumental  in  the  first  estab- 
lishment of  two  of  the  noble  charities  of  New  York,  the  institutes  for 
the  benefit  of  the  deaf  and  dumb  and  blind. 

With  the  exception  of  the  abortive  attempt  of  one  of  the  Braidwood 
family,  of  England,  who  a  few  years  before  had  opened  a  school  for 
the  instruction  of  the  deaf  and  dumb  in  New  York,  this  movement  in 
1816  was  the  first  effort  of  the  kind  in  that  city,  and  it  was  successful. 
There  was  not  at  that  time  a  single  school  for  the  deaf  and  dumb  in 
America. 

So  little  was  the  importance  aiub  necessity  of  an  institution  for  the 
instruction  of  the  deaf  and  dumb  appreciated  or  understood  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  that  it  was  supposed  the  school  which  was  about  to  be 
opened  in  Hartford  by  Messrs.  Gallaudet  and  Clerc,  who  had  lately 
returned  from  France,  would  be  large  enough  to  accommodate  all  the 
deaf-mute  pupils  in  America.  This  fallacy  was  soon  exposed  by  care- 
ful inquiry.    It  was  ascertained  that  at  that  very  time  there  were  more 

*  Samuel  Latham  Mitchill,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  was  a  very  prominent  citizen  of  New  York 
during  the  first  quarter  of  the  present  century,  as  a  scientist  and  an  active  participant  in 
every  good  work.  He  was  born  at  North  Hempstead,  Long  Island,  in  August,  1764.  He 
was  a  student  with  Dr.  John  Bard.  He  also  studied  law.  In  1788  he  was  a  commis- 
sioner to  treat  with  the  Indians  of  New  York  State  for  the  purchase  of  their  lands.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature  in  1790,  and  in  1792  became  professor  of  chem- 
istry, natural  history,  and  philosophy  in  Columbia  College.  With  Chancellor  Livingston 
and  others  Mitchill  founded  in  New  York  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Agriculture, 
Manufactures,  and  the  Useful  Arts.  His  published  account  of  a  tour  along  the  Hudson 
established  his  fame  abroad  as  a  scientific  and  very  entertaining  writer.  In  1797  he 
with  others  established  the  Medical  Repository  (quarterly),  which  he  edited  sixteen  years. 
He  was  again  a  member  of  the  New  York  Assembly,  and  in  1801-04  and  1810-13  he  was 
a  member  of  Congress.  Meanwhile  (1804-09)  he  was  United  States  Senator.  From  1808 
to  1820  he  was  professor  of  natural  history  in  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  of 
botany  and  materia  medica  1820-26,  and  in  1826-30  was  vice-president  of  the  Eutgers 
Medical  College  in  New  York.  Dr.  Mitchill,  with  Drs.  Hosack  and  Hugh  Williams, 
founded  the  New  York  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society  in  1815,  of  which  De  Witt 
Clinton  was  the  first  president. 

Dr.  Mitchill  had  a  very  retentive  memory,  which  was  stored  with  a  vast  amount  of 
learning.  He  extended  the  bounds  of  science,  was  an  efficient  friend  and  helper  of  Ful- 
ton and  Livingston  in  carrying  forward  to  success  their  plans  of  steam  navigation, 
was  among  the  passengers  on  the  Clermont  on  her  first  trip  from  New  York  to  Albany, 
and  was  a  member  of  many  literary  and  scientific  societies  in  Europe  and  his  native 
country.  He  was  also  a  prolific  writer  on  scientific  subjects.  Ho  published  anony- 
mously a  little  work  entitled  "  A  Picture  of  New  York,"  which,  it  is  said,  suggested  to 
Washington  Trving  his  "Knickerbocker's  History  of  New  York."  Dr.  Mitchill  died  in 
S^ptembsr.  1831. 


120 


HISTOKV  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


than  sixty  deaf  and  dumb  persons  living  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the 
population  of  which  was  less  than  L20,000.  And  it  was  found  that 
most  of  these  were  children  of  poor  parents,  who  could  not  afford  to 
send  them  to  Hartford  to  be  educated.  The  necessity  for  such  an 
institution  in  the  city  was  consequently  apparent.  A  society  was 
formed,  and  was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  in  April,  1817,  with 
De  Witt  Clinton  as  president,  and  a  school  with  five  pupils  was  opened 
in  May,  under  the  charge  of  the  Rev.  A.  O.  Stansbury.  Ignorant  of 
the  fact  that  qesbwe  is  the  natural  language  of  deaf  mutes,  Mr.  Stans- 
bury labored  to  teach  them  articulation,  and  failed.  After  a  year  or 
two  the  effort  was  abandoned.'* 

In  1831  the  late  Dr.  Harvey  P.  Peet,  who  had  acquired  much  repu- 
tation as  a  teacher  and  a  man  of  executive  ability,  was  called  to  the 
head  of  the  institution.  He  swayed  its  destinies  for  more  than  thirty- 
six  yeare,  and  built  up  a  grand  model  institution. 

During  the  first  eleven  years  the  Asylum  for  the  Ueaf  and  Dumb 
was  accommodated  in  one  of  the  public  buildings.  In  1829  it  was 
established  in  the  buildings  on  Fifteenth  Street,  afterward  occupied  by 
Columbia  College.  In  December,  1856,  it  took  up  its  abode  in  a 
beautiful  house  at  Fanwood,  on  Washington  Heights,  about  nine 
miles  from  the  City  Hall,  where,  surrounded  by  about  thirty-seven 
acres  of  land,  it  pursues  with  great  success  its  benevolent  work,  under 
the  guidance  of  Lewis  P.  Peet,  LL.D.,  son  of  Dr.  Harvey  P.  Peet. 
The  principal  buildings  are  of  brick,  four  stories  in  height,  and  planned 
to  accommodate  more  than  four  hundred  pupils  of  both  sexes,  with 
teachers  and  employes.  When  Dr.  Peet  took  charge,  in  1831,  there 
were  eighty-five  pupils  ;  when  he  relinquished  it,  in  1867,  there  were 
over  four  hundred  pupils.  +  During  the  year  1882  there  were  five 
hundred  pupils  under  instruction. 

This  institution  was  at  first  supported  by  private  benevolence,  but  it 
was  soon  taken  under  the  patronage  of  the  State.  Tt  derives  its 
income,  excepting  from  occasional  donations  and  legacies,  from  four 
sources  :  First,  from  direct  appropriations  for  the  support  of  State 

*  The  first  officers  of  this  institution  were  :  De  Witt  Clinton,  president  ;  Richard  Vnrick 
and  John  Ferguson,  vice-presidents  ;  John  Slidell,  secretary  ;  and  John  B.  Scott,  treas- 
urer.   There  was  a  hoard  of  directors,  consisting  of  twenty  prominent  citizens. 

j-  Harvey  Prindle  Peet,  LL.D.,  was  born  at  Bethlehem,  Conn.,  in  1704,  and  was  grad- 
uated at  Yale  College  in  1822.  He  was  associated  with  the  late  Thomas  H.  Gallaudet, 
LL.D.,  as  instructor  in  the  Hartford  Asylum  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  from  1822  to  1831, 
when  he  was  called  to  the  principalship  of  the  New  York  Institute  for  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb,  in  which  position  he  spent  thirty-seven  of  the  remaining  years  of  his  life.  The 
value  of  Dr.  Pei-t's  services  to  the  community  cannot  be  estimated.  Dr.  Peet  died  in  1873. 


FIRST  DECADE;  1830-1840. 


121 


beneficiaries  ;  second,  from  payments  from  the  counties  for  deaf  mute 
children  too  young-  to  be  placed  on  the  State  list  ;  third,  payments 
from  the  State  of  New  Jersey  for  a  certain  number  of  pupils  who  are 
beneficiaries  from  that  State  ;  and  fourth,  payments  on  account  of 
pupils  who  belong-  to  families  in  easy  circumstances. 

The  regular  term  of  instruction  is  eight  years.  All  the  ordinary 
English  branches  of  learning  are  taught.  They  are  all  accustomed  to 
labor  :  the  girls  in  plain  sewing  and  lighter  household  duties,  and  the 
boys  are  instructed  in  gardening,  cabinet-making,  shoemaking,  tailor- 
ing,  and  printing.  Hundreds  of  former  pupils  support  themselves,  and 
in  many  cases  dependent  families  by  their  own  labor. 

Isaac  Lewis  Peet,  LL.D.,  is  president  of  the  educational  department, 
assisted  by  twenty  professors  and  teachers,  one  half  of  whom  are 
women  ;  matrons  for  the  several  departments,  and  a  foreman  for  each 
of  the  seven  industries  carried  on  in  the  institution.* 

The  New  York  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary  was  founded  in  1  Si?( >. 
Four  years  previously,  two  young  medical  students  who  had  graduated 
at  the  College  of  Phvsieian  •>  and  Surgeons  of  Xew  York  Citv,  and  who 
had  spent  the  previous  year  together  in  the  Xew  York  Hospital,  one  as 
house  physician  and  the  other  as  house  surgeon,  sailed  for  Europe 
together,  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  their  knowledge  of  the  profes- 
sion. Having  been  diligent  attendants  on  all  the  lectures  in  the  city, 
they  believed  themselves  as  well  equipped  as  any  of  their  fellow- 
students  for  the  duties  of  the  profession.  They  had  been  taught,  with 
other  branches  of  surgery,  something  of  the  treatment  of  diseases  of 
the  eye,  and  had  seen  them  treated  in  private  practice  by  their  pre- 
ceptors. They  felt  competent  to  treat  these  diseases  themselves,  and 
with  this  self-satisfaction  they  arrived  in  London,  there  to  pursue  their 
studies. 

Among  other  medical  charities  in  the  great  city  was  an  eye  infirm- 
ary, recently  established.  They  entered  the  institution  as  pupils,  and 
soon  made  the  important  discovery  that  they  were  profoundly  ignorant 
of  the  surgery  of  the  eye,  and  that  what  they  had  been  taught  on  that 
subject  was  almost  of  no  value.  They  drew  the  logical  inference  that 
ophthalmic  surgery  was  almost  unknown  in  America.  "With  the  ardor 
of  youth  they  devoted  themselves  to  this  new  branch  of  knowledge. 
On  their  return  home,  in  1818,  they  resolved  to  establish  in  New  York 

*  The  officers  of  the  institution  for  the  year  1883  were  :  Hon.  Erastns  Brooks,  presi- 
dent ;  Hon.  Enoch  L.  Fancher.  LL.D.,  first  vice-president  ;  Rev.  Charles  A.  Stoddard. 
D.D.,  second  vice-president  ;  George  A.  Robbins,  treasurer  :  Thatcher  M.  Adams,  sec- 
retary, and  James  C.  Carson.  M.D.,  superintendent. 


122 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


an  infirmary  for  curing  diseases  of  the  eye.  These  two  young  men 
were  Drs.  Edward  Delafield  and  J.  Kearney  Rodgers. 

Young,  with  small  pecuniary  means,  and  without  reputation,  but 
assisted  by  the  sanction  of  those  with  whom  they  had  been  educated, 
and  the  influence  of  their  names,  they  hired  two  rooms  in  the  second 
story  of  a  building  in  Chatham  Street,  and  with  a  few  necessary  imple- 
ments they  founded  the  institution  now  grown  to  be  the  famous  New 
York  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary.  Some  students  of  medicine  volunteered 
to  perform  the  duties  of  apothecary,  in  rotation,  and  the  man  from 
whom  they  hired  the  rooms  acted  as  superintendent.  They  made  it 
publicly  known  that  any  one  applying  at  No.  45  Chatham  Street  at 
certain  hours  on  certain  days,  having  diseases  of  the  eyes,  would  be 
treated  gratuitously.  In  a  single  week  it  was  evident  that  the  enter- 
prise would  be  successful.  That  was  in  August,  1820.  In  a  period  of 
less  than  seven  months  from  that  time  no  less  that  four  hundred  and 
thirty-six  patients  had  been  treated  at  the  infirmary.  It  proved  a 
great  public  boon.  Persons  totally  blind  received  their  sight,  and 
those  who  were  languishing  in  hopelessness  were  encouraged,  and 
found  themselves  on  the  way  to  perfect  cure.  Drs.  Wright  Post  and 
Samuel  Bowne,  two  of  the  most  eminent  physicians  and  surgeons  in 
the  city,  gave  the  young  men  their  names  as  consulting  surgeons. 

On  the  !)th  of  March,  1821,  a  large  meeting  of  citizens  was  held  at 
the  City  Hall  for  the  purpose  of  "  adopting  the  means  for  perpetuating 
the  infirmary  for  curing  diseases  of  the  eye."  A  committee  was 
appointed  to  solicit  subscriptions  for  the  infirmary.  Succeeding  in 
securing  sufficient  means,  a  society  of  the  subscribers  was  formed,  with 
over  two  hundred  members.  They  convened  on  the  first  of  April, 
and  organized  by  the  election  of  William  Few  as  president,  and  other 
usual  officers.  It  was  thus  established  by  leading  citizens  of  New 
York,  but  its  means  being  small,  it  continued  to  occupy  its  original 
rooms,  at  an  annual  rent  of  $150.  The  society  was  incorporated  on 
March  29,  1822,  and  the  next  year  the  Legislature  granted  the  institu- 
tion 81000  for  two  years.* 

In  1801-  the  charter  was  amended,  and  the  institution  received  the 
title  of  "  The  New  York  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary,"  with  authority  to 
"  treat  and  care  for  indigent  persons  affected  with  deafness  and  other 
diseases  of  the  ear."  According  to  the  sixty-second  annual  report, 
October  1,  1882,  there  had  been  treated  in  the  institution  during  the 
year  14,221  patients,  of  whom  more  than  10,000  were  treated  for  dis- 


*  See  address  of  Dr.  Edward  Delafield,  April  25.  1850. 


FlIiST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


J  33 


eases  of  the  eye.  Of  the  whole  number,  nearly  8000  were  natives  of 
the  United  States.  The  total  number  treated  since  the  foundation  of 
the  Infirmary  was  274,802.* 

This  institution  now  occupies  a  spacious  building-  on  the  corner  of 
Thirteenth  Street  and  Second  Avenue,  which  was  completed  in  the 
autumn  of  1855.  The  infirmary  has  an  efficient  surgical  staff  in  each 
department — ophthalmic,  aural,  and  throat. 

*  The  officers  of  the  institution  in  1882  were  :  Royal  Phelps,  president  ;  Benjamin  H. 
Field,  first  vice-president  ;  Abraham  Du  Bois,  M.D.,  second  vice-president  ;  John  L. 
Biker,  treasurer,  and  Bichard  H.  Derby,  M.D.,  secretary. 


CHAPTER  V. 


ONE  of  the  still  thriving,  active,  and  useful  charitable  institutions  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  having  its  origin  in  the  closing  period  of 
Knickerbocker  social  rule,  is  the  Hebrew  Bkxkvolkxt  and  Okimiax 
Asylum  Society,  founded  in  1822.  It  held  its  semi-centennial  celebra- 
tion in  1872,  at  which  time  Chief-Justice  Daly,  one  of  the  speakers  on 
the  occasion,  gave  a  most  interesting  account  of  the  first  appearance  of 
Jews  in  the  city  of  New  York  (then  New  Amsterdam),  where  now 
(1883)  they  constitute  nearly  one  fourteenth  of  its  population,  and 
nearly  one  fourth  of  the  Hebrew  population  in  the  United  States. 

Judge  Daly  said,  in  substance,  that  after  the  successful  revolt  of  the 
Netherlands,  and  William  of  Holland  had  proclaimed  freedom  of  con- 
science in  his  dominions,  expatriated  Jews  from  Spain  settled  in  the 
free  cities,  especially  at  Amsterdam.  By  their  industry,  integrity, 
and  thrift  they  became  within  fifty  years  the  most  influential  citizens 
of  Amsterdam,  and  there  they  erected  the  first  synagogue. 

These  people  became  large  stockholders  in  the  commercial  operations 
by  which  New  York  was  founded.  Curacoa,  which  then,  as  now, 
belonged  to  the  Dutch,  had  many  Hebrew  merchants.  Jewish  emi- 
grants from  both  that  country  and  Holland  came  to  New  Amsterdam 
(now  New  York)  and  craved  citizenship,  but  the  sturdy  old  churchman 
Governor  Stuyvesant  looked  upon  their  advent  with  great  disfavor. 
Among  these  immigrants  were  Abram  Costa,  Jacob  Hendricks,  Isaac 
Meza.  Melhado,  Abram  Lucas,  and  Asher  Levey.  All  but  the  last- 
named  were  of.  Spanish  or  Portuguese  origin.  These  were  the  first 
Jews  seen  on  Manhattan  Island. 

Governor  Stuyvesant  wished  to  exclude  these  Hebrews,  and  wrote 
to  Holland  requesting  that  they  be  not  allowed  to  enter  and  dwell  in 
the  province.  The  home  authorities  answered  that  his  request  was 
inconsistent  with  freedom  and  justice. 

Stuyvesant  refused  these  immigrants  permission  to  have  a  place  of 
their  own  wherein  to  bury  their  dead.  They  were  heavily  taxed,  and 
when  two  of  them  remonstrated  with  the  governor,  he  said,  ' '  If  you 
are  not  satisfied,  go  elsewhere." 


FIRST  DECADE,  1880  L840 


Stuyvesant's  harsh  treatment  of  these  Jews  in  every  possible  way, 
when  reported  to  the  home  authorities,  brought  another  letter,  which 
commanded  him  to  allow  the  Hebrews  the  privilege  of  quiet  habitation, 
subject  to  no  condition  save  to  take  care  of  their  poor,  which  they  have 
always  done. 

Melhado  now  purchased  some  land,  but  the  governor  would  not 
allow  him  to  have  a  deed  of  it.  A  petition  of  the  Jews  for  equality  in 
taxation  and  the  rights  of  trade  with  other  dwellers  in  New  Amster- 
dam was  answered  only  by  permission  to  have  a  burial-ground.  An- 
other and  a  sharper  letter  came  to  Stuvvesant  from  Holland,  which 
resulted  in  placing  the  Jews  on  an  equality  with  others  as  to  civil  and 
religious  rights,  and  these  they  enjoyed  so  long  as  the  Dutch  bore  rule 
on  Manhattan  Island. 

In  1096  there  were  twenty  Jewish  families  in  New  York.  That 
year  they  built  their  first  synagogue,  in  which  a  merchant  named 
Samuel  Brown  officiated  as  rabbi.  This  svna»-o<>'ue  was  removed  in 
1728  to  Mill  Street,  a  narrow,  irregular  lane  that  extended  from  Stone 
Street  to  Broad  Street. 

Peter  Ivalm.  a  Swedish  naturalist  who  visited  New  York  twenty 
years  later,  wrote  :  "  The  Jews  are  many  ;  they  have  large  stores  and 
country-seats",  and  enjoy  equal  privileges  with  their  fellow-citizens." 
The  last  remark  could  not  then  have  applied  to  any  other  country  in 
the  world. 

When  the  Jews  built  their  first  synagogue  in  New  York  and  num- 
bered about  one  hundred  souls,  the  city  contained  a  population  of  eight 
thousand  ;  now  (1SS3),  when  that  population  is  probably  one  million 
four  hundred  thousand,  the  Jews  number  fully  ninety-five  thousand, 
and  have  twenty-six  synagogues.  Of  these  the  finest  is  Temple 
Emanu-el,  on  Fifth  Avenue.  And  it  must  be  conceded  by  all  observing 
men  that  the  Jews  in  the  city  of  New  York,  as  a  class,  rank  among 
the  best  citizens  in  all  the  qualities  which  pertain  to  good  citizenship. 
They  are  honest,  industrious,  and  thrifty.  They  are  lovers  of  peace 
and  their  families.  They  support  their  own  poor.  They  are  obedient 
to  the  laws,  and  they  are  proverbially  temperate  in  all  things.  They 
contribute  absolutely  nothing,  as  it  were,  to  the  burdens  of  pauperism 
and  crime  which  bear  so  heavily  upon  the  city.  Indeed,  so  far  as  the 
Jews  are  concerned,  there  seems  to  be  no  use  for  almshouses  and  jails. 
As  a  rule,  they  seem  to  obey  the  voice  of  Ilillel  :  "  What  is  noxious 
unto  thee,  do  not  unto  thy  neighbor." 

The  origin  of  the  Hebrew  Benevolent  and  Oqman  Asylum  Society 
of  the  City  of  New  York  was  in  this  wise  : 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY 


In  the  spring  of  the  year  1820  a  Jew  who  had  been  a  soldier  in 
the  American  war  for  independence  was  brought  in  a  critical  state 
to  the  City  Hospital.  He  had  no  friends  nor  money,  but" expressed 
a  wish  that,  being  a  Jew,  some  of  his  co-religionists  might  be  sent  for. 
John  J.  Hart,  Joseph  Davies,  and  others  visited  the  sufferer,  and 
„  collected  money  for  his  support.  He  died  soon  afterward.  About 
$300  of  the  money  collected  was  left.  The  question  arose  in  the 
minds  of  the  custodian  whether  it  would  not  be  advisable  to  form 
a  benevolent  society  by  which  relief  might  be  given  to  Jews  in  time 
of  need,  as  well  as  to  others.  It  was  done.  On  April  S,  1S22,  the 
following  named  gentlemen  formally  associated  themselves  under  the 
title  of  the  Hebrew  Benevolent  Society  of  the  City  of  New  York  : 
Daniel  Jackson,  Joseph  -Jackson,  Joseph  Davies,  John  J.  Hart, 
Abraham  Collins,  Rowland  Davies.  Simon  Myers,  Abraham  Mitchell, 
Charles  J.  Hart,  and  Joseph  Samuel — all  members  of  the  Jewish 
Church.  Daniel  Jackson  was  chosen  president,  and  Charles  J.  Hart 
secretary. 

The  first  anniversary  of  the  society  was  held  at  Burnett's  Hotel,  on 
the  Bloomingdale  Road.  The  supper  was  cooked  by  the  members 
themselves,  and  the  suin  of  $4!>  was  collected.  Another  banquet  was 
given  at  the  Botanic  Garden  in  1826.  The  society  worked  on,  with 
ever-increasing  membership  and  funds,  until  1832,  when  the  Legislature 
of  New  York  gave  it  a  charter  of  incorporation.  Bequests  and  gifts 
followed.  Finally,  in  February,  1S50,  the  Hebrew  Benevolent  Society 
and  the  German  Hebrew  Benevolent  Society  were  united  for  the  pur- 
pose of  establishing  an  orphan  asylum  and  home  for  aged  and  indigent 
Jews.  In  April  the  consolidation  was  effected.  Their  united  funds 
amounted  to  about  $25,000. 

This  union  was  hailed  with  pleasure  by  the  Jewish  community.  A 
new  charter,  with  enlarged  powers,  was  obtained,  and  the  city  authori- 
ties were  authorized  to  appropriate  land  for  the  building  of  an  asylum. 
Meanwhile  a  house  was  rented  in  West  Thirty-ninth  Street,  and  thirty 
orphan  children  were  placed  in  it.  That  was  in  1860.  Demands 
upon  it  increased,  and  the  trustees,  having  procured  the  donation  of 
a  lot  on  the  corner  of  Third  Avenue  and  Seventy-seventh  Street,  and 
an  additional  grant  of  $30, (too,  proceeded  to  the  erection  of  a  substan- 
tial building.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  in  September,  1863,  and 
the  building  was  completed  and  dedicated  in  November,  1S63. 
Among  other  measures  for  increasing  the  funds  of  the  institution, 
the  great  Hebrew  Charity  Fair,  held  in  1870,  in  connection  with  its 
twin  sister  in  charity.  Mount  Sinai  Hospital,  was  very  successful.  The 


Fl I! ST  DECADE.  18;!0-184U. 


127 


share  of  the  proceeds  which  fell  to  the  asylum  amounted  to  nearly 
$39,000.* 

The  society  has  in  operation  an  excellent  system  of  education  for 
orphans.  There  is  a  home  school,  in  which  the  Hebrew  language, 
religion,  and  history  are  taught.  There  is  also  an  incidental  school,  in 
which  trades  are  taught  to  the  hoys  and  sewing  and  domestic  service  to 
the  girls.  This  department  is  self-supporting.  The  girls  readily  find 
places  in  the  hest  of  families  or  in  commercial  houses  when  they  leave 
the  asylum.  There  is  a  steam  printing  estahlishment  at  the  industrial 
school,  which  does  all  kinds  of  work  in  the  printing  line.  A  large 
portion  of  the  orphans  attend  the  puhlic  schools. 

In  1882  there  were  three  hundred  and  thirty-seven  inmates  of  the 
asylum.  Provision  has  heen  made  for  the  erection  of  a  new  orphan 
asylum,  land  having  heen  purchased  between  One  Hundred  and  Thirty- 
sixth  Street  and  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-eighth  streets  and  Tenth 
Avenue,  on  the  Bloommgdale  Road. 

The  officers  of  the  society  in  1882  were:  Jesse  Seligman,  president  ; 
Henry  Rice,  vice-president  ;  M.  Hindskopf,  treasurer,  and  Myer  Stern, 
secretary.  The  Hebrews  of  the  city  of  Xew  York  have  several  other 
charitable  and  benevolent  institutions  which  have  heen  established  since 
the  one  above  considered. 

There  were  several  minor  charitable,  benevolent,  and  friendly  associ- 
ations in  the  city  of  Xew  York  during  the  half  decade  before  the  year 
1830.    The  principal  of  these  were  the  following  : 

Tin;  Humane  Society,  founded  by  a  few  henevolent  peisons  near 
the  close  of  the  last  century.  Its  primary  object  was  to  afford  relief  to 
distressed  dehtors  in  prison.  The  scope  of  its  efforts  was  enlarged  in 
1806  so  as  to  include  resuscitation  of  persons  apparently  dead  from 
drowning.  The  society  was  incorporated  in  1814.  It  afforded  support 
and  clothing  to  poor  dehtors  in  prison,  secured  the  liberation  of  prison- 
ers who  were  entitled  to  a  discharge,  distributed  soup  to  the  poor  in 
general,  and  resuscitated  persons  who  were  apparently  drowned.  They 
also  took  measures  to  suppress  street-hegging.  The  society  estahlished 
a  soup-house  at  the  eastern  entrance  to  the  City  Hall  Park.  It  was 
supported  by  occasional  donations  and  annual  subscriptions. 

The  Aged  Indigent  Female  Society  was  composed  entirely  of 
women  associated  for  the  purpose  of  affording  relief  to  respectable  indi- 
gent and  aged  women.  It  was  instituted  at  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1814,  and  on  March  10,  1S15,  the  Legislature  of  Xew  York  passed  an 

*  See  address  of  Mr.  Myer  Stern  (then  president  of  the  society),  on  the  fiftieth  anni- 
versary celebration,  in  1872. 


128 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  PITY. 


act  incorporating-  it,  to  continue  fifteen  years.  It  was  allowed  to  hold 
an  estate  to  the  value  of  $100,000. 

The  Female  Association  was  a  society  composed  entirely  of  young 
women  who  belonged  to  the  sect  of  Friends,  commonly  called  Quakers. 
The  object  of  the  society  was  the  visiting  of  the  sick  poor,  and  obtain- 
ing instruction  for  the  children  of  such  persons  as  were  not  provided 
for,  or  who  did  not  belong  to  any  religious  society.  It  was  chartered 
March  26,  1813,  to  continue  twenty  veal's,  and  it  was  allowed  to  hold 
property  to  the  amount  of  $40,000.  Membership  was  obtained  by  the 
payment  of  *.">.  By  a  special  clause  in  the  act  of  incorporation  the 
society  was  entitled  to  a  share  of  the  State  school  fund. 

The  Society  foe  the  Relief  of  Pooh  Widows  with  Small  Children 
was  founded  in  171*7  by  Isabella  Graham  and  a  few  other  benevolent 
women,  for  the  laudable  purpose  of  affording  aid  and  comfort  to  such 
worthy  and  respectable  widows,  with  little  children,  as  could  not  pro- 
vide the  means  of  obtaining  even  the  necessaries  of  life.  It  was  incor- 
porated in  1802,  and  by  its  charter  it  was  allowed  to  hold  property  to 
the  amount  of  sr>o,ooo.  Material  aid,  timely  words  of  encouragement, 
judicious  counsel,  assistance  to  get  employment,  the  education  of  the 
children,  and  every  other  good  the  managers  can  bestow  were  included 
in  the  list  of  their  benefactions.  Money  is  seldom  bestowed  in  the  way 
of  relief,  but  such  necessaries  of  food  and  clothing  as  the  object  stands 
most  in  need  of.  The  chief  efforts  of  this  society  are  directed  to  find- 
ing employment  for  those  who  are  able  and  willing  to  labor. 

The  operations  of  this  society  have  been  carried  on  in  the  most 
economical  manner.  There  are  no  salaried  agents  to  consume  the 
funds  contributed.  The  city  is  divided  into  districts,  and  a  manager 
appointed  for  each.  The  condition  of  becoming  a  beneficiary  of  the 
society  is  to  be  "a  widow  with  two  small  children  under  ten  years  of 
age,  who  is  willing  to  exert  herself  for  her  own  support,  and  is  not 
receiving  aid  from  any  almshouse. "  The  funds  of  the  society  are 
derived  chiefly  from  donations  and  subscriptions.  In  1863  Mr.  Chaun- 
cey  Rose  gave  the  society  £10,000,  with  a  request  that  it  should  not 
form  a  part  of  any  invested  fund,  but  be  used  as  the  wants  of  the 
society  required. 

The  Female  Assistance  Society  was  an  association  formed  by  some 
benevolent  women  for  the  relief  of  sick  poor  women  and  children.  It 
was  incorporated  in  April,  1817,  to  continue  until  November,  1830. 
Its  fund  i  were  limited  to  §3000. 

Tin;  Widows'  Fi  nd  Society  was  incorporated  on  March  10,  1815, 
and  allowed  to  hold  funds  to  the  amount  of  $2500  a  year.    Its  object 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


129 


was  the  relief  of  the  widows  and  children  of  deceased  clergymen  of  the 
Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church  in  the  United  States. 

The  Assistance  Society  was  first  organized  in  1808  for  relieving  and 
advising  sick  and  poor  persons  in  the  city.  It  was  chartered  in  Febru- 
ary, 1S10,  by  which  permission  was  given  it  to  hold  real  and  personal 
property  to  the  amount  of  $25,000.  Its  charter  expired  in  December, 
1S25. 

The  Provident  Society  was  established  for  the  purpose  of  provid- 
ing a  fund  to  support  infirm  members,  and  their  widows  and  children 
on  their  decease.  Their  capita]  was  limited  to  $10,000.  By  the  same 
act  three  other  charitable  institutions  were  incorporated  for  a  similar 
purpose,  and  with  the  like  limited  capital.  These  were  The  Mutual 
Benefit  Society,  The  Benevolent  Society,  and  The  Albion  Benevo- 
lent Society. 

These  several  societies  have  nearly  all  disappeared,  as  distinct  organ- 
izations. They  had  their  origin  in  the  noblest  emotions  of  the  human 
soul — desire  to  conform  to  the  golden  rule  of  life.  They  were  the 
comparatively  feeble  efforts  of  large-hearted,  broad-minded  men  and 
women — the  foreshadow ings  of  the  magnificent  institutions  established 
and  carried  on  vigorously  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  our  day  for  the 
same  holy  purpose — the  purpose  that  animated  Ben  Adhem  and  caused 
his  name  to  lead  all  the  rest  on  the  list  of  the  recording  angel,  because 
he  "  loved  his  fellow-men." 

Among  the  benevolent  institutions  which  existed  in  the  city  of  New 
York  before  1830,  The  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor  holds  a  most  conspicuous 
place.  Before  its  establishment  there  was  a  Marine  Society,  having  in 
view  similar  objects.  This  society  was  founded  in  1770,  the  funds  of 
which  were  limited  to  $15,000  a  year.  Its  immediate  objects  were  the 
improvement  of  maritime  knowledge  and  the  relief  of  indigent  masters 
of  vessels,  their  widows  and  children.  The  funds  of  the  society  were 
limited  to  $15,000  a  year.  Its  affairs  were  managed  by  a  committee 
composed  of  merchants,  magistrates,  and  managers,  and  it  was  sup- 
ported by  an  annual  subscription  from  each  member  of  $2. 

In  the  summer  of  1801  Captain  Robert  Richard  Randall,  a  son  of 
Captain  Thomas  Randall,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Marine  Society  of 
New  York,  and  himself  a  merchant  and  shipmaster,  by  his  will,  bearing 
date  June  1,  after  making  some  specific  bequests,  devised  the  residue 
of  his  estate  in  trust  to  the  chancellor  of  the  State  of  New  York,*  the 

*  A  new  Constitution  of  the  State  of  New  York,  adopted  in  184G,  abolished  the  offico 
of  chancellor  after  July,  1847.    Since  that  I  ime  the  hoard  has  consisted  of  seven  members. 


130 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


mayor  and  recorder  of  the  city  of  New  York,  the  president  and  vice- 
president  of  the  Marine  Society  of  the  city,  the  senior  minister  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  city,  and  the  senior  minister  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  same  city,  for  the  time  being,  and  to  their  succes- 
sors in  office  respectively,  to  "  receive  the  rents,  issues,  and  profits 
thereof,"  and  to  apply  the  same  "  to  the  erection,  in  some  eligible  part 
of  the  land  whei-eon  the  testator  then  lived,  of  a  building  for  an  asylum 
or  marine  hospital,  to  be  called  'The  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor.'"  The 
object  was  to  provide  for  the  maintenance  of  aged,  decrepit,  and  worn- 
out  sailors. 

Those  trustees  applied  to  the  State  Legislature  for  a  charter  of  incor- 
poration. It  was  granted,  and  the  charter  bears  date  February  6, 
1806.  In  1S14,  doubts  having  been  expressed  as  to  who,  in  the  con- 
templation of  the  testator,  were  to  be  considered  the  "  senior  ministers" 
of  the  Episcopal  and  Presbyterian  churches  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
the  Legislature,  by  act  passed  March  25,  1S14,  declared  that  the  rector 
of  Trinity  Church  in  New  York  and  the  minister  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  "Wall  Street  should  be  considered  trustees  of  the  corporation. 

The  property  devised  by  Captain  Randall  for  the  Sailors'  Snug  Har- 
bor consisted  of  land  lying  in  the  Fifteenth  Ward  (between  Broadway 
and  the  Bowery  and  Seventh  and  Tenth  streets),  comprising  little  more 
than  twenty -one  acres,  four  lots  in  the  Fourth  Ward,  three  and  six  per 
cent  stocks  to  the  amount  of  little  over  $7000,  and  fifty  shares  of  the 
stock  of  the  Manhattan  Bank. 

The  rapid  growth  of  the  city  and  advance  in  the  value  of  property 
within  its  limits  caused  the  trustees  to  ask  the  Legislature  to  authorize 
them  to  erect  the  proposed  building  elsewhere,  and  regulate  and 
improve  the  land  in  the  Fifteenth  Ward,  and  lease  it.  This  authority 
was  granted  in  1*28,  and  in  1831  the  trustees  purchased  a  farm  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty  acres  on  the  north  shore  of  Staten  Island,  to  which 
twenty  acres  were  afterward  added. 

For  many  years  persons  claiming  to  be  heirs  of  Captain  Randall  con- 
tested his  will.  The  question  was  settled  in  favor  of  the  trustees,  by 
the  Supreme  Court  in  1830,  when  the  land  was  divided  into  lots  con- 
formable to  the  pkin  of  the  city  streets,  and  leased  for  the  term  of 
twenty-one  years.  The  corner-stone  of  the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor  was 
laid  oil  October  31,  1831,  and  on  the  first  of  August,  1833,  the  chief 
building  was  completed,  and  the  institution  was  formally  opened  with 
religious  and  other  ceremonies.  The  remains  of  the  founder  were  soon 
afterward  deposited  beneath  a  white  marble  monument  in  front  of  the 
building,  bearing  the  following  inscriptions  : 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


131 


North  Side. 

"  The  Trustees  of  the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor  erected  this  Monun  ent 
To  the  Memory  of 
Robert  Richard  Randall, 
By  whose  munificence  this  Institution  was  Founded." 

East  Side. 

"  The  Humane  Institution  of  the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor. 
Conceived  in  a  Spirit  of  Enlarged  Benevolence, 
With  an  endowment  which  time  has  proved  fully  adequate  to  the  objects 
of  the  Donor  ; 
And  organized  in  a  manner  which  shows 
Wisdom  and  Foresight. 
The  founder  of  this  noble  Charity 
Will  ever  be  held  in  grateful  Remembrance 
By  the  partakers  of  his  Bounty.' ' 

South  Side. 

"  Charity  never  Faileth, 
Its  Memorial  is  Immortal." 

West  Side. 

"  The  Trustees  of  the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor  caused  the  Remains  of 
Robert  Richard  Randall 
To  be  removed  from  the  original  place  of  Interment 
And  deposited  beneath  this  Monument, 
On  the  21st  of  August,  1834." 

In  the  hall  of  the  centre  building  may  be  seen  a  marble  bust  of  Cap- 
tain Randall.  The  buildings  consist  of  a  centre  edifice,  with  two 
wings,  a  dining-hall  building,  a  hospital,  and  chapel. 

So  enormously  has  the  value  of  the  real  estate  in  the  city  increased, 
that  the  income  from  it  provides  ample  support  for  the  institution. 
The  annual  income  in  1806  was  ;   now  (1883)  it  is  about 

8250,01)1).  The  delay  of  almost  thirty  years  in  patting  the  institution 
into  operation  was  occasioned  by  the  very  limited  income  of  the  estate, 
and  subsequently  by  the  unsettled  state  of  the  trust  ;  by  the  great 
expenses  incurred  in  defending  suits  brought  against  the  trustees,  and 
by  heavy  assessments  for  regulating  the  lots.  But  for  fifty  years  this 
great  charity,  so  appropriate  for  a  great  commercial  city,  has  been  dis- 
pensing blessings  to  a  class  of  useful  men  who  have  been  too  much 
neglected  by  society  at  large. 

The  Snuo-  Harbor  has  an  average  of  fullv  five  hundred  old  or  dis- 
abled  seamen  under  its  charge,  who  are  comfortably  fed,  clothed,  and 


132 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


lodged,  have  all  necessary  wants  supplied,  and  religious  instruction 
attended  to,  while  perfect  liberty  of  conscience  is  granted. 

The  government  of  the  institution  is  under  a  governor,  a  chaplain,  a 
physician,  an  agent,  and  a  steward.  None  but  those  who  have  served 
"  before  the  mast,""  and  free  from  contagious  disease,  have  not  ade- 
quate means  for  self-support,  and  who  have  sailed  for  five  years 
under  the  United  States  flag  in  the  naval  or  merchant  service,  are 
admitted. 

Before  the  trustees  of  the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor  had  made  their  final 
arrangements  lor  building  on  their  land  on  Staten  Island,  a  successful 
effort  had  been  made  (1830-31)  for  establishing  a  Seamen's  Retreat 
and  Hospital. 

In  1754  the  municipal  authorities  of  New  York  (then  containing  a 
population  of  about  Soon)  adopted  quarantine  measures  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  health  of  the  city.  They  imposed  a  tax  upon  all  persons 
entering  the  port  of  New  York,  both  seamen  and  passengers,  and  with 
the  fund  thus  procured  they  established  hospital  accommodations,  first 
on  Governor's  Island,  and  then  on  Bedloe's  Island.  After  the  Revolu- 
tion laws  were  enacted  by  the  State  Legislature  for  regulating  a  proper 
quarantine,  and  in  lT'.x;  a  quarantine  hospital  was  established  on  Staten 
Island.  The  taxes  collected  from  seamen  and  passengers  was  paid  into 
a  joint  fund,  which  was  under  the  control  of  the  "  commissioners  of 
health"  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  was  called  the  Mariners'  Fund. 

This  fund  was  appropriated  to  defraying  the  expense  of  buildings  at 
Quarantine,  to  the  aid  of  the  "  House  of  Refuge  for  Juvenile  Delin- 
quents,"' the  endowment  of  dispensaries  from  year  to  year,  and  other 
things,  and  the  remainder,  if  any,  was  paid  into  the  State  treasury. 
A  very  small  amount  of  the  money  collected  by  these  taxes  was  used 
for  intended  purposes,  for  only  hospital  accommodations  were  provided 
alike  for  passengers  and  seamen,  and  were  afforded  but  for  four  months 
of  the  year,  at  the  Marine  Hospital. 

This  manifest  injustice  to  seafaring  men  aroused  the  attention  of 
commercial  men  in  1830,  and  at  the  session  of  the  State  Legislature  in 
1831  a  law  was  passed  which  repealed  all  former  laws  relating  to  the 
collection  of  the  quarantine  tax  from  masters,  mates,  and  seamen,  and 
created  a  board  of  trustees,  who  were  charged  with  the  collection  and 
use  of  the  funds  so  procured.  It  was  ascertained  that  up  to  that  time, 
alter  deducting  all  that  had  been  expended  for  board,  nursing,  and 
medical  attendance  for  seamen,  there  remained  in  their  favor,  apart 
from  what  had  been  paid  by  passengers  and  expended  for  them,  the 
sum  of  $341,000. 


FIRST  DECADE,  18:J0-1840. 


133 


The  board  of  trustees  named  in  the  act  of  April  22,  1831,  were 
authorized  to  receive  from  the  comptroller  of  the  State  the  unexpended 
balance  of  the  joint  fund  in  his  hands,  which  then  amounted  to  $12,197, 
and  were  also  authorized  to  establish  with  this  fund  a  hospital  for  the 
exclusive  use  of  seamen,  the  quarantine  tax  on  seafaring  men  to  be 
appropriated  for  its  support.  On  the  9th  of  May,  1831,  the  first  meet- 
ing of  the  board  was  held  at  the  office  of  the  mayor.  The  board 
consisted  of  Walter  Bowne,  mayor  and  president  ;  Captain  John 
Whetton,  president  of  the  Marine  Society  ;  Captain  Alexander  Thomp- 
son, president  of  the  Nautical  Society  ;  Xajah  Taylor,  president  of  the 
Seamen's  Savings  Bank,  and  Dr.  John  S.  "Westervelt,  health  officer 
and  acting  secretary.  At  that  meeting  Captains  James  Morgan,  James 
Webb,  J.  R.  Skiddy,  Henry  Russell,  and  Reuben  Brumley  were 
elected  associate  trustees.  Dr.  Peter  S.  Townsend,  of  New  York,  was 
subsequently  elected  resident  physician  to  the  institution,  which  was 
denominated  The  Seamen's  Retreat  Hospital.  At  a  subsequent 
meeting  Samuel  Swartwout,  collector  of  the  port,  was  chosen  presi- 
dent, and  Captain  Morgan  appointed  secretary. 

The  trustees  bought  forty  acres  of  land  on  the  north  side  of  Staten 
Island,  on  the  road  between  Clifton  and  Stapleton,  on  which  was  a 
farmhouse,  for  $10,000.  In  that  farmhouse  the  first  patients  were 
cared  for,  but  it  very  soon  was  entirely  inadequate,  for  all  seamen  then 
in  the  Marine  Hospital  at  Staten  Island  and  in  the  City  Hospital  in 
Xew  York,  at  the  charge  of  the  health  commissioners,  were  to  be  sent 
to  the  retreat.  A  building  was  speedily  erected,  and  yet  there  were 
inadequate  accommodations  for  the  continually  increasing  applicants, 
and  the  corner-stone  of  a  new  building  was  laid  on  July  4,  1834.  In 
ls42  the  erection  of  another  building  was  begun,  and  the  imposing 
structures  now  seen  there  were  soon  completed. 

There  Avas  in  the  retreat  a  circulating  library  of  many  hundred  vol- 
umes, and  the  American  Bible  Society  furnished  Bibles  and  Testaments 
in  almost  everv  written  lanonaee.  There  thousands  of  seamen,  disabled 
by  age  or  disease,  found  a  home.  If  any  preferred  it,  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor,  or  sent,  at  the  expense  of  the 
trustees,  to  his  home  and  friends,  however  distant.  At  the  western 
end  of  the  grounds  was  a  cemetery,  where  the  wearied  bodies  were  laid 
at  rest  forever. 

The  Hon.  Clarkson  Crolius,  Jr.,  was,  for  nearly  thirty  years,  an 
active  trustee  of  the  Seamen's  Retreat,  and  was  its  last  president. 
The  retreat  was  closed,  by  order  of  the  Legislature,  on  July  31,  1S82, 
because  the  hospital  was  not  self-supporting.    On  the  grounds  is  the 


134 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Mariners'  Family  Asylum,  which  is  continued.  The  hospital  property 
is  valued  at  8200,000.  The  proceeds  of  its  sale  are  to  be  equally 
divided  between  the  Family  Asylum,  the  Marine  Society  of  New  York, 
and  the  Seamen's  Orphan  Society  of  New  York.  "  Sammy,"  the  old 
gatekeeper,  who  had  been  at  his  post  for  forty-three  years,  Was  sent  to 
the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor,  and  the  patients  to  other  hospitals. 

In  1828  an  important  movement  was  made  in  New  York,  in  the 
interest  of  commerce,  morals,  and  humanity.  So  much  does  the  safety 
of  property  committed  to  the  care  of  seamen  depend  upon  their  moral 
character,  that  the  merchants  and  others  perceived,  with  ever-increas- 
ing anxiety,  the  low  state  of  morals  among  that  class  of  men,  then  so 
numerous  in  connection  with  the  mercantile  marine  of  New  York. 
Society  was  to  blame  for  their  degradation,  for  society  almost  entirely 
neglected  them.  In  1S2S  a  Seamen's  Friknd  Society  was  organized  in 
New  York,  the  avowed  object  of  which  was  "  to  improve  the  social 
and  moral  condition  of  seamen  by  uniting  the  efforts  of  the  wise  and 
good  in  their  behalf  ;  by  promoting  in  every  port  boarding-houses  of 
good  character,  savings  banks,  register-offices,  libraries,  museums, 
reading-rooms,  and  schools,  and  also  the  ministration  of  the  gospel  and 
other  religious  blessings."  * 

Early  in  1S25  the  Rev.  John  Truax  began  the  publication  of  the 
Jf</riner's  j\I<i</<iz!>ie  in  New  York.  He  advocated  the  formation  of  a 
national  society  for  the  benefit  of  seamen.  This  led  to  the  assembling 
at  the  City  Hotel  (October  25,  1825)  of  clergymen  of  the  various 
churches  in  New  York,  and  a  large  number  of  other  citizens — mer- 

*  So  early  as  the  year  1812  a  Society— probably  the  first  in  the  world— was  formed  in 
Boston,  called  "  The  Boston  Society  for  the  Religious  and  Moral  Improvement  of  Sea- 
men." In  1816  meetings  to  consider  and  provide  for  the  spiritual  wants  of  seamen  were 
begun  in  New  York,  in  the  Brick  (Presbyterian)  Church,  then  occupying  the  point  of  land 
at  the  junction  of  Nassau  Street  and  Park  Row,  and  subsequently  in  other  churches. 
In  1817  a  "  Marine  Bible  Society,"  designed  to  furnish  sailors  with  the  Scriptures,  was 
formed,  and  the  next  year  the  "  Society  for  Promoting  the  Gospel  among  Seamen  in  the 
Port  of  New  York,"  more  familiarly  known  as  "  The  Port  Society,"  was  formed. 

Under  the  auspices  of  the  last-named  society  was  erected  the  first  Mariners'  Chnrch 
ever  built,  it  is  supposed.  It  was  in  Roosevelt  Street,  near  the  East  River,  and  was  dedi- 
cated in  June,  1820.  Rev.  Ward  Stafford,  its  projector,  was  its  pastor.  In  1821  "  The 
New  York  Bethel  Union,"  with  the  good  Divie  Bethune  as  its  president,  was  organized. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  these  movements  in  New  York  for  ministering  to  the 
spiritual  and  intellectual  wants  of  seamen,  similar  organizations  were  effected  at  Phila- 
delphia (1819),  at  Savannah  (1821),  Portland  and  New  Orleans  (1823),  New  Bedford  and 
Norfolk  (1825),  and  at  other  places.  So  early  as  1825  there  existed  in  the  United  States 
seventy  Bethel  Unions,  thirty-three  Marine  Bible  Societies,  and  fifteen  churches  and 
floating  chapels  for  the  benefit  of  seamen.  The  Bethel  flag  had  circumnavigated  the 
globe. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1810. 


135 


chants  and  others.  Other  meetings  were  held,  and  the  subject  contin- 
ued to  be  discussed,  when,  on  May  5,  1828,  The  American  Seamen's 
Friend  Society  was  organized,  with  the  Hon.  Smith  Thompson, 
ex-Secretary  of  the  Navy,  as  president  ;  Rev.  Charles  P.  Mcllvaine 
(afterward  bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  Ohio),  corresponding  secretary  ; 
Philip  Flagler,  recording  secretary  ;  Silas  Holmes,  treasurer,  and  Rev. 
Joshua  Leavitt,  general  agent. 

The  institution  of  foreign  agencies  was  almost  immediately  begun, 
and  now  they  exist  in  almost  every  important  seaport  in  the  world. 
The  first  agent  sent  to  China  was  the  Rev.  David  Abeel,  and  at  about 
the  same  time  agents  were  sent  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  France,  and 
elsewhere.  The  Sailors*  Magazine  (yet  published)  was  started  the 
same  year.  In  1829  a  seamen's  savings  bank  was  started,  and  the 
same  year  a  home  for  colored  seamen  was  established.  The  society 
was  incorporated  in  1S33. 

In  1S42  a  home  was  opened  for  white  sailors,  at  No.  190  Cherry 
Street,  and  there  many  thousand  seamen  have  found  the  comforts 
which  its  name  implies.  It  has  a  good  reading-room  and  museum, 
bathing  facilities,  and  excellent  sleeping-rooms.  There  is  a  clothing 
store  in  the  basement,  and  a  seamen's  exchange  near  by.  This  home 
and  the  legal  restrictions  which  now  hedge  the  sailor  boarding-houses 
have  transformed  these  traditional  dens  of  moral  pollution  and  financial 
swindling  into  comparatively  decent  houses  of  entertainment.  During 
the  year  ending  May,  1882,  it  had  accommodated  one  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  fifty-eight  boarders.  From  the  date  of  its  opening  there 
had  boarded  and  lodg-ed  there  one  hundred  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  ten  seamen,  and  the  amount  saved  by  it  to  seamen  and  their  rela- 
tives whose  funds  had  been  cared  for  was,  during  the  thirty-nine  years, 
more  than  §1, 500,000.  There  shipwrecked  sailors  are  cheerfully  pro- 
vided for. 

The  fifty-fourth  annual  report  of  the  society  (May,  1S82)  exhibited 
the  institution  in  a  healthful  state,  and  vigorously  engaged  in  its  noble 
work,  with  an  efficient  corps  of  officers,  composed  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  admirals,  commanders,  and  captains  of  the  United  States 
Navy,  clergymen,  and  others.* 

The  society  has  now  active  agents  in  the  Bermudas  ;  at  Bangkok, 
Siam  ;  Bon  Esperance,  on  the  coast  of  Labrador  ;  Honolulu  ;  ports  in 
Sweden,  Norway,  and  Denmark  ;  Hamburg,  Antwerp,  Marseilles, 

*  The  officers  for  1882-83  are  :  Richard  Buck,  president  ;  Horace  Gray,  Henry  A. 
Hnrlbert,  and  twenty-four  others,  vice-presidents  ;  Rev.  Samuel  H.  Hall,  D.D.,  secre- 
tary ;  William  C.  Sturges,  treasurer,  and  L.  P.  Hubbard,  financial  agent. 


136 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORE  CITY. 


Geneva,  Naples  ;  Yokohama,  Japan  ;  Valparaiso,  Chili  ;  and  at  the 
principal  Atlantic  and  Pacific  seaports  of  the  United  States. 

For  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  society  has  furnished  private  and 
national  vessels  with  loan  libraries  for  the  use  of  seamen.  These  con- 
tain about  thirty-six  volumes  each,  a  few  of  them  in  the  Danish, 
French,  Spanish,  and  Italian  languages.  During  the  year  ending 
May,  1SS2,  there  had  been  sent  to  sea  from  the  rooms  of  the  society  in 
New  York  and  Boston  eight  hundred  and  twelve  libraries,  containing 
an  aggregate  of  sixteen  thousand  five  hundred  and  twelve  volumes. 

These  brief  notices  of  institutions  which  have  originated  and  are 
carried  on  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  behalf  of  seafaring  men  reveal 
the  vast  benevolent  operations  of  the  noble  work  that  is  done  in  the 
commercial  metropolis  of  the  Republic  for  the  class  of  men  upon  whose 
good  services  so  much  of  its  material  prosperity  depends. 

The  Orphan  Asylum  Society  i.\  the  City  ok  New  York  is  the  oldest 
of  its  class  in  the  United  States,  having  been  organized  in  the  spring  of 
1806.  It  was  founded  by  a  few  benevolent  persons,  chiefly  women, 
among  whom  Isabella  Graham,  a  widow,  and  one  of  the  most  saintly 
benefactors  ever  known,  was  conspicuous.  Out  of  her  own  earnings  as 
a  school-teacher  she  had  laid  the  foundation  in  the  city  of  Edinburgh 
of  the  Society  for  the  Relief  of  the  Destitute  Sick,  and,  with  others, 
the  Society  for  the  Relief  of  Poor  Widows  with  Children.  She  came 
to  America  in  1785,  on  the  invitation  of  President  Witherspoon  of 
Princeton  College,  and  opened  a  small  school  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
where  her  second  daughter  married  Divie  Bethune,  a  prosperous  young 
merchant,  father  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Bethune.* 

The  Orphan  Society  was  organized  at  the  City  Hotel  in  April,  1807, 
and  the  continuance  and  support  of  the  Society  for  the  Relief  of  Poor 
Widows  with  Children  was  a  chief  element  in  insuring  it  success. 

At  first  a  temporary  home  for  the  wards  of  the  society  was  procured 
in  Greenwich  Village,  and  a  pious  man  and  his  wife  were  engaged  to 
take  charge  of  and  instruct  the  orphan  children.  In  the  spring  of  1807 
the  society  obtained  a  charter  from  the  Legislature,  bearing  date  April 

*  Isabella  Graham  was  l>orn  in  Lanarkshire,  Scotland,  in  1742.  Her  maiden  name  was 
Marshall.  She  married  Dr.  John  Graham,  an  army  surgeon,  and  accompanied  him  to 
Canada  in  1705.  She  resided  there  several  years,  and  accompanied  her  husband  to  the 
island  o£  Antigua,  where  he  died.  She  returned  to  Scotland  with  three  infant  daughters 
and  a  son,  where  she  supported  her  family  by  teaching  school  until  she  came  to  America. 
At  her  house  in  New  York,  in  1796,  was  formed  the  "  Society  for  the  Relief  of  Poor 
Widows  with  Children."  She  was  one  of  the  chief  founders  of  the  "  Orphan  Asylum" 
and  "  The  Magdalen  Society."  Her  ministrations  to  the  poor  continued  until  her  death, 
in  1814. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


137 


7,  1807.  It  was  allowed  to  hold  real  and  personal  estate  to  an  amount 
not  exceeding  $100,000.  This  charter  expired  in  1829,  and  was 
renewed.    Tt  was  again  renewed  in  1860  for  twenty  years. 

At  the  first  annual  meeting-,  at  the  City  Hotel,  in  the  spring-  of  1807, 
about  twenty  of  its  wards  were  present.  Then  the  society  resolved  to 
purchase  lots  and  erect  a  building.  On  four  lots  in  Greenwich  the 
corner-stone  of  a  building  fifty  feet  square,  to  accommodate  two  hun- 
dred children,  was  laid.  It  was  of  brick,  and  the  funds  for  its  erection 
($15,000)  was  contributed  by  generous  citizens.  A  bequest  by  Philip 
Jacobs  in  1833  laid  the  foundation  of  the  present  prosperity  of  the 
society. 

The  accommodations  at  Greenwich  being  too  limited,  nine  and  a  half 
acres  of  land  were  purchased  at  one  of  the  most  beautiful  situations  on 
the  banks  of  the  Hudson  River,  five  miles  from  the  City  Hall.  There 
the  corner-stone  of  the  new  building  was  laid,  in  June,  1836.  Within 
a  year  afterward  it  was  opened  for  the  entrance  of  the  orphans.  The 
building  cost  more  than  845,000,  all  contributed  by  generous  individ- 
uals, neither  the  State  nor  the  city  having  given  anything.  During  its 
life  of  little  more  than  thirty  years  nearly  a  thousand  orphans  had 
enjoyed  its  sheltering  care.  Of  these,  four  hundred  and  seven  boys  had 
been  apprenticed  to  mechanics  and  farmers,  and  two  hundred  and 
seventy  girls  as  servants  in  private  families. 

The  grounds  are  beautifully  laid  out  in  lawns  and  gardens,  and  fur- 
nish ample  pasture  for  cows  to  supply  the  little  ones  with  milk.  The 
inmates  are  educated,  clothed,  and  boarded,  and  have  moral  and  relig- 
ious advantages  while  thev  remain  in  the  institution. 

This  most  excellent  retreat  for  orphans  is  managed  by  a  board  of 
directors  and  seventeen  trustees,  all  women. *  The  schools  are  graded, 
and  the  elements  of  an  English  education  are  thoroughly  taught.  On 
April  1,  18S2,  there  were  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  orphans  in  the 
asylum,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  eight  were  boys. 

In  the  half  decade  preceding  the  year  1830  there  were  in  the  city  of 
New  York  a  County  Medical  Society,  a  College  of  Physicians  and 
Suri>eons.  and  for  a  while  an  institution  known  as  Rutgers  Medical 
College. 

The  New  Yoke  Count*  Medical  Society  was  organized  under  a  »-en- 

*  The  board  of  direction  in  1882  consisted  of  :  Mrs.  Jonathan  Odell,  first  directress  ; 
Mrs.  M.  L.  li.  Satterlee,  second  directress  ;  Mrs.  Janet  T.  Sherman,  treasurer  ;  Mrs. 
R.  M.  Blatchford,  recording  secretary  ;  Mrs.  J.  G.  Sniedberg,  financial  secretary.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  George  E.  Dunlop  are  the  superintendents,  and  John  L.  Campbell,  M.D., 
physician. 


138 


HISTOKY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


era!  State  law  for  the  incorporation  of  medical  societies,  in  the  "  front 
court-room"  of  the  old  City  Hall,  in  "Wall  Street,  on  the  first  day  of 
July,  180G.  There  were  present  at  the  meeting  one  hundred  and  four 
physicians  and  surgeons.  Dr.  Nicholas  Romayne  was  appointed  chair- 
man, and  Dr.  Valentine  Seaman  was  chosen  secretary.  After  having 
duly  organized  a  society.  Dr.  Romayne  was  chosen  its  president,  Dr. 
.lames  Tillary  vice-president.  Dr.  Edward  Miller  secretary,  and  Dr. 
Valentine  Seaman  treasurer."-  The  society  (now  ninety-seven  years 
ot  age)  is  composed  of  resident,  non-resident,  and  honorary  members. 
The  governor  of  the  State  of  New  York  and  the  mayor  of  the  city  of 
New  York  are  honorary  members  ex-ojjicio.- 

The  objects  of  the  society  are  to  aid  in  regulating  the  practice  of 
medicine  and  surgery,  and  to  contribute  to  the  diffusion  of  true  science, 
particularly  the  knowledge  of  the  healing,  art.  The  society  has  power 
to  examine  students  and  to  grant  a  license  to  practice  to  such  as  may 
be  found  qualified. 

In  1SK5  the  society  adopted  a  rate  of  charges,  which  possesses  a  curi- 
ous interest  now.  The  charges  for  services  in  eighty-one  specific  cases 
were  determined.  The  lowest  charge  for  medical  and  surgical  service 
was  si  ;  the  highest,  s-jon.  An  ordinary  visit  was  s2  ;  for  verbal 
advice,  s~>  ;  for  letter  of  advice,  slo  to  Kl.">  ;  a  night  visit.  S7  ;  a  visit 
to  Staten  Island  in  summer,  slo.  and  in  winter  or  stormy  weather, 
§2(>.  For  vaccination,  s5  to  slo  ;  operation  for  cataract,  fcl">o,  and 
for  carotid,  subclavian,  inguinal,  and  external  iliac  troubles,  $200. 

From  the  beginning  the  society  took  an  exalted  position  as  to  profes- 
sional character,  and  has  always  maintained  it.  It  also  assumed  a 
proper  spirit  of  independence  when  the  State  Medical  Society,  at  the 
outset,  asserted  its  right  to  regulate  the  policy  of  the  county  societies. 
The  influence  of  this  society  in  pursuit  of  its  avowed  purposes  has  been 
wide  and  most  salutary.    At  first  the  society  had  only  one  representa- 

*  A  State  Medical  Society  had  been  organized  in  a  room  of  the  City  Hall  on  the  even- 
ing of  November  14,  1794,  by  Drs.  John  Charlton,  Thomas  Jones,  Samuel  Bard,  Malachi 
Treat.  Richard  Bayley,  S.  Fongeras,  James  Tillary,  Samnel  Nicoll,  A.  Bainbridge,  David 
Breeks,  W.  P.  Smith,  J.  Gamage,  William  Hammerslcy,  John  Onderdonk,  George 
Anthon,  J.  R.  B.  Rodgers,  W.  Post,  and  William  Laramie.  At  a  subsequent  meeting  it 
was  unanimously  agreed  that  Drs.  Edward  Stevens,  Joseph  Youle,  and  David  Hosack  be 
considered  as  original  members  of  the  society. 

Dr.  John  Charlton  was  elected  president  of  the  society.  Dr.  Thomas  Jones  vice- 
president.  Dr.  William  P.  Smith  treasurer,  Dr.  John  R.  B.  Rodgers,  secretary,  and 
Drs.  Samuel  Bard,  Malachi  Treat.  Richard  Bayley,  and  Samuel  Nicoll.  censors. 

The  original  minutes  of  this  society  are  in  the  custody  of  the  New  York  Academy  of 
Medicine. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830  1840. 


tive  at  the  sessions  of  the  State  Medical  Society  ;  it  now  (1883)  lias 
twenty -one  representatives  in  that  body. 

The  College  of  Physicians  and  Sukgeons  was  founded  in  1807. 
The  institution  received  its  charter  from  the  regents  of  the  University 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  pursuant  to  an  act  of  the  Legislature  passed 
March  4,  1791.  The  charter  is  dated  March  12,  1807.  The  officers 
were  elected  in  May  following,  when  Dr.  Nicholas  Romayne  was 
chosen  president.* 

The  first  course  of  lectures  in  the  college  was  begun  on  November  7, 
1S(»7,  in  a  small  building,  two  stories  in  height,  on  Robinson  Street,  in 
rear  of  the  City  Hospital.  At  about  the  close  of  the  session  the  college 
received  an  endowment  of  $20,000,  when  a  building  on  Pearl  Street 
was  purchased.  It  was  formally  opened  for  the  reception  of  students 
in  November,  1808.  The  whole  number  of  students  that  attended  the 
first  year  was  fifty -three. 

The  institution  soon  began  to  experience  vicissitudes.  Its  veiy 
existence  was  menaced  with  destruction.  It  was  saved  by  the  wisdom 
and  energy  of  the  regents  of  the  University. 

So  early  as  the  year  1811  there  was  such  grave  misunderstanding  be- 
tween the  president  and  the  faculty  that  the  regents  were  compelled  to 
interfere.  They  made  important  changes  in  the  faculty  and  in  the 
internal  arrangements  of  the  college.  President  Romayne  retired,  and 
the  venerable  Dr.  Samuel  Bard,  then  nearly  seventy  years  of  age, 
became  the  head  of  the  college.  At  about  the  same  time  power  was 
granted  to  the  college,  to  confer  medical  degrees. 

The  first  medical  commencement  was  held  on  the  15th  of  May.  1811, 
when  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  was  conferred  upon  eight  grad- 
uates. It  was  a  greater  number  of  degrees  in  medicine  than  had  ever 
before  been  conferred  at  one  time.  Not  more  than  twenty  graduates 
of  the  medical  school  of  Columbia  College  had  received  the  decree  in 
thirty  years. 

*  Nicholas  Eoniayne,  M.D.,  was  born  in  Hackensack,  X.  J.,  in  September,  175(3,  and 
studied  medicine  under  Dr.  Peter  Wilson.  He  completed  his  medical  education  at 
Edinburgh  in  1780,  and  became  professor  of  the  institutes  of  medicine  and  forensic 
medicine  in  Queen's  (now  Rutgers)  College,  New  Jersey.  Before  he  returned  from 
Europe  he  spent  two  years  in  Paris,  and  also  visited  Leyden.  He  began  his  profes- 
sional career  in  New  York  after  leaving  Queen's  College.  Ho  became  professor  of  the 
practice  of  physic,  anatomy,  and  chemistry  in  Columbia  College  on  its  reorganization  in 
1784,  and  gave  private  lectures  on  anatomy.  Dr.  Eomayne  was  the  first  president  of  the 
New  York  City  Medical  Society  1806,  president  of  the  New  York  State  Medical  Society 
180fi-10,  and  in  1807  was  chosen  the  first  president  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons.    Dr.  Romayne  died  in  New  York  of  apoplexy,  in  July.  1817. 


140 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


In  1813  the  medical  department  of  Columbia  College  was  discon- 
tinued. The  regents  of  the  University,  so  early  as  1811,  had  recom- 
mended the  union  of  the  two  schools.  It  was  effected  in  March,  1814, 
when  the  new  organization  took  possession  of  a  commodious  building 
on  the  north  side  of  Barclay  Street,  near  Broadway. 

This  alliance  was  of  short  duration.  Soon  after  the  union  some  of 
the  faculty  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  withdrew,  and 
formed  a  new  medical  school  under  the  authority  of  Queen's  (now 
Rutgers)  College,  in  New  Jersey.  It  was  called  the  New  Medical 
Institution,  but  was  generally  known  as  Rutgers  Medical  College  of 
New  York.  It  took  possession  of  a  large  building  on  Duane  Street. 
It  was  short-lived,  expiring  in  1810. 

At  this  crisis  in  its  affairs  the  regents  of  the  University  reorganized 
the  college  under  an  entirely  new  charter,  which  gave  the  management 
to  a  board  of  twenty-live  trustees,  whose  tenure  of  office  was  subject  to 
the  will  of  the  regents  themselves.  Finally,  dissensions  between  the 
Medical  Society  of  the  County  of  New  York  and  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons,  which  had  prevailed  more  or  less  from  the 
beginning,  became  very  exciting  in  1821,  and  there  was  consequently 
such  discord  between  the  trustees  and  the  faculty  of  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  that  the  latter  all  resigned  in  April,  1826,  and 
soon  afterward  revived  the  "  New  Medical  Institution1'  under  the 
auspices  of  Queen's  College.  The  leading  professors  in  the  revived 
institution  were  Drs.  David  Ilosack,  William  J.  Macneven,  Valentine 
Mott,  John  W.  Francis,  John  D.  Godman,  and  .John  Griscom,  LL.D. 
This,  too,  was  short-lived.  The  faculty  soon  abandoned  the  contest, 
and  the  institution  was  closed. 

By  a  new  provision  in  the  constitution,  the  faculty  of  the  college 
were  excluded  from  seats  in  the  board  of  trustees.  In  November,  1837, 
the  college  removed  from  Barclav  Street  to  Crosbv  Street,  where  its 
sessions  were  held  until  the  inauguration  of  its  present  home,  on  the 
north-east  corner  of  Twenty-third  Street  and  Fourth  Avenue,  January 
22,  1856.  In  June,  1860,  the  institution  was  constituted  the  medical 
department  of  Columbia  College,  and  now  (1883)  bears  the  title  of 
"  The  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  the  City  of  New  York — 
Medical  Department  of  Columbia  College."*  Much  of  the  instruction 
in  this  college  is  given  in  different  large  hospitals  in  the  city. 

*  The  officers  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  1883  were  :  Alonzo  Clark, 
M.D.,  LL.D.,  president  ;  Willard  Parker,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  vice-president  ;  Ellsworth  Eliot, 
M.D.,  registrar  ;  John  Sherwood,  treasurer.  There  are  twenty-two  trustees.  Its  medi- 
cal faculty  consists  of  twenty-five  physicians. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1880-1840. 


141 


In  the  year  1802  an  association  was  formed  in  New  York  for  the 
purpose  of  substituting  the  kine-pox  for  the  small-pox  by  vaccination, 
as  a  safeguard  against  the  ravages  of  the  latter.  The  preventive 
method  had  already  become  quite  popular  in  Boston,  where  the  indom- 
itable Dr.  Waterhouse,  professor  in  Harvard  College,  satisfied  with  the 
utility  and  consequent  blessings  of  .Tenner's  discovery,  had  urged  the 
practice  so  vigorously  and  persistently  that  he  was  styled  the  Ameri- 
can Jenner. 

During  the  first  year  after  the  establishment  of  the  kine-pox  insti- 
tution in  New  York  fully  five  hundred  children  were  vaccinated. 
Very  early  in  the  history  of  vaccination  in  the  city  it  was  placed  under 
the  direction  of  the  City  Dispensary,  and  all  applicants  were  gratui- 
tously vaccinated.  The  corporation  appropriated  $G00  a  year  for  that 
purpose. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


TF^IIE  most  prominent  institutions  existing  in  the  city  of  New  York 
-L  about  the  year  1830,  which  had  been  established  for  the  promo- 
tion of  intellectual  and  moral  cultivation — literary,  scientific,  and 
artistic — were  Columbia  College,  Mew  York  Society  Library,  General 
Society  of  Mechanics  and  Tradesmen,  New  York  Historical  Society, 
Mew  York  Typographical  Society,  Mew  York  Mercantile  Library  Asso- 
ciation, Lyceum  of  Natural  History,  Mew  York  Athenaeum,  Literary 
and  Philosophical  Society,  American  Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  and  the 
National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design. 

The  germ  of  Columbia  College  may  be  found  in  the  records  of 
Trinity  Church  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  century.  At  what  time 
the  first  movement  in  that  direction  by  the  vestry  of  the  church  had 
taken  place  cannot  be  determined.  In  1  To:',  the  rector  and  wardens 
were  directed  to  wait  on  the  governor  of  the  province,  Lord  Corn- 
bury,  "  to  know  what  part  of  the  King's  Farm  then  vested  in  Trinity 
Church  had  been  intended  for  the  college  which  he  designed  to  have 
built." 

When  Bishop  Berkeley  was  in  this  country,  nearly  thirty  years  after- 
ward, the  project  of  a  college  at  Mew  York,  which  had  slumbered  all 
that  time,  was  revived.  Berkeley  was  disappointed  in  regard  to  the 
establishment  of  an  institution  of  learning  in  the  Bermudas,  and 
resolved  to  transfer  his  intended  establishment  to  "  some  place  on  the 
American  continent,  which  would  probably  have  been  Mew  York.'1  * 

In  1740  the  Colonial  Assembly  authorized  the  collection  of  money,  by 
lottery  or  otherwise,  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a  college  in  the  city  of 
Mew  York.  About  $17,500  was  raised,  chiefly  in  England.  This  sum 
was  vested,  in  1751,  in  ten  trustees,  seven  of  whom  were  members  of 
the  Anglican  Church,  and  some  of  them  vestrymen  of  Trinity  Church. 
Two  of  them  were  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  and  one  a  Presby- 
terian. A  lot  west  of  Broadway,  bounded  by  Barclay,  Church,  and 
Murray  streets  and  the  Hudson  River,  was  given  from  the  "  Church 

*  Chandler's  ' '  Life  of  Johnson. " 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


143 


Farm"  for  the  use  of  the  college,  and  on  October  31,  1754,  it  was  in- 
corporated under  the  title  of  King's  College. 

The  predominance  of  Episcopalians  in  the  board  of  trustees  of  King's 
College,  and  the  opposition  to  any  church  establishment  intheprov-- 
ince,  evoked  the  strong  displeasure  of  the  dissenting  churches  in  the 
city,  and  for  a  long  time  the  college  had  a  severe  struggle  for  existence. 
The  Rev.  Samuel  Johnson,  D.D.,  of  Connecticut,  was  chosen  president, 
with  an  assistant,  and  in  July,  1754,  he  opened  the  school  with  eight 
pupils,*  in  the  vestry-room  of  the  schoolhouse  belonging  to  Trinity 
Church.  The  college  was  not  really  organized  before  May,  1755, 
when  at  a  meeting  of  more  than  twenty  of  the  gentlemen  who  had 
been  named  in  the  charter  as  governors,  the  deputy  secretary  of  the 
province  (Goldsbrow  Banyar)  attending  with  the  charter,  Lieutenant- 
Governor  James  De  Lancey,  after  a  suitable  address,  delivered  it  to 
these  gentlemen.  Then  Mr.  Ilorsmanden,  one  of  the  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  administered  to  them  the  oath  required  by  law  to  be 
taken.  The  governors  named  in  the  charter  were  :  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  and  the  first  Land  Commissioner  for  Trade  and  Planta- 
tions, who  were  empowered  to  act  by  proxy  ;  the  lieutenant-governor 
and  commander-in-chief  of  the  Province  of  New  York,  the  eldest  coun- 
cillor of  the  province,  the  secretary,  attorney -general,  speaker  of  the 
General  Assembly  and  treasurer  of  the  province,  the  mayor  of  the  city 
of  New  York,  the  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  the  senior  minister  of  the 
Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church,  the  ministers  of  the  Ancient 
Lutheran  Church,  of  the  French  Church,  of  the  Presbyterian  Congrega- 
tion of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the  president  of  the  college  -all 
these  ex  officio.  Twenty-four  principal  gentlemen  of  the  city  were  also 
named  as  governors.  These  were  Archibald  Kennedy,  Joseph  Murray, 
Josiah  Martin,  Paul  Richard,  Henry  Cruger,  William  Walton,  John 
Watts,  Henry  Beekman,  Philip  Verplanck,  Frederick  Philipse,  Joseph 
Robinson,  John  Cruger,  Oliver  De  Lancey,  James  Livingston,  Benjamin 
Nicollj  William  Livingston,  Joseph  Read,  Nathaniel  Marston,  Joseph 
Haynes,  John  Livingston,  Abraham  Lodge,  David  Clarkson,  Leonard 
Lispenard.  and  James  De  Lancey. 

The  conditions  of  the  gift  of  land  by  Trinity  Church  required  that 
the  president  of  the  college  should  be  forever,  at  the  time  being,  in 
communion  with  the  Church  of  England,  and  that  morning  and  even- 

*  Samuel  Verplanck,  Rudolph  Ritzema,  Piiilip  Van  Oortlandt,  Hubert  Bayard,  Samuel 
Piovoost,  Thomas  Martin,  Henry  Cruger,  and  Joshua  Bloom.  Several  of  these  were  after, 
ward  distinguished  in  the  history  r.f  New  York  City. 


144 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


in<!'  service  in  the  college  should  he  the  liturgy  of  that  church,  or  a 

collection  of  prayers  from  that  liturgy.    These  restrictions  excited  the 

most  furious  opposition,  especially  among  those  who  wished  to  have 

"  A  church  without  a  bishop, 
A  state  without  a  king." 

But  the  liberal  policy  of  the  college  soon  allayed  these  prejudices  in  a 
degree.  A  professorship  in  divinity,  "  according  to  the  doctrine,  disci- 
pline, and  worship  established  by  the  National  Synod  of  Dort,"  was 
almost  immediately  established. 

College  buildings  were  begun  in  17.~>t>,  and  completed  in  17*10.  They 
stood  on  thi'  brow  of  an  eminence  overlooking  the  Hudson  River,  at 
the  foot  of  (present)  Park  Place,  at  Church  Street. 

A  grammar  school  was  established  in  1  T< The  same  year,  on  the 
resignation  of  Dr.  Johnson,  the  Rev.  Myles  Cooper,  of  Oxford,  Eng- 
land, took  his  place.  Meanwhile  the  annual  commencements  had  been 
held  in  St.  (ieorge's  Chapel  in  Peekman  Street. 

In  1 7<>7  the  province  granted  the  college  twenty-four  thousand  acres 
of  land  on  the  east  side  of  Lake  Champlain,  but  being  within  the 
bounds  of  what  was  afterward  Vermont,  this  property  was  lost. 

In  the  summer  of  17<">7  a  medical  school  was  established,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Dr.  Clossy,  a  learned  tutor  of  the  institution  from  Dublin. 
His  views  were  warmly  seconded  by  Drs.  Middleton,  Jones,  Smith, 
Bard,  and  Tennent,  and  these  were  all  appointed  to  professorships  in 
the  school. 

When  the  quarrel  between  the  British  Government  and  the  American 
colonies  waxed  warm,  Dr.  Cooper  took  a  very  active  part,  by  speech 
and  pen,  in  favor  of  the  crown.  The  war  of  words  was  fierce.  The 
doctor  w  ielded  a  keen  blade.  His  competitors  were  strong,  but  he  was 
worsted  in  argument  by  an  anonymous  competitor,  who  proved  to  be 
one  of  his  own  pupils,  Alexander  Hamilton,  one  of  the  younger 
students. 

Dr.  Cooper's  course  greatly  offended  the  patriots,  and  the  college 
was  regarded  as  a  focus  of  Toryism.  Finally  the  public  exasperation 
culminated  in  a  mob,  which  broke  into  the  college  on  the  night  of  May 
in.  1775,  and  sought  his  room.  Fortunately  for  him,  he  had  been  fore- 
warned, and,  half  dressed,  he  escaped  over  the  college  fence  and  found 
refuge  with  a  friend  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city.  The  next  day  he 
reached  permanent  safety  on  board  the  Kingfisher,  a  Pritish  ship-of- 
war,  and  finally  sailed  for  England,  when  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Moore,  an 
alumnus  of  the  college  in  1801  (afterward  bishop),  took  his  place  as 
president. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


145 


In  the  spring  of  17TG  the  Committee  of  Safety  took  possession  of  the 
college  and  converted  it  into  a  hospital  for  the  use  of  American  troops. 
The  pupils,  the  apparatus,  and  the  library  were  dispersed.  About  one 
hundred  students  had  been  educated  at  this  college  before  it  was  so 
violently  broken  up.  Among  the  earlier  graduates  were  Robert  R. 
Livingston,  Grouverneur  Morris,  and  John  Jay. 

From  1770  to  1784;  the  college  was  in  a  state  of  suspended  animation. 
The  war  over,  and  peace  and  independence  secured,  measures  were 
taken  for  its  resuscitation.  In  17S4  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New 
York  granted  it  a  new  charter,  under  the  name  of  Columbia  College. 
The  regents  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  appointed  by 
the  same  act,  took  it  under  their  control.  The  property  of  the  old 
corporation  was  handed  over  to  the  new  corporation.  It  started  on  its 
new  career  with  De  Witt  Clinton  as  its  first  student — a  junior. 

Owing  to  a  lack  of  funds  to  pay  the  salary  of  a  president,  none  was 
chosen  until  May,  1787,  when  "William  Samuel  Johnson,  son  of  the  first 
president  of  King's  College,  was  elected  to  fill  the  place.*  The  scope 
of  instruction  in  the  institution  continually  widened,  and  in  1792  facili- 
ties for  doing  so  were  increased  by  a  grant  from  the  Legislature  of 
New  York  of  about  $40,000  and  an  annual  appropriation  of  83750. 

In  1814-  the  Legislature  gave  to  Columbia  College  twenty  acres  of 
land  on  Manhattan  Island,  lying  between  Forty-seventh  and  Fifty-first 
streets,  on  Fifth  Avenue,  "  with  appurtenances."  It  included  two 
hundred  and  sixty  city  lots.  The  tract  was  then  known  as  the  Elgin 
Botanic  Garden,  which  had  been  established  in  1801  by  Dr.  David 
Hosack  for  the  uses  of  his  classes  in  the  college  in  the  study  of  botany, 
he  being  one  of  the  professors  of  that  institution.  This  land  had  been 
recently  conveyed  to  the  State  by  Dr.  Hosack,  and  reconveyed  to  the 
college  in  compensation  for  its  loss  of  the  land  in  Vermont.  The  gift 
was  overburdened  with  restrictions,  which  imposed  the  necessity  of 

*  William  Samuel  Johnson,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  F.B.S.,  first  president  of  Columbia  College, 
was  born  at  Stratford,  Connecticut,  in  October,  1727,  and  died  there  in  November,  1819. 
He  became  a  distinguished  lawyer,  and  took  part  in  the  political  movements  that  pre- 
ceded the  Revolution  of  1775-83.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Stamp  Act  Congress  at  New 
York  in  1765,  and  was  agent  of  Connecticut  in  England  from  17G(>  to  1771.  Ho  was  a 
judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Connecticut  from  1772  to  1774,  and  a  commissioner  for 
adjusting  the  controversy  between  Pennsylvania  and  the  Susquehanna  Company.  From 
1784  to  1787  he  was  a  delegate  in  the  Continental  Congress,  and  was  an  active  member 
of  the  convention  that  framed  the  National  Constitution  in  the  summer  of  1787.  The 
same  year  he  was  chosen  president  of  Columbia  College,  and  held  that  position  until  the 
year  1800.  President  Johnson  was  United  States  Senator  from  1789  to  1791,  and  was 
one  of  the  authors  of  the  bill  for  establishing  the  judiciary  system  of  the  United  States. 


146 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


keeping  up  the  garden  as  a  scientific  educator,  and  the  removal  of  the 
college  establishment,  within  twelve  years,  to  these  grounds  or  the 
vicinity.  Non-compliance  with  these  provisions  would  cause  a  forfeit- 
ure of  the  property,  when  it  would  revert  to  the  State. 

The  estimated  value  of  the  Botanic  Garden  at  that  time  was  §75,000, 
but  the  conditions  made  it  a  pecuniary  burden  instead  of  a  source  of 
income.  Efforts  were  made  to  have  these  restrictions  removed,  and  in 
1819  their  removal  was  accomplished. 

About  1*20  Columbia  College  for  the  first  time  had  its  chairs  filled 
with  its  own  alumni.  It  struggled  on,  under  the  disabilities  of  poverty 
and  pecuniary  embarrassments,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  longer,  but 
still  with  hope,  for  its  property  both  on  the  college  site  and  the  Botanic 
Garden  was  increasing  amazingly  in  value.* 

The  semi-centennial  anniversary  of  the  reorganization  of  Columbia 
College  was  reached  in  1837,  and  was  celebrated  with  much  parade  and 
solemnity  on  the  13th  of  April.  An  imposing  procession  Avas  formed 
at  the  college,  composed  of  the  trustees,  the  president,  professors, 
tutors,  alumni,  and  students,  clergymen,  public  officers,  and  dignitaries 
from  other  seats  of  learning  in  the  Republic.  This  procession  was 
formed  on  the  college  green  and  proceeded  to  St.  John's  Chapel,  where 
the  Iiev.  Manton  East  burn  pronounced  an  oration,  in  which  he  briefly 
reviewed  the  history  of  the  institution.  A  poem  was  recited,  and  odes 
in  several  languages,  composed  and  arranged  to  music  for  the  occasion, 
were  sung.  The  president  (William  A.  Duer)  conferred  the  honorary 
degree  of  Master  "t  Arts  upon  ( 'harles  Penno  1 1  oilman.  William  Cullen 
Bryant,  and  Fitz- Greene  Halleck  ;  of  Doctor  of  Laws  on  John  Duer, 
David  B.  Ogden,  and  George  Griffin,  and  Doctor  of  Divinity  on 
several  prominent  clergymen. 

In  the  evening  the  president  gave  a  reception  at  the  college,  which 
was  brilliantly  illuminated,  and  was  profusely  decorated  with  paintings 
loaned  for  the  occasion,  and  rare  plants  from  various  conservatories. 
It  was  one  of  the  most  striking  fetes  New  York  had  ever  beheld. 

*  The  earliest  detailed  statement  of  the  financial  condition  of  the  college,  after  the 
year  1800,  appears  in  the  minutes  of  the  trustees  in  1805,  when,  from  leases  of  a  portion 
of  the  Church  Farm  given  to  the  college,  it  derived  an  income  of  about  $1400  ;  also 
from  benefactions  about  $4000,  also  from  tuition  fees  about  $9000,  making  an  annual 
revenue  of  little  more  than  $14,000.  Its  income  met  the  expenses  until  1821,  when,  year 
after  year,  there  was  a  deficit  of  several  hundred  dollars,  which  produced  an  accumulating 
debt.  Assessments  for  opening  and  regulating  new  streets  became  an  added  burden  of 
expense,  which,  with  taxes,  amounted  to  $4000  in  1854.  The  Legislature  refused  to 
remit  taxes  on  the  property,  and  for  several  years  the  college  was  a  sufferer  from  the 
increase  in  value  of  its  own  property. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


14? 


In  1857  the  requirements  of  business  caused  the  removal  of  the  college 
to  its  domain  on  Madison  Avenue,  where  it  occupies  a  block  hounded 
by  Madison  and  Fourth  avenues,  between  Forty  ninth  and  Fiftieth 
streets.  The  old  edifices  on  the  "  Church  Farm"  were  demolished,  and 
their  site  and  the  College  Green  are  now  occupied  by  streets  and 
magnificent  warehouses. 

The  debt  of  the  college  had  increased  to  more  than  $23,000  at  the 
time  of  the  removal,  but  by  the  sale  of  its  property  in  the  lower  part 
of  the  city  and  sixteen  lots  of  the  Botanic  Garden,  all  of  which  had 
risen  enormously  in  value,  it  rapidly  reduced  the  debt,  notwithstand- 
ing its  greatly  increased  expenditures  in  money  and  the  establishment 
of  new  departments.  In  1863,  for  the  first  time  in  twenty  years,  its 
income  was  more  than  its  expenses,  and  in  1872  the  institution  was 
entirely  free  from  debt.    President  Barnard  justly  says  : 

"  If,  therefore,  our  college  is  to  be  called  to  answer  at  the  bar  of 
public  opinion  for  the  use  she  has  made  of  the  means  at  her  command 
in  advancing  the  higher  education,  it  ma}'  fairly  be  claimed  on  her  be- 
half that  the  inquiry  should  not  extend,  beyond  the  last  fifteen  years. 
But  within  that  period  she  may  confidently  challenge  any  institution  of 
similar  character,  of  this  country  or  any  other,  to  show  a  more  honor- 
able record."  * 

In  1860  an  arrangement  was  made  by  which  the  College  of  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons  of  the  City  of  New  York  (which  had  been  incorpo- 
rated with  the  Medical  School  of  Columbia  College  in  1813)  was  adopted 
as  the  medical  department  of  the  latter  institution. 

Early  in  1863  Mr.  Thomas  Egleston,  Jr.,  proposed  a  plan  for  the 
establishment  of  a  school  of  mines  and  metallurgy  in  connection  with 
the  college.  It  was  adopted  by  the  trustees,  and  the  school  went  into 
operation  in  1864.  Mr.  Egleston  was  appointed  professor  of  mineralogy 
and  metallurgy,  and  General  Francis  L.  Vinton  professor  of  mining 
engineering.  To  these  professorships  was  added  a  chair  of  analytical 
and  applied  chemistry,  which  was  filled  by  Professor  C.  F.  Chandler. 
This  department  is  a  most  important  addition  to  the  educational  facili- 
ties offered  by  Columbia  College,  f 

President  Charles  King  having  resigned  early  in  1804,  the  Rev. 
Frederick  A.  P.  Barnard,  S.T.D.,  was  chosen  to  fill  his  place.  Dr. 
Barnard  has  performed  the  difficult  functions  of  that  exalted  office  with 
signal  fidelity  and  ability  for  nearly  twenty  years.    He  has  had  the 

*  President  Barnard's  "  Annua]  Keport  made  to  the  Trustees,"  May  1,  1882. 
•(■  See  "A  Historical  Sketch  of  Columbia  College.  1754-1870,"  by  Professor  J.  H. 
Van  Amringe,  prepared  at  the  request  of  the  National  Bureau  of  Education. 


us 


HISTORY   OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


supreme  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  institution  grow  continually  with 
unwonted  and  increasing  vigor,  displaying  under  his  wise  and  efficient 
administration  strength  and  beauty  in  every  part  of  its  economy.* 

*  Frederick  Augustus  Porter  Barnard,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  S.T.D.,  was  born  in  Sheffield, 
Mass  ,  May  5,  1805).  He  is  a  lineal  descendant,  in  the  seventh  generation  of  Francis 
Barnard,  of  Coventry,  Warwickshire,  England,  who  came  to  Massachusetts  Bay  in  1036, 
and  afterward  settled  first  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  then  at  Hadley,  Mass.  His  mother 
was  descended  in  the  eighth  generation  from  John  Porter,  of  Warwickshire,  who  came 
to  Massachusetts  Bay  in  1G26,  and  was  a  descendant  iu  the  sixteenth  generation  from 
William  de  la  Grande,  a  knight  who  followed  William  the  Conqueror  from  Normandy 
into  England  in  1166.  His  son  was  grande  porteur  to  Henry  I.  (1120—40),  from  which 
circumstance  he  received  the  name  of  Porter,  afterward  borne  by  his  family. 

President  Barnard's  father  was  Robert  Foster  Barnard,  of  Sheffield,  Mass.,  a  lawyer  of 
repute  and  several  times  State  Senator.  His  mother  was  Augusta,  daughter  of  Dr. 
Joshua  Porter,  of  Salisbury,  Conn. 

At  the  age  of  six  years  Frederick  began  the  study  of  Latin.  He  was  prepared  for  col- 
lege at  fifteen,  and  entered  Yale  in  182-4.  At  nineteen  he  graduated  second  in  the  honor 
list.  Early  in  his  college  course  he  was  distinguished,  especially  in  the  pure  mathemat- 
ics and  exact  sciences,  in  which,  before  the  close  of  his  sophomore  year,  he  was  the 
recognized  leader  of  the  whole  school. 

On  his  graduation  young  Barnard  became  an  instructor  in  a  Hartford  grammar  school, 
where  he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  John  G.  Whittier,  the  poet,  which  ripened  into 
warm  friendship  that  has  continued  unabated  for  half  a  century. 

In  1830  Mr.  Barnard  became  a  tutor  in  Yale  College,  but  menaces  of  failing  health 
caused  him  soon  to  resign.  The  next  year  he  was  an  instructor  in  the  Deaf  and  Dumb 
Asylum  at  Hartford,  and  in  1832  held  the  same  position  in  the  New  York  Institution  for 
the  Instruction  of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  under  the  late  Dr.  Harvey  P.  Peet.  While  in  this 
institution  he  prepared  and  published  a  volume  embodying  the  results  of  his  experience 
in  teaching  language,  entitled  "  Analytical  Grammar,  with  Symbolic  Illustrations."  He 
also  rendered  important  service  to  Mr.  Peet  in  the  preparation  of  the  annual  reports. 

In  1837  Mr.  Barnard  accepted  an  invitation  to  the  chair  of  mathematics  and  natural 
philosophy  in  the  University  of  Alabama,  at  Tuscaloosa.  That  position  he  occupied 
twelve  years,  when  he  was  transferred  to  the  chair  of  chemistry  and  natural  history  in 
the  same  institution.  During  his  connection  with  the  university  he  built  an  astronomi- 
cal observatory  for  the  institution,  contributed  frequently  to  the  American  Journal  of 
Sc'k  !<<■<■  and  literary  periodicals,  and  for  several  years  had  the  editorial  management 
(anonymously)  of  a  weekly  political  newspaper  published  at  Tuscaloosa. 

In  1846  the  governor  of  Alabama  appointed  Professor  Barnard  astronomer  on  the  part 
of  that  State  to  assist  in  determining  the  true  boundary  line  between  Alabama  and 
Florida.  Each  State  appointed  one  commissioner  and  an  astronomical  adviser.  The 
astronomer  appointed  by  Florida  failed  to  appear,  and  Professor  Barnard  was  employed 
by  both  States.  His  report,  submitted  to  the  Legislatures  of  the  respective  States,  was 
regarded  as  conclusive,  and  settled  the  long-pending  boundary  controversy. 

During  the  excitement  which  followed  the  war  with  Mexico,  when,  in  Alabama  and 
elsewhere  in  the  South,  a  strong  desire  for  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  was  excited  by 
demagogues,  and  with  so  much  violence  that  Union  men  dared  not  speak  above  a  whisper 
in  some  places,  Professor  Barnard  was  invited  by  citizens  of  Tuscaloosa  to  deliver  an 
oration  on  the  4th  of  July.    He  accepted  the  invitation,  with  the  understanding  that  he 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830  1840. 


140 


In  the  yea*  1867  the  whole  number  of  students  matriculated  ;it 
Columbia  College  (the  School  of  Arts,  the  School  of  Mines,  and  the 

should  freely  speak  on  the  burning  question  of  the  day.  He  did  so  with  a  boldness  and 
with  logic  which  silenced  the  disunionists.  The  speech  was  published  and  widely 
circulated,  and  was  one  of  the  chief  instruments  in  allaying  the  disunion  craze  in  that 
region  for  years.  His  many  public  addresses  on  other  topics— art  culture,  varied  indus- 
tries, railroads,  and  other  subjects  of  moment— created  new  social  aspirations  in  that 
region,  which  led  to  permanent  beneficial  results. 

In  1854  Professor  Barnard  accepted  an  invitation  to  the  chair  of  mathematics  and 
natural  philosophy  in  the  University  of  Mississippi,  and  he  Mas  the  chief  instrument  in 
finally  securing  to  that  institution  the  benefits  of  ,i  national  endowment  fund,  of  which 
it  had  been  for  many  years  deprived  by  neglect. 

While  Professor  Barnard  was  attending  a  meeting  of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  at  Albany,  in  the  summer  of  1856,  he  was  elected  president  of 
the  University  of  Mississippi,  a  title  which  was  changed  to  chancellor  in  1858.  He  at 
once  inaugurated  measures  for  the  moral  and  educational  reform  of  the  institution.  This 
movement  was  in  successful  progress  when  the  late  civil  war  broke  out  in  18(51.  The 
university  was  soon  afterward  broken  up,  and  Chancellor  Barnard  resigned  his  office. 
On  his  departure  the  board  of  trustees  conferred  on  him  the  honorary  title  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity,  he  having  taken  orders  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  He  had  received 
the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D.  from  his  alma  mater,  Yale  College,  in  1859. 

Dr.  Barnard  was  refused  a  passport  to  his  native  State,  and  with  his  wife  he  remained 
a  long  time  in  Norfolk  watching  an  opportunity  for  escape.  When  General  Wool  took 
that  city  in  1802,  they  went  to  Washington,  where  they  were  cordially  received  by  Presi- 
dent  Lincoln  at  a  full  cabinet  meeting.  Professor  Barnard  was  soon  afterward  appoint- 
ed director  of  the  map  and  chart  department  of  the  Coast  Surve}-.  the  chief  business  of 
which  then  was  the  preparation  of  "  war  maps*"  almost  daily. 

In  May,  18(14,  Dr.  Barnard  was  elected  president  of  Columbia  College  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  was  inaugurated  with  much  ceremony  at  the  beginning  of  the  college 
year  in  September  following.  In  his  admirable  inaugural  address  President  Barnard 
made  valuable  suggestions  of  improvements  in  the  educational  policy  of  the  institution 
In  that  direction  he  has  labored  incessantly,  with  the  most  satisfactory  results  ;  and 
to-day  he  stands  in  the  foremost  rank  of  educators  as  a  reformer  of  systems  of  learning, 
and  as  a  champion  f.ir  the  higher  education  of  women.  Has  kept  constantly  in  view  the 
idea  of  making  Columbia  College  a  true  university.  The  condition  of  the  institution 
now  is  the  best  commentary  on  the  wise  and  efficient  labors  of  President  Barnard  in  its 
behalf.    Its  School  of  Mines  is  his  offspring. 

During  his  administration  for  nineteen  years  President  Barnard  has  been  conspicuous 
in  labors  in  scientific  fields  outside  of-  Columbia  College.  He  was  one  of  the  fifty  incorpo- 
rators of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  and  succeeded  Agassiz  as  its  foreign  secre- 
tary. He  was  one  of  the  ten  United  States  commissioners  to  the  Paris  Exposition  in 
1807,  and  made  an  exhaustive  report  on  the  Machinery  and  Processes  of  the  Industrial 
Arts  and  the  Apparatus  of  the  Exact  Sciences.  President  Barnard  visited  Europe  several 
times  afterward. 

President  Barnard  has  taken  great  interest  in  the  subject  of  the  metric  system  of 
weights,  measures,  and  moneys.  At  the  request  of  Professor  Henry  and  other  eminent 
scientists,  he  called  a  meeting  of  gentlemen  interested  in  international  questions,  for  the 
purpose  of  forming  an  organization  to  promote  the  unification  of  the  various  discordant 
national  systems  of  weights,  measures,  and  moneys.    An  association  was  formed  at  Coluni- 


150 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


School  of  Law — established  in  1858)*  was  five  hundred  and  fourteen. 
The  number  of  matriculates  in  the  three  departments  in  the  year 
ending-  in  May,  1882,  was  one  thousand  and  fifty -four — an  increase  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  per  cent. 

The  general  college  binary  contains  more  than  twenty  thousand 
volumes.  The  total  number  of  volumes  in  all  the  libraries  of  the  insti- 
tution is  about  fifty  thousand,  nearly  all  selected  in  reference  to  the 
wants  of  the  various  professors. 

Columbia  College  has  in  all  its  faculties,  including  the  president, 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  professors,  instructors,  and  assist- 
ants, and  the  total  number  of  students  in  all  the  schools  averages  fully 
fifteen  hundred. 

At  the  beginning  of  1SS:>  Columbia  College  had  incurred  a  debt,  in 
the  construction  of  buildings  on  the  Botanic  Garden  (the  square 
bounded  by  Forty-ninth  and  Fiftieth  streets  and  Madison  and  Fourth 

bia  College  for  this  purpose  in  1873,  called  the  American  Metrological  Society,  of  which 
Dr.  Barnard  has  been  president  until  now  (1883). 

Dr.  Barnard  was  the  editor-in-chief  of  "Johnson's  Cyclopaedia,"  to  which  he  contrib- 
uted several  original  articles.  He  is  an  honorary  member  of  scientific  and  literary  socie* 
ties  at  home  and  abroad.  In  1847  he  married  Margaret  McMurray,  daughter  of  Robert 
MrMurray,  Esq.  (originally  of  Cumberland,  England),  his  true  wife  and  loving  helpmate 
for  thirty  six  years.  She  has  resided  in  this  country  since  her  infancy.  "  To  the 
encouragement  derived  from  her  good  sense,  energy,  and  sanguine  temperament, "  her 
husband  wrote  to  the  author  of  this  work,  "  I  am  largely  indebted  for  whatever  success 
may  have  attended  me  in  life." 

*  The  School  of  Arts  is  the  nucleus  of  the  college,  around  which  the  other  schools  have 
grown.  The  course  of  instruction  embraces  the  branches  that  are  commonly  understood 
under  the  title  of  "  a  classical  education." 

The  School  of  Mines  constitutes  the  scientific  department  of  the  college,  and  is  divided 
into  five  parallel  courses  of  mining  engineering,  civil  engineering,  metallurgy,  geology, 
and  natural  history  ;  also  analytical  and  applied  chemistry.  The  course  occupies  four 
years. 

The  Law  School  until  recently  was  located  in  a  building  at  the  corner  of  Lafayette 
Place  and  Great  Jones  Street.    The  course  occupies  two  years.1 

There  is  also  a  School  if  Political  Science,  opened  in  October,  1880,  and  designed  to  give 
n  complete  general  view  of  all  the  subjects,  both  of  external  and  internal  public  policy, 
from  the  threefold  standpoint  of  history,  law,  and  philosophy.  The  full  course  of  in- 
struction occupies  three  years.  On  the  satisfactory  completion  of  one  year  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Philosophy  is  conferred  ;  on  the  satisfactory  completion  of  three  years, 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  is  conferred. 

Columbia  has  also  a  grammar  school,  coeval  with  the  college  from  its  beginning  as 
King's  College. 

1  The  faculty  of  the  Law  School  is  composed  of  the  president  of  Columbia  College  and  five  professors. 
President  Barnard  president  of  the  Law  School  ;  Itobert  Senftner.  LL.B  ,  is  secretary,  and  Herbert  W. 
Grindal.  B.S.,  is  librarian. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


151 


avenues),  of  over  $100,000,  and  will  reach  nearly  $300,000  by  Septem- 
ber, 1883.  Its  income,  however,  is  nearly  £40,000  more  than  its  ordi- 
nary expenses,  and  this  is  continually  increasing.  The  trustees  desire 
to  raise  the  institution  to  the  dignity  of  a  first-class  university.  On 
April  3,  1883,  they  gave  to  the  public  a  detailed  statement  of  the 
financial  affairs  of  the  college,  and  declared  that  it  needed  an  endow- 
ment of  $4,000,000  to  accomplish  the  great  object  of  their  desire.  The 
people  of  the  great  city  of  New  York  will  furnish  this  sum. 

Among  the  existing  literary  associations  of  the  city,  The  New  York 
Society  Libkaky  is  the  oldest.  It  was  founded  in  1754.  The  germ  of 
the  society  may  be  found  in  a  small  collection  of  books  called  "  The 
Corporation  Library,"  founded  during  the  administration  of  the  Earl 
of  Bellomont,  in  the  year  1700.  It  constantly  increased  in  size  and 
importance  until  the  year  1729,  when  it  received  a  large  accession  from 
England. 

The  Eev.  Dr.  Millington,  rector  of  Xewington,  England,  bequeathed 
over  1600  volumes  to  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  Foreign  Parts.  The  secretary  of  that  society,  in  a  letter  dated  Sep- 
tember 23,  1728,  informed  John  Montgomerie,  then  governor  of  the 
Province  of  Xew  York,  that  the  Propagation  Society  intended  to  place 
the  one  thousand  volumes  in  the  city  of  New  York  as  a  library  for  the 
"  use  of  the  clergy  and  gentlemen"  of  the  provinces  of  Xew  York,  Xew 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Connecticut,  and  requested  the  governor  to 
recommend  the  Assembly  to  provide  a  suitable  place  for  the  deposit 
and  preservation  of  those  books,  and  others  that  might  be  added  to 
them.  The  Assembly  made  such  provision  in  1729.  They  were  placed 
in  the  custody  of  the  corporation  of  the  city. 

The  greater  portion  of  these  books  were  on  theological  subjects,  the 
choicest  reading  of  that  day,  and  the  sending  of  those  books  to  the  city 
for  such  a  purpose  was  acknowledged  with  gratitude  as  a  gracious  and 
generous  act. 

In  1754  a  number  of  gentlemen  of  the  city  resolved  to  establish  a 
public  library.  Subscriptions  for  the  purpose  were  solicited,  and  very 
soon  the  sum  of  $1250  was  subscribed,  with  which  seven  hundred  vol- 
umes were  purchased.  They  were  all  new  hooks,  and  more  miscellane- 
ous in  their  character.  An  association  called  the  Xew  York  Society 
Library  was  formed.  The  price  of  a  share  was  §12.50,  and  an  annual 
fee  of  81.50  was  required  of  each  shareholder.  The  new  books  were 
deposited  with  the  volumes  of  the  Corporation  Library  and  the  books 
received  from  England.  The  collection  was  then  known  as  "  The  City 
Library." 


152 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


On  November  25,  1772,  Governor  William  Try  on  granted  the  asso- 
ciation an  act  of  incorporation,  under  the  title  of  The  Trustees  of  the 
New  York  Society  Library.  The  charter  confirmed  the  terms  of  mem- 
bership already  determined  on  by  the  founders  of  the  society,  and  the 
care  of  the  institution  was  intrusted  to  twelve  trustees,  annually 
elected.  It  was  empowered  to  hold  property  not  to  exceed,  in  yearly 
value,  S41nii,  and  to  erect  a  building  to  be  known  as  "  The  New  York 
Society  library." 

This  institution  was  nourishing  ;  the  number  of  its  books  was 
rapidly  increasing,  by  donations  and  otherwise,  when  the  war  for  inde- 
pendence broke  out,  in  1775.  During  the  seven  or  eight  years  that  the 
war  raged  (a  large  portion  of  that  period  the  city  of  New  York  was 
occupied  by  British  troops)  the  principal  part  of  the  books  were  scat- 
tered and  destroyed. 

The  operations  of  the  library  were  resumed  in  1 788,  when  the  stock- 
holders elected  a  board  of  trustees,*  and  it  was  ever  afterward  a  kindly 
fostered  and  cherished  institution  of  the  city.  The  Legislature  con- 
finned  its  charter  in  1789.  The  library  was  deposited  in  the  City  Hall, 
and  there  it  remained  until  171*5,  when  its  growing  importance  de- 
manded more  extensive  accommodations. 

New  York  Citv  having  been  the  seat  of  the  National  Government 
during  the  earlier  years  of  its  existence  under  the  National  Constitu- 
tion, and  its  sessions  being  held  in  the  City  Hall  in  Wall  Street,  the 
Society  Library  was  for  a  while  the  library  of  Congress. 

Additional  subscribers  having  been  obtained,  land  was  purchased  in 
Nassau  street  (a  part  of  Joseph  Winter's  garden),  between  Cedar  and 
Liberty  streets,  opposite  the  Middle  Dutch  Church  (late  the  City  Post- 
Offiee).  There  a  substantial  brick  building  was  erected,  and  the  second 
story  was  fitted  up  for  the  use  of  the  library.  It  was  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  edifices  in  the  city  at  that  day,  and  to  it  the  library  was 
removed  in  1795.  There  it  continued  until  1836,  when  the  increasing 
commerce  of  the  city  compelled  the  trustees  to  seek  another  situation. 
The  property  in  Nassau  Street  was  sold,  a  lot  was  purchased  on  Broad- 
way, corner  of  Leonard  Street,  and  while  a  building  was  being  erected 
on  it  the  library  occupied  the  rooms  of  the  Mechanics'  Society  in 
Chambers  Street. 

In  1S40  the  building  on  Broadway  was  finished,  and  the  library  was 

*  The  following  gentlemen  were  chosen  trustees  :  Robert  R.  Livingston,  Robert 
Watts,  Broekholst  Livingston,  Samuel  Jones,  Walter  Rutherford,  Matthew  Clarkson, 
Peter  Ketteltas,  Samuel  Bard.  Hugh  Gaine,  Daniel  0.  Verplanek,  Edward  Griswold, 
Henry  Remseu. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


1  53 


removed  to  it.  Thirteen  years  later  this  property  was  sold,  and  the 
library  occupied  rooms  in  the  Bible  House,  at  Eighth  Street  and  Fourth 
Avenue.  The  lot  on  which  the  building  it  now  occupies  stands,  in 
University  Place,  was  purchased,  and  the  edifice  erected  upon  it  was 
completed  in  the  spring-  of  185(5.  The  library  first  occupied  it  in  May 
of  that  year. 

The  first  catalogue  issued  after  its  removal,  printed  in  1702,  showed 
that  the  library  then  contained  about  five  thousand  volumes.  In 
1813  the  number  was  thirteen  thousand,  and  in  183m  nearly  twenty 
thousand.  It  has  received  from  time  to  time  valuable  donations  of 
books  and  liberal  bequests  of  money.  The  largest  gift  the  library  ever 
received  was  that  of  Mrs.  Sarah  II.  Green,  from  the  estate  of  her  de- 
ceased husband,  John  C.  Green.  The  amount  was  $50,000.  It  was 
presented  in  188<>,  with  a  stipulation  that  the  income  from  the  fund 
should  be  used  for  the  purchase  of  books,  one  half  for  costly  illustrated 
works  for  "the  John  C.  Green  alcove,"  and  one  half  for  works  for 
circulation.  This  alcove  of  books  had  its  origin  in  a  munificent  gift  of 
the  late  John  ( '.  Green,  of  the  city  of  Xew  York.  A  special  attendant 
has  charge  of  that  alcove,  so  that  its  treasures  may  always  be  open  for 
inspection.  The  income  from  ground  rent  of  property  owned  by  the 
society  in  Chatham  Street  is  set  apart  as  the  income  of  the  "  John  C. 
Green  Fund." 

The  library  now  contains  about  eighty  thousand  volumes.  Its  shares 
(with  annual  dues  commuted)  are  8150  each,  or  by  payment  of  $10  a 
year,  £25.  There  is  a  reading-room  connected  with  the  library,  open 
for  the  use  of  shareholders,  and  of  strangers  for  one  month  when  intro- 
duced by  a  member.  Xon-members  are  allowed  to  consult  the  books 
by  the  payment  of  twenty-five  cents  each  time.  The  society  has  no 
debts.* 

One  of  the  oldest  associations  in  the  city  of  Xew  York,  yet  in  pros- 
perous and  useful  operation,  is  The  General  Society  of  Mechanics 
am)  Tradesmen.    It  has  certainly  been  in  existence  since  178-1. 

The  first  meetings  of  the  society  of  which  any  records  exist  were 
held  at  the  house  of  "Walter  liver,  in  Xoveinber,  1785,  in  King's  Street, 
now  Pine  Street.  In  1802  the  society  bought  a  lot  (size  26.06  by  98.3 
feet)  at  the  corner  of  (present)  Park  Place  and  Broadway,  yet  in  its 
]M)ssession,  for  the  sum  of  803*25.  The  next  year  they  erected  a  build- 
ing on  the  lot  at  a  cost  of  about  $23,000,  making  the  whole  cost  a  little 

*  The  officers  of  the  society  in  188:5  were  :  Robert  Lenox  Kennedy,  president  ;  Edward 
Sohell,  treasurer  ;  John  M.  Knox,  secretary  ;  Wentworth  S.  Bailer,  librarian. 


154 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


more  than  $29,000.  The  premises  now  rent  for  more  than  X24, 000  a 
year. 

In  1702  a  charter  was  obtained  from  the  Legislature,  and  has  been 
renewed  from  time  to  time.  It  was  amended  in  1821 ,  to  allow  of  the 
establishment  of  a  school  for  the  free  education  of  the  children  of  poor 
or  deceased  members,  and  a  library  for  the  use  of  apprentices.  An 
amendment  in  1833  provided  for  the  setting  apart  of  certain  receipts 
as  sacred  to  the  purpose  of  disseminating  literary  and  scientific  knowl- 
edge. Another  amendment  in  1842  allowed  its  then  free  school  to  be- 
come a  pay  school  for  those  who  could  afford  to  pay,  and  to  allow  the 
establishment  of  a  separate  fund  for  the  support  of  the  Apprentices' 
Library  and  Reading- Rooms. 

The  Apprentices'  Liijk.vky  was  established  in  1820.  It  then  con- 
sisted of  eight  hundred  Volumes,  most  of  which  had  been  contributed 
by  members  of  the  General  Society  and  philanthropic  citizens.  The 
library  at  first  was  only  open  in  the  evening,  the  books  being  handed 
out  to  the  readers  by  members  of  a  committee.  It  maintained  a  feeble 
existence  for  many  yean.  In  1850  it  contained  about  fourteen  thou- 
sand volumes. 

The  vast  increase  in  the  value  of  the  real  estate  of  the  General 
Society  of  Mechanics  and  Tradesmen  so  enlarged  its  income  that  for 
many  years  it  has  been  enabled  to  strengthen  every  department  of  its 
work,  especially  the  Apprentices'  Library,  From  Benjamin  Demilt 
the  library  received  a  bequest  of  §7500,  besides  his  private  library,  a 
very  valuable  collection  of  standard  works.  Pierre  Lorillard  also  be- 
queathed to  the  library  fund  s5uoo,  which  was  entirely  devoted  to  the 
purchase  of  books.  On  the  first  of  January,  1883,  the  Apprentices' 
Library  contained  sixty-five  thousand  volumes,  of  which  more  than 
forty  thousand  are  works  of  a  standard  character. 

In  1832  the  society  bought  a  lot  with  a  high  school  building  on  it  in 
Crosby  Street,  where  it  had  its  headquarters  until  the  completion,  in 
1878,  of  its  present  commodious  four-storied  building  at  Nos.  1(5  and 
IS  East  Sixteenth  Street.  In  1833  the  association  estimated  the  value 
of  its  possessions  at  about  870,000  above  all  its  debts  ;  owing  to  the 
enormous  increase  in  the  value  of  its  real  estate,  the  estimated  value  of 
its  possessions  in  18s:;  was  about  $780,000.  It  has  sixty-eight  pension- 
ers— nine  members,  fifty-five  widows,  and  four  children.  During  one 
year  (18S1-82)  the  total  number  of  books  drawn  from  the  library  was 
103,430.  The  number  of  visitors  to  the  reading-room  during  the  same 
time  was  36,000. 

The  General  Society  of  Mechanics  and  Tradesmen  is  a  most  remark- 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


155 


able  example  of  the  financial  success  in  the  management  of  an  instill, 
tion,  while  all  its  laudable  purposes  were  carried  out  with  vigor  and 
fidelity.* 

*  The  officers  of  the  society  in  1883  were  :  Daniel  Herbert,  president  ;  John  H.  Rogers 
and  John  H.  Waydell,  vice-presidents  ;  James  G.  Burnet,  treasurer  ;  Thomas  Earle, 
secretary,  and  James  Woolley,  collector. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE  New  York  Historical  Society  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
as  well  as  useful  institutions  in  the  city  of  New  York.  It  bad 
just  started  on  a  prosperous  career,  after  years  of  struggle,  at  the  time 
we  are  considering  (about  1826-80).  It  had  recently  cleared  itself  of 
debt,  and  was  working  vigorously  in  the  cause  to  which  it  was  devoted, 
namely,  the  collection  and  preservation  of  whatever  might  relate  to  the 
natural,  civil,  and  ecclesiastical  history  of  the  United  States  in  general, 
and  especially  to  that  of  the  rightfully  called  Empire  State  of  the  Repub- 
lic. This  happy  state  of  affairs  had  been  brought  about  largely  by  the 
exertions  of  Frederic  de  Peyster,  who  was  one  of  its  most  active  and 
devoted  members  for  more  than  half  a  century,  and  who  with  the  aid 
of  Governor  De  "Witt  Clinton  had  procured  from  the  Legislature  of  the 
State  a  grant  of  $5000  for  the  benefit  of  the  struggling  association. 

The  Histoi'ical  Society  clearly  owes  its  conception  to  the  active  mind 
and  energetic  character  of  John  Pintard,  a  New  Yorker  by  birth,  of 
Huguenot  descent.  He  was  a  graduate  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey, 
at  Princeton,  where  he  was  a  favorite  of  President  "Witherspoon  ;  had 
a  wide  circle  of  learned  friends  in  his  own  State  and  other  common- 
wealths, and  was  not  only  familiar  with  classical  and  elegant  literature, 
but  by  the  means  of  a  natural  enthusiasm  in  the  acquirement  of  knowl- 
edge and  a  most  retentive  memory,  he  was  possessed  of  a  large  fund  of 
historical  and  geographical  information.  Of  Mr.  Pintard  Dr.  John 
"W.  Francis  wrote  : 

"  He  was  versed  in  theological  and  polemical  divinity,  and  in  the 
progress  of  church  affairs  among  us  ever  a  devoted  disciple.  You  could 
scarcely  approach  him  without  having  something  of  Dr.  Johnson  thrust 
upon  you.  There  were  periods  in  his  life  in  which  he  gave  every 
unappropriated  moment  to  philological  inquiry,  and  it  was  curious  to 
see  him  ransacking  his  formidable  pile  of  dictionaries  for  radicals  and 
synonyms,  with  an  earnestness  that  would  have  done  honor  to  the  most 
eminent  student  in  the  republic  of  letters."  Again  :  "  Everybody 
consulted  him  for  information  touching  this  State's  transactions,  and 
the  multifarious  occurrences  of  this  city,  which  have  marked  its 


FIRST  DECADE,  1^30-1840. 


151 


progress  since  our  Revolutionary  straggle.  Persons  and  tilings,  indi- 
vidualities and  corporations,  literary,  biographical,  ecclesiastical,  and 
historical  circumstances,  municipal  and  legislative  enactments,  internal 
and  external  commerce — all  these  were  prominent  among  the  number  ; 
and  his  general  accuracy  as  to  persons  and  dates  made  him  a  living 
chronology." 

Such  were  salient  points  in  the  character  of  the  man  who  was  the 
chief  founder  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society.  He  long  cherished 
the  idea  of  such  an  institution  before  attempting  to  give  it  a  practical 
influence.  "While  secretary  of  his  uncle,  Lewis  Pintard,  a  merchant 
and  commissary  of  American  prisoners  in  the  city  of  Xew  York  during 
the  latter  period  of  the  old  war  for  independence,  he  became  power  - 
f idly  impressed  with  the  importance  of  preserving  records  of  events,  for 
he  was  living  in  the  midst  of  most  momentous  occurrences.  After  the 
war  he  bought  from  Dr.  Chandler,  of  Elizabethtown,  Xew  Jersey,  a 
large  collection  of  documents  relating  to  the  Revolution,  and  gradually 
a  plan  for  the  establishment  of  an  antiquarian  society  took  tangible 
shape  in  his  mind. 

In  17S9  Pintard  visited  Boston,  and  communicated  his  ideas  concern- 
ing an  antiquarian  or  historical  society  to  the  eminent  theologian,  biogra- 
pher, and  historian,  Jeremy  Belknap,  who  warmly  approved  his  plan. 
''This  day,"  he  wrote  to  Ebenezer  Hazard,  the  Postmaster-General; 
"  this  day  Mr.  Pintard  called  to  see  me.  He  says  he  is  an  acquaint- 
ance of  yours,  and  wants  to  form  an  antiquarian  society. Several 
months  later  Belknap  wrote  to  Hazard  :  "1  like  Pintard's  idea  of  a 
society  of  American  antiquarians,  but  where  will  you  find  a  sufficiency 
of  members,  of  suitable  abilities  and  leisure  ?"  The  theologian  appears 
to  have  acted  energetically  on  the  hints  given  him  by  Pintard,  for  in 
less  than  two  years  after  the  Xew  Yorker's  visit  we  find  Belknap  at 
the  head  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

Pintard  seems  to  have  acted  promptly  and  energetically  in  attempts 
to  put  his  cherished  scheme  into  practical  operation  in  Xew  York.  He 
was  an  active  member  of  the  Tammany  Society  or  Columbian  Order, 
and  was  its  first  sagamore,  and  he  connected  his  antiquarian  scheme 
with  that  society.  "Writing  to  Belknap  in  the  spring  of  1791,  he 
said  : 

14  This  [the  Tammany]  being  a  strong  national  society,  I  engrafted 
an  antiquarian  scheme  of  a  museum  upon  it.  It  makes  small  progress 
with  a  small  fund,  and  may  possibly  succeed.  We  have  a  tolerable 
collection  of  pamphlets,  mostly  modems,  with  some  history,  of  which  1 
will  send  you  an  abstract.    If  your  society  [the  Massachusetts  Ilistori- 


158 


IIISTOHY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


cal]  succeeds  well,  will  open  a  regular  correspondence.  ...  If  my 
plan  once  strikes  root,  it  will  thrive."  * 

Not  very  much  seems  to  have  been  accomplished  in  the  matter  in  con- 
nection with  the  Tammany  Society  during  many  succeeding  years,  but 
Pintard  did  not  allow  his  project  to  slumber.  He  finally  created  a  lively 
interest  in  his  scheme  in  the  minds  of  leading  men  in  the  city,  and  at 
his  request  nearly  a  dozen  of  them  met,  by  appointment,  in  a  room  in 
the  City  Hall,  in  Wall  Street,  on  the  afternoon  of  November  20,  1S04. 
These  gentlemen  were  John  Pintard,  Egbert  Benson,  then  late  judge  of 
the  United  States  District  Court  ;  De  AVitt  Clinton,  then  mayor  of  the 
city,  the  Rev.  Drs.  Samuel  Miller,  John  M.  Mason,  John  X.  Abeel, 
and  William  Lewis,  all  distinguished  clergymen  ;  Dr.  David  Hosack, 
Anthony  Bleecker,  Samuel  Bayard,  and  Peter  Gerard  Stuyvesant. 
Mr.  Pintard,  Judge  Benson,  and  Dr.  Miller  were  appointed  a  commit- 
tee to  draft  a  constitution.  All  present  evinced  a  lively  interest  in  the 
matter. 

A  meeting  was  held  on  the  loth  of  December,  at  the  same  place, 
when  several  other  prominent  citizens  were  present,  among  them  Judge 
Brockholst  Livingston,  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Moore,  then  bishop  of  the 
Diocese  of  New  York  ;  Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  Rufus  King,  and  Rev. 
John  II.  Ilobart,  afterward  bishop  of  the  same  diocese.  The  constitu- 
tion presented  was  adopted,  and  the  title  given  to  the  association  was 
"The  Xew  York  Historical  Societ}'."  It  was  organized  on  the  14th 
of  January  following,  when  Judge  Benson  was  chosen  president,  the 
Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Moore  first  vice-president.  Judge  Brockholst  Livings- 
ton second  vice-president,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Miller  corresponding  secretary, 
John  Pintard  t  recording  secretary,  Charles  Wilkes  treasurer,  and 
John  Forbes  librarian. 

*  Mr.  Pintard  was  really  the  founder  of  Barnum's  Museum.  The  corporation  granted 
a  room  in  the  City  Hall  for  the  use  of  the  Tammany  Society  Museum.  It  was  open  every 
Tuesday  and  Friday  afternoon.    A  document  in  existence,  dated  May  1,  1791,  reads  : 

"  American  Museum,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Tammany  Society  or  Columbian  Order. 

"  Any  article  sent  on  these  days,  or  to  Mr.  John  Pintard,  No.  57  King  Street,  will  be 
thankfully  received." 

Mr.  Pintard  was  the  secretary  of  the  American  Museum,  and  Gardner  Baker  keeper. 
It  became  the  sole  property  of  Baker  in  1808.  He  sold  it  to  Dr.  Scudder,  and  it  was 
finally  sold  to  Barnum. 

f  John  Pintard,  son  of  John  Pintard,  a  Xew  York  merchant,  was  then  in  the  prime  of 
manhood,  bavin"  been  born  May  18,  1759.  Both  his  father  and  mother  died  before  he 
was  one  year  old.  The  babe  was  taken  by  his  uncle,  Lewis  Pintard,  a  thriving  merchant 
in  New  York,  as  his  foster  child.  He  was  sent  to  a  grammar  school  at  Hempstead,  L.  I., 
and  became  the  best  Latin  scholar  in  the  seminary.  He  was  graduated  at  Princeton  in 
1776.    He  drilled  soldiers  every  day,  and  when  the  professor  entered  the  army  and  the 


FIRST  DECADE,  1880-1840. 


The  New  York  Historical  Society  occupied  a  room  in  the  old  City 
Hall,  in  Wall  Street,  from  1804  till  1809.  It  received  its  charter  from 
the  State  Legislature  in  the  latter  year.  It  then  became  migratory 
for  almost  half  a  century.  In  1809  its  collections  were  removed  to  the 
Government  House,  on  the  south-east  side  of  the  Bowling-  Green.  In 
1816  they  were  taken  to  the  New  York  Institution,  where  they 

institution  was  broken  up,  he  went  too,  after  he  had  received  his  degree.  After  serving 
a  while  in  the  army,  young  Fintard  became  deputy  commissary  for  American  prisonera 
inXew  York,  under  his  uncle,  for  whom  he  acted  as  secretary.  He  was  in  that  office  about 
three  years,  doing  nearly  all  the  business  most  of  the  time.  Elias  Boudiuot,  his  brother- 
in-law,  was  then  commissary-general  of  prisoners. 

When  Fintard  left  the  office  in  1780  he  went  to  Faramus,  New  Jersey,  where  resided 
Colonel  Brashear,  a  stanch  Whig  and  distant  relative  of  the  young  man.  He  fell  in  love 
with  the  colonel's  daughter,  and  they  were  married  in  1780.  "  He  was  handsome,  and 
she  was  the  loveliest  girl  in  the  land,  "  says  "  Walte*-Barrett,  clerk." 

Up  to  that  time  John  Fintard  was  a  clerk  for  his  uncle  ;  then  he  began  business  for 
himself,  at  No.  12  Wall  Street,  in  the  India  trade.  One  of  his  ships  (the  Jut/)  was  among 
the  first  vessels  that  brought  cargoes  from  China.  In  1785)  he  was  elected  alderman  of 
the  East  Ward,  which  took  in  Wall  Street  below  William  Street.  In  1790  he  was  elected 
to  the  State  Legislature. 

In  1792  John  Fintard,  out  of  debt,  rich  and  prosperous,  had  his  name  on  the  back  of 
notes  drawn  by  William  Duer,  son-in-law  of  Lord  Stirling,  who  was  regarded  as  one  of  the 
greatest  financiers  of  the  day,  for  a  full  million  dollars.  Duer  faded.  Fintard  gave  up 
ships,  cargoes,  houses,  furniture,  library,  everything,  to  partially  pay  the  notes  he  had 
indorsed.  He  settled  in  Newark,  where  he  found  employment  as  a  commissioner  for 
building  bridges.  Duer's  creditors  followed  him,  and  confined  him  in  Newark  jail  four- 
teen months. 

The  general  bankrupt  law  of  1800  relieved  Mr.  Pintard,  and  he  returned  to  New  York, 
where  he  first  became  a  book  auctioneer.  In  1801  his  uncle  bought  for  him  the  Daily 
Advertiser,  but  he  did  not  conduct  it  long.  In  1802  he  went  to  New  Orleans,  but  soon 
returned.  He  became  city  inspector,  and  in  1809  secretary  of  a  fire  insurance  company, 
which  position  he  filled  until  1829,  when,  at  the  age  of  seventy,  he  resigned.  He  became 
almost  blind  and  deaf,  and  his  world  was  inside  of  himself  for  several  years.  He  died 
on  June  21,  1844,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five  years. 

Mr.  Pintard  was  the  enlightened  and  active  friend  of  every  great  enterprise  for  the 
benefit  of  the  city,  and  in  every  good  work.  He  was  not  only  the  founder  of  the  New 
York  Historical  Society,  but  one  of  the  originators  of  the  free  school  system  in  the  city, 
an  active  promoter  cf  the  Erie  Canal  project  from  the  beginning,  a  most  efficient  mem- 
ber of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  serving  it  as  secretary  ten  consecutive  years,  and 
infusing  into  it  new  vitality  ;  one  of  the  founders  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  active 
in  the  foundation  of  the  General  Theological  Society  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
diocese,  and  the  chief  mover  in  the  establishment  of  the  first  savings  bank  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  of  which  he  was  president  thirteen  years,  retiring  when  he  was  nearly  eighty- 
two  years  of  age.  Mr.  Pintard  has  an  undoubted  and  clear  right  to  the  title  of  progenitor 
of  the  historical  societies  in  the  United  States. 

The  body  of  Mr.  Pintard  was  buried  in  the  family  vault  in  St.  Clement's  Church,  in 
Amity  Street.  Very  few  citizens  of  the  great  metropolis  to-day  have  even  the  most 
remote  idea  of  how  much  it  owes  to  John  Pintard  for  its  prosperity  and  good  name. 


KiO 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


remained  until  1S:>2,  when  they  were  deposited  in  the  Renisen  build- 
ing, on  Broadway.  In  L837  they  were  taken  to  the  Stuyvesant  Insti- 
tute, on  Broadway.  There  they  rested  only  four  years,  for  in  1841 
they  were  removed  to  the  New  York  University.  There  they  took  a 
longer  rest,  anil  finally,  in  1857,  took  up  their  abode  in  a  building 
erected  by  the  society  on  the  corner  of  Eleventh  Street  and  Second 
Avenue. 

The  members  and  friends  of  the  Historical  Society  exhibited  much 
zeal  from  the  beginning,  in  efforts  to  secure  for  its  collections  manu- 
scripts, books,  rare  pamphlets  relating  to  American  history,  autograph 
Letters  and  unpublished  documents,  tiles  of  American  newspapers,  espe- 
cially of  those  published  in  the  city  of  New  York  ;  specimens  of 
American  archaeology,  coins  and  medals,  works  of  painters,  sculptors, 
and  engravers,  and  everything  suitable  for  a  museum  of  historical 
treasures. 

For  more  than  twenty  years  the  society  labored  on  with  slender 
pecuniary  means,  continually  adding  to  its  list  of  members  some  of  the 
best  men  in  New  York  society,  with  its  offices  filled  by  persons  of  dis- 
tinction in  literature,  science,  and  art.  Its  pecuniary  power  was  so 
inadequate  to  the  noble  t:isk  it  had  undertaken  that  it  found  itself,  at 
the  bejrinniiur  of  the  new  era  in  the  history  of  New  York  Citv.  bur- 
dened  with  a  debt  amounting  to  about.  $5000. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  the  society  was  strongly  beset  with  a 
temptation  which  yielded  to  might  have  caused  its  annihilation.  It 
was  a  supreme  crisis  in  the  history  of  the  institution.  At  that  time  a 
number  of  gentlemen  had  associated  in  the  formation  of  a  society  with 
the  avowed  purpose  of  encouraging  and  promoting  the  study  of  popular 
science,  belles-lettres,  and  the  fine  arts.  They  named  the  association 
The  New  York  Athenaeum.  Its  members  were  some  of  the  leading 
intellectual  lights  of  the  city.  They  had  conceived  the  design  of  unit- 
ing all  the  literary  societies  of  New  Fork  under  the  appropriate  title 
they  had  chosen,  for  the  purpose  of  creating  an  institution,  by  such  a 
combination,  which  should  be  the  most  distinguished  and  powerful  in 
the  United  States. 

Members  of  the  Xew  York  Historical  Society,  considering  its  pecuni- 
ary embarrassments,  almost  vehemently  urged  the  propriety  and  even 
the  necessity  of  joining  such  a  combination,  and  to  merge  it  into  The 
Xew  York  Athenaeum.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Historical  Society,  Dr. 
Jeremiah  Van  Rensselaer,  a  prominent  member,  offered  a  resolution  that 
in  consideration  of  a  sum  sufficient  to  pay  off  its  indebtedness  the  entire 
property  should  be  transferred  to  the  Athenaeum. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1S-10. 


If.  I 


An  energetic  and  clear-headed  young'  lawyer,  a  scion  of  one  of  the 
oldest  and  most  distinguished  Knickerbocker  families  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  had  recently  been  elected  a  member  of  the  Historical 
Society,  and  took  great  interest  in  its  affairs.  He  earnestly  opposed 
Dr.  Van  Itensselaer's  resolution,  urging  that  such  a  sale  of  the  treas- 
ures of  the  society  would  be  dishonest,  and  in  violation  of  the  solemn 
pledges  given  to  the  public  by  its  founders,  for  they  represented  that  all 
donations,  of  whatever  kind,  should  be  held  as  part  of  the  archives  of 
the  society,  and  for  historical  purposes.  That  young  lawyer  was  the 
late  Frederic  de  Peyster,  LL.  D.,  who,  from  that  hour,  was  one  of  the 
most  energetic  and  influential  members  of  the  Historical  Society,  dying 
while  holding  its  presidential  chair,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six  years.* 

*  Frederic  de  Peyster,  LL.D.,  was  born  in  Hanover  Square,  New  York,  on  November 
11,  179G.  His  ancestors  were  Huguenots  who  tied  from  persecution  in  France  in  the 
sixteenth  century  and  settled  in  Amsterdam  and  Rotterdam,  Holland.  The  lirst  of  the 
name  who  emigrated  to  America  was  Johannes  de  Teyster,  the  possessor  of  much  in- 
herited wealth,  who  came  to  New  Amsterdam  with  his  wife  about  164o,  when  he  was 
twenty-five  years  of  age.  He  became  a  successful  merchant  and  a  distinguished  citizen, 
being  in  succession  sheriff,  alderman,  and  burgomaster  of  New  Amsterdam,  and  in  1G77 
deputy  mayor  of  New  York.  Two  of  his  sons  were  afterward  mayors  of  the  city.  The 
de  Peyster  family  have  ever  held  the  highest  social  position  in  New  York  City. 

The  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  Captain  Frederic  de  Peyster,  an  ardent 
loyalist  during  the  old  war  for  independence,  and  nn  officer  in  the  king's  Third  American 
ltegiment,  or  New  York  Volunteers.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Commissary-General 
Hake,  of  the  British  army.  Frederic  was  a  student  in  Columbia  College  during  the  war 
of  1812,  and  became  captain  of  the  students'  corps  known  as  the  "  College  Greens." 
They  assisted  in  the  construction  of  field  works  at  MeGowan's  Pass  and  Manhattanville. 
He  was  graduated  in  1810,  and  began  the  study  of  law  with  the  Hon.  Peter  A.  Jay,  the 
eldest  son  of  Governor  John  Jay.  He  concluded  his  legal  studies  under  the  tuition  of 
Peter  Van  Schaack,  of  Kinderhook,  one  of  the  most  learned  lawyers  in  the  State.  JJe 
Peyster  was  admitted  to  practice  as  aD  attorney  in  the  Supreme  Court  in  1819,  and  the 
same  year  he  became  a  solicitor  in  chancery.  It  is  said  his  reports  in  the  latter  capacity 
never  revealed  an  error. 

Young  de  Peyster  was  fond  of  military  matters,  and  was  active  several  years  in  the 
militia  of  the  State,  serving  as  brigade  major  in  the  Tenth  Brigade,  as  aide-de-camp  to 
Major-General  Flemming,  and  as  aide,  with  the  rank  of  colonel,  on  the  staff  of  Governor 
De  Witt  Clinton  in  1825.  Not  long  before  he  had  raised  the  question  whether  an  officer 
holding  one  military  position  could  be  legally  elected  to  another— a  salaried  one -  w  ith- 
out thereby  vacating  the  former  office.  It  was  decided  by  competent  authority  that  he 
could  not,  and  thus  a  test  case,  argued  by  de  Peyster  and  won,  gained  him  notoriety,  and 
settled  a  vexed  question  in  military  circles. 

From  his  early  life  Mr.  de  Peyster  took  an  active  interest  in  public  affairs.  So  early 
as  1810,  when  he  was  fourteen  years  of  age,  he  became  a  member  of  the  Free  School 
Society  of  New  York,  in  which,  in  after  years,  he  was  a  trustee.  He  possessed  a  decided 
literary  taste,  and  he  became  prominently  connected  with  several  literary  and  learned 
societies.  Joining  the  Historical  Society  of  New  York  about  1820,  he  became  its  corre- 
sponding secretary  in  1827,  and  was  recording  secretary  from  1829  till  1837.    He  became 


162 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  resolution  of  Dr.  Van  Rensselaer  was  warmly  discussed.  The 
arguments  of  Mr.  De  Peyster  prevailed,  and  the  resolution  was  not 
adopted.  After  the  adjournment  of  the  meeting,  Charles  King  (after- 
ward president  of  Columbia  College),  seven  years  the  senior  of  De 
Peyster,  said  to  the  latter  : 

"  Sir,  you  have  caused  a  serious  harm  to  both  the  Historical  Society 
and  the  Athenaeum  by  defeating  that  resolution.  You  have  frustrated 
a  laudable  object,  and  by  rejecting  the  proposed  union  this  society  will 
soon  be  a  hopeless  bankrupt." 

"  If  the  society  will  give  me  authority,"  replied  De  Peyster,  "  I  will 
go  to  Albany  as  its  representative  and  procure  from  the  Legislature  an 
appropriation  sufficient  to  pay  all  its  debts." 

"  If  you  shall  do  that,"  responded  King;  "  interest  the  State  Legis- 
lature so  substantially  in  our  affairs,  you  will  make  the  New  York 
Historical  Society  one  of  the  leading  institutions  of  our  country." 

Mr.  De  Peyster  was  invested  with  proper  authority.  He  went  to 
Albany,  laid  a  petition  for  the  relief  of  the  New  York  Historical 
Society  before  the  Legislature,  with  a  large  number  of  whose  members 

corresponding  secretary  again  in  1838,  and  remained  in  that  position  until  184:!.  In 
1804  he  was  elected  president  of  the  society  ;  held  the  office  two  years  ;  was  re-elected  in 
1873,  and  continued  to  hold  the  position  until  the  time  of  his  death,  August  17,  1882. 
His  gifts  to  the  society  were  many  and  valuable.  Some  of  the  choicest  books  and  works 
of  art  in  its  collection  are  his  contributions.  One  of  the  most  attractive  ot  the  latter  is 
Crawford's  colossal  marble  statue  of  an  Indian  sitting  in  a  contemplative  attitude,  enti- 
tled "  The  Last  of  His  Race."  He  purchased  it  after  Crawford's  death  for  $4000.  Mr. 
de  lYyster  was  also  a  generous  patron  of  art,  as  his  home  in  University  Place  attested, 
and  was  always  ready  to  contribute  to  funds  for  the  erection  of  statues  of  eminent  men 
in  Lis  native  city.  On  anniversary  and  other  celebrations  of  important  events  he  was 
always  active,  and  was  frequently  called  upon  to  address  the  assemblage,  which  was 
always  done  in  a  happy  manner.  He  was  also  active  in  all  benevolent  movements,  and 
held  an  office  of  some  kind  in  a  score  of  different  societies.  He  was  also  an  earnest 
promoter  of  the  cause  of  popular  education,  and  his  interest  in  his  alma  mater  (Columbia 
College)  was  warm  and  active  until  the  close  of  his  life. 

While  Mr.  de  Peyster  was  master  in  chancery  he  wan  employed  by  a  committee  of  the 
Tontine  Coffee-House  Association  as  an  expert  to  ascertain  the  value  of  the  lives  of  the 
nominees.  He  soon  afterward  became  a  member  of  that  association,  and  was  one  of  the 
last,  if  not  the  very  last,  survivors  of  that  famous  organization.  He  was  elected  a  trustee 
of  the  New  York  Society  Library,  and  was  its  president  from  1870.  He  was  vice  president 
of  the  Home  for  Incurables,  and  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Institution  for  the  Instruc- 
tion of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb.  For  more  than  fifty  years  he  was  clerk  of  the  board  of 
trustees  of  the  Leake  and  Watts  Orphan  Asylum,  founded  by  his  father-in-law,  John 
Watts.  He  was  an  active  and  most  efficient  member  of  the  St.  Nicholas  Society  and 
president  of  the  St.  Nicholas  Club.  Our  space  will  not  allow  the  mention  of  more  of  the 
objects  of  his  care  and  untiring  labors. 

Mr.  de  Peyster  was  chosen  to  deliver  an  address  on  the  occasion  of  the  centennial 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


163 


he  was  personally  acquainted,  and  urged  his  suit  with  so  much  logic 
and  such  weighty  reasons  for  granting  the  prayer,  that  a  bill  speedily 
passed  both  houses  appropriating  &5000  for  the  relief  of  the  New  York 
Historical  Society.  The  burden  of  debt  was  thus  removed,  and  the 
society  started  afresh  and  unembarrassed  in  its  career  of  usefulness  and 
honor. 

The  society  has  ever  since  gone  steadily  on  in  an  upward  journey, 
sometimes  struggling  with  poverty,  but  never  with  doubt,  and  some- 
times cheered  by  liberal  bequests  and  donations,  until  it  has  reached  its 
present  high  position  as  one  of  the  leading  and  most  useful  institutions 
of  the  metropolis. 

The  New  York  Historical  Society  possesses  a  library  of  more  than 
70,000  volumes,  and  a  very  large  number  of  pamphlets,  maps,  and  files 
of  newspapers  ;  also  a  most  valuable  collection  of  ineditcd  manu- 
scripts, a  curious  collection  of  American  antiquities,  a  rare  and  exceed- 
ingly valuable  collection  of  Egyptian  antiquities,  and  the  largest  and 
rarest  permanent  gallery  of  works  of  art  on  the  American  continent. 

By  the  liberality  of  citizens  of  New  York  the  society  was  enabled  to 

celebration  of  American  independence  at  Independence  Hall,  Philadelphia,  in  187G. 
Several  of  his  occasional  addresses  have  been  published  in  handsome  book  form. 
He  was  an  earnest  classical  and  biblical  student  ;  indeed  no  department  of  learning 
escaped  his  notice,  and  often  engaged  his  profound  stud}'.  In  18f>7  Columbia  College 
conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D.,  and  in  March,  1877,  the  Royal 
Historical  Society  of  Great  Britain,  "'in  consideration  of  his  eminent  services  in  the 
cause  of  historical  and  antiquarian  research,"  elected  him  an  Honorary  Fellow  of  that 
society. 

Mr.  de  Peyster  was  married  in  his  early  manhood  to  the  lovely  and  accomplished  Mary 
Justina  Watts,  daughter  of  John  Watts,  the  last  royal  recorder  of  New  York  City.  She 
lived  only  thirteen  months  after  his  marriage,  dying  on  July  2<S,  1821.  She  left  an  infant 
son,  who  is  General  J.  Watts  de  Peyster.  It  was  at  Rose  Hill,  the  country-seat  of  this 
son,  at  Tivoli  on  the  Hudson,  that  Mr.  de  Peyster  died,  after  a  short  illness.  The 
funeral  services  were  held  at  St.  Paul's  Church,  at  Tivoli,  and  were  conducted  by  the 
rector  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dix,  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York. 

General  J.  Watts  de  Peyster,  his  only  child,  has  inherited  his  name  and  fortune.  He 
was  born  in  March,  1821.  He  has  attained  to  much  distinction  as  the  author  of  valuable 
works  on  military  and  historical  subjects.  The  former  have  won  for  him  the  warmest 
encomiums  of  military  commanders.  Some  years  ago  he  wrote  an  interesting  biograjdiy 
of  the  Swedish  Field-Marshal  Torstenson,  famous  in  the  seventeenth  century.  So 
pleased  with  this  biography  was  Oscar  I.,  King  of  Sweden,  that  he  expressed  his  pleasure 
by  presenting  the  general  with  three  handsome  medals.  Like  his  father,  General  de 
Peyster  is  well  and  honorably  known,  not  only  in  the  city  but  throughout  the  country. 
Three  of  his  sons  served  in  the  late  war  for  the  preservation  of  the  Republic.  One  of 
them,  Lieutenant  J.  Livingston  de  Peyster,  had  the  honor  of  first  hoisting  the  national 
flag  on  the  capitol  at  Richmond  on  the  morning  after  the  Confederate  government  had 
fled,  which,  General  Grant  said,  "  put  the  seal  to  the  termination  of  the  rebellion." 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


purchase  the  famous  Egyptian  collection  of  Dr.  Abbott  in  1859.  It  is 
by  far  the  most  interesting  collection  of  the  kind  in  this  country.  It 
contains  three  mummies  of  the  sacred  bull  Apis  found  in  the  tombs  of 
Dashour.  It  is  said  that  no  other  specimen  of  the  preserved  animal 
may  be  found  in  the  world.  The  collection  also  exhibits  some  rare 
works  of  art,  and  numerous  objects  which  illustrate  the  social  and 
domestic  life  of  the  ancient  Egyptians.  There  are  about  eleven  hun- 
dred and  thirty  pieces  in  the  collection,  every  one  of  which  is  a  study 
for  the  historian  and  the  antiquary. 

In  1856  the  society  determined  to  enlarge  and  extend  its  usefulness 
by  providing  a  public  gallery  of  fine  arts  in  the  city  of  Xew  York. 
The  plan  was  devised  on  the  most  liberal  scale.  A  committee  on  line 
arts  was  appointed,  and  constituted  a  part  of  the  administration  of  the 
society.  The  result  of  the  labors  of  that  committee  is  most  satisfac- 
tory. The  gallery  now  embraces,  in  addition  to  the  society's  original 
collection  of  paintings  and  sculpture,  the  Xew  York  Gallery  of  Fine 
Arts,  which  came  into  the  possession  of  this  institution  in  1858,  through 
the  exertions  of  the  late  Jonathan  Sturges,  an  active  and  liberal  mem- 
ber. That  collection  is  the  fruit  of  the  taste,  generosity,  and  munifi- 
cence of  Luman  Reed,  an  enterprising  merchant. 

The  gallery  also  embraces  the  remaining  pictures  of  the  American 
Art  Onion,  also  the  justly  famous  Bryan  Gallery  of  Christian  Art,  so 
rich  in  pictures  by  the  old  masters  and  pre-Raphaelite  paintings.  This 
collection  was  generously  presented  to  the  society  in  18G7  by  the  late 
Thomas  J.  Bryan,  who  continued  to  add  to  it  until  his  death.  The 
"  Dun*  collection"  of  paintings  was  bequeathed  to  the  society  by  the 
late  Louis  Durr,  one  of  its  members,  in  1880,  and  was  placed  in  the 
gallery  in  June,  1882.  The  society  also  possesses  the  original  water- 
color  pictures  made  by  J.  J.  Audubon  for  his  great  work  on  natural 
history,  thirteen  specimens  of  ancient  sculpture  from  Nineveh,  pre- 
sented by  the  late  James  Lenox,  and  fifty-seven  pieces  of  modern 
sculpture  by  Crawford,  Browne,  and  others. 

The  entire  collection  of  paintings  and  statuary  belonging  to  the  Xew 
York  Historical  Society  numbers  nearly  one  thousand.  In  it  may  bo 
seen  many  pre-Raphaelite  pictures,  and  paintings  by  Cimabue,  Gior- 
gione,  Correggio,  Raphael,  Titian,  Del  Sarto,  Da  Vinci,  Mui'illo,  Velas- 
quez, Rembrandt,  Paul  Veronese,  Pouissin,  Van  Dyck,  and  half  a  score 
of  other  renowned  artists.  For  lack  of  room  and  good  light  these 
pictures  appear  to  a  great  disadvantage,  while  the  marvellous  sculptures 
from  Xineveh  are  hidden  away  in  the  crypt  or  basement  room  of  the 
building. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1330-1840. 


165 


So  rapid  has  been  the  accumulation  of  the  archaic-  and  other  riches 
(excepting-  money)  of  the  Historical  Society  during  the  la^t  few  years, 
that  larger  space  and  a  position  nearer  the  centre  of  the  class  of  popu- 
lation who  enjoy  and  would  profit  by  such  exquisite  pleasure  as  it  can 
afford  has  been  an  absolute  and  keenly  felt  necessity.  It  is  not  credit- 
able to  the  citizens  of  Xew  York,  so  widely  and  justiy  praised  for  their 
enterprise,  abounding  wealth,  generosity,  intelligence,  and  aesthetic 
cultivation,  to  allow  this  venerable  society,  now  fourscore  years  of  age, 
with  all  its  wealth  of  possible  entertainment  and  instruction,  to  remain 
half  smothered  in  close  quarters,  year  after  year,  for  want  of  pecuniary 
means  to  expand  its  usefulness  and  become  one  of  the  most  attractive 
wonders  of  the  great  metropolis.  It  possesses  an  abundance  of  precious 
things  which  money  cannot  buy  and  the  world  cannot  afford  to  lose. 

The  present  number  of  the  members  of  the  Historical  Society  is 
about  two  thousand  —  life,  resident,  corresponding,  and  honorary. 
They  embrace  the  best  elements  of  society  in  Xew  York.  It  has  no 
debts,  no  mortgage  on  its  building  or  its  collections,  and  no  outstanding 
bilk* 

Thk  New  York  Typographical  Society  ranks  among  the  older  of 
the  benevolent  institutions  of  Xew  York  City.  It  is  believed  to  be  the 
oldest  benevolent  association  of  printers  in  the  United  States.  Its 
nativity  was  in  the  year  1809,  and  its  natal  day  was  the  twenty -third 
anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

The  avowed  object  of  the  society  was  "  the  relief  of  the  indigent  and 
distressed  members  of  the  association,  their  widows  and  orphans,  and 
others  who  may  be  found  proper  objects  of  their  charity."  To  this 
purpose  it  has  been  religiously  faithful,  and  its  record  is  a  noble  one. 

The  society  was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  of  Xew  York  in 
1818.  The  late  Thurlow  Weed,  who  became  a  member  of  the  associa- 
tion in  October,  1816,  was  chairman  of  the  committee  who  procured 
the  charter,  and  he  would  refer  to  it  as  his  first  effort  as  a  "  lobbyist." 
He  was  then  twenty-one  veal's  of  age.  To  effect  its  benevolent  pur- 
poses the  society  was  allowed  by  the  charter  to  hold  real  and  personal 
estate  to  the  amount  of  $5000.  Incase  of  sickness  or  other  disability 
a  member  was  allowed  a  prescribed  sum  per  week  from  the  treasury  ; 
in  case  of  death  a  specific  sum  was  given  toward  paying  the  expenses 

*  The  officers  of  the  society  for  1883  are  :  Augustus  Schell,  president  ;  Hamilton  Fish, 
first  vice-president  ;  Benjamin  H.  Field,  second  vice-president  ;  William  M.  Evarts,  for- 
eign corresponding  secretaiv  :  Edward  F.  De  Lancey,  domestic  corresponding  secretary  ; 
Andrew  Warner,  recording  secretary  ;  Benjamin  B.  Sherman,  treasurer  ;  Jacob  B.  Moore, 
librarian. 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


of  the  funeral.  Moderate  sums  were  allowed  to  widows  of  members, 
and  to  full-orphaned  children  of  members  for  a  short  time.  In  no  case 
has  the  family  of  a  living-  member  any  claim  on  the  funds  of  the  society. 

The  limited  charter  of  the  society  was  renewed  in  1S32,  for  fifteen 
years,  and  in  April,  1847,  it  was  organized  under  the  general  law  of  the 
State  for  charitable  and  benevolent  institutions.  Its  present  revised 
constitution  has  transferred  the  association  from  a  relief  society  to  meet 
the  urgent  necessities  of  the  indigent  and  distressed  into  a  benefit  society, 
from  which  every  member,  when  sick,  by  conforming  to  the  provisions 
of  the  constitution  and  by-laws,  may  draw  a  certain  amount  without 
regard  to  his  pecuniary  condition. 

During  its  long  career  the  New  York  Typographical  Society  has 
never  failed  to  meet  all  demands  against  its  treasury,  and  has  at  this 
time  quite  a  large  fund  securely  and  profitably  invested.  It  also  pos- 
sesses a  library  of  over  four  thousand  volumes,  some  of  which  are  ex- 
ceedingly rare  and  valuable. 

For  many  years  in  the  earlier  period  of  the  history  of  the  Typo- 
graphical Society  it  took  part  in  nearly  all  of  the  civic  processions.  It 
bore  a  conspicuous  part,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  great  celebration  of 
the  completion  of  the  Erie  Canal.  The  last  public  occasion  in  which  it 
participated  was  the  celebration  of  the  successful  la  ving  of  the  telegraph 
ocean  cable  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  in  1858. 

Benjamin  Franklin  being  recognized,  by  common  consent,  as  the 
"patron  saint"  of  printers,  his  birthday  was  honored  by  the  Typo- 
graphical Society  for  many  years,  usually  in  the  form  of  a  banquet, 
sometimes  by  an  entertainment.  The  late  William  Cullen  Bryant  was 
a  favorite  president  at  the  banquets,  and  John  Brougham  managed  the 
entertainments.  These  have  been  abandoned  of  late  years,  and  the 
society  has  taken  its  place  among  the  quiet  workers  for  the  good  of 
fellow-men. 

During  its  existence  of  more  than  half  a  centurv  since  receiving-  its 
charter  the  New  York  Typographical  Society  has  had  only  four  treas- 
urers— George  Mather,  James  Narine,  J.  G.  Clayton,  and  George 
Parsons — -the  latter  still  in  office.  T.  C.  Faulkner  was  its  secretary  for 
twenty-one  consecutive  years.  The  society  has  embraced  in  its  mem- 
bership many  who  have  not  only  reflected  honor  upon  the  profession, 
but  upon  our  country.  Now  its  list  of  membership  contains  the  names 
of  many  of  the  most  influential  printers  in  the  city.* 

*  The  officers  of  the  Xew  York  Typographical  Society  for  1883  are  :  Edward  Meagher, 
president  ;  John  Rrusnahan,  vice-president  ;  George  Parsons,  treasurer  ;  R.  H.  Oressing- 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


167 


On  the  3d  of  November,  1820,  at  the  office  of  the  New  York  Com- 
mercial Advertiser^  William  Wood  posted  a  call  for  a  meeting  of  mer- 
chants' clerks  on  the  loth,  at  a  room  in  the  Tontine  Coffee-IIonse,  to 
consider  a  plan  for  establishing-  a  library  and  reading-room.  The  call 
was  addressed  to  "  the  clerks  of  South  Street,  Front  Street,  Pearl 
Street,  and  Maiden  Lane/'  That  original  "poster"  is  preserved  in 
the  great  library,  which  is  the  flourishing  product  of  that  tiny  germ. 

The  meeting  comprised  about  two  hundred  merchants'  clerks.  A 
plan  was  agreed  to.  On  the  27th  of  the  same  month  a  constitution 
w  as  adopted  and  officers  were  elected,  with  Lucius  Bull  as  president. 
On  the  12th  of  February  following,  in  an  upper  room  of  the  building 
known  as  Xo.  40  Fulton  Street,  the  association  was  formally  ushered 
into  existence,  by  the  presence  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  members  (the 
total  number  of  subscribers)  and  the  deposit  of  about  seven  hundred 
volumes  of  books. 

The  association  had  a  feeble  existence — a  struggle  for  life — for  several 
years.  The  clerks  could  not,  for  a  long  time,  induce  the  merchants  to 
countenance  their  undertaking  or  give  them  aid.  At  length  (1820)  the 
library  was  removed  to  the  printing  establishment  of  Harper  & 
Brothers,  No.  82  Cliff  Str*eet,  Avhere  that  now  great  publishing  house 
Avas  just  feeling  the  peace  and  joy  of  assured  business  prosperity. 
There  the  association  had  a  reading-room  in  connection  with  the 
library,  which  was  furnished  with  four  weekly  newspapers  and  seven 
magazines.  The  merchants  now  began  to  take  an  interest  in  the  new 
enterprise,  and  soon  began  to  give  the  association  pecuniary  aid.  The 
year  1826  was  the  beginning  of  the  era  of  the  real  growth  and  an  ever- 
expanding  field  of  usefulness  for  Tup:  Mercantile  Libraky  Association 
of  the  City  of  Xew  York.  Before  the  close  of  that  year  the  library 
contained  six  thousand  volumes. 

In  1828  a  separate  organization  was  effected  for  the  purpose  of  erect- 
ing a  building  for  a  permanent  home  for  the  library,  to  be  enjoyed 
without  expense  or  any  incumbrance.    Arthur  Tappan,*  a  silk  mer- 

bam,  secretary  ;  C.  C.  Savage,  H.  Bessey,  W.  Marshall,  and  S.  F.  Baxter,  trustees,  and 
ten  directors. 

*  Arthur  Tappan  was  born  in  Northampton,  Mass.,  in  May,  1786,  and  died  in  New 
Haven,  Conn.,  in  July,  1865.  He  received  a  common-school  education,  was  clerk  in  a 
hardware  store  in  Boston,  and  also  engaged  with  his  brother  Lewis  in  the  dry-goods  busi- 
ness in  that  city.  Arthur  finally  went  to  Montreal,  but  when  the  war  of  1812  broke  out 
he  went,  to  New  York  City,  and  established  himself  in  the  dry-goods  importing  business 
in  1814.  He  was  very  prosperous,  very  religious,  and  very  benevolent.  He  was  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  American  Tract  Society,  and  gave  liberally  to  its  building  fund.  He 
gave  largely  toward  the  establishment  of  the  Lane  (Presbyterian)  Theological  Seminary  at 


1G8 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


chant,  headed  a  subscription  with  a  liberal  sum.  The  required  amount 
of  money  was  soon  raised,  a  building  was  erected  at  the  corner  of 
Beekman  and  Nassau  streets,  and  on  November  2,  1830,  it  was  dedi- 
cated with  the  title  of  "  Clinton  Hall,"  in  honor  of  De  Witt  Clinton, 
then  the  foremost  man  in  the  city  and  the  State,  and  who  gave  thfc 
first  book  to  the  Mercantile  Library — a  "  History  of  England."  The 
persons  who  caused  the  erection  of  the  hall  were  known  collectively  by 
the  name  of  "  The  Clinton  Hall  Association." 

Only  about  twenty  years  afterward  it  was  found  that  the  accommo- 
dations in  Clinton  Hall  were  too  limited  for  the  rapidly  increasing 
number  of  books  in  the  library.  It  was  observed,  too,  that  the  popula- 
tion was  deserting  that  quarter  of  the  city.  So,  after  much  delibera- 
tion, the  association  purchased  the  Astor  Place  Opera-House,  which 
was  fitted  up  with  a  capacity  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand 
volumes.  In  1854  the  library  was  moved  into  the  new  home,  a  dis- 
tance of  two  miles  from  its  former  dwelling-place.  Soon  afterward  the 
old  hall  was  pulled  down,  and  on  its  site  the  Nassau  Bank  erected  a 
handsome  building  of  light  brown  stone.  It,  too,  has  been  pulled 
down,  and  in  its  place  has  risen  Temple  Court,  a  lofty  structure  of 
brick  and  stone,  ten  stories  in  height,  the  property  of  Eugene  Kelly,  a 
banker. 

In  the  new  Clinton  Hall  at  Astor  Place  the  Mercantile  Library  Asso- 
ciation still  lingers  with  its  library,  but  will  probably  soon  take  another 
long  stride  northward,  for  now  the  centre  of  population  is  nearer  Mur- 
ray Hill.  Besides,  even  now  its  home  is  too  narrow  for  the  literary 
family  that  occupies  it.  At  the  time  of  the  removal  of  the  association 
to  Astor  Place  it  had  a  membership  of  about  three  thousand  merchants' 
clerks,  and  the  library  consisted  of  about  twenty  thousand  volumes  ;  in 
1883  the  number  of  persons  entitled  to  the  use  of  the  library  and 
reading-room  -active  and  subscribing  members,  honorary  members, 
editors  using  the  library,  and  Clinton  Hall  stockholders — was  about 

Cincinnati,  founded  a  professorship  in  Auburn  Seminary,  and  erected  Tappan  HaU  at 
Oberlin.  With  his  brother  Lewis,  who  removed  from  Boston  to  New  York  in  1827.  he 
established  the  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce.  He  was  one  of  the  early  and  most  vigor- 
ous opponents  of  slavery,  and  established  the  Wmandpalor  in  18:j:{  as  the  organ  of  the  New 
York  Anti-Slavery  Society,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  chief  founders.  He  was  made 
president  of  the  American  Anti  Slavery  Society,  organized  in  Philadelphia,  to  which 
for  some  time  he  gave  $1000  a  month.  The  financial  troubles  of  1837  ruined  their 
house.  Lewis  established  a  mercantile  agency,  and  in  this  business  Arthur  joined  him 
in  1842.  He  had  given  up  all  his  property  to  his  creditors,  and  never  lost  his  reputa- 
tion as  an  honest  man.  To  the  end  of  his  life  he  was  the  same  earnest  and  benevolent 
Christian. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


109 


seven  thousand.  The  association  is  clear  of  debt.  The  number  of 
books  in  the  library  (1S83)  was  over  200,000.* 

The  American  Institute  of  the  City  of  New  York  was  organized 
in  1828  by  a  few  enterprising  citizens,  it  is  said,  who  met  in  a  small 
room  in  Tammany  Hall,  corner  of  Spruce  and  Nassau  streets.  Its  ob- 
jects were  to  encourage  and  promote  domestic  industry  in  the  United 
States  by  bestowing  rewards  and  other  benefits  on  persons  excelling 
or  making  improvements  in  the  branches  of  agriculture,  commerce, 
manufactures,  and  the  arts.  This  is  the  accepted  history  of  the  origin 
of  the  American  Institute.  Its  origin  may  be  found  in  a  notable  move- 
ment at  an  earlier  date.  In  the  spring  of  1828  Peter  H.  Schenck,  the 
founder  of  the  Glenham  Manufacturing  Company,  in  Dutchess  County, 
N.  Y.,  issued  a  call  for  a  convention  of  woollen  manufacturers  to 
assemble  at  the  Eagle  Hotel,  in  Albany.  Only  three  persons  responded 
to  the  call,  namely,  Peter  II.  Schenck  and  Elias  Titus,  of  Dutchess 
County,  and  William  Phillips,  of  Orange  County,  N.  Y.  Not  dis- 
couraged by  this  seeming  indifference,  these  three  woollen  manufac- 
turers organized  a  convention  by  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Phillips 
president,  Mr.  Titus  vice-president,  and  Mr.  Schenck  secretary.  They 
passed  a  series  of  resolutions,  and  authorized  the  secretary  to  call  a 
national  convention  in  the  city  of  New  York.  It  was  done,  and 
Clinton  Hall,  then  lately  erected,  was  designated  as  the  place  for  the 
meeting  of  the  convention,  early  in  the  summer. 

There  was  a  numerous  attendance  of  woollen  manufacturers  at  Clin- 
ton Hall  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  They  organized  an  association. 
Cotton  manufacturers  were  admitted  to  it,  and  finally  practitioners  of 
all  trades  ;  and  at  a  meeting  in  the  fall  the  association  assumed  the 
name  of  "  The  American  Institute,"  which  it  still  bears,  f 

The  Legislature  of  New  York  granted  the  Institute  a  charter  of 
incorporation  in  1829.    Its  first  president  was  William  Few,  whose 

*  The  association  has  had  fifty-five  presidents.  The  officers  for  1881-82  were  :  Charles 
H.  Patrick,  president  ;  A.  H.  Tinipson,  vice-president  ;  Robert  L.  Coursen,  treasurer,  and 
A.  Wetmore,  Jr.,  secretary. 

f  F.lias  Titus  was  the  last  survivor  of  the  three  real  founders  of  the  American  Institute. 
He  died  in  July,  1880.  At  the  time  of  the  little  convention  at  Albany  he  had  just  estab- 
lished a  woollen-mill  on  Wappinger's  Creek,  four  or  five  miles  from  Poughkeepsie. 
For  many  years  previous  to  his  death  it  was  carried  on  under  the  firm  name  of  Elias 
Titus  &  Sons.  The  sons  still  continue  the  business.  It  is  a  notable  fact  that  during 
the  long  period  of  fifty-four  years,  so  skilfully  has  the  establishment  been  conducted  and 
so  unsuspected  has  been  the  business  standing  of  its  proprietors  in  all  the  vicissitudes  of 
business,  the  mills  have  never  suspended  work  excepting  in  the  case  of  an  accident  or  for 
the  purpose  of  making  repairs. 


170 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOHK  CITY. 


name  appears  prominent  in  many  public  movements  for  the  benefit  of 
society  at  that  time.  John  Mason  was  the  first  vice-president.  Potter 
Ellis  treasurer,  and  Thaddeus  B.  Wakeman  corresponding  secretary. 
Mr.  Wakeman  was  for  more  than  twenty  years  one  of  the  most  active 
members  of  the  Institute.  Indeed,  he  has  been  called  the  father  of  the 
American  Institute.  lie  served  it  as  secretary  from  1828  till  1848, 
excepting  one  year. 

The  first  manufacturers'  fair  or  exhibition  of  the  American  Institute 
was  held  in  the  Masonic  Hall,  which  stood  on  Broadway  near  Pearl 
Street,  and  nearly  opposite  the  City  Hospital.  The  lion.  Edward 
Everett,  then  thirty-four  years  of  age,  delivered  the  first  anniversary 
address  in  182!>.  It  was  a  brilliant  display  of  oratory.  The  address 
was  published,  and  went  through  two  or  three  editions.  The  fair  was 
a  great  success  in  every  respect. 

After  holding  five  other  fairs  at  the  Masonic  Hall,  it  was  necessary  to 
have  more  ample  room.  Niblo's  Garden,  on  Broadway  near  Prince 
Street,  was  chosen  for  the  purpose.  Many  shook  their  heads  in  doubt 
when  this  spot  was  selected  so  far  up  town.  But  the  fair  was  well 
attended,  and  the  exhibitions  were  held  there,  with  ever-increasing 
popularity,  until  the  place  was  consumed  by  fire  in  184(5. 

Castle  Garden,  at  the  Battery,  was  next  selected  as  the  place  for  the 
annual  exhibition,  and  there  they  were  held  for  seven  successive  years. 
Then  the  managers  of  the  Institute  took  a  bolder  step  than  when  they 
chose  Niblo's  Garden  for  their  place  of  exhibition.  The  Crystal  Pal- 
ace, built  in  18.").'}  for  the  exhibition  of  the  industries  of  all  nations,  was 
standing  empty.  The  managers  of  the  Institute  chose  it  for  their  fair 
in  1855.  It  was  on  the  northern  verge  of  the  more  refined  society, 
occupying  a  portion  of  Reservoir  Square,  between  Fortieth  and  Forty- 
second  streets.  The  late  exhibitions  had  made  the  citizens  acquainted 
with  that  remote  region,  and  the  fair  was  successful.  In  that  "  pal- 
ace" three  other  fairs  were  successively  held,  when,  on  a  bright  day  in 
October  (5th),  1858,  fire  assailed  the  building  and  the  rich  collections 
of  the  American  Institute,  and  laid  them  in  ashes  in  the  space  of  one 
hour. 

It  was  supposed  by  some  that  this  terrible  blow  would  be  fatal  to  the 
American  Institute.  It  reeled,  but  did  not  fall.  Adversity  stimulated 
increased  activity,  and  to  the  surprise  of  many  the  Institute  held  a 
fair  the  newt  year  in  Palace  Garden,  in  Fourteenth  Street,  on  the  site  of 
the  (present)  armory  of  the  Twenty-second  Regiment.  There  the 
Institute  fairs  were  held  for  several  successive  years,  and  these  were 
uniform ly  profitable. 


FIRST  DEJAPK,  18:i0 -1840. 


in 


For  forty  years  the  American  Institute  had  been  a  wanderer.  It 
yearned  for  a  home — a  more  spacious  one,  and  possibly  a  permanent 
one.  On  Third  Avenue,  between  Sixty -third  and  Sixty 'fourth  streets, 
\v;is  a  large  building  which  had  been  erected  for  a  skating  rink.  These 
premises  the  Institute  leased  in  1868.  Three  buildings  were  added  to 
the  rink,  when  the  whole  covered  forty  building  lots  between  Second 
and  Third  avenues.  There  is  ample  space  for  the  exhibitions,  which 
are  kept  open  several  weeks.  There  is  a  promenade  concert  given  each 
evening  during  the  exhibition,  which  attracts  young  people. 

The  office  and  other  rooms  of  the  Institute  are  in  the  Cooper  Union. 
The  library,  established  in  1833  by  contributions  of  $5  each  from  mem- 
bers of  the  Institute,  contains  over  eleven  thousand  volumes.  The 
purchases  of  books  have  been  confined  to  works  on  agriculture,  chem- 
istry, and  the  industrial  arts.  The  Institute  is  divided  into  three 
sections — namely,  the  Fanners'  Club,  under  the  direction  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Agriculture  ;  the  Polytechnic  Section,  under  the  direction  of 
the  Committee  on  Manufactures  ;  and  the  Photographical  Section, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Committee  on  Chemistry  and  Optics.  The 
Institute  is  governed  by  a  board  of  trustees,  elected  by  the  members.* 

The  cultivation  of  the  fine  arts  had  not  been  conspicuous  in  the  city 
of  Xew  York  during  the  first  half  of  the  present  century,  and  only  a 
single  institution  professedly  devoted  to  the  promotion  of  a  taste  for 
pictures  existed.  It  maintained  only  a  feeble  existence  from  the 
pabulum  of  public  patronage. 

The  first  school  of  art  in  the  city  was  opened  about  1792  by  Archi- 
bald Robertson,  a  young  Scotchman,  who  came  to  America  on  the 
invitation  of  Dr.  Kemp,  of  Columbia  College.  His  advent  was  under 
rery  favorable  auspices.  He  was  the  bearer  of  the  famous  box,  made 
of  the  oak  tree  that  sheltered  Wallace,  which  the  Earl  of  Buchan  sent 
to  President  Washington,  with  a  request  that  he  should  allow  Robert- 
son to  paint  his  portrait.  The  President  graciously  complied.  lie 
invited  the  young  artist  to  dinner,  and  both  he  and  Mrs.  Washington 
sat  to  Robertson,  who  painted  their  portraits  in  miniature.  That  of 
AVashington  he  copied  in  oil,  the  natural  size,  and  sent  it  to  the  earl. 

Young  Robertson  opened  a  seminary  for  teaching  the  aits  of  design 
in  water-colors  and  crayon,  and  called  it  the  Columbia  Academy  of 
Painting.    He  was  quite  successful,  and  when,  ten  years  afterward, 

*  The  officers  of  the  Institute  for  188:1  are  :  Cyras  H.  Loutrel,  president  ;  Thomas 
Kutter  and  Walter  Shriver,  vice-presidents  ;  Charles  McK.  Loeser,  secretary,  and  Edward 
Sehell.  treasurer. 


HISTORY 


OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


the  association  alluded  to  was  formed  for  the  cultivation  of  a  taste  for 
the  tine  arts,  he  assisted  in  the  task  with  his  knowledge  and  advice. 

This  association  had  been  suggested  by  Robert  R.  Livingston,  who 
was  the  United  States  minister  at  the  court  of  First  Consul  Bonaparte. 
An  association  was  formed  in  1802,  and  was  composed  chiefly  of  gen- 
tlemen of  every  profession  excepting  artists.  John  R.  Murray,  a  mer- 
chant of  taste  "and  liberality,  furnished  the  means  for  procuring  from 
Europe,  through  Minister  Livingston,  a  fair  collection  of  casts  from 
antique  sculptures.  The  society  was  fully  organized  on  December  3, 
1802,  with  Edward  Livingston  as  president.  It  was  incorporated  in 
February,  L808,  with  the  title  of  "  The  American  Academy  of  Fine 
Arts." 

The  casts  that  were  sent  over  by  Minister  Livingston  were  partly 
presents  from  Bonaparte,  in  acknowledgment  of  the  compliment  of  hon- 
orarv  membership  which  the  association  had  bestowed  upon  him.  He 
afterward  sent  to  the  Academy  twenty-four  large  volumes  of  Italian 
engravings  and  several  portfolios  of  drawings. 

The  liberal  design  of  the  founders  of  the  Academy  to  establish  a 
museum  of  the  fine  arts  in  the  city  of  Xcw  York  was  not  carried  out. 
After  two  unsuccessful  exhibitions  of  the  casts  and  a  few  pictures,  the 
former  were  stored,  and  remained  useless  and  unknown  for  many  years. 
Indeed  the  very  existence  of  the  Academy  was  almost  forgotten  by  the 
public.  Finally,  in  1816,  an  effort  was  made  to  resuscitate  the  Acad- 
emy. Leading  citizens  gave  their  countenance  and  support.  Among 
the  most  active  of  these  were  De  Witt  Clinton,  Dr.  Ilosack,  Cadwalla- 
der  Colden,  and  other  influential  citizens.  Clinton  was  made  president 
of  the  Academv.  Room  was  procured  of  the  city  authorities  in  the 
old  almshouse  (on  the  site  of  the  new  Court-House),  and  there,  in 
October  of  that  year,  the  casts  and  many  excellent  pictures  were 
exhibited,  Joseph  Bonaparte  (also  an  honorary  member)  lending  some 
from  his  rare  collection  for  the  purpose.  The  exhibition  was  a  novelty, 
and  the  receipts  exceeded  all  expectation. 

Clinton  was  succeeded  in  the  presidency  by  Colonel  John  Trumbull, 
then  almost  seventy  years  of  age.  Trumbull  inaugurated  a  narrow  and 
unwise  policy  in  the  management  of  the  institution,  and  it  soon  declined 
in  public  favor.  Instead  of  being  a  school  of  art.  it  became  a  society 
for  the  exhibition  of  pictures,  and  the  same  pictures  were  exhibited 
season  after  season.  The  novelty  was  gone,  arid  the  public  withdrew 
its  patronage.  Another  institution  sprang  into  vigorous  competition 
for  public  favor,  and  in  a  few  years  the  American  Academy  of  Fine 
Arts  expired. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


173 


A  catalogue  of  the  tenth  exhibition  of  the  American  Academy  of 
Fine  Arts  lies  before  me.  It  denotes  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  pieces 
in  the  exhibition — paintings,  sculpture,  and  engravings.  These  were 
mostly  the  same  pictures  that  hung  on  the  walls  in  1810.  There  were 
a  few  new  ones  by  living  artists  in  America.  Of  these  one  half  were 
from  the  hand  of  Colonel  Trumbull,  the  president  of  the  Academy. 
The  living  local  contributors  were  only  sixteen  in  number."'-  What 
a  contrast  was  this  exhibition,  less  than  sixty  years  ago,  with  the 
exhibitions  to-day  of  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design,  the 
successor  of  the  American  Academy  of  Fine  Arts.  The  catalogue  of 
the  fifty-eighth  annual  exhibition  (1SS3)  of  the  last-named  institution 
denotes  seven  hundred  and  forty-six  pieces  and  four  hundred  and  fifty- 
one  artists.    Not  one  of  the  pieces  was  ever  exhibited  before. 

The  officers  of  the  American  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  at  the  time  of 
its  demise  were  :  John  Trumbull,  president,  and  Archibald  Robertson, 
secretary  and  keeper.  The  directors  were  :  William  Gracie,  Benjamin 
W.  Rogers,  Henry  F.  Rogers,  Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  Archibald  Rob- 
ertson, Henry  Brevoort,  Jr.,  Samuel  L.  Waldo,  Philip  Hone,  Ezra 
Weeks,  William  Cooper,  and  J.  Yan  Rensselaer,  M.D.  The  academi- 
cians were  :  John  Trumbull,  William  S.  Leney,  John  Macomb,  Samuel 
L.  Waldo,  William  Dunlap,  Peter  Maverick,  Archibald  Robertson, 
Alexander  Robertson,  Alexander  Anderson,  William  Rollins,  G.  B. 
Brown,  A.  Dickinson,  John  Vanderlyn,  and  J.  O'Donnel. 

*  These  were  John  Trumbull,  John  Wesley  Jarvis,  William  Dunlap,  G.  Marsiglia,  C.  C. 
Ingham,  Henry  Inman,  Waldo  and  Jewell,  Rembrandt  Peale,  N.  Rogers,  James  Herring, 
Jr.,  N.  Jocelyn,  W.  Birch,  Miss  Peale,  William  Wall,  A.  B.  Durand  (engraving  of  Trum- 
bull's "  Declaration  of  Independence"),  and  Gilbert  Stuart. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


THE  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design,  it  has  been 
observed,  was  the  competitor  for  public  fame  and  the  successor  of 
the  American  Academy  of  Fine  Arts.  It  was  the  logical  product  of 
the  narrow,  ungenerous,  and  unwise  policy  of  the  latter  institution. 

When  Colonel  John  Trumbull,  a  soldier  in  and  an  artist  of  the  period 
of  the  old  war  for  independence,  became  president  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Fine  Arts  in  New  York,  on  the  retirement  of  De  Witt 
Clinton,  he  introduced  a  policy  which  was  calculated  to  repress  rather 
than  to  encourage  the  aspirations  of  those  who  felt  the  inspiration  of 
inborn  genius  for  art.  Trumbull  had  lived  to  the  life-period  of 
"threescore  and  ten,"  and  during  a  time  when  there  was  very  little 
encouragement,  either  in  words  of  praise  or  offerings  of  money,  for  the 
practitioner  of  the  fine  arts.  Almost  the  only  branch  of  fine  ait  in 
America  productive  of  a  livelihood  for  the  artist  was  that  of  portrait 
painting.  It  ministered  to  egotism,  and  was  patronized.  Therefore 
Trumbull,  who  aspired  to  the  position  of  an  historic  painter,  had  heen 
full  of  grievous  disappointments  :  and  in  comparative  poverty  tow- 
ard the  end  of  his  earthly  life,  he  seems  to  have  felt  that  a  part  of 
his  future  benevolent  mission  in  society  was  to  prevent  clever  young 
men  from  following  his  unproductive  profession  as  a  vocation.  To  the 
admirable  artist,  the  now  venerable  Weir,  when  the  youth  showed  him 
evidences  of  genius  and  asked  his  advice,  the  veteran  said,  "  You  had 
better  make  shoes  than  attempt  to  paint  them."  And  to  the  bright 
and  enthusiastic  boy,  Agate,  when  the  lad  timidly  showed  the  Nestor 
some  of  his  excellent  sketches.  Trumbull  said,  "  Go  saw  wood  !" 

Yet  Trumbull  was  not  naturally  a  churl.  He  was  a  kind-hearted, 
courteous  gentleman,  a  scholar,  a  true  lover  of  art  and  sincere  admirer 
of  genius.  But  he  had  become  soured  by  vicissitudes,  and  was  totally 
unfitted  by  circumstances  for  the  important  position  of  chief  manager 
of  such  an  institution  as  he  then  controlled. 

Colonel  Trumbull  persistently  opposed  the  establishment  of  schools 
of  art  in  connection  with  the  Academy,  and  when  the  directors  had 
resolved  to  do  so,  he  imposed  such  restrictions  and  allowed  such 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


175 


embarrassments  that  young  students  were  practically  prohibited  from 
availing  themselves  of  the  privilege  of  drawing  from  the  casts  in  the 
Academy.  It  was  stipulated  that  they  should  draw  oidy  in  summer, 
and  then  between  the  hours  of  six  and  nine  in  the  morning.  Those 
who  attempted  to  comply  with  these  roles  were  often  subjected  to 
indignities  at  the  hands  of  a  surly  janitor,  who  "  put  on  airs'1  because 
he  had  been  a  "  Continental  soldier,"  and  this  conduct  was  ever 
unrebuked  by  the  president. 

An  unwise  revision  of  the  by-laws  of  the  Academy  was  made,  in 
which  discriminations  against  professional  artists  were  so  conspicuous 
that  they  felt  sorely  aggrieved.  It  was  decreed  that  academicians, 
not  to  exceed  twenty  in  number,  professional  artists,  should  be  chosen 
by  the  directors  from  the  stockholders.  As  few  artists  were  then  rich 
enough  to  become  stockholders,  the  number  of  academicians  was  very 
small.  Only  three  artists  were  allowed  a  place  in  the  board  of  eleven 
directors,  and  so  artists  were  virtually  excluded  from  the  management 
of  the  institution.  None  but  "  artists  of  distinguished  merit"  were 
permitted  to  exhibit  their  works,  while  amateurs  were  invited  "to 
expose  in  the  gallery  of  the  Academy  any  of  their  performances." 
These  discriminations  were  offensive  to  the  artists  of  the  city.  It 
effectually  barred  all  young  and  growing  artists  who  were  yet  "  un- 
known to  fame"  from  exhibiting  works  in  the  Academy. 

At  length  an  open  rupture  between  the  city  artists  and  the  Academy 
occurred.  At  that  juncture  (early  in  1S25)  a  tall,  slender,  personally 
attractive  young  portrait  painter  was  among  the  aggrieved,  lie  had 
struggled  for  existence  in  the  city,  with  poverty  in  obscurity,  while 
waiting  for  commissions  ;  now  he  was  known  and  prosperous.  Social 
in  his  instincts,  kindly  in  his  nature,  he  had  beheld  with  much  concern 
that  the  artists  of  the  city  were  standing  apart,  in  an  attitude  of 
indifference  toward  each  other,  if  not  in  actual  antagonism.  This  state 
of  things  his  loving  nature  deplored,  and  by  his  winning  ways  and  manly 
words  he  had  succeeded  in  bringing  most  of  the  artists  into  fraternal 
social  relations  with  each  other.  This  was  a  most  auspicious  circum- 
stance at  this  critical  moment  in  the  history  of  the  fine  arts  in  the  city 
of  New  York.  There  was  a  perfect  sympathy  of  feeling  concerning 
the  grievances  of  the  city  artists,  and  they  were  ready  to  act  in  concert 
in  an  effort  to  provide  a  remedy  for  them.  The  artist  alluded  to  was 
Samuel  F.  1>.  Morse,  afterward  the  famous  tamer  of  the  steeds  of 
Phaethon  to  the  common  intellectual  uses  of  man. 

Among  the  younger  of  the  aggrieved  artists  was  Thomas  S.  Cum- 
mings,  a  young  man  of  twenty-one  years,  and  a  student  with  Henry 


176 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Inman.*  In  consequence  of  a  personal  affront  and  persistent  injustice 
toward  art  students,  young'  Cummings  drew  up  a  remonstrance  and 
petition  to  the  directors  of  the  Academy,  setting  forth  in  the  former 
the  grounds  of  complaint  by  the  artists,  and  in  the  latter  praying  that 
students  might  enjoy,  without  unnecessary  hindrance,  the  privileges  to 
which  the  directors  had  invited  them.  The  petition  was  warmly  com- 
mended by  the  artists.  Early  in  the  fall  of  1825  many  of  them  assem- 
bled at  the  studio  of  Mr.  Morse,  when  it  was  concluded  that  further 
efforts  to  conciliate  the  directors  and  managers  of  the  Academy  would 
be  useless,  for  there  was  a  potent  energy  within  the  government  of  the 
institution  inimical  to  the  artists,  and  uncontrollable  by  the  few  direct- 
ors who  took  an  active  interest  in  its  affairs.  The  petition  was  not 
presented. 

At  the  conference  in  his  studio  (  No.  (ill  Broadway  i  Morse  suggested 
that  an  association  might  be  formed  for  the  promotion  of  the  arts  of 
design  and  the  assistance  of  students,  composed  wholly  of  artists,  as 
such  an  association  ought  to  be.  This  suggestion  was  heartily  ap- 
proved, and  a  formal  meeting  of  the  artists  of  New  York  was  held  on 
the  evening  of  November  8,  1825,  in  the  rooms  of  the  New  York  His- 
torical Society.  Asher  Brown  Durand  was  called  to  the  chair,  and 
Mr.  Morse  was  appointed  secretary.  At  that  meeting  an  association, 
to  be  composed  of  architects,  painters,  sculptors,  and  engravers,  was 
organized,  and  called  "The  New  York  Drawing  Association,'"  with 
Mr.  Morse  as  president.  Its  rules  were  few  and  simple.  They  pro- 
vided that  its  members  should  meet  in  the  evening,  three  times  a  week, 
for  drawing  ;  that  each  member  should  furnish  his  own  drawing  mate- 
rials ;  that  the  expenses  for  light,  fuel,  etc.,  should  be  paid  by  equal 
contributions  ;  that  new  members  should  be  admitted  on  a  majority 
vote,  on  the  payment  of  $5  entrance  fee,  and  that  the  lamp  should 

*  Henry  Ininan  was  for  many  years  the  leading  portrait  painter  of  the  country.  He 
was  born  in  Utica,  N.  Y.,  October,  1801.  He  became  a  pupil  of  John  Wesley  Jarvis,  and 
early  excelled  in  the  painting  of  miniature  portraits.  He  afterward  devoted  his  labors 
almost  entirely  to  the  production  of  portraits  in  oil,  and  spent  some  time  in  Philadelphia 
and  Boston  in  the  pursuit  of  his  profession.  Failing  health  induced  him  to  visit  Eng- 
land in  1844,  where  he  painted  portraits  of  Dr.  Chalmers,  Wordsworth,  Macaulay,  and 
other  celebrated  men  then  living.  Returning  in  1845  with  unrestored  health,  he  un- 
dertook to  furnish  the  National  Capitol  with  a  series  of  pictures  illustrating  the  settle- 
ment of  the  West,  but  did  not  complete  the  first  one  he  undertook.  He  was  a  versatile 
painter.  After  his  death  a  collection  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  of  his  pictures 
was  exhibited  for  the  benefit  of  his  family.  Mr.  Inman  was  at  one  time  vice-president 
of  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design.  He  had  exquisite  literary  taste,  and  wrote 
some  valuable  sketches.    He  died  in  New  York  in  January,  1846. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


177 


be  lighted  at  six  o'clock  and  extinguished  at  nine  o'clock  in  the 
evening. 

"  The  Lamp  !"  It  was  a  famous  illuminator,  which  was  extolled  in 
song  as 

"  A  bright  volcano  hoisted  high  in  air, 

Smoking  like  Etna,  shedding  lurid  light 
On  gods  and  goddesses  and  heroes  rare, 

Who  were  unmindful  of  their  dingy  plight." 

This  lamp  was  a  tin  can,  holding  about  half  a  gallon  of  oil,  with  a 
wick  four  inches  in  diameter,  and  set  upon  a  post  about  ten  feet  in 
height.  To  secure  sufficient  light  the  wick  was  kept  ki  high,"  which 
made  it  smoke  intensely,  and  showers  of  lampblack  fell  softly  on  every 
object  in  the  room. 

The  organization  of  the  Xew  York  Drawing  Association  was  the 
planting  of  the  germ  of  the  National  Academy  of  the.  Arts  of  Design. 
The  president  of  the  old  Academy  claimed  the  members  of  the 
Drawing  Association  as  students  of  the  elder  institution.  One  even- 
ing, a  few  weeks  after  their  organization,  Colonel  Trumbull  entered 
their  room  while  they  were  at  work,  took  the  president's  chair,  and 
beckoned  young  Cummings  to  him.  He  offered  him  the  matriculation 
book  of  the  Academy,  with  a  request  that  he  and  his  felloAv-members 
should  enter  their  names  in  it  as  "  students  of  the  American  Academy 
of  Fine  Arts."  Cummings  politely  declined  to  receive  the  book,  and 
bowing  respectfully,  retired.  His  fellow-members  kept  on  with  their 
work  unmindful  of  the  venerable  intruder,  who  soon  left  the  room, 
saying  in  a  loud  voice,  "  Young  gentlemen,  I  have  left  the  matricula- 
tion book  ;  when  you  have  signed  it,  return  it  to  the  secretary  of  the 
Academy." 

There  was  a  flutter  of  excitement  among  the  artists  present  after  the 
intruder  had  retired.  President  Morse  called  the  members  to  order, 
when  the  questions  were  discussed  :  "  Have  we  any  relation  to  the 
American  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  ?  Are  we  its  students  ?"  The 
association  replied  to  the  first  question,  "  Xone  whatever,"  and  to  the 
second  question,  "  TTe  are  not  students  of  the  Academy.  We  have 
been  set  adrift,  and  we  have  started  on  our  own  resources." 

The  die  was  now  cast.  Prompt  action  was  necessary,  and  it  was 
boldly  taken.  The  few  small  casts  which  the  association  had  borrowed 
from  the  Academy  were  sent  back  with  courteously  expressed  thanks. 
Yet  there  was  a  strong  desire  to  fraternize  with  the  old  institution,  and 
arrangements  to  that  end  were  made  by  conference  committees.  It 


178 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


was  agreed  that  the  Drawing  Association  should  have  six  representa- 
tives in  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Academy.  To  make  four  of  the 
six  chosen  for  seats,  stockholders,  to  meet  the  requirement  of  the  laws 
of  the  Academy,  the  amount  required  was  paid  out  of  the  treasury  of 
the  association.  At  the  election  which  occurred,  a  fortnight  after- 
ward, only  three  of  the  six  chosen  were  elected. 

This  violation  of  a  solemn  compact,  this  taking  their  money  by  a  false 
pretext,  made  the  members  of  the  Drawing  Association  very  indignant. 
The  last  link  which  bound  them  to  the  Academy,  by  honor  or  courtesy, 
had  been  ruthlessly  broken.  The  elected  members  refused  to  serve. 
The  Drawing  Association,  feeling  itself  competent  to  form  an  inde- 
pendent academy,  resolved  to  do  so,  and  to  organize  a  new  institution, 
to  be  managed  by  artists  alone,  and  founded  on  such  liberal  principles 
as  should  tend  to  stimulate  and  foster  a  love  for  the  practice  of  the  arts 
of  design. 

For  this  purpose  the  New  York  Drawing  Association  met  on  the 
evening  of  the  14th  of  January,  1S2G.  The  president,  Mr.  Morse, 
after  stating  the  chief  object  of  the  meeting,  proposed  a  plan  of  organi- 
zation as  follows  :  "Let  every  member,"  he  said,  "take  home  with 
him  a  list  of  all  the  members  of  our  association.  Let  each  one  select 
for  himself  from  the  whole  list,  fifteen  whom  he  would  call  profes- 
sional artists,  to  be  the  ticket  which  he  will  give  at  the  next  meeting. 
The  fifteen  thus  chosen  shall  immediately  select  not  less  than  ten  nor 
more  than  fifteen  professional  artists,  in  or  out  of  the  association,  who 
shall  with  the  previous  fifteen  constitute  a  body  to  be  called  The 
National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design.  To  these  shall  be  delegated 
all  powers  to  manage  its  affairs." 

Mr.  Moi'se,  alluding  to  the  name  he  had  chosen  for  the  new  Acad- 
emy, said  :  "  Any  less  name  than  '  National '  would  be  taking  one 
below  the  American  Academy,  and  therefore  is  not  desirable.  If  we 
are  simply  associated  artists,  their  name  would  swallow  us  up  ;  there- 
fore '  National '  seems  a  proper  one.  As  to  the  '  Arts  of  Design  ' — 
painting,  sculpture,  architecture,  and  engraving — while  the  fine  arts 
include  poetry,  music,  landscape  gardening,  and  the  histrionic  arts,  our 
name  would  express  the  exact  character  of  our  institution,  and  that 
only."  - 

Morse's  plan  was  adopted  by  unanimous  consent,  and  on  the  evening 
of  January  18,  1S26,  the  organization  of  the  National  Academy  of  the 

*  See  "The  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design  and  its  Surviving  Founders,"  in 
Harper's  Magazine  for  May,  1883,  by  Benson  J.  Lossing. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


179 


Arts  of  Design  was  completed  by  the  election  of  S.  F.  B.  Morse  president, 
John  L.  Morton  secretary,  and  A.  B.  Durand  treasurer,  until  a  constitu- 
tion should  be  adopted.  This  was  soon  done,  when  Thomas  S.  Cum- 
mings was  elected  treasurer,  and  rilled  that  important  office  for  fully 
forty  consecutive  years  afterward.  Of  the  thirty  artists  who  were  its 
founders,  only  three  now  (1883)  remain  upon  the  earth — namely,  A.  B. 
Durand,  John  Evers,  and  Thomas  S.  Cummings.  The  following  are 
the  names  of  the  founders  :  Samuel  Finley  Breese  Morse,  Henry 
Inman,  Asher  Brown  Durand,  John  Fra7.ee,  William  Wall.  Charles  C. 
Ingham,  "William  Dunlap,  Peter  Maverick,  Ithiel  Town,  Thomas  S. 
Cummings,  Edward  C.  Potter,  Charles  C.  Wright,  Mosely  J.  Dan- 
forth,  Hugh  Eeinagle,  Gerlando  Marsiglia,  Samuel  Waldo.  William 
Jewett,  John  W.  Paradise,  Frederick  S.  Agate,  Eembrandt  Peale, 
James  Coyle,  Nathaniel  Eogers,  J.  Parisen,  William  Main,  John  Evers, 
Martin  E.  Thompson,  Thomas  Cole,  John  Vanderlyn,  Alexander  An- 
derson, and  D.  W.  Wilson. 

The  new  institution  began  its  work  with  promptness  and  vigor.  An 
Antique  School  was  opened  in  a  room  procured  of  the  Philosophical 
Society,  and  in  May  (1826)  the  first  exhibition  of  the  Academy  was 
opened  in  the  second  story  of  a  house  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and 
Reade  Street,  lighted  by  day  with  ordinary  side-windows,  and  at  night 
by  six  gas-burners.  *  The  pictures  were  one  hundred  and  seventy -six 
in  number,  all  by  living  artists,  and  never  exhibited  before.  The  pri- 
vate view  of  these  pictures  was  attended  by  Governor  Clinton  and  his 
suite,  the  mayor  and  common  council  of  the  city,  the  president  and 
faculty  of  Columbia  College,  and  distinguished  persons  in  New  York. 
It  was  a  fixed  rule  of  the  Academy  that  a  picture  should  be  exhibited 
but  once.  This  insured  novelty.  The  new  institution  was  very  popular 
from  the  beginning. 

The  old  Academy  and  its  friends  chose  to  consider  its  young  sister  as 
a  rival,  and  unfair  criticisms  of  its  first  exhibition,  ungenerous  attacks 
upon  the  reputation  of  some  of  its  members,  sneers  concerning  the 
incapacity  of  artists  to  manage  business  affairs,  and  free  prophecies  of 
its  speedy  failure  and  demise  were  seen  in  the  daily  newspapers.  The 

*  The  introduction  of  illuminating  gas  had  not  yet  become  general  in  the  city.  The 
first  attempt  to  introduce  it  in  the  United  States  was  made  at  Baltimore  between  1816 
and  1820.  It  was  a  failure.  In  1822  it  was  successfully  introduced  into  Boston,  and  in 
1823  the  first  company  for  its  introduction  into  New  York  was  formed,  with  a  capital  of 
$1.000, ODD.  It  was  incorporated  as  "  The  New  York  Gaslight  Company.'*  The  people 
were  slow  to  adopt  it,  and  the  company  was  not  in  full  operation  before  1827,  when  the 
population  of  the  city  was  about  160,000. 


180 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


chief  managers  were  spoken  of  as  "  beardless  boys. "  One  individual, 
who  had  been  denied  admission  to  its  membership  because  of  his  quar- 
relsome disposition,  kept  up  these  attacks  for  years,  but  when  age  and 
poverty  became  his  companions  he  acknowledged  his  error. 

Meanwhile  the  old  Academy  was  dying  for  want  of  nourishment. 
Attempts  had  been  made  by  it  to  prolong  its  existence  by  union  with 
its  vigorous  sister,  but  failed,  and  in  1 S4 1  it  expired.  Its  statuary  was 
purchased  by  the  National  Academy  for  $400. 

The  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design  was  incorporated  by 
the  Legislature  in  1 S28.  It  was  migratory  from  the  beginning.  Its 
second  exhibition  was  held  over  Tylee's  baths,  in  Chambers  Street. 
From  1S29  for  ten  years  it  occupied  more  spacious  apartments  in  Clin- 
ton Hall.  Then  it  removed  to  the  building  of  the  Xew  York  Society 
Library,  corner  of  Leonard  Street  and  Broadway,  where  it  remained 
ten  years.  Fp  to  that  time  it  had  struggled  under  a  burden  of  debt, 
but  by  the  skilful  management  of  Treasurer  Cummings  that  load  was 
entirely  removed,  and  its  schools  were  placed  in  a  flourishing  state.  A 
library  had  been  established,  and  its  yearly  exhibitions  were  more  and 
more  profitable. 

Having  purchased  property  on  Broadway,  opposite  Bond  Street,  the 
Academy  took  possession  of  this  new  and  more  spacious  home  in  1849. 
After  experiencing  many  vicissitudes,  it  sold  this  property  at  a  profit 
sufficient  to  purchase  the  ground  on  which  its  home  now  stands,  and 
leaving  a  surplus  of  slo.ooo  in  the  treasury.  For  this  auspicious  result 
the  institution  is  indebted  to  the  financial  ability  and  untiring  and 
unselfish  labors  of  Treasurer  Cummings.  And  had  the  association 
listened  to  and  heeded  his  counsels,  a  far  better  location  than  the  one 
now  occupied  might  have  been  secured  at  a  less  price,  at  the  junction 
of  Broadway  and  Fifth  Avenue. 

The  corner-stone  of  the  new  Academy  building  was  laid  in  the  fall 
of  1S62.  The  edifice  was  completed  and  dedicated  to  the  Muse  of  Art 
in  1866,  when  Treasurer  Cummings,  seeing  the  institution  comfortably 
housed  and  fairly  prosperous,  resigned  his  long-held  office  and  retired 
to  a  pleasant  country-seat  in  Connecticut.* 

*  Thomas  S.  Curninings  was  born  on  August  20,  180-1.  He  was  the  only  son  of  his 
parents.  At  a  very  early  age  he  evinced  taste  and  talent  for  art,  and  this  was  fostered  by 
Augustus  Earle,  the  "  wandering  artist,"  who  found  a  home  for  a  while  under  the  roof  of 
the  elder  Cummings,  when  the  gifted  son  was  about  fourteen  years  of  age.  The  father, 
however,  had  determined  that  his  son  should  be  a  merchant,  and  he  placed  him  in  a 
counting-room.  There  he  remained  about  three  years,  dutiful,  industrious,  and  an  apt 
learner  of  some  of  the  best  lessons  of  commercial  life.    There  he  acquired,  by  experience 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830- 1840. 


281 


The  architectural  style  of  the  Academy  building  is  called  "  Venetian 
Gothic,''  its  exterior  having-  been  copied  after  a  famous  palace  in 
Venice.  It  is  built  of  gray  and  white  marble  and  Milestone.  The 
entire  cost  of  the  ground  and  buildings  was  about  $237,000. 

The  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design  is  a  private  association, 
managed  exclusively  by  artists  for  the  public  good.  Its  means  are 
devoted  entirely  to  the  cultivation  of  the  arts  of  design.  It  comprises 
professional  and  lay  members,  the  former  being  the  academicians, 
associate  and  honorary,  and  the  latter  honorary  members  and  fellows. 
Connoisseurs,  amateurs,  and  all  lovers  of  art  may  become  fellows  by 
the  payment  of  a  subscription  of  $100.    A  subscription  of  §500  consti- 

and  observation,  a  knowledge  of  the  art  of  business  management  w  hich  was  of  essential 
service  to  him  in  all  his  after  life. 

But  the  genius  of  young  Cunimings  could  not  be  confined  in  its  aspiration  to  the  realm 
of  trade.  His  longings  to  become  an  artist  were  irrepressible,  and  his  wise  father,  per- 
ceiving the  bent  of  his  desire,  gratified  the  youth  by  placing  him  under  the  instructions 
of  Henry  Inman,  the  eminent  artist  in  oil  and  water  colors.  The  making  of  small  por- 
traits in  water-colors  on  ivory  (called  miniatures)  specially  delighted  the  pupil,  and  in 
very  early  life  he  became  one  of  the  most  eminent  artists  in  this  line  then  living.  This 
lofty  position  he  held  until  Daguerre  summoned  the  sun  to  the  realm  of  human  art,  and 
instituted  him  an  eternal  rival  of  artists. 

Inman  and  Cummings  were  business  partners  for  six  years,  when  the  latter  abandoned 
the  use  of  oils  and  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  the  production  of  small  portraits  in 
water-colors.  In  this  style  of  art  he  produced  some  admirable  compositions,  which  were 
reproduced  by  some  of  the  best  engravers  of  that  day.  Among  these  compositions,  "  The 
Bracelet,"  <;  The  Bride,"  and  "  The  Exchange  of  Queens,"  were  most  conspicuous  for 
the  accuracy  of  drawing  and  their  exquisite  coloring.  Equally  so  were  his  large  half- 
length  figures  in  Scotch  costume,  which  had  all  the  strength  of  oil  color  with  the  delicacy 
of  the  finest  water-color  pictures  ;  also  ';  The  Ariadne"  and  "  The  Lily." 

Mr.  Cummings  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  efficient  coadjutors  of  Mr.  Morse  in 
the  establishment  of  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design.  He  was  a  general 
favorite  with  all  the  artists,  for  to  his  commanding  talent  in  the  profession  he  added  an 
urbanity  of  manner  and  a  generosity  of  spirit  that  won  all  hearts.  During  his  long  per- 
sonal connection  with  the  Academy  as  its  treasurer  -  a  period  of  FORTY  consecutive 
years— he  was  one  of  the  most  judicious,  energetic,  efficient,  and  untiring  workers  in  its 
behalf,  as  its  annals  fully  attest.  He  was  especially  helpful  (thanks  to  his  early  business 
training)  when  dark  clouds  of  pecuniary  embarrassment  overshadowed  its  prospects  at 
times.  Through  his  skilful  management  for  several  years  of  property  belonging  to  the 
Academy,  on  Broadway  near  Bond  Street,  he  secured  for  it  at  its  final  sale  more  than 
(00,000  above  its  debts,  with  which  it  provided  purchase  money  for  the  site  of  its  present 
home  and  building  thereon. 

The  schools  of  the  Academy  were  special  objects  of  the  care  of  Mr.  Cummings,  and  he 
conducted  them  for  several  years  with  success,  on  a  plan  of  his  own.  He  also  con- 
ducted a  private  school  for  many  years.  Nor  were  his  tastes  or  his  labors  confined  to 
art  ;  scientific  and  literary  bodies,  as  well  as  the  benevolent  institutions  of  the  city,  felt 
his  influence.  Mr.  Cummings  succeeded  Professor  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse  as  professor 
of  the  arts  of  design  in  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and  held  that  position 


182 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


tutes  a  follow  in  perpetuity,  with  power  to  bequeath  its  privileges  for 
all  time.  The  academicians  and  associates  are  limited  in  number  to 
one  hundred  each.  In  1883  its  academicians  numbered  ninety-two, 
and  its  associates  eighty-two. 

The  art  schools  of  the  Academy  were  free  until  1882.  They  consist 
of  an  Antique  and  Life  school.  In  the  latter  are  living  models,  draped 
and  nude.  The  schools  are  open  to  both  sexes.  They  were  the 
special  object  of  Treasurer  Cummiugs's  care  during  his  official  connec- 
tion with  the  Academy  for  fully  forty  years.  At  an  early  period  he 
introduced  a  plan  of  his  own,  and  conducted  the  instruction  with  great 
success.  * 

until  his  retirement  from  the  city.  In  lectures,  essays,  and  other  literary  productions  on 
the  subject  of  art,  he  contributed  largely.  In  18G5  he  completed  and  published  an 
octavo  volume  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-four  pages,  entitled  "  Historical  Annals  of  the 
National  Academy  of  Design."  This  will  forever  remain  a  trustworthy  history  of  the 
foundation  and  progress  of  that  institution  during  the  first  forty  years  of  its  existence. 

When  in  IH'.iS  Professor  Morse  was  ready  to  exhibit  his  electro-magnetic  telegraph  to 
the  public,  Mr.  t'ummings,  as  will  be  observed  hereafter,  was  a  conspicuous  witness  of 
its  first  public  test,  at  the  University.  He  had  lately  been  commissioned  a  brigadier- 
general  by  Governor  Seward.  In  military  science  and  tactics  he  became  very  efficient. 
He  passed  rapidly  through  all  the  grades  of  office  in  the  Second  Regiment  N.  Y.  S.  Light 
Infantry,  from  ensign  to  colonel,  and  commanded  it  several  years  before  he  became  a 
brigadier.  He  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  soundest  military  jurists  in  the  country.  His 
decisions,  made  by  virtue  of  his  office,  though  sometimes  contested  by  the  most  eminent 
legal  talent  in  the  city,  were  never  reversed  by  higher  authority. 

More  than  thirty  years  ago  the  then  Governor-General  of  Canada,  visiting  General  Cnni- 
inings's  studio,  saw  a  beautiful  small  copy,  in  water-colors  by  that  artist,  of  the  portrait 
of  Mrs.  Washington,  by  Stuart,  and  said,  "  How  my  Queen  would  delight  in  such  a  picture 
of  that  lady!"  The  artist  generously  presented  it  to  her  Majesty,  and  indue  time  received 
a  letter  of  acknowledgment,  with  a  beautiful  gold  medal  bearing  her  effigy  on  one  side. 

General  and  Mrs.  Cninmings,  who  were  married  in  1822,  are  yet  blessed  with  vigorous 
physical  and  mental  health,  the  love  and  reverence  of  their  children  and  their  children's 
children,  and  the  exquisite  delights  of  a  pure  and  serene  domestic  life  of  more  than 
sixty  years.  They  have  also  been  blessed  with  fourteen  children.  Of  their  five  sons, 
only  one  remains.  The  first  died  in  youth.  T.  Augustus  became  a  painter  of  consider- 
able eminence,  and  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-five.  Henry  R.  became  an  eminent  lawyer, 
and  died  leaving  a  family.  Charles  P.  was  a  partner  in  one  of  the  oldest  and  most 
respected  banking  houses  in  the  city,  and  died  leaving  a  family.  George  F.,  the  last 
survivor  of  the  sons,  is  a  broker,  and  enjoys  a  high  reputation  in  the  moneyed  circles  of 
Wall  Street. 

*  The  National  Academy  of  Design  has  had  seven  presidents  —  namely  :  S.  F.  B. 
Morse,  A.  B.  Durand,  Daniel  Huntington,  H.  P.  Gray,  W.  Page,  J.  Q.  A.  Ward,  and  W. 
Whittredge.  The  officers  in  1883  were  :  Daniel  Huntington,  president  ;  T.  W.  Wood, 
vice-president  ;  T.  Addison  Richards,  corresponding  secretary  ;  H.  W.  Robbins,  record- 
ing secretary  ;  Alfred  Jones,  treasurer.  These  are  ex-officio  members  of  the  council. 
Other  members  of  the  council  are  :  J.  G.  Brown,  S.  J.  Guy,  E.  Wood  Perry,  J.  Q.  A. 
Ward,  Charles  L.  Brandt,  and  M.  F.  H.  De  Haas. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1S30-1840. 


183 


Almost  contemporaneously  with  the  founding  of  the  National  Acad- 
emy of  the  Arts  of  Design  was  the  organization  of  the  Sketch  Club, 
one  of  the  brightest  and  most  intellectual  of  the  social  institutions  in 
the  city,  composed  of  artists  and  literary  and  scientific  men.  The 
Bread  and  Cheese  or  Lunch  Club,  founded  by  James  Fenimore  Cooper 
and  others  in  had  expired  in  consequence  of  extravagance,  in  the 

spring  of  1S27.  It  had  a  happy  existence.  The  inscription  on  a 
baby's  memorial  stone  might  have  been  adopted  as  its  own  : 

' '  Since  I  so  soon  am  clone  for, 
I  wonder  what* I  was  begun  for." 

The  Sketch  Club  originated  in  this  wise  :  One  pleasant  evening  in 
May,  1S27,  Messrs.  Morse.  Durand,  Cummings,  and  Ingham  were 
engaged  in  social  chat  in  the  Antique  school-room  of  the  National 
Academy,  over  Tylee's  baths.  The  just  defunct  Lunch  Club  was 
spoken  of,  when  Ingham  remarked,  kl  Now  is  an  opportunity  for  the 
artists  to  form  a  club. "  The  suggestion  met  with  a  hearty  approval, 
and  it  was  agreed  that  the  four  artists  present,  each  a  founder  of  the 
Academy,  should  consider  themselves  the  nucleus  of  such  a  club.  The 
following  week  a  meeting  of  the  principal  artists  and  literary  men  of 
the  city  was  held  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Ingham,  where  the  Sketch  Club 
was  organized.  Mr.  Ingham  was  chosen  president,  and  John  Inman 
secretary. 

At  that  first  meeting  the  rules  for  the  government  of  the  club  were 
discussed.  The  Lunch  Club,  at  which  bread  and  cheese  were  the 
ballots  used  when  voting  for  members  (hence  its  other  name),  had  met 
fortnightly  at  the  old  "Washington  Hotel,  corner  of  Broadway  and 
Chambers  Street,  where  they  were  entertained  at  the  expense  of  the 
host  for  the  evening.  This  arrangement  caused  a  rivalry  in  expense, 
which  led  to  the  breaking  up  of  the  club.  It  was  resolved  by  the 
Sketch  Club  to  shun  this  dangerous  rock,  and  it  was  agreed  that  the 
members  should  meet  at  each  other's  houses  in  rotation,  and  to  have 
the  expenses  as  light  as  possible.  It  was  decreed  that  the  entertain- 
ment on  such  occasions  should  be  confined  to  dried  fruit,  crackers,  milk, 
and  honey.  Candidates  for  membership  were  elected  by  unanimous 
vote  only. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  club  was  at  the  house  of  Thomas  Cole. 
Everything  was  pleasing,  even  the  figs,  milk,  and  honey.  An  intel- 
lectual and  merry  company  were  present.  The  leading  artists  of  the 
city  were  there,  and  a  generous  sprinkling  of  literary  men — TV.  C. 


184 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Bryant,  R.  C.  Sands,  G.  C.  Verplanck,  Fitz-Greene  HaUeek,  John 
Howard  Payne,  James  Hillhouse,  D.  C  Golden,  and  others. 

The  club  was  avowedly  organized  for  the  encouragement  of  good 
feeling  among  the  members  and  improvement  in  the  art  which  was  to 
be  practised  at  its  meetings,  namely,  off-hand  sketches  of  any  subject, 
either  with  the  pen  or  pencil.  Though  the  arts  of  design  were  never 
wholly  lost  sight  of,  they  were  made  subservient  to  the  social  element 
from  the  beginning. 

There  was  much  genuine  fun — rare  mingling  of  wit  and  wisdom — at 
the  gatherings  of  the  club.  There  were  fanny  drawings,  funny  essays, 
funny  sayings,  funny  songs,  and  rollicking  good-humor.  These  were 
the  chief  features  of  the  entertainments,  as  the  minutes  of  the  club 
abundantly  reveal. 

The  "  figs,  milk,  and  honey"  fare  was  soon  abandoned  for  more 
generous,  though  not  generally  extravagant  refreshments.  The  first 
outbreak  was  at  the  "  up-town1'  residence  of  James  Hillhouse,  a  mem- 
ber, on  Broadway,  between  Broome  and  Spring  streets.  The  hour 
devoted  to  drawing  had  passed,  and  the  poets  and  essayists  had  read 
their  impromptu  sketches,  when  the  drawing-room  doors  were  thrown 
open  and  an  elegant  supper  appeared.  There  was  a  general  protest 
against  this  violation  of  the  rules.  But  artists  and  poets  are  mortal, 
and  in  less  than  fifteen  minutes  all  were  seated  in  profound  harmony  at 
the  well-loaded  supper-table,  seemingly  unconscious  of  any  misdemeanor. 
After  that  the  records  show  that  the  members  did  not  support  existence 
on  the  food  of  John  in  the  wilderness.  On  March  25,  183U,  is  this 
record  in  the  minutes  : 

"  An  atrocious  night,  but  good  singing  and  estimable  oysters.  Punch 
supernatural,  and  fun  abundant." 

Another  record  was  as  follows  :  "  Resumed  the  consideration  of  rail- 
roads, architecture,  play-actors  from  Garrick  and  Henderson  down  to 
Kemble  and  Jefferson,  miniature  painters,  and  divers  other  matters  of 
no  less  interest.  At  length  our  numbers  began  to  diminish  insensibly, 
and  by  a  strange  coincidence  the  club  grew  musical  as  it  grew  thin." 

"  Song  and  instrumental  music,"  says  Mr.  John  Durand,*  "often 
occur  on  the  pages  of  the  Sketch  Club,  while  there  are  similar  notices 
of  stories,  discussions,  mirth,  and  philosophy.  ^Ve  find  Mr.  Bryant 
propounding  '  a  sage  notion  that  the  perfection  of  bathing  is  to  jump 
head  foremost  into  a  snow-bank.'  Scientific  inspiration  shows  itself 
on  this  question  :  '  Does  heat  expand  the  days  in  summer  ? '  Mr. 


*  "  Prehistoric  Notes  of  the  Century  Club. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


185 


Verplanck  throws  antiquarian  light  on  '  the  precise  form  and  capacity 
of  antediluvian  butter-churns.'  " 

The  Sketch  Club  was  reorganized  in  1S-A1,  under  the  title  of  The 
Artists'  Sketch  Club,  and  was  really  a  more  professional  organization 
than  the  old  one,  retaining,  however,  the  literary  and  social  elements 
in  its  membership.  It  existed  two  or  three  years,  when  its  members 
founded  the  now  famous  Century  Club  of  Kew  York. 

The  Bkead  and  Cheese  or  Lincii  Club  has  been  alluded  to.  Its 
membership  embraced  men  who  were  conspicuous  in  the  world  of 
letters,  the  professions,  and  in  public  life.  The  club  met  bimonthly  at 
the  Washington  Hotel,  and  there  they  frequently  entertained  distin- 
guished guests.  To  this  club  the  late  Dr.  John  W.  Francis  belonged. 
'*  Our  most  renowed  poet"  [among  the  members]  wrote  Dr.  Francis, 
"  was  Fitz-Greene  Halleck  ;  our  greatest  naturalist  was  Dr.  James  E. 
De  Kay  ;  -  William  and  John  Duer  were  among  the  representatives 
of  the  bar  ;  Renwick  of  philosophy  ;  letters  found  an  associate  in 
Verplanck  and  Charles  King  ;  merchants  in  Charles  A.  Davis  and 
Philip  Hone  ;  and  politicians  who  had  long  before  discharged  their 
public  trusts  were  here  and  there  chronicled  in  fellowship.  The  meet- 
ings (or  lunches)  of  the  club  were  often  swelled  to  quite  formidable 
assemblies,  by  members  of  Congress  f  and  other  distinguished  public 
men. 

Dr.  Francis  relates  the  following  circumstance  in  connection  with  the 
Bread  and  Cheese  Club.  A  theatrical  benefit  had  been  announced  at 
the  Park  Theatre  ;  the  play  was  Humid.  A  subordinate  of  the 
theatre  came  in  haste  to  Dr.  Francis's  office  for  a  skull,  and  he  was 
compelled  to  lend  that  of  his  old  friend  George  Frederick  Cooke,  the 
actor.  "  Alas,  poor  Yorick  !"  It  was  returned  in  the  morning.  The 
ensuing  evening  there  was  a  meeting  of  the  Dread  and  Cheese  Club. 
The  circumstance  became  known  to  the  members,  and  a  general  desire 
was  expressed  to  investigate  phrenologically  the  skull  of  the  eminent 
actor.  It  was  taken  to  the  club  by  Dr.  Francis.  Daniel  Webster, 
Henry  Wheaton,  the  eminent  writer  on  the  "  Law  of  Nations,"  and 
other  distinguished  persons  were  present,  and  joined  in  the  investiga- 
tion  in   accordance   with    the   teachings   of    craniolooieal  science. 

o  o 

*  A  pleasant  anecdote  is  related  of  Halleck  and  De  Kay.  They  were  both  smitten  by 
the  charms  of  a  young  lady,  and  both  paid  court  to  her.  Their  rivalry  was  warm,  but 
good-natured.  Halleck,  doubtful  and  impulsive,  said  to  her  one  day,  "  Tell  me,  please, 
would  you  rather  have  Fitz  or  go  to  De  Kay  V"  "  Go  to  De  Kay,"  was  the  reply.  Fitz 
remained  a  bachelor. 

+  "  Old  New  York,"  by  John  W.  Francis,  M.D.,  p.  291. 


186  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY 

"  Cooper,"  says  Francis,  "  felt  as  a  coadjutor  of  Albinus,  and  Cooke 
enacted  a  great  part  that  night." 

Club  life  had  not  then  become  so  conspicuous  a  social  feature  in  New 
York  City  as  it  was  a  few  years  later,  and  is  now.  There  had  been 
now  and  then  a  club  in  the  city  since  colonial  times.  About  1750  there 
was  a  convivial  club  of  which  John  Bard,  Cadwallader  D.  Colder., 
Leonard  Cutting,  and  others  were  meinbers,  and  they  were  occasionally 
honored  by  the  presence  of  men  like  Dr.  Franklin  and  Chief-Justice 
Chew,  of  Philadelphia,  and  other  distinguished  persons  from  abroad. 

In  1770  the  Social  Club  was  created  in  Xew  York,  composed  of 
leading  Tories,  such  as  President  Miles  Cooper,  of  King's  College, 
Lieutenant-Governor  ( 'olden,  Dr.  Clossy,  and  after  possession  of  the 
city  was  gained  by  the  British,  it  was  swelled  by  army  officers,  among 
them  Sir  Henry  Clinton  and  General  Robertson. 

After  the  peace  no  other  social  club  appeared  until  the  Tammany 
Society  or  Columbian  Order  arose,  in  1789.  The  Belvidere  Club  was 
organized  on  the  arrival  of  "  Citizen"  Genet,  the  Girondist  of  the 
French  Revolution.  It  was  vehement  in  the  promotion  of  democratic 
doctrines.  One  of  its  members,  a  bookseller  named  Reed,  had  the 
head  of  Thomas  Paine  painted  on  his  sign.  At  about  the  same  time 
The  Friendly  (Tub  sprang  up,  under  the  leadership  of  General  Laight. 

A  literary  club  called  the  Drones,  a  society  for  the  cultivation  and  dif- 
fusion of  letters,  appeared  about  1702.  Every  member  was  to  be  recog- 
nized by  proofs  of  authorship  before  admission.  Among  the  members 
the  famous  Dr.  Mitchill  was  conspicuous.  The  last  survivor  of  the 
Drones  was  the  late  Chancellor  Samuel  Jones.  Law,  medicine,  and 
divinity  had  each  their  representatives  among  the  Drones.  Samuel  Mil- 
ler, Josiah  Ogden  Hoffman,  John  Blair  Lewis,  Charles  Brockden 
Brown,  and  John  "Wells  were  members  of  the  club.  Through  the 
medium  of  the  club  Dr.  Mitchill  addressed  the  ladies  on  the  value  of 
whitewashing  as  among  the  most  important  of  the  hygienic  arts  in 
housekeeping,  and  showing  that  the  alkalies  are  powerful  conservators 
of  health. 

Of  club  life  in  Xew  York  more  will  be  said  hereafter,  but  before 
leaving  the  topic  let  us  notice  three  social-benevolent  institutions 
characterized  by  the  features  of  separate  nationalities — namely,  the 
St.  George's  Society,  the  St.  Andrew's  Society,  and  the  Friendly  Sons 
of  St.  Patrick,  or  St.  Patrick's  Society.  These  still  flourishing  associa- 
tions were  in  existence  before  1S30. 

The  St.  Georgk's  Society  was  established  in  the  city  of  Xew  York 
in  the  year  1786.    There  had  already  existed  a  similar  society  with 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


187 


similar  aims  before  the  old  war  for  independence.  That  war  had 
caused  the  dismemberment  of  the  British  Empire.  Native  Englishmen 
who  had  determined  to  make  the  city  of  Xew  York  their  permanent 
home  could  not  repress  their  affectionate  remembrance  of  their  native 
land  and  people,  and  their  hearts  yearned  to  give  aid  and  assistance  to 
those  in  distress  who  should  come  to  our  shores.  Out  of  this  desire 
arose  the  St.  George's  Society,  three  years  after  the  peace  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain. 

The  most  prominent  man  in  the  organization  of  the  St.  George's 
Society  was  John  "Wilkes,  "  a  true-born  Englishman,  with  a  heart  full 
of  kindness,  and  abounding  in  all  the  social  affections,  whose  worth, 
justly  appreciated  as  it  was  by  numerous  and  respectable  connections, 
soon  created  subscribers  to  the  constitution. "  Englishmen  of  charac- 
ter coming  to  Xew  York  almost  without  exception  became  members, 
either  permanent  or  honorary,  according  as  their  residence  Avas  either 
fixed  or  transient.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Moore,  afterward  bishop  of  the 
Diocese  of  Xew  York,  was  also  an  early,  efficient  and  cheerful  mem- 
ber, personally  assisting  in  all  the  vrork  of  the  Charitable  Committee. 

The  first  president  of  the  society  was  Goldsbrow  Banyer.  an  English- 
man by  birth,  and  an  active  public  man.  The  seal  it  adopted  bore  the 
expressive  motto,  "  Let  mercy  be  our  boast,  and  shame  our  only  fear," 
and  is  indicative  of  its  long  career  of  usefulness. 

During  the  prevalence  of  the  yellow  fever  in  Xew  York  in  1S22,  the 
records  of  the  society  were  hastily  removed  to  a  place  above  Canal 
Street.  Their  u  Book  of  Minutes"  was  lost,  and  has  never  been  recov- 
ered, so  that  the  detailed  history  from  Mr.  Banyer's  election  to  the 
presidency  until  l$2-fc  is  known  only  in  vague  recollection.  It  is  known 
that  until  that  time  Mr.  Banyer  had  six  successors,  and  that  the  good 
work  of  the  society  went  steadily  on. 

The  present  charter  of  the  society  was  granted  by  the  Legislature  of 
Xew  York  in  March,  1S3S.  Its  constitution  declares  the  object  of  the 
society  to  be  to  "  afford  relief  and  advice  to  indigent  natives  of  Eng- 
land and  the  British  colonies,  or  to  their  wives,  widows,  or  children  in 
the  cities  of  Xew  York  and  Brooklyn,  and  to  promote  social  intercourse 
among  its  members.  The  property  and  income  of  the  society  can  only 
b3  expended  in  charity.  The  persons  eligible  to  membership  are":  a 
native  of  England,  a  son  of  a  native,  a  grandson  of  a  native,  British 
officers  and  their  sons  wherever  born,  natives  of  any  of  the  colonies, 
territories,  or  dependencies  of  Great  Britain. 

The  society  had,  in  1SS2,  nearly  one  hundred  pensioners,  who  were 
paid  monthly.    Aid  had  been  afforded  to  l^-lrt  transients  ;  3<ifi2  meai 


188 


HISTORY  OF  NEW"  YORK  CITY. 


and  1223  lodging  tickets  had  been  distributed  ;  15  situations  had  been 
procured  ;  18  had  been  aided  in  getting  to  this  country,  and  17-1  to 
return  to  England.* 

The  St.  Andrew's  Society  of  the  State  of  New  York  was  instituted 
in  the  city  of  New  York  in  November,  1750,  and  is  one  of  the  oldest 
existing  benevolent  societies  in  the  State  or  in  the  Republic.  Several 
gentlemen,  natives  of  Scotland  and  of  Scottish  descent,  met  and  agreed 
to  form  themselves  into  a  society  for  charitable  purposes.  They  adopted 
a  constitution,  and  elected  Philip  Livingston  president,  Dr.  Adam 
Thompson  vice-president,  Malcolm  Campbell  treasurer,  Richard  Morris 
secretary,  and  David  Johnston,  Alexander  Colden,  Dr.  James  Murray, 
and  Dr.  William  Farquhar,  assistants. 

The  objects  of  the  society  were  the  promotion  of  social  and  friendly 
intercourse  among  the  natives  of  Scotland  in  America,  their  connec- 
tions and  descendants,  the  relief  of  the  worthy  distressed,  and  finding 
employment  for  the  industrious  poor.  In  this  work  the  society  con- 
tinued until  the  war  for  independence  broke  out.  Then  the  public 
meetings  of  the  society  were  suspended,  and  its  work  was  done  more 
by  independent  individual  action  than  by  the  organized  society..  Its 
records  from  1775  to  1784  are  lost. 

A\ 'hen  peace  came  the  work  of  the  society  Avas  revived  in  all  its 
wonted  vigor.  Its  former  constitution  was  revised  and  amended,  and 
from  that  time  until  now  it  has  never  flagged  in  the  faithful  perform- 
ance of  its  prescribed  duties.  The  duties  of  the  managers  became  more 
and  more  arduous  as  the  city  rapidly  increased  in  population,  for  the 
objects  of  their  care  were  scattered  over  a  large  and  continually  widen- 
ing space.  To  relieve  them  an  almoner  was  appointed  in  1841,  and 
that  measure  has  proved  very  beneficial.  The  almoner  visits  in  person 
every  applicant,  and  reports  to  the  managers.  By  that  means  all 
frauds  are  prevented  and  money  most  judiciously  distributed. 

The  administration  of  the  charities  of  the  St.  Andrew's  Society  is 
similar  to  that  of  the  St.  George's  Society.  Din  ing  the  year  ending 
November,  1882,  3138  applications  were  attended  to  and  favors  bo- 
stowed,  and  in  02  cases  aid  had  been  afforded  to  persons  to  reach  some 
other  part  of  the  country.  The  number  of  the  members  of  the  society, 
honorary,  life,  and  resident,  is  357.  The  anniversary  dinner  has 
always  been  regularly  held,  excepting  during  the  Civil  War.  This 

*  The  officers  of  St.  George's  Society  for  1882  were  :  F.  W.  J.  Hurst,  president  ; 
Edward  Hill  and  Richard  J.  Cortis,  vice-presidents  ;  John  G.  Dale,  treasurer,  and  Alex- 
ander E.  Tucker  and  F.  G.  Richardson,  secretaries. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


189 


dinner  is  partaken  of  on  St.  Andrew's  day,  when  each  member  appears 
with  a  St.  Andrew's  cross  or  a  thistle  displayed  on  the  left  breast. 
None  but  Scotsmen  and  the  sons  and  grandsons  of  a  native  of  Scotland, 
or  the  sons  of  a  resident  member,  may  be  admitted  as  such.* 

The  Society  of  THE  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick  is  one  of  the  old 
social-benevolent  institutions  of  the  city.  It  appears  to  be  the  suc- 
cessor of  the  Friendly  Brothel's  of  St.  Patrick,  which  existed  previous 
to  the  old  war  for  independence.  Like  other  similar  organizations,  its 
work  and  its  records  appear  to  have  suffered  from  the  confusion  of  the 
war  of  the  Revolution.  It  reappeared  after  that  event,  and  was 
reorganized  in  178-1. 

According  to  Hardie,  there  was  a  society  in  New  York  "  composed 
chiefly  of  natives  of  Ireland,"  formed  in  1815,  called  the  Shamrock 
Friendly  Association.  Its  object  was  to  befriend  Irish  emigrants  on 
their  arrival  in  the  United  States  by  giving  them  useful  information 
and  procuring  them  employment.  Their  views  and  benevolent  offices 
were  "  not  confined  to  country,  politics,  or  religion,"  said  Hardie,  who 
wrote  in  1S26  ;  "  it  is  enough  that  the  applicant  is  a  stranger  to  insure 
him  protection." 

This  was  probably  the  old  society  of  Irishmen  bearing  a  new  name, 
and  which  was  finally  incorporated  by  act  of  the  Legislature  of  New 
York,  passed  February  13,  1827,  with  its  present  title  (1784)  of  The 
Society  of  the  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick.  This  title  appears  to  be 
the  one  it  assumed  at  its  reorganization  in  1784.  It  proposed  to  cele- 
brate its  centennial  anniversary  on  the  17th  of  March,  1884. 

In  compliance  with  one  of  its  by-laws,  adopted  in  1S32,  the  members 
of  the  society  meet  in  social  intercourse  at  dinner  on  St.  Patrick's  day, 
each  year,  "the  anniversary  of  Ireland's  tutelar  saint,'"  as  the  law 
expresses  it.  These  dinners  have  always  afforded  the  most  pleasant, 
witty,  and  agreeable  social  gatherings  of  the  kind  in  the  city.  Perfect 
harmony  prevails  at  these  dinners,  as  well  as  at  the  meetings  of  the 
society.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  association  is  composed  of 
different  religious  denominations  and  of  different  political  views.  At 
the  meetings  of  every  kind  the  subjects  of  religion  and  politics  are 
never  discussed,  only  the  charitable  and  social  objects  of  the  society. 
To  this  feature  is  due  the  long  and  healthful  life  of  the  association. 

*  The  officers  of  the  St.  Andrew's  Society  for  1883  are  :  Walter  Watson,  president  ; 
Rryce  Gray  and  James  Fraser,  vice-presidents  ;  J.  Kennedy  Tod,  treasurer  ;  Walter  C. 
Brand,  secretary,  and  William  Gordon,  assistant  secretary  ;  John  Paton,  William  A. 
Paton,  John  Mackay,  Thomas  Henderson,  Jr.,  Robert  H.  Robertson,  and  William  Lyall, 
managers. 


190 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Out  of  the  Society  of  the  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick  grew  the 
present  Irish  Emigrant  Society  and  the  Emigrant  Industrial  Savings 
Bank,  now  one  of  the  largest  savings  institutions  in  the  city.  Prior  to 
the  organization  of  these  institutions  the  St.  Patrick's  Society,  com- 
monly so  called,  was  very  active  in  extending  charitable  aid  to  indigent 
persons  of  the  Irish  race  in  the  city,  especially  in  aiding  emigrants 
upon  their  arrival  in  this  country  in  finding  employment.  That  duty 
is  now  discharged  by  the  commissioners  of  emigration,  of  which  the 
president  of  the  Irish  Emigrant  Society  is  one.* 

The  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society  of  New  Yosk,  founded  in 
1 S14,  was  composed  of  scientific  and  literary  gentlemen.  Among  its 
founders  were  De  Witt  Clinton,  Dr.  Hosack,  Dr.  Mitchill,  Dr. 
.Macneven,  Dr.  Francis,  Dr.  Griscom,  and  others.  Francis  had  just 
returned  from  Europe,  and  brought  with  him  much  knowledge  of 
scientific  facts  and  current  history  of  philosophy  abroad,  derived  from 
acute  observation.  Clinton  was  chosen  the  first  president  of  the 
society.  It  gathered  a  valuable  library,  and  flourished  for  many  years 
among  the  useful  institutions  of  New  York  City. 

The  Lyceum  ok  Natural  History  was  also  a  flourishing  institution  at 
the  time  we  are  considering.  In  its  origin  it  was  a  private  association  of 
vounar  gentlemen  who  held  meetings  occasionally  in  one  of  the  lecture- 
rooms  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Suigeons.  It  was  incorporated 
by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  passed  April  2<>,  ISIS,  and  was  furnished 
by  the  city  authorities  with  a  suite  of  apartments  in  the  Xew  York 
Institution.  It  soon  formed  quite  an  extensive  cabinet,  and  before  the 
year  1830  no  collection  in  the  country  was  richer  in  the  departments  of 
herpetology  and  ichthyology.  It  had  gathered  an  extensive  collection 
of  fossils  from  Europe,  nearly  a  whole  skeleton  of  a  mastodon,  and 
large  portions  of  the  only  North  American  specimen  of  the  mega- 
therium which  had  hitherto  been  discovered.  It  had  recently  estab- 
lished a  new  department  of  comparative  anatomy,  and  was  rich  in 
cranial  illustrations  of  ethnology.  The  presidents  of  the  institution 
down  to  1827  were  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchill  and  Dr.  John  Torrey. 

The  Lyceum  of  Natural  History  is  now  situated  on  Madison  Avenue, 
and  besides  a  good  library  has  a  collection  of  more  than  three  thousand 
specimens  of  plants. 

The  New  York  Athenaeum,  alluded  to  in  connection  with  the  New 

*  The  officers  of  the  Society  of  the  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick  for  1882-83  were  : 
Charles  P.  Daly,  president  ;  John  Savage,  first  vice-president  ;  Robert  Sewell,  second 
vice-president  ;  William  Whiteside,  treasurer  ;  John  HcK.  McCarthy,  secretary  ;  Eugeno 
Kelly,  almoner  ;  R.  A  Caldwell,  M.D.,  physician. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


191 


York  Historical  Society,  was  founded  on  the  first  of  June,  182-k  Until 
that  time  New  York  was  probably  the  only  city  of  equal  size  in  the 
world  in  which  an  association  for  the  promotion  of  the  highest  cultiva- 
tion in  science,  art,  and  literature  combined  might  not  be  found.  For 
the  noble  purpose  of  creating  such  an  institution,  and  with  the  laudable 
ambition  to  make  it  the  leading  society  of  the  kind,  distinguished  mem- 
bers of  the  professions,  of  the  arts,  and  of  literature  in  the  city  associ- 
ated, under  the  title  of  The  New  York  Athenaeum. 

The  association  consisted  of  resident  and  honorary  members,  the 
former  divided  into  four  classes,  namely — associates,  patrons,  govern- 
ors, and  subscribers.  From  these  classes  the  funds  for  carrying  on 
the  society  were  derived.  It  was  decreed  that  $200  constituted  a 
patron,  $100  a  governor,  $5  an  associate,  $20  and  $10  a  subscriber,  the 
latter  class  being  divided  into  two  kinds.  The  $20  contributors  were 
entitled  to  tickets  of  admission  to  the  lectures,  library,  and  reading- 
room  for  himself  and  family  ;  the  $10  subscribers  were  entitled  to  tiiese 
privileges  for  himself  only.  The  patrons  and  governors  were  each 
entitled  to  three  transferable  tickets  of  admission  to  the  lectures,  the 
library,  and  the  reading-room,  and  other  tickets  for  the  members  of 
their  families.  The  patrons  constituted  a  board,  and  had  absolute  con- 
trol of  the  fuiids  of  the  association,  no  part  of  which  could  be  appropri- 
ated without  their  sanction. 

The  library  was  to  comprise,  when  complete,  all  the  standard 
elementary  works  of  science  and  literature  of  every  civilized  nation, 
ancient  and  modern.  Monthly  lectures  were  to  be  given,  open  to  both 
sexes.  The  Athenaeum  was  fully  equipped  for  operations  in  L826,  and 
arranged  the  following  scheme  of  lectures  for  that  year  :  Roman  Lit- 
erature, Professor  Charles  Anthon  ;  Phrenology,  Dr.  Charles  King  ; 
Taste  and  Beauty,  Professor  John  McYickar  ;  The  Revival  of  Classical 
Literature,  Richard  Ray  ;  Chemistry,  Professor  James  Renwick  ; 
Commerce,  John  Hone,  Jr.  ;  Painting,  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse  ;  Political 
Economy,  William  Beach  Lawrence  ;  Poetry,  William  Cullen  Bryant  ; 
Oriental  Literature,  the  Rev.  John  Frederick  Schroeder  ;  Anniversary 
Discourse,  the  Rev.  James  M.  Mathews,  D.D. 

After  engaging  for  more  than  twenty  years  in  its  useful  labors,  and 
accomplishing  a  vast  amount  of  social  benefit  by  infusing  the  hard 
materialism  of  purely  commercial  life  with  the  spirituality  and  ameni- 
ties of  intellectual  culture  and  taste,  the  institution  was  merged  into 
the  Xew  York  Society  Library  in  1838,  which  became  the  recipient  of 
its  collection  of  valuable  books. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


AMONG  the  more  important  institutions  in  our  country  founded 
for  the  diffusion  of  religious  knowledge  and  the  principles  of 
Christianity,  and  the  spiritual  enlightenment  of  mankind,  which  may 
claim  the  city  of  New  York  as  the  place  of  their  nativity  previous  to 
the  year  1830,  are  the  American  Bible  Society,  the  Missionary  Society 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  New  York  Bible  Society. 

The  first  Bible  society  in  the  United  States  was  instituted  at  Phila- 
delphia in  li>os.  Others  were  instituted  the  next  year  in  Connecticut, 
Massachusetts,  New  York,  and  New  Jersey.  These  local  societies 
rapidly  increased  and  were  necessarily  feeble,  working  under  serious 
disadvantages.  At  the  head  of  the  New  Jersey  Bible  Society  was  the 
earnest  patriot  and  Christian,  Elias  Boudinot,  of  Burlington,  and  in 
1S15  that  society  proposed  a  plan  for  a  National  Bible  Society,  and 
notice  was  given  of  a  convention  to  be  held  in  the  city  of  New  York  on 
the  8th  of  May,  1816,  to  consider  the  plan. 

The  convention  assembled  at  the  appointed  time  in  the  consistory 
room  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  in  Garden  Street,  New  York. 
It  was  composed  of  delegates  from  thirty-five  local  Bible  societies,  be- 
sides four  representatives  from  the  Society  of  Friends  or  Quakers,  mak- 
ing sixty  in  all.  The  convention  was  organized  by  the  appointment  of 
Joshua  M.  Wallace,  a  delegate  from  the  New  Jersey  Bible  Society,  as 
president,  and  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Romeyn,  D.D.,  and  the  Rev.  Lyman 
Beecher,  D.D.,  secretaries.  After  full  and  free  discussion  the  com- 
mittee 

"Resolved,  That  it  is  expedient  to  establish,  without  delay,  a  gen- 
eral Bible  institution  for  the  circulation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  without 
note  or  comment." 

A  constitution  was  then  adopted,  and  an  address  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States  was  ordered  to  be  printed  and  sent  out  into  all  parts  of 
the  Republic  ;  executive  officers  were  chosen,  an  energetic  board  of 
managers  were  appointed,  and  the  American  Bible  Society  began  its 
useful  and  wonderful  career  of  benevolence.* 


*  The  following  gentlemen,  sixty  in  number,  were  members  of  the  convention  which 
formed  the  American  Bible  Society,  to  wit  :  Rev.  John  Bassett.  D.D.,  Bushwick,  NT.  Y.  ; 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


193 


The  constitution  of  the  society  was  drawn  by  an  able  committee, 
composed  of  the  Rev.  Drs.  Xott,  Mason,  Beecher,  Rice,  Morse,  and 
Blythe,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Wilmur  and  Jones,  the  Hon.  Messrs.  Samuel 
Bayard  and  William  Jay,  and  Mr.  Charles  Wright.  The  powerful 
address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  was  written  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
John  Mason,  and  was  sent  out,  with  the  constitution,  to  every  part  of 
the  country.  The  Hon.  Elias  Boudinot  was  elected  the  first  president 
of  the  society.  Its  affairs  are  managed  by  executive  officers  and  a 
board  of  managers,  the  latter  consisting  of  thirty-six  laymen,  one 
fourth  of  whom  go  out  of  office  each  year,  but  are  re-eligible.  Since 
its  organization  it  has  had  nine  presidents  and  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  vice-presidents.  The  presidents  were  elected  in  the  following 
order  of  time  :  Elias  Boudinot,  1816  ;  John  Jay,  1821  ;  Richard 
Varick,  1S28  ;  John  Cotton  Smith,  1831  ;  Theodore  Frelinghuvsen, 
1S4G  ;  Luther  Bradish,  1862  ;  James  Lenox,  1864  ;  William  H.  Allen, 
LL.D.,  1S72,  and  S.  Wells  Williams,  LL.D.,  1881. 

At  the  outset  the  society  encountered  the  strong  opposition  of  Bishop 
John  Henry  Hobart,  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  who  was  the 

Samuel  Bayard,  Princeton,  N.  J.  ;  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,  secretary  of  the  convention, 
Litchfield,  Conn.  ;  Thomas  J.  Biggs,  Nassau  Hall,  Princeton,  N.  J.  ;  Rev.  Samuel  Blatch- 
ford,  D.D.,  Lansingburg,  N.  Y.  ;  Rev.  James  Blythe,  D.D.,  Lexington,  Ky.  ;  Rev.  David 
S.  Bogart,  Long  Island,  N.  Y.  ;  Rev.  John  M.  Bradford,  D.D.,  Albany,  N.  Y.  ;  William 
Burd,  Lynchburg,  Ya.  ;  John  E.  Caldwell,  New  York  ;  Levi  Callender,  Catskill,  N.  Y.  ; 
Rev.  John  Chester,  Albany,  N.  Y.  ;  Matthew  St.  Clair  Clarke,  Chambersburg,  Penn.  ; 
Rev.  Eli  F.  Cooley,  Cooperstown,  N.  Y.  ;  James  Fenimore  Cooper,  Cooperstown,  N.  Y.  : 
Orrin  Day,  Catskill,  N.  Y.  ;  Thomas  Eddy,  New  York  ;  Henry  Ford,  Cayuga  County, 
N.  Y.  ;  Rev.  Robert  Forrest,  Delaware  County,  N.  Y.  ;  John  Griscom,  New  York  ;  Rev. 
James  Hall,  D.D.,  Statesville,  N.  C.  :  Rev.  J.  P.  K.  Henshaw,  Baltimore,  Md.  ;  Joseph  C. 
Hornblower,  Newark,  N.  J.  ;  Rev.  Heman  Humphrey,  Fairfield,  Conn.  ;  William  Jay, 
Bedford,  N.  Y.  ;  Rev.  David  Jones,  Newark,  N.  J.  ;  Rev.  Isaac  Lewis,  D.D.,  Greenwich, 
Conn.  ;  General  John  Linklaen,  Cazenovia,  N.  Y.  :  Rev.  John  McDowell,  Elizabethtown, 
N.  J.  ;  Rev.  John  M.  Mason,  D.D.,  New  York  ;  Rev.  Philip  Milledoler,  D.D.,  New  York  ; 
Rev.  Jedediah  Morse,  D.D.,  Charlestown,  Mass.  ;  Valentine  Mott,  M.D.,  New  York  ; 
William  C.  Mulligan,  New  York  ;  John  Murray,  Jr.,  New  York  ;  Rev.  John  Neil,  D.D., 
Albany,  N.  Y.  ;  Rev.  Eliphalet  Nott,  D.D.,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  ;  Rev.  Andrew  Oliver, 
Springfield,  N.  Y.  ;  Isaac  W.  Piatt,  Nassau  Hall,  Princeton,  N.  J.  ;  Rev.  Alexander 
Proudfit,  D.D.,  Salem,  N.  Y.  ;  Rev.  John  H.  Rice,  Richmond,  Va.  ;  Rev.  James  Rich- 
ards, D.D.,  Newark,  N.  J.  ;  Rev.  John  B.  Romeyn,  D.D.,  secretary  of  the  convention, 
New  York  ;  Joshua  Sands,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  ;  Rev.  Gilbert  H.  Sayres,  Jamaica,  N.  Y.  ; 
Robert  Sedgwick,  New  York  ;  Ichabod  Skinner,  Connecticut  ;  Rev.  Samuel  Spring,  D.D., 
Newburyport,  Mass.  ;  Rev.  Gardiner  Spring,  New  York  ;  General  Joseph  G.  Swift, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  ;  Rev.  N.  W.  Taylor,  New  Haven,  Conn.  :  Adrian  Van  Sinderen,  New- 
town, N.  Y.  ;  Guysbert  B.  Yroom,  New  York  ;  Joshua  M.  Wallace,  president  of  the  con- 
vention, Burlington,  N.  J.  ;  Henry  W.  Warner,  New  York  ;  Rev.  John  Williams,  New 
York  ;  William  Williams,  Vernon.  N.  Y.  :  Rev.  Simon  Wilmur,  Swedesboro',  N.  J.  ;  Rev. 
George  S.  Woodhuli.  Cranberry,  N.  J.  ;  Chr.rles  Wright,  Flushing.  N.  Y. 


194 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


recognized  head  of  the  High  Church  party.  In  a  pastoral  letter,  dated 
April  3,  1815,  on  Bihle  and  Prayer-book  societies,  the  bishop  warned 
Episcopalians  against  deserting  the  separate  management  of  their 
respective  concerns,  to  unite  with  those  who  did  not  value  the  apostolic 
and  primitive  characteristics  of  their  church. 

The  bishop  was  answered  by  William  Jay,  of  Bedford,  also  an 
earnest  Episcopalian,  who  took  the  ground  that  it  was  the  interest 
and  the  duty  of  churchmen  to  unite  with  others  in  the  distribution  of 
the  Bible.  Mr.  Jay  was  one  of  the  most  active  members  of  the 
American  Bible  Society.  The  controversy  thus  opened  was  vigorously 
renewed  the  next  year  by  the  same  gentlemen. 

The  society  is  strictly  unseetarian,  and  issues  the  Scriptures  in  all 
languages,  without  note  or  comment.  For  twenty-five  years  after  its 
organization  it  prosecuted  its  work  without  being  incorporated,  with 
great  inconvenience,  and  often  at  the  imminent  peril  of  its  highest 
interests.  On  March  2."),  1841,  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New 
York  granted  it  a  charter,  and  by  special  acts  afterward  gave  it  permis- 
sion to  buy,  hold,  and  convey  real  estate.  It  is  legally  qualified  to 
guard  every  trust  committed  to  it.  It  has  on  its  register  about  two 
thousand  auxiliary  societies. 

During  the  earlier  veai*s  of  its  life  the  American  Bible  Societv  was 
migratory,  first  occupying  a  room  in  the  City  Hospital  ;  then  in  the 
City  Hall  ;  then  a  place  in  the  rooms  of  the  New  York  Historical 
Society  ;  then  in  the  office  of  its  agent,  corner  of  Nassau  and  Cedar 
streets  ;  then  a  room  seven  by  nine  feet  square,  in  the  printing-office  in 
Cliff  Street  ;  then  in  a  room  twenty  feet  square,  in  the  rear  of  the 
Merchants'  Exchange  ;  and  after  other  removals  it  settled  down  in  a 
building  of  its  own  in  Xassau,  near  Beekman  Street.  The  operations 
of  the  society  increased  rapidly.  More  room  was  necessary.  Land 
was  purchased  at  Eighth  Street,  between  Third  and  Fourth  avenues, 
and  there  the  corner-stone  of  the  present  Bible  House  was  laid,  on  June 
29,  1852.  The  edifice,  built  of  brick,  six  stories  in  height,  and  occupy- 
ing a  whole  square,  was  completed  and  occupied  the  following  year. 
The  funds  for  the  erection  of  this  imposing  structui*e  were  free-will 
offerings  of  friends  of  the  institution.  Xot  a  dollar  raised  for  publica- 
tion and  distribution  of  the  Scriptures  was  invested  in  it. 

The  working  force  at  the  Bible  House  is  divided  into  executive  and 
manufacturing.  About  three  hundred  persons  are  employed.  The 
motive  power  is  a  sixty-horse  power  engine,  which  moves  presses  that 
print  about  tAVo  million  Bibles  a  year.  There  is  also  a  Bible  for  the 
blind,  printed  in  raised  letters. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


135 


The  total  receipts  of  the  society  to  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year  ending 
March  31,  1882,  were  $20,399,000,  of  which  amount  $3,400,000  were 
bequests  from  more  than  three  thousand  persons.  The  total  number  of 
volumes  issued  by  the  society  to  the  same  date  was  40,407,584,  A 
large  proportion  of  these  were  distributed  among-  the  soldiers  of  the 
army  and  seamen  ;  in  hotels,  railways,  and  steamboats,  criminal  and 
humane  institutions,  immigrants,  and  among  the  destitute  poor.  The 
society  has  circulated  the  Bible  in  more  than  eighty  different  languages 
and  dialects.* 

Xew  York  City  is  the  birthplace  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  this 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States. 

One  Sunday  in  the  year  1816,  Marcus  Lindsay  was  preaching  in 
Marietta,  Ohio,  when  a  colored  man  named  Stewart  was  converted. 
While  praying  in  the  fields  afterward  Stewart  heard  a  voice,  like  that 
of  a  woman,  calling  to  him  from  the  north-west  to  preach  the  gospel. 
He  obeyed.  With  a  knapsack  he  travelled  along  roads  and  through 
the  woods  until  he  came  upon  some  Delaware  Indians  who  were  pre- 
paring for  a  dance.  He  captivated  them  by  singing  a  hymn,  and  then 
he  preached  to  them.  He  went  on  farther  toward  the  north-west  until 
he  reached  Upper  Sandusky  (now  Fremont),  where  the  voice  that 
seemed  to  call  him  forward  ceased. 

At  the  house  of  the  agent  of  the  \Vyandots  at  Sandusky,  Stewart 
met  Pointer,,  a  backsliding  Methodist  Indian,  whom  he  had  known  in 
Kentucky.    The  evangelist  said  to  him  : 

"  To-morrow  I  must  preach  to  these  Indians,  and  you  must  inter- 
pret." 

"  How  can  I,  without  religion,  interpret  a  sermon  ?''  said  Pointer, 
bursting  into  tears. 

After  a  night  of  prayer,  Pointer  was  on  hand  the  next  day,  when 
Stewart  preached.  The  congregation  consisted  of  one  old  squaw. 
Stewart  preached  faithfully.  The  next  day  a  man  came  with  the  squaw. 
The  following  dav  eiyht  or  ten  were  there,  and  soon  thev  were  listen- 
ing  in  crowds.  There  were  many  conversions.  This  extraordinary 
occurrence  was  noised  abroad.  The  Church  throughout  the  land  was 
deeply  stirred.  The  harvest  among  the  barbarians  of  the  forest  seemed 
waiting  for  the  sickle,  and  the  "  protracted  meeting''  at  Upper  San- 

*  The  president  of  the  American  Bible  Society  is  S.  L.  Williams,  LL.D.,  of  New  Haven, 
Conn.,  assisted  by  thirty-two  vice-presidents  in  various  States  of  the  Republic.  Its  sec- 
retaries are  the  Rev.  Drs.  Edward  W.  Gilman,  Alexander  McLean,  and  Albert  S.  Hunt  ; 
its  assistant  treasurer  is  Andrew  L.  Taylor,  and  its  general  agent  is  Caleb  T.  Rowe.  15 
has  thirty-four  managers. 


196 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


dusky  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  three  years  later. 

An  enterprising  young  merchant  in  New  York  City  (Gabriel  P. 
Disosway)  went  to  the  Rev.  Nathan  Bangs  *  and  pleaded  for  the 
immediate  organization  of  a  missionary  society  such  as  other  denomina- 
tions had  formed.  Mr.  Bangs  was  cautious.  lie  conferred  with  the 
Rev.  Joshua  Soule.  The  project  was  favorably  considered.  Men  at 
the  West  pleaded.  The  matter  could  not  be  postponed.  Local  mis- 
sionary societies  were  springing  up. 

New  York  City  then  constituted  one  circuit.  The  preacher  in  charge 
met  the  preachers  in  weekly  conference.  At  one  of  these  meetings 
the  Rev.  Nathan  Bangs,  Freeborn  Garrettson,  Samuel  Merwin,  Joshua 
Soule, -Thomas  .Marvin,  Laban  Clark,  Seth  Crowell,  Samuel  Howe,  and 
Thomas  Thorpe  were  present.  It  was  resolved  to  form  a  missionary 
society.  A  committee  (Clark,  Bangs,  and  Garrettson)  drafted  a  consti- 
tution, which  was  subsequently  submitted  to  a  public  meeting  of  the 
church  and  friends  of  missions  in  the  Forsyth  Street  meeting-house  on 
the  evening  of  April  1S19.  The  house  was  filled.  The  Rev.  Nathan 
Bangs  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  Francis  Hall  was  appointed  secre- 
tary.   On  motion  of  Freeborn  Garrettson,  it  was 

"  Resolved)  That  it  is  expedient  for  this  meeting  to  form  a  Mis- 
sionary and  Bible  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
America." 

The  constitution  was  amended  and  adopted,  subscriptions  were  re- 
ceived, and  the  new-born  society  elected  its  officers.  They  chose  Bishop 
William  McKendree  president,  Bishop  Enoch  George  first  vice-presi- 
dent. Bishop  Robert  T.  Roberts  second  vice-president,  the  Rev.  Nathan 
Bangs,  New  York  Conference,  third  vice-president,  Francis  Hall 
clerk,  Daniel  Ayres  recording  secretary,  Thomas  Mason  corresponding 
secretary,  the  Rev.  .Joshua  Soule  treasurer.    Thirty-two  managers 

*  Nathan  Bangs,  D.D.,  was  Lorn  at  Stamford,  Conn.,  May  2,  1778,  and  died  in  New 
York  City  May  1,  1862.  He  began  business  life  as  a  schoolmaster  and  land  surveyor.  In 
1801,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  he  entered  the  Methodist  ministry  as  an  itinerant.  In 
this  pursuit  he  travelled  seven  years  in  Canada.  In  1808  he  returned  to  the  United 
States  and  had  charge  of  circuits,  stations,  and  districts  until  1820,  when  he  was  ap- 
pointed agent  and  editor  of  the  Methodist  Book  Concern  in  the  city  of  New  York.  He 
was  for  five  years  editor  of  the  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal,  aud  also  editor  of  the 
books  issued  from  the  Concern  for  several  years.  He  served  as  corresponding  secretary 
of  the  Missionary  Society  183G-41,  was  president  of  the  Wesleyan  University  at  Middle- 
town  lS-tl-43,  and  for  ten  years  afterward  was  pastor  of  Methodist  churches  in  New 
York  City  and  Brooklyn.  Dr.  Bangs  wrote  several  valuable  books,  among  them  a  "  His- 
tory of  the  Methodist  Church"  and  a  "  History  of  Missions." 


FIRST  DECADE,  18:30  1840. 


197 


were  chosen,  of  whom  twenty-six  were  citizens  of  New  York,  three 
were  citizens  of  Brooklyn,  and  three  were  citizens  of  Westchester.* 

The  society  encountered  opposition  from  the  beginning,  especially  from 
Methodists  who  were  friends  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  hecause  of 
its  Bible  feature.  It  was  also  opposed  hecause  it  was  believed  that  it 
would  attempt  to  labor  in  a  foreign  lield  when,  it  was  argued,  the 
rapidly  increasing  population  in  our  own  country  would  demand  more 
money  and  laborers  than  the  church  could  supply.  The  society  had  a 
long  and  persistent  struggle  with  prejudice,  ignorance,  and  misappre- 
hension, but  brave  souls  were  in  the  forefront  of  the  battle.  Auxiliary 
societies  were  formed  in  vai'ious  cities,  and  three  months  after  the 
organization  of  the  parent  society  a  Female  Auxiliary  Society  was 
formed  in  the  city  of  New  York,  of  which  Mrs.  Mary  W.  Mason  was 
chosen  president.  She  held  that  office  during  the  entire  existence  of 
the  society,  a  period  of  almost  half  a  century.  It  seems  to  have  ante- 
dated all  other  missionary  organizations  of  women  in  the  land. 

The  General  Conference  gave  the  enterprise  its  countenance  and 
moral  support.  It  steadily  overcame  obstacles,  and  soon  became  a  cher- 
ished institution  of  the  church.  Its  missions  spread  all  over  the  United 
States  and  beyond  on  the  American  continent,  and  the  banner  of  the 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  seen  in  time 
on  every  continent  and  on  many  islands  of  the  sea.  Its  harvests  have 
been  rich  and  marvellous  ;  its  ripe  and  gathered  sheaves  have  been 
abundant — tenfold  more  abundant  than  was  ever  dreamed  of  by  its 
founders. 

This  aggressive  missionary  society  has  flourishing  stations  in  Africa  ; 
in  Japan,  China,  and  India  in  Asia  ;  in  Germany  and  Switzerland  ;  in 
Scandinavia  (Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden)  ;  in  Italy  ;  in  Bulgaria 
and  Turkey  ;  in  Mexico  and  South  America,  and  all  over  the  domains 
of  our  Republic  where  missions  are  needed,  and  among  the  Indian 
tribes.  Everywhere  special  attention  is  given  to  the  establishment  of 
week-day  and  Sabbath  schools  for  the  instruction  of  adults  and  the 
young,  especially  for  the  latter. 

The  annual  receipts  of  the  society  from  voluntary  contributions  and 
apportionments  seem  to  be  adequate  to  meet  all  demands  upon  the 
treasury.  Its  work,  however,  is  continually  extended  in  proportion  to 
the  means  afforded.  Some  idea  of  the  extent  of  this  work  may  be 
formed  by  the  fact  that  the  appropriations  for  1S83  for  carrying  on  the 

*  "Missions  and  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  by  Rev. 
John  M.  Reid,  D.D.,  LL.D. 


198 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


enterprise  were  about  $778,000.  Of  this  amount  nearly  one  half  was 
appropriated  to  foreign  missions.  The  largest  amount  of  contributions 
to  the  treasury  of  the  society,  in  one  year,  was  in  1SS1,  when  the 
amount  was  $691,666.* 

The  best  service  which  this  great  missionary  society  is  doing  for  the 
cause  of  Christianity  and  true  religion,  for  the  spread  of  rational  and 
enlightened  civilization  and  good  living  throughout  the  world,  is  done 
by  the  influence  of  its  numerous  schools  for  the  sound  education  of  the 
heads  and  hearts  of  the  voting.  This  sweetening  and  Strengthening 
the  fountains  of  life  is  truly  a  divine  service. 

The  present  New  York  Bible  Society  had  its  origin  in  the  year 
1822,  and  at  its  organization,  in  the  fall  of  1$2.°>,  it  took  the  name  of 
u  The  Young  Men's  Bible  Society." 

Daring  the  prevalence  of  the  yellow  fever  in  the  city  of  Xew  York, 
in  the  summer  of  1822,  many  residents  and  business  men  below  Beek- 
man  Street  fled  from  the  pestilence  to  the  country  beyond  the  rivers  or 
to  the  sparsely  inhabited  region  on  the  island  above  Canal  Street.  On 
their  return  advantage  was  taken  of  an  extraordinary  religious  revival 
which  had  occurred  early  in  the  year,  beginning  in  the  Brick  (Presby- 
terian) Church,  of  which  the  late  Dr.  Spring  was  pastor,  to  enlist 
young  men  of  the  city  in  the  cause  of  a  wider  spread  of  the  Bible. 

There  then  existed  in  the  city  a  "  Xew  York  Bible  Society,"  which 
had  been  formed  in  1819  by  the  union  of  two  similar  associations. 
That  society  strongly  favored  the  idea  of  a  kindred  association,  as  an 
auxiliary  or  otherwise,  composed  of  young  men,  and  was  active  in  the 
formation  of  the  new  association.  Already  other  societies  were 
actively  engaged  in  the  same  work,  notably  the  American  Bible 
Society,  The  Auxiliary  Female  Bible  Society,  The  Marine  Bible 
Society,  and  The  Young  Ladies'  Bible  Society,  all  laboring  vigorously 
in  the  city  of  Xew  York.  Yet  there  appeared  to  be  a  special  work  of 
usefulness  for  young  men  to  do,  and  at  a  meeting  held  in  a  school-room 
in  Thames  Street,  on  September  22,  1823,  the  Young  Men's  Bible 
Society  was  formed,  with  Horatio  Gillet  as  president  ;  Anthony  P. 

*  The  officers  of  the  society  (1883)  are  :  the  Rev.  Bishop  Matthew  Simpson,  D.D.,  presi- 
dent ;  Bishops  Bowman,  Harris.  Foster,  Wiley,  Merrill,  Andrews,  Peck,  Warren,  Foss, 
and  Hunt,  and  the  Rev.  Drs.  Crawford,  Curry,  and  Wise,  and  Messrs.  G.  L.  Fancher,  J. 
H.  Taft,  Oliver  Hoyt,  H.  W.  Forrester,  and  George  J.  Ferry,  vice-presidents  ;  John 
M.  Reid  and  Charles  Fowler,  corresponding  secretaries  ;  J.  M.  Phillips,  treasurer  ; 
J.  M.  Waldron,  assistant  treasurer  ;  James  N.  Fitzgerald,  recording  secretary,  and 
David  Tern,-,  emeritus  recording  secretary. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


199 


liaise}',  George  Colgate,  John  Neilson,  Jr  ,  Louis  King,  Henry 
Bennett,  and  John  Sands,  vice-presidents  ;  Frederick  Bull,  correspond- 
ing secretary  ;  George  A.  Bartow,  recording  secretary,  and  Silas  M. 
Butler,  treasurer.    There  was  a  board  of  managers  appointed. 

In  October  the  president  and  secretary  were  authorized  to  purchase 
one  hundred  Bibles  for  distribution,  and  in  November  the  store  of 
J.  P.  Havens  was  made  the  "  repository'"  of  the  Bibles. 

At  the  outset  the  new  association  found  little  to  do.  The  field  was 
already  filled  with  laborers,  and  it  was  compelled  for  some  time  to 
"  stand  in  the  market-place  all  the  day,  idle,"  because  it  could  not  find 
legitimate  employment.  So  late  as  the  close  of  March,  1821:,  there 
had  been  only  one  Bible  "  distributed." 

Wearied  with  the  irksomeness  of  enforced  inactivity,  the  society,  in 
May  following,  offered  to  supply  the  Sabbath-schools  of  the  city  with 
Bibles,  for  prizes,  a  labor  hitherto  performed  by  the  elder  society,  to 
which  the  tender  of  the  personal  services  of  the  board  was  made. 
These  proposals  were  acceded  to,  and  the  Young  Men's  Bible  Society 
began  its  work,  which  has  never  since  ceased.  The  method*  of  per- 
forming its  labors  were  defective,  and  were  soon  afterward  modified. 

The  society  worked  in  harmony  with  cognate  institutions.  It 
engaged  in  the  good  work  of  supplying  destitute  families  with  the 
Scriptures,  and  in  1S30  it  began  the  service  of  supplying  the  humane 
and  criminal  institutions  with  Bibles  and  Testaments.  The  same  year 
the  society  sent  two  thousand  Testaments  for  Sabbath-schools  to  be 
formed  in  the  Western  States,  and  at  the  beginning  of  1S31  fullv  three 
thousand  Testaments  were  forwarded  'to  St.  Louis.  Soon  after  this  the 
Young  Ladies'1  Xew  York  Bible  Society  relieved  it  of  the  burden  of 
supplying  the  Sunday-schools  of  the  city  with  Bibles. 

The  sphere  and  influence  of  the  Young  Men's  Bible  Society  rapidly 
expanded  in  all  directions.  In  the  summer  of  1831  the  Xew  York  City 
Iiible  Society  surrendered  its  field  of  operations  to  it,  and  in  1840  the 
Marine  Bible  Society  turned  its  work  over  to  the  vigorous  associa- 
tion which  Avas  then  supplying  seamen,  soldiers  in  garrisons,  and  the 
city  hotels  with  the  Scriptures.  Finally  the  "Parent  Society,''  as  it 
was  called — the  Xew  York  Bible  Society — gave  up  its  work  and  its 
name  to  its  younger  coadjutor,  and  it  has  since  been  known  as  the 
Xew  York  Bible  Society.  During  the  Civil  "War  its  labors  were 
immense  and  salutary.  Its  means  were  adequate  to  its  wants,  for  its 
energy  and  good  judgment  were  proverbial,  and  contributions  to  the 
society  were  generous. 


200 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  work  of  the  New  York  Bible  Society  *  still  <n->es  vigorously  on 
in  tlie  distribution  of  the  Scriptures  among  the  destitute  of  the  city,  the 
arriving  immigrants  at  Castle  Garden,  the  seamen  who  go  from  the 
port  of  New  York,  and  in  other  fields.  During  the  eleven  months 
ending  August  31,  1S,S:>,  the  societv  distributed  in  the  homes  of  the 
city,  among  the  immigrants  at  Castle  Garden,  and  among  the  shipping, 
12.">,!)35  copies  of  the  Scriptures — Bibles,  Testaments,  and  parts  of  the 
Bible.  Forty-two  of  the  benevolent  and  criminal  institutions  of  the 
city.  23  Sunday-schools,  and  17  missions  were  supplied,  f 

An  active  and  powerful  auxiliary  of  the  society  above  mentioned  in 
the  diffusion  of  religious  knowledge  and  evangelical  Christian  principles 
is  the  American  Tra.cc  Society  in  the  city  of  New  York,  undenomina- 
tional in  its  character.  It  was  founded  inlS25,  with  a  view  to  uniting 
local  tract  societies  which  had  sprung  up,  in  one  national  institution. 
The  New  England  Tract  Society,  which  had  been  founded  at  Amherst, 
was  then  located  at  Boston,  with  the  name  of  the  American  Tract 
Society.  It  united  with  the  New  York  National  Society  as  a  branch 
of  that  institution,  and  that  union  continued  until  1859,  when  the  hesi- 
tancy of  the  society  to  publish  tracts  on  slavery  caused  the  Boston 
branch  to  withdraw  and  resume  its  independent  position  for  some 
years. 

For  the  first  two  years  of  the  existence  of  the  American  Tract 
Society  only  tracts  were  published,  for  adults  and  children.  In  the 
third  year  volumes  appeared,  and  in  the  fourth  year  systematic  tract 
distribution  was  begun.  The  col  portage  system  was  adopted  in  1841. 
That  system  has  been  the  mainspring  which  has  kept  the  work  of 
the  society  in  successful  operation.  From  that  time  to  1S75,  a 
period  of  thirty-four  years,  the  colporteurs  had  distributed  10,500,000 
copies  of  its  publications,  of  which  number  2,780,000  were  given  away. 

The  publication  of  periodicals  devoted  to  the  cause  of  the  society  was 
the  next  step  in  its  progress.  The  Ainerieom  Messe&gar  was  first  pub- 
lished, then  a  paper  similar  to  the  Messenger  in  the  German  language. 
In  1852  the  publication  of  The  Child's  Paper  was  begun.    These  were 

*  The  officers  of  the  society  for  the  year  ending  September  1,  1882,  were  :  Mortis  Bud- 
long,  president  ;  Daniel  J.  Holden,  Alfred  Neilson,  vice-presidents  ;  James  Kydd,  corre- 
sponding secretary  ;  W.  M.  Williams,  recording  secretary  ;  Joseph  A.  Welch,  treasurer. 
It  has  six  agents,  namely,  Alexander  Watson,  John  S.  Pierson,  William  G.  Jones,  K.  W. 
Kracmer,  Ernst  Jackson,  W.  H.  E.  Neilson,  and  forty-eight  managers. 

\  Mr.  Pierson,  one  of  the  agents,  writes  :  "  This  report  (1882)  does  not  show  the  pres- 
ent work  of  the  society  fairly,  as  there  has  been  a  temporary  relaxation  of  work  in  some 
departments,  pending  proposed  changes." 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


201 


all  published  monthly.  The  Child's  Pa/per  was  handsomely  illustrated 
from  the  beginning.  It  now  has  a  circulation  of  nearly  one  hundred 
and  eighty  thousand  monthly.  In  1871  three  new  periodicals  were 
added  to  those  already  mentioned — the  Illustrated  Christum  Weekly, 
the  German  J'eojsle's  Friend,  a  small  weekly,  and  the  Morning  Light, 
for  beginners.  The  society  also  publishes  an  illustrated  paper  in  the 
Spanish  language,  called  the  Star  of  Bethlehem. 

The  operations  of  the  American  Tract  Society  are  now  immense  in 
rolume  and  far-reaching  and  salutary  in  their  influence.  The  whole 
number  of  distinct  publications  issued  by  the  society  in  1SS2  were  C>r>74, 
of  which  1-148  were  bound  volumes,  the  remainder  paper-covered  books, 
tracts,  leaflets,  cards,  and  handbills.  The  whole  number  issued  at  for- 
eign stations,  approved  by  the  society's  Publication  Committee,  was 
4321,  of  which  686  were  bound  volumes.  These  various  publications 
may  be  classed  under  the  heads  of  expository,  Christian  evidences, 
biography,  narratives  for  young  people,  narratives  for  children,  stories 
for  young  children,  aw  akening  and  conversion,  consolation,  and  Chris- 
tian edification.  The  books  and  tracts  are  printed  in  the  English, 
German,  French,  and  Spanish  languages. 

The  American  Tract  Society  possesses  a  spacious  brick  building,  five 
stories  in  height,  on  the  corner  of  Nassau  and  Spruce  streets,  New 
York.  "When  the  society  was  formed  Spruce  Street  was  a  narrow 
lane.  On  the  site  of  the  Tract  House  was  a  miserable  old  wooden 
tavern,  and  opposite  it,  on  the  site  of  the  New  York  Times  building, 
was  a  one-storv  wooden  lecture-room  belono-ino-  to  the  Brick  Church 
on  Beekman  Street.  This  was  replaced  by  a  neat  brick  edifice  a  few 
years  afterward.  The  Tract  Society  and  the  New  York  Observer  were 
the  pioneers  of  the  printing  establishments  which  have  since  given  the 
open  space  in  that  neighborhood  the  name  of  Printing-House  Square. 
The  society  is  governed  by  a  board  of  directors,  elected  annually.* 

One  of  the  latest  and  best  organizations  in  the  citv  of  New  York  for 
promoting  the  spiritual  and  temporal  welfare  of  the  people  of  the  city, 
especially  of  the  poor,  is  that  of  the  New  York  City  Mission  and 
Tract  Society,  organized  in  1S27. 

The  germ  of  this  institution  was  planted  (as  is  frequently  the  case) 

*  The  officers  for  1882-83  are  :  Hon.  William  Strong,  LL.D.,  of  Philadelphia,  president; 
Rt.  Rev.  Benjamin  B.  Smith,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  of  New  York  City,  vice-president,  with  fifty- 
one  honorary  vice-presidents  ;  Rev.  J.  M.  Stevenson,  D.D.,  corresponding  secretary,  with 
colportage  ;  Rev.  William  W.  Rand,  publishing  secretary  ;  Rev.  G.  L.  Shearer,  financial 
secretary  ,  Samuel  E.  Warner,  assistant  secretary  ;  Rev.  Thomas  Armitage,  D.D.,  record- 
ing secretary  ;  O.  R.  Kingsbury,  treasurer. 


202 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


by  a  woman.  A  woman's  mind  conceived  its  plan,  and  a  woman's 
hand  began  the  good  work.  Dr.  Adam  Clarke  said,  in  substance  :  "  In 
all  benevolent  works  one  woman  is  equal  to  seven  men  and  a  half."1 

The  incipient  step  in  the  formation  of  this  society  was  taken  by  the 
noble  wife  of  Divie  Bethune,  the  daughter  of  the  sainted  Isabella 
Graham,  in  the  year  1*22.  The  organization  was  completed  by  the 
adoption  of  a  constitution  and  the  appointment  of  officers,  at  a  public 
meeting  held  at  the  Brick  Church  chapel,  on  the  site  of  the  New  York 
TlriK's  building.  March  2.">.  1*22.  This,  it  is  believed,  was  the  first  step 
in  organized  woman's  work  in  city  missions,  and  in  the  work  of  dis- 
tributing religious  tracts. 

This  association  of  women  went  on  quietly  and  unostentatiously, 
doing  a  vast  amount  of  good  labor,  and  working  with  the  American 
Tract  Society  until  1S27,  when  men,  perceiving  their  good  deeds  and 
appreciating  their  influence,  resolved  to  form  a  City  Tract  Society  on 
the  same  plan.  Accordingly,  the  following  notice  appeared  in  the 
Commercial  Advertiser,  of  which  the  good  Francis  Hall  was  proprietor, 
on  the  19th  of  February,  1827  : 

"  A  public  meeting  will  be  held  at  the  City  Hotel  this  evening,  at 
7£  o'clock,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  New  York  City  Tract  Society, 
for  the  supply  of  our  seamen,  our  humane  and  criminal  institutions, 
and  for  other  local  tract  operations  in  this  city.  Several  addresses  will 
be  delivered.  A  general  attendance  of  all  who  are  friendly  to  the 
object  is  requested.''' 

A  large  assemblage  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  convened  on  the  specified 
evening.  The  venerable  Colonel  Richard  Varick,*  the  president  of  the 
American  Bible  Society,  and  then  seventy-five  years  of  age,  presided, 
and  the  Rev.  W.  A.  Ilallock  was  chosen  secretary.  The  meeting  was 
addressed  by  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Somers  and  Monteith,  and  by  the  Rev. 

*  Richard  Variek  was  born  in  Hackensack,  N.  J.,  in  March,  1753,  and  died  in  Jersey 
City,  N.  J.,  in  July,  1831.  He  was  a  lawyer  practising  in  New  York  City  when  the  old 
war  for  independence  began.  He  entered  the  military  service  as  captain  in  Macdougall's 
regiment,  joined  the  Northern  army  under  General  Schuyler,  and  became  that  officer's 
secretary.  He  was  afterward  deputy  muster-master-general,  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant- 
colonel.  After  the  capture  of  Burgoyne,  Varick  was  acting  inspector-general  at  West 
Point,  where  he  remained  until  after  the  treason  of  Arnold,  when  he  became  a  member 
of  General  Washington's  military  family,  and  was  his  recording  secretary  until  near  the 
close  of  the  war.  After  the  British  evacuated  the  city  of  New  York,  in  1783,  Colonel 
Varick  was  appointed  recorder.  He  assisted  in  the  revision  of  the  State  laws.  He  was 
Speaker  of  the  Assembly  in  1787.  In  1789  he  was  appointed  attorney-general  of  the 
State,  and  subsequently  ma3-or  of  New  York.  Colonel  Varick  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  American  Bible  Society,  and  succeeded  John  Jay  as  its  president. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840.  203 

Drs.  Milnor,  Knox,  Spring,  Brod head,  and  Macanlay.  The  participants 
were  persons  of  various  religious  denominations.  A  constitution  was 
read,  adopted,  and  numerously  signed  by  ministers  and  laymen. 

The  officers  of  the  society  chosen  for  the  first  year  were  :  Zachariah 
Lewis,  president  ;  the  Revs.  John  Stanford,  Cave  Jones,  and  Henry 
Chase,  Drs.  -John  Xeilson  and  John  Stearns,  and  Messrs.  Thomas 
Stokes,  Gerard  Beekman,  and  Arthur  Tappan,  vice-presidents  ;  Gerard 
llalleck,  corresponding  secretary  ;  Oliver  E.  Cobb,  recording  secre- 
tary, and  Ralph  Beekman,  treasurer.  Seventy  directors  were  chosen. 
Among  them  appeared  many  names  whose  bearers  have  been  conspicu- 
ous in  every  good  work  in  the  city  until  our  day. 

Perceiving,  from  actual  observation,  the  pressing  need  of  woman's 
influence  and  woman's  work  in  their  operations,  the  society  founded  by 
Mi's.  Bethune  was  made  an  "  annex''  of  the  society  just  formed.  In- 
stead of  the  two  sexes  laboring  together — instead  of  joining  forces  as 
one  family  on  an  equal  footing  as  to  duties  and  privileges — the  women's 
society  was  permitted  to  take  the  rank  only  of  an  "  auxiliary"  of  the 
men's  society  ;  and  to  this  day  it  is  called  the  "Woman's  Branch  of  the 
New  York  City  Mission  and  Tract  Society,  with  a  separate  organiza- 
tion, in  which  only  women  are  officers  and  honorary  members,  mission- 
aries, and  nurses.  They  make  separate  reports,  but  claim  the  right, 
and  exercise  it,  of  dating  their  "  branch''  from  1S22,  five  years  before 
the  men's  society  existed. 

The  main  society,  at  its  first  organization,  appointed  a  woman  agent. 
She  seems  to  have  been  very  efficient,  for  at  the  end  of  her  first 
month's  labor  she  reported  visits  to  ninety  families,  and  calls  upon  sev- 
eral clergymen  in  reference  to  forming  auxiliary  tract  societies  in  the 
several  churches. 

During  the  first  year  the  Xew  York  City  Mission  and  Tract  Society, 
through  the  agency  of  its  committees  and  volunteer  visitors,  distributed 
2,368,548  pages,  or  592,137  tracts  of  four  pages  each.  At  the  end  of 
six  or  seven  years,  so  useful  and  so  extended  became  the  work  that  it 
was  deemed  advisable  to  engage  men  as  missionaries  who  should  devote 
their  whole  time  to  Christian  efforts  among  the  poor  and  neglected. 
Mainly  through  the  liberality  of  two  or  three  persons,  the  society  was 
enabled,  in  1833,  to  begin  this  its  best  missionary  work.  Within  two 
years  the  number  of  these  missionaries  was  increased  to  fourteen.  For 
thirty  years  these  "  tract  missionaries,"  as  they  were  called,  carried  on 
their  evangelizing  work  with  great  success,  having  distributed  during 
that  time  an  aggregate  of  30,000,000  tracts,  been  instrumental  in 
effecting  7000  conversions,  and  spending  $400,000.    They  had  brought 


204 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY 


thousands  of  men,  women,  and  children  into  churches  and  Sabbath- 
schools,  and  planted  many  a  fruitful  seed  by  the  agency  of  prayer- 
meetings  in  neglected  neighborhoods. 

In  1804  the  society  was  reorganized.  A  secretary  was  appointed, 
with  enlarged  duties  and  powers,  and  a  room  in  the  Bible  House  was 
rented.  Then  it  began  the  publication  of  reports  and  papers  on  the 
methods  .and  results  of  city  evangelization.  At  the  annual  meeting 
that  year  the  name  of  the  institution  was  changed  to  that  of  the  Tsew 
York  City  Mission  and  Tract  Society,  which  it  now  bears,  and  in  1866 
it  was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  of  New  York.  The  same  year 
a  superintendent  of  missions  was  appointed  for  the  organization  of  mis- 
sion chapels  and  services.  The  first  of  these  chapels  was  established  in 
1867,  and  known  as  Olivet  Chapel.  It  is  between  First  and  Second 
streets  and  First  and  Second  avenues.  Other  chapels  and  services  were 
soon  organized,  and  the  good  work  (the  amount  of  which  is  incalcula- 
ble) has  gone  on  with  ever-increasing  power  and  beneficence. 

According  to  the  annual  report  of  the  society  for  1882  there  were  5 
mission  churches  and  chapels;  47  missionaries  employed  ;  5  mission 
Sabbath-scbools,  with  2500  children  taught  during  the  year  ;  aggregate 
attendance  upon  religious  services  during  the  year,  250,000  ;  2245 
families  and  8980  individuals  aided,  and  $4422  cash  distributed  ;  2391 
Bibles  and  Testaments  given  away,  and  10,039  volumes  loaned  and 
given  ;  2040  children  led  to  Sabbath -schools  and  306  to  day-schools  ; 
13,93!)  persons  persuaded  to  attend  churches  and  missions  ;  99S  temper- 
ance pledges  signed,  and  750,000  tracts  distributed.  It  now  employs 
18  missionaries. 

During  the  fifty-six  years  of  its  existence  the  society  has  distributed 
about  5:5,oi)i),oi  i(t  tracts,  made  2,000,000  missionary  visits,  supplied  to 
the  destitute  92,357  Bibles  and  Testaments,  loaned  and  given  about 
189,000  books,  gathered  into  Sabbath -schools  119,309  children,  and 
into  day-schools  24,090  ;  induced  270,118  persons  to  attend  divine  ser- 
vices, obtained  59,342  temperance  pledges,  and  expended  $1,331,483. 
In  addition  to  this  sum  more  than  $200,000  have  been  raised  for  build- 
ing chapels  and  churches  in  the  city.  In  1870  the  mission  converts 
were  organized  in  bands  of  Christian  brotherhoods,  and  the  Christian 
ordinances  were  administered  in  the  mission  chapels.  These  are 
undenominational. 

The  Woman's  Branch  of  the  New  York  City  Mission  and  Tract 
Society  resolved  in  1803  that  henceforth  their  work  should  be  directed 
to  raising  the  money  for  the  support  of  the  missionary  women.  It  was 
reorganized  in  1875.    The  board  of  managers  constituted  five  of  their 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


205 


number  an  executive  committee,  to  give  special  attention  to  business 
details.  A  superintendent  was  appointed  to  give  instruction  and  direc- 
tions to  missionary  women,  write  up  a  history  of  their  work,  and  make 
appeals  to  the  benevolent  women  of  the  city.  According-  to  the  six- 
teenth annual  report  (for  1882)  the  benevolent  work  of  the  Woman's 
Branch  has  been  widely  extended  in  its  scope  and  usefulness.  The 
Branch  is  separate  from  the  City  Mission  Society  in  organization  and 
support.  Tt  holds  intimate  relations  with  the  Association  for  Improv- 
ing the  Condition  of  the  Poor.  Tt  employs  eight  female  missionary 
nurses  who  have  been  trained  in  hospitals,  and  thirty-three  missionary 
women.  It  has  sewing  schools  and  sewing  meetings  for  the  poor  ; 
promotes  the  cause  of  temperance  among  children  of  intemperate 
parents  by  Bands  of  Hope  ;  has  a  pleasant  Christian  Workers'  Home 
for  the  missionaries,  which  embraces,  in  the  family,  twenty-two  mis- 
sionaries and  nurses.  It  distributed  in  1SS2  04,000  tracts  and  about 
1100  Bibles,  took  about  800  children  to  Sabbath-schools,  made  25,000 
missionary  visits,  gave  away  over  3000  garments,  gave  for  the  relief  of 
the  sick  and  destitute  $3325,  and  furnished  the  services  of  nurses  to  2700 
patients.* 

*  The  officers  of  the  City  Mission  and  Tract  Society  for  1883  are  :  Morris  K.  Jesup, 
president  ;  John  Taylor  Johnston,  vice-president,  and  Lewis  E.  Jackson,  recording  sec- 
retary and  treasurer.    There  are  forty-eight  directors. 

The  officers  of  the  Woman's  Branch  are  :  Mrs.  Morris  K.  Jesnp,  first  directress  ;  Mrs. 
Horace  Holden,  second  directress  ;  Miss  Mary  N.  Wright,  treasurer  ;  Mrs.  R.  M.  Field, 
secretary,  and  Mrs.  A.  R.  Brown,  superintendent.  There  are  thirty-two  active  managers, 
representing  fourteen  churches,  all  Presbyterian  or  Reformed. 


CHAPTER  X. 


ONE  of  the  most  important  associations  in  a  commercial  city  is  an 
organization  of  judicious  men  having  a  special  oversight  of  every- 
thing pertaining  to  its  trade,  ever  watchful  of  all  its  industrial  interests, 
vigilant  in  the  detection  of  legislation  inimical  to  those  interests,  and 
wise  in  its  suggestions  regarding  enactments  which  touch,  for  good  or 
evil,  the  springs  of  prosperity  of  the  country. 

Among  these  organizations  the  New  York  Chambeb  of  Commerce  is 
the  oldest  and  most  influential  of  its  kind  in  the  United  States.  It  was 
constituted  in  17<>8  by  twenty  leading  merchants  in  that  city,  some  of 
whom  afterward  appeared  conspicuous  in  public  affairs,  especially  dur- 
ing the  war  for  independence,  which  broke  out  soon  afterward.  Some 
of  them  were  on  one  side  and  some  on  the  other,  in  the  discussion  of 
the  vital  political  questions  of  the  day. 

These  merchants  associated  for  the  avowed  purpose  "  of  promoting 
and  extending  all  just  and  lawful  commerce,  and  for  affording  relief  to 
decayed  members,  their  widows  and  children/'  The  association 
received  a  charter  from  Lieutenant-Governor  Colden.  dated  March  13, 
17"o,  giving  it  the  name  of  ''The  Corporation  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  in  the  City  of  New  York."  The  privileges  of  this  royal 
charter  were  confirmed  by  the  State  government  of  New  York  in  1784. 

That  association  was  organized  in  troublous  times.  The  industries  of 
the  English-American  colonies  were  in  a  depressed  state.  Unwise  and 
unjust  navigation  and  revenue  laws,  and  persistent  resistance  to  the 
operation  of  these  laws,  had  deranged  commerce,  and  uncertainty  had 
paralyzed  business  of  every  kind.  The  great  quarrel  between  Great 
Britain  and  her  American  colonies,  which  speedily  led  to  a  dismember- 
ment of  the  empire,  was  then  waxing  hot.  Non-importation  agree- 
ments and  ministerial  menaces  had  created  a  feverish  state  of  mind  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  these  twenty 
merchants  met  and  formed  the  venerable  association  which  exists  in 
full  vigor  and  abounding  usefulness  to-day.  It  resolved,  at  the  outset 
of  its  career,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Verplanck,  that  none  but  merchants 
should  be  members  of  that  body.    At  that  period  the  merchants  con- 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


201 


trolled  the  politics  of  New  York.  A  majority  of  the  Provincial 
Assembly  were  merchants. 

Although  Massachusetts  had  just  issued  its  famous  circular  letter  to 
its  sister  colonies,  asking1  them  to  unite  in  resisting  the  oppressive 
measures  of  Parliament  ;  although  New  York  City  was  in  a  blaze  of 
excitement,  and  the  Sons  of  Liberty  were  stoutly  defending  their  lib- 
erty-pole against  the  ruthless  hands  of  insolent  British  soldiers — force 
against  force — and  civil  war  seemed  imminent,  these  twenty  merchants, 
calm  and  dignified  in  the  midst  of  the  storm,  made  only  the  following 
minute  of  their  proceedings  at  the  momentous  meeting  on  April  5, 
1TGS  : 

"  Whereas,  Mercantile  societies  have  been  found  very  useful  in  trad- 
ing cities,  for  promoting  and  encouraging  commerce,  supporting  indus- 
try, adjusting  disputes  relative  to  trade  and  navigation,  and  procuring 
such  laws  and  regulations  as  may  be  found  necessary  for  the  benefit  of 
trade  in  general  : 

"  For  which  purpose,  and  to  establish  such  a  society  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  the  following  persons  convened  on  the  first  Tuesday  in, 
and  being  the  5th  day  of,  April,  1768  : 

"  John  Cruger,  Thomas  "White, 


who  agreed  that  the  said  society  of  merchants  should  consist  of 

"  A  president,  vice-president,  treasurer,  and  secretary,  and  such  a 
number  of  merchants  as  already  are,  or  hereafter  may  become,  mem- 
bers thereof,  to  be  called  and  known  by  the  name  of  The  New  York 
Chamber  of  Commerce. 

"  The  members  present  unanimously  chose  the  following  gentlemen 
their  officers  for  the  year,  to  commence  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  May 
next  : 


James  Jauncey, 
Jacob  "Walton, 
Robert  Murray, 
Hugh  Wallace, 
George  Folliot, 
William  Walton, 


Elias  Uesbrosses, 


Samuel  Ver  Planck, 
Theophylact  Bache. 


Miles  Sherbrooke, 
"Walter  Franklin, 
Robert  Ross  Waddel, 
Acheron  Thompson, 
Lawrence  Kovt right, 
Thomas  Randall, 
William  MoAdam, 
Isaac  Low, 
Anthony  Van  Dam, 


'*  John  Cruger,  president  :  Elias  Desbrosses,  treasurer  ; 

Hugh  Wallace,  vice-president  ;      Anthony  Van  Dam,  secretary. 


208 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


"  The  following  gentlemen,  who  are  of  the  society,  not  being  pres- 
ent, assented  to  the  same  : 

"  John  Alsop,  Philip  Livingston, 

Henry  White,  James  McEvers." 

John  Cruger,  the  first  president  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  was 
mayor  of  the  city  at  the  time  of  its  organization,  and  was  speaker  of 
the  Colonial  Assembly  from  1700  to  1775.  During  the  perilous  times 
preceding  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  his  influence  was  powerfully 
exerted  in  maintaining  order  among  the  citizens.  An  active  member 
of  the  Stamp  Act  Congress  which  met  in  Xew  York  in  1705,  he  was 
chosen  to  prepare  the  famous  Declaration  of  Rights  which  was  put 
forth  by  that  body.  Mr.  Cruger  left  the  city  before  it  was  occupied 
by  the  British  in  1776. 

The  brothere  Walton,  Jacob  and  "William,  were  among  the  most 
eminent  and  opulent  merchants  of  Xew  York  in  the  middle  of  the  last 
century.  Jacob  died  in  1769.  William,  who  was  a  son-in-law  of 
De  Lancey,  built  the  beautiful  mansion  in  Pearl  Street,  Xew  York, 
opposite  the  (present)  publishing  establishment  of  Harper  <fc  Brothel's, 
and  known  as  the  Walton  House.  It  disappeared  a  few  years  ago, 
before  the  march  of  commercial  business.  It  was,  when  built,  the 
most  elegant  mansion  on  the  continent. 

Robert  Murray  and  Walter  Franklin  represented  the  Quaker  element 
in  the  commercial  features  of  Xew  York  at  that  time.  Murray  had  a 
country-seat  on  the  Incleberg  (now  known  as  Murray  Hill,  in  the  city), 
and  it  was  at  that  mansion  where  Mrs.  Murray  detained  the  British 
officers,  by  good  cheer  and  fascinating  convention,  while  General 
Putnam,  with  a  detachment  of  the  Continental  army,  flying  from  the 
menaced  city  of  Xew  York,  made  good  his  retreat  to  the  main  army, 
encamped  on  Harlem  Heights. 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  maintained  its  organization  and  held 
meetings  pretty  regularly  during  the  later  portion  of  the  stirring  period 
of  the  Revolution.  Its  sessions  ended  in  May,  1775.  but  on  the  21st  of 
June.  1770,  such  of  its  members  (mostly  Tories)  who  remained  in  the 
city  met  in  the  Merchants''  Coffee- 1  louse,  corner  of  Wall  and  Water 
streets,  and  with  the  consent  of  the  British  commandant  renewed  the 
sessions  of  the  Chamber.  Its  operations  were  chiefly  directed  to  aiding 
the  military  governor  in  municipal  affairs,  such  as  regulating  the  prices 
of  provisions,  the  rates  for  carmen's  services,  and  also  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  privateering,  by  assistance  in  recruiting  for  that  service  under 
the  proclamations  of  the  British  admirals. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


Iii  177"  Mr.  Crager  retired  from  the  presidency.  His  successors  in 
the  office  until  the  return  of  peace  were  Hugh  Wallace,  Elias  Des- 
brosses,  Henry  White,  Theophylact  Bache,  William  Walton,  and  Isaac 
Low.  The  act  of  reincorporation  passed  the  Legislature  of  New  York 
on  April  13,  178L  The  corporators  named  were  Samuel  Broome, 
Jeremiah  Piatt,  John  Broome,  Benjamin  Ledyard,  Thomas  Randall, 
Robert  Bowne,  Daniel  Phoenix,  Jacob  Morris,  Eliphalet  Brush,  James 
Jarvis.  John  Blagge,  Yiner  Yan  Zandt,  Stephen  Say  re,  Jacobus  Van 
Zandt.  Nathaniel  Hazard,  Abraham  P.  Lott,  Abraham  Durvee,  William 
Malcolm,  John  Alsop,  Isaac  Sears,  James  Beekman,  Abraham  Lott, 
Comfort  Sands,  Joseph  Blackwell,  Joshua  Sands,  Lawrence  Embree, 
George  Embree,  Gerardus  Duyckinek,  Jr.,  Cornelius  Kay,  Anthony 
Griffiths,  Thomas  Tucker,  John  Berrian,  Isaac  Roosevelt,  John  Frank- 
lin, John  II.  Kip,  Henry  II.  Kip,  Archibald  Currie,  David  Currie,  and 
Jonathan  Lawrence. 

The  descendants  of  most  of  these  men  who  revived  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  after  peace  was  established,  and  were  the  active  coadjutors 
of  the  first  president  of  the  reincorporated  institution  (John  Alsop  *),  are 
recognized  among  the  leading  architects  of  the  commercial  neatness  of 
New  York  City,  which  developed  so  wonderfully  after  the  completion 
of  the  Erie  Canal.  They  have  ranked  among  the  most  enterprising, 
honorable,  and  prosperous  merchants,  and  by  their  business  probity 
and  high  personal  character  as  citizens  have  contributed  largely  to  the 
elements  which  constitute  the  good  name  of  the  metropolis. 

From  May,  1775,  until  June,  1779,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  as 
we  have  observed,  did  not  hold  a  meeting.  From  the  time  the  British 
took  possession  of  the  city  in  177»>  until  they  evacuated  it,  many  of  the 
members,  of  English  descent,  co-operated  with  the  British  authorities, 
naval  and  military.  From  its  recharter  in  178-1  it  has  been  an  active 
body  in  New  York,  having  cognizance  of  most  of  the  subjects  of  a 
commercial  nature  which  have  been  before  the  community. 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  proposed  the  union  of  the  Great  Lakes 
with  the  Hudson  River  so  early  as  17Stf — the  suggestion  of  the  Erie 
Canal.  Of  the  entire  canal  policy  of  the  State,  especially  that  of  De 
AVitt  Clinton  and  his  coadjutors,  from  1811  until  the  completion  of  the 

*  John  Alsop  was  an  opulent  merchant  and  a  most  earnest  patriot.  He  was  a  native 
of  Middletown,  Conn.,  to  which  place  he  retired  when  the  British  took  possession  of 
New  York  in  1776.  Alsop  was  a  man  of  great  intellectual  strength.  He  was  a  represen- 
tative of  New  York  in  the  first  Continental  Congress  in  1774,  and  remained  in  that  body 
until  1776.  His  daughter  Mary  became  the  wife  of  the  eminent  Kufus  King.  Mr. 
Alsop  died  at  Newtown,  L.  I  ,  in  November,  1794. 


210 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


great  artificial  aqueous  highway  in  1825,  this  body  was  a  uniform  and 
powerful  supporter.  While  others  doubted  and  many  sneered,  the 
•wise  and  enterprising  merchants  of  New  York  who  composed  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  were  its  firm  f  riends. 

The  Chamber  made  the  first  movement  in  favor  of  fortifying  the 
city  of  New  York,  by  a  memorial  to  Congress,  sent  by  the  hands  of 
Colonel  Ebenezer  Stevens  in  1798,  when  war  with  France  seemed  im- 
minent. Stevens  was  an  active  member  of  the  Chamber.  One  of  its 
most  efficient  members  at  its  revival  was  John  Pintard,  who,  as  we 
hare  observed  in  speaking  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  was 
foremost  in  every  good  work  in  the  city  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

In  all  the  vicissitudes  in  public  affairs  Which  at  different  periods  have 
unsettled  the  national  policy  and  disturbed  the  relations  of  commerce, 
this  Chamber  has  steadily  adhered  to  the  line  of  duty  it  had  originally 
assumed,  abstaining  from  all  interference  in  the  affairs  of  government 
in  time  of  peace,  excepting  advisory,  taking  no  part  in  political  discus- 
sions, but  always  faithfully  performing  its  obligations  to  support  the 
cause  of  law  and  order,  and  to  defend  the  honor  of  the  country.  When 
the  Republic  was  in  peril  after  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter,  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  was  the  first  body  in  the  city  of  New  York  that  flew 
to  the  rescue,  as  we  shall  observe  hereafter. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  for 
the  pm-pose  of  organization  was  at  the  house  yet  standing  at  the  corner 
of  Pearl  and  Broad  streets.  It  was  afterward  Fraunce's  Tavern, 
where  General  Washington  parted  with  his  officers  at  the  close  of  the 
Revolution.  The  next  year  rooms  were  rented  in  the  Exchange,  at  the 
lower  end  of  Broad  Street.  Ten  years  later  the  Chamber  occupied 
rooms  at  the  Merchants'  Coffee-House,  corner  of  Wall  and  Water 
streets.  In  1817  it  was  located  in  the  old  Tontine  Coffee-I louse,  on 
the  next  corner  above.  From  the  completion  of  the  Merchants' 
Exchange  in  Wall  Street,  in  1827,  it  occupied  rooms  in  that  building 
until  driven  out  by  the  great  fire  in  1835.  From  that  time  until  1858 
its  meetings  were  held  in  the  directors'  room  of  the  Merchants'  Bank, 
in  Wall  Street,  and  since  then  it  has  occupied  its  present  quarters,  at 
No.  63  William  Street. 

In  1875  a  Court  of  Arbitration  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  was 
established  by  act  of  the  Legislature,  with  an  arbitrator  at  its  head, 
who  holds  office  during  good  behavior.  lie  has  power  to  administer 
oaths  and  affirmations  to  be  used  before  any  court  or  officer  ;  to  take 
proof  and  acknowledgment  of  any  charter  party,  marine  protest,  con- 
tract, or  other  written  instrument,  and  to  require  any  witness  to  appear 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


211 


and  testify  before  him,  or  the  Court  of  Arbitration,  or  before  the 
board  of  arbitrators.  His  salary  is  $10,000  a  year,  paid  out  of  the 
State  treasury,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  providing  rooms  for  the  use 
of  the  Court  of  Arbitration.  Either  party  to  a  controversy  may, 
within  a  specified  time,  appoint  in  writing  one  person  to  sit  with  the 
official  arbitrator  to  hear  and  determine  the  matter. 

Parties  having  cases  to  be  adjudicated  in  this  court — controversies  or 
matters  of  difference  arising  within  the  port  of  New  York,  or  relating 
to  a  subject  matter  situate  or  coming  within  that  port — may  voluntarily 
submit  the  same  to  this  Court  of  Arbitration,  by  written  submission  or 
by  personal  appearance  in  the  court  and  an  oral  submission.  This 
measure  works  with  success  in  avoiding  protracted  litigation  in  the 
ordinary  courts  of  law.* 

A  Merchants'  Exchange — a  gathering-place  for  merchants  for  con- 
ference and  an  exchange  of  ideas  and  values — has  an  intimate  relation 
to  a  Chamber  of  Commerce,  in  its  chief  mission.  These  exchanges 
originated  in  the  commercial  cities  of  Italy,  Germany,  and  the  Nether- 
lands, and  were  introduced  into  England  by  Sir  Thomas  Gresham  at  a 
little  port  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  He  resided  some 
time  in  Antwerp,  and  he  chose  the  Bourse,  or  Merchants'1  Exchange 
building,  of  that  city  as  his  model  for  the  great  London  Exchange 
edifice  which  he  erected. 

The  first  Merchants'  Exchange  in  New  York  City  was  in  a  building 
at  the  foot  of  Broad  Street  in  1752.  When  the  Tontine  Building  was 
completed,  at  the  corner  of  AVall  and  Pearl  streets,  it  was  removed  to 
that  fine  edifice,  which  was  erected  for  the  express  purpose  of  a  Mer- 
chants' Exchange.  In  1825  a  fine  structure  of  white  marble  from 
Westchester  County,  for  a  Merchants'  Exchange,  was  begun  in  Wall 
Street,  below  William  Street,  and  was  completed  in  1S27.  At  that 
time  it  was  the  finest  building  in  the  city  excepting  the  City  Hall,f 

*  The  officers  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  for  1882-83  were  :  Samuel  D.  Babcock, 
president,  and  George  Wilson,  secretary. 

t  The  City  Hall  standing  in  the  Park  was  erected  early  in  this  century-  1803  to  1808 
— at  a  cost  of  more  than  half  a  million  dollars.  When  completed  it  was  on  the  outskirts 
of  the  city.  It  is  built  on  three  sides  of  white  marble,  and  on  the  fourth  side  (the  north) 
of  brown  freestone.  It  is  in  the  Italian  style  of  architecture,  two  hundred  and  sixteen 
feet  long  and  one  hundred  and  five  feet  wide.  The  City  Hall  is  the  headquarters  of  the 
municipal  government.  Below  are  the  offices  of  the  mayor  and  clerk  of  the  common 
council,  the  common  council  chamber  and  other  city  offices,  and  the  library.  Above 
(second  story)  is  the  "  Governors'  Room,"  containing  portraits  of  all  the  governors  of 
the  State,  of  the  mayors  of  the  city,  and  of  men  of  national  renown,  and  used  for  official 
receptions.  The  building  is  surmounted  by  a  cupola  containing  a  four-dial  clock,  which 
is  illuminated  at  night.    The  City  Library  is  in  the  oast  wing  of  the  City  Hall. 


212 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


not  excepting  the  Masonic  Hall,  on  Broadway,  nearly  opposite  the  City 
Hospital.  It  had  a  front  of  115  feet  on  Wall  Street,  and  was  three 
stories  high  above  the  basement,  which  was  considerably  elevated.  It 
extended  through  to  Garden  Street,  150  feet.  The  designs  and  plan  of 
the  building  were  furnished  by  M.  E.  Thompson,  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design. 

The  first  and  second  stories  of  the  Exchange  comprised  one  order, 
which  was  the  Ionic,  in  imitation  of  the  Temple  of  Minerva  at  Priene, 
in  Ionia.  A  recessed  portico  about  forty  feet  in  width,  in  an  elliptical 
form,  was  introduced  in  front.  A  screen  of  four  large  columns  and  two 
antae  extended  across  the  front  of  the  portico  nearly  on  a  line  with  the 
front  of  the  building.  These  columns  were  30  feet  high  and  3  feet  4 
inches  in  diameter  at  the  base.  The  shaft  of  each  column  was  com- 
posed of  a  single  block  ot  marble.  They  supported  an.  entablature, 
upon  which  rested  the  attic  or  third  story,  making  a  height  of  about  60 
feet  from  the  ground. 

The  interior  of  the  Exchange  was  chaste  and  classic  in  architecture. 
The  building  was  surmounted  by  a  cupola  24  feet  in  diameter,  and 
about  60  feet  in  height  from  the  root  of  the  Exchange  to  the  top  of  the 
lantern  which  stood  on  this  superb  dome.  The  observatory  was  circu- 
lar, and  was  supported  externally  by  Ionic  columns.  From  this  observ- 
atory was  an  extensive  view  of  the  whole  city  and  the  rich  and  varied 
scenery  on  every  side.  This  fine  edifice,  with  a  marble  statue  by  Ball 
standing  in  the  centre  of  the  Exchange  room,  was  destroyed  by  the 
great  fire  in  New  York  in  December,  1835. 

The  Masonic  Hall  above  alluded  to  was,  next  to  the  Merchants1 
Exchange,  the  finest  edifice  in  the  city  of  New  York  (excepting  the 
City  Hall)  in  1830.  It  was  designed  by  Hugh  Reinagle,  and  was  in 
the  pure  pointed  Gothic  style.  The  ornamentation  of  the  interior  was 
after  that  of  the  chapel  of  Henry  VII.  The  corner-stone  of  the 
building  was  laid  on  St.  John's  Day  (the  summer  solstice),  June  24, 
1826.  It  had  a  front  of  50  feet  on  Broadway,  and  a  depth  of  125  feet. 
The  entrance  hall,  at  the  centre  of  the  building,  was  10  feet  in  width, 
and  was  enriched  with  arches,  pendants,  open  friths  on  the  spandrels, 
and  a  beautiful  frieze  of  raised  Gothic  ornaments.  On  each  side  of 
this  hall  were  stores  in  front,  and  places  for  refreshments  in  the  rear. 

The  second  story  was  one  grand  Gothic  saloon,  00  feet  in  length,  47 
feet  in  width,  and  25  feet  in  height.  It  was  intended  for  concerts, 
balls,  and  public  meetings.  The  third  story  was  arranged  in  richly 
furnished  rooms  for  the  use  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  A  writer  of 
that  day  describing  the  edifice  put  the  record  of  its  dimensions  in 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


213 


italics,  with  an  exclamation-point  at  the  end,  for  the  building  seemed 
of  marvellous  capacity  and  beauty.  Compared  with  scores  of  edifices 
seen  in  the  city  to-day,  this  Masonic  Hall  and  the  Merchants'  Exchange 
appear  insignificant  in  dimensions. 

The  front  of  the  Masonic  Hall  was  built  of  light  granite.  The  centre 
door  was  made  of  solid  oak,  with  carved  panels  and  massive  frame- 
work. The  central  window  was  a  splendid  piece  of  Gothic  architecture 
22  feet  in  height  and  10  feet  in  width.  The  sites  of  this  hall  and  of 
the  old  Tabernacle  near  by  are  now  covered  with  commercial  buildings. 

"While  the  Masonic  Hall  was  a- building,  public  indignation  was 
vehemently  aroused  by  the  alleged  murder  of  William  Morgan,  in 
western  New  York,  by  the  Masons,  because  he  had  divulged  some  of 
their  secrets.  Shrewd  politicians  took  advantage  of  the  excitement, 
formed  a  political  Anti-Masonic  party,  and  endeavored  to  make  the 
Masonic  order  odious  in  the  public  mind.  They  succeeded  for  a  while, 
and  so  unpopular  became  the  very  name  of  Masons  that  as  a  matter  of 
policy  the  name  of  the  new  edifice  devoted  to  the  use  of  the  fraternity 
was  changed  to  Gothic  Hall. 

The  building  of  the  Merchants'  Exchange  and  the  Masonic  Hall 
marked  the  opening  of  a  new  era  in  domestic  architecture  in  New  York 
City,  both  in  style  and  materials.  These  structures  were  seeds  sown  in 
rich  soil,  and  have  produced  a  wonderful  harvest.  They  were  prophe- 
cies of  magnificence  and  of  extravagance  in  expenditure  in  buildings, 
when  dwelling-houses  should  be  superbly  palatial  in  size  and  decoration, 
and  mere  business  houses  should  vie  in  spaciousness  and  elegance  with 
the  municipal  halls  and  the  gathering-places  of  the  guilds  in  the  old 
commercial  cities  of  Europe.  That  prophecy  has  been  fulfilled  in  our 
day. 

In  less  than  a  decade  of  years  afcer  the  completion  of  the  structures 
just  mentioned  a  city  newspaper  remarked  :  "  New  York  is  undergoing 
a  wonderful  transformation,  especially  Broadway  ;  and  very  soon  it 
will  be  a  city  of  brick  instead  of  wooden  buildings."  Since  that  time 
— a  period  of  fifty  years — what  marvellous  transformations  have  taken 
place  in  the  great,  growing  city  !  It  is  now  largely  a  city  of  freestone 
dwellings  in  its  best  sections,  and  of  stone  and  iron  in  its  business 
streets.  The  rough  cobble-stones  that  covered  the  streets  have  given 
place  to  pavements  almost  as  smooth  as  tile-flooring,  and  almost  as  solid 
as  unseamed  rock.  Already  in  1830  the  transformation  had  begun, 
under  the  stimulating  power  of  enterprise,  prosperity,  and  rapidly  in- 
creasing wealth. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  first  decade  (1830—10)  the  commerce  of  the 


214 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


city  of  New  York  had  begun  to  feel  the  expansive  energies  of  new 
life.  There  was  marked  vigor  in  all  its  functions,  and  the  city  pre- 
sented valid  claims  to  the  dignified  title  of  the  Commercial  Metropolis 
of  the  Republic.  Its  foreign  commerce  (imports  and  exports)  in  1S23 
was,  in  value,  about  $38,000,000  ;  in  1830  it  exceeded  $50,000,000. 

Down  to  the  year  1830,  and  even  somewhat  later,  some  of  the  lead- 
ing branches  of  trade  had  particular  localities  which  were  really 
business  centres  of  each  branch.  The  hatters  and  fur-dealers  were  in 
Water  Street,  where  damp  cellars  were  considered  desirable,  especially 
for  the  raw  materials  of  the  hatter's  wares.  Swift  tfe  Hurlburt,  who 
began  business  in  1835,  were  the  first  in  the  hatters  trade  who  broke 
out  from  the  environs  of  Water  Street  and  opened  an  establishment  on 
Broadway. 

The  stove -dealers  were  also  in  Water  Street,  and  that  is  still  distin- 
guished by  the  numerous  establishments  of  this  kind,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  foot  of  Fulton  Street.  The  wholesale  druggists  were 
chiefly  in  Fletcher  Street,  which  extended  from  Pearl  Street  to  the  East 
River.  The  shipping  merchants  were  chiefly  in  South  Street,  below 
Peck  Slip.  The  wholesale  grocers  were  in  Front  Street.  The  leather- 
dealers  were  in  the  region  known  as  The  Swam]),  between  Beekman, 
Cliff,  Pearl,  William,  and  Frankfort  streets,  embracing  the  area  of  the 
old  Beekman  Swam]),  which  found  an  outlet  for  its  surplus  water  into 
the  East  River  below  Peck  Slip.  The  wholesale  dry -goods  merchants 
were  in  Pearl  Street,  below  Coenties  and  Peck  slips  ;  the  silk  mer- 
chants were  in  Hanover  Square,  and  the  merchants'  clothing  establish- 
ments were  also  in  Pearl  Street. 

South  Street  still  remains  the  headquarters  of  shipping  merchants 
and  the  shipping  business  of  all  kinds.  About  1830  a  few  large 
shippers  built  wharves  and  stores  on  Washington  Street,  then  the 
Hudson  River  front  of  the  lower  part  of  the  city  ;  but  the  river  was  so 
frequently  filled  with  ice  during  a  part  of  the  year  that  they  returned 
to  South  Street.  Among  those  who  thus  retraced  their  steps  and 
amassed  large  fortunes  was  the  late  Jesse  Hoyt. 

Lent's  Basin,  between  Whitehall  Street  and  Coenties  Slip,  was  occu- 
pied by  the  largest  vessels  that  brought  Western  produce  from  Albany 
to  New  York.  The  larger  commission  merchants  were  on  the  south 
side  of  Coenties  Slip,  .such  as  Suydam,  Sage  &  Co. ,  Samuel  Tooker  & 
Co. ,  Peter  Kevins,  James  ~N.  Cobb,  and  others.  On  the  south  side  of 
the  slip  was  the  landing-place  of  the  Boston  packets.  These  packets 
carried  most  of  the  merchandise  from  the  West,  by  the  Erie  Canal,  for 
the  Boston  merchants  before  the  railroads  were  built.    "  The  4  Hub  ' 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


215 


has  put  on  a  good  many  airs  since  it  was  compelled  to  go  to  New  York 
for  a  barrel  of  flour,"  wrote  an  old  New  York  merchant.* 

Old  Slip  and  Coffee- House  Slip  were  often  crowded  with  the  larger 
sailing  packets  from  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  Richmond,  Charleston, 
and  Savannah,  before  ocean  steam  navigation  was  introduced.  Burling 
Slip  was  the  haven  for  transient  sailing  vessels. 

The  Swamp  continues  to  be  the  business  centre  of  the  leather 
trade  in  New  York,  and  now  embraces  about  one  hundred  business 
Arms.  These  merchants  are  towers  of  strength  in  the  business  and 
financial  world. 

The  tanning  of  leather  was  one  of  the  leading  industries  of  New 
York  so  early  as  the  period  of  the  Dutch  occupation  of  Manhattan 
Island.  For  generations  it  was  always  connected  with  the  business  of 
shoemaking.  The  first  tannery  and  shoe  manufactory  was  established 
by  Coenradt  Ten  Eyck,  on  Broad  Street,  in  1653.  lie  died  there  in 
1680,  leaving  his  business  to  his  three  sons.  At  that  time  the  tanners 
made  up  their  own  leather  into  shoes. 

About  1661  Abel  Ilardenbroeck  carried  on  the  same  business  at  the 
corner  of  Broad  Street  and  Exchange  Place.  He  appears  to  have  been 
a  rowdy,  for  he  was  complained  of  and  brought  before  the  magistrate 
on  charges  of  "  creating  an  uproar  with  soldiers,"  breaking  windows, 
and  other  disturbances  of  the  peace.  He  appears  to  have  been  a  sort 
of  rogue  also  in  business,  for  he  was  charged  before  the  burgomaster  of 
New  Amsterdam  with  "  making  shoes  that  ripped  in  the  soles."  The 
punishment  awarded  for  the  last-named  offence  was  the  making  of  a 
new  pair  and  paying  several  guilders  to  the  burgomaster  who  repri- 
manded him.  Broad  Street  was  for  some  time  the  centre  of  the  tan- 
ning and  shoemaking  business  in  the  city. 

In  1669  (after  the  first  English  occupation  of  the  city)  a  patent  was 
granted  to  A.  &  C.  Van  Laer  for  a  mill  for  preparing  tanning-bark  for 
use.  It  was  not  long  after  this  that  the  business  was  driven  from  the 
city,  beyond  the  palisades  at  Wall  Street.  The  tanners  were  assigned 
sixteen  acres  of  land  for  their  pursuit,  extending  from  the  east  side  of 
(present)  Maiden  Lane  to  Ann  Street,  between  Gold  Street  and  Broad- 
way, to  the  site  of  the  New  York  Herald  publishing  house.  This  lot 
of  land  was  called  the  "  Shoemakers'  Portion."  Their  tanning-pits 
were  near  the  junction  of  Maiden  Lane  and  William  Street.  One  of 
the  wealthiest  proprietors  of  the  Shoemakers'  Portion  gave  the  land  on 
which  the  North  Dutch  Church  was  erected,  on  the  corner  of  (present) 
Fulton  and  AVilliam  streets. 

*  John  W.  Degranw,  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post. 


210 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


When  the  population  spread  beyond  the  city  limits  of  New  Amster- 
dam, and  away  toward  the  (present)  City  Hall  Park,  the  tanners  were 
again  compelled  to  remove  their  works.  They  settled  along  the  line  of 
the  "  Collect1 '  or  "Fresh  Water  Pond,"  to  (present)  Canal  Street, 
where  they  continued  to  pursue  their  trade  until  after  the  Revolution, 
when  they  located  within  the  area  of  the  Swamp,  which  had  been 
closed  up  and  several  streets  had  been  made  through  it.  Ferry  Street 
was  so  called  because  it  led  directly  to  the  Brooklyn  ferry. 

William  Beekman,  the  original  owner  of  the  Swamp,  came  to 
New  Netherlands  in  1647,  in  the  employ  of  the  Dutch  West  India 
Company.  He  was  an  enterprising  citizen,  became  wealthy,  and  built 
a  residence  on  the  edge  of  the  Swamp,  on  the  high  ground  near  the 
corner  of  Beekman  and  Cliff  streets,  Avhere  St.  George's  Chapel  after- 
ward stood.  He  died  there  in  17<>7.  His  landed  property  there  was 
first  sold  in  lots  in  1717.  Balthasar  Bayard  owned  seven  acres  adjoin- 
ing Beekman's  land,  and  these  acres  constituted  a  part  of  the  Swamp. 
This  included  Frankfort  and  Yandewater  streets,  and  extended  to 
Pearl  and  Rose  streets.  A  part  of  Bayard's  land  was  sold  in  1783  to 
the  widow  of  Hendrick  van  de  Water.* 

A  hundred  years  ago  the  vicinity  of  the  Swamp  was  the  most  popu- 
lous part  of  the  city.  On  its  eastern  border,  Pearl  Street,  Franklin 
Square,  and  Cherry  Street  formed  the  extremely  fashionable  quarter 
of  NeAv  York.  The  Waltons,  the  Franklins,  the  Pearsalls  and  other 
notable  merchants  dwelt  there.  In  the  residence  of  Walter  Franklin, 
the  first  dwelling-place  of  President  Washington,  De  Witt  Clinton  was 
married  to  that  Quaker  merchant's  daughter. 

After  the  Revolution  the  tanners  began  to  desert  the  vicinity  of  the 
Collect,  and  located  around  Jacob  and  Frankfort  streets,  in  the  Swamp. 
The  old  vats  at  the  Collect  were  left  open,  and  became  a  subject  of 
complaint  in  1707  as  dangerous. 

From  the  time  of  its  first  occupation  by  tanners  and  manufacturers 
of  leather  until  now,  the  occupants  of  the  Swamp  have  grown  in 
wealth  and  business  and  social  influence.  The  Swamp  has  been  trans- 
formed from  a  place  of  manufactures  f  to  a  mart.  Within  the  last 
fifty  or  sixty  years  its  volume  of  business  has  enormously  increased. 
In  1827  the  number  of  hides  of  sole  leather  received  in  New  York 

*  For  these  facts  I  am  indebted  to  a  series  of  interesting  articles  in  the  Shoe  and  Leather 
Reporter,  vol.  xxiv.,  written  by  F.  W.  Norcross. 

f  There  are,  perhaps,  persons  living  who  then  saw  no  house  in  the  space  bounded 
by  Jacob,  Gold,  Ferry,  and  Frankfort  streets  —  nothing  but  tan-yards  or  vats.  The 
houses  surrounding  these  vats  were  very  small,  and  all  built  of  wood. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


21? 


(almost  wholly  in  the  Swamp)  was  265,000  ;  in  1837,  005,000  ;  in 
1S47,  1,1(58,000  ;  in  1857,  3,248,000  ;  in  1807,  3,824,687  ;  in  1877, 
4,242,570,  and  in  1881,  5,457,417. 

Among  the  "  men  of  the  Swamp"  were  found  some  of  the  most 
valuable  citizens  of  the  metropolis  fifty  years  ago,  such  as  Gideon  Lee,* 
Israel  Corse, f  Abraham  Bloodgood,:}:  David  Bryson, §  Jacob  Lorillard, 
Abraham  Polhemus,  Peter  McCartee,  Richard  Cunningham,  William 
Kumble,   Hugh  McCormick,    Shepherd  Knapp,    Jonathan  Thorne,  || 

*  Gideon  Lee  was  mayor  of  the  city  in  1833-34.  A  biographical  sketch  of  him  will  be 
found  on  a  subsequent  page. 

f  Israel  Corse  was  a  Friend  or  Quaker,  a  native  of  Chestertowu,  Maryland,  where  he 
was  born  in  1760.  At  the  age  ot  seventeen  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  tanner  in  Camden, 
Delaware.  When  his  apprenticeship  expired  he  was  worth  just  seventy-five  cents.  On 
that  capital  he  began  business,  married  Lydia  Trotts,  a  farmer's  daughter,  who  brought 
him  cpiite  a  fortune,  at  that  dry  in  money,  and  a  greater  fortune  in  love,  prudence,  and 
industry.  Only  two  of  their  several  children  (Barney  and  Lydia)  survived.  Israel  lived 
in  Camden  until  he  amassed  fortune  of  $10,000,  when  he  came  to  New  York  in  1803, 
where  his  wife  died.  He  married  again.  He  went  into  business  in  the  Swamp.  His 
son  Barney  married  a  daughter  of  Samuel  Leggett  ;  his  daughter  Lydia  married  Jona- 
than Thome,  who,  on  (he  retirement  of  Israel  from  business  in  1830,  became  a  proprietor 
of  the  concern,  with  his  brothei  in-law,  Barney  Corse.  Israel  lived  several  years  m  Van- 
dewater  Street.  He  afterward  occupied  a  house  in  East  Broadway,  where  he  died  in 
1842.  Israel  Corse  was  one  ot  the  devoted  band  who  succeeded  in  ridding  New  York 
City  of  the  curse  of  lotteries  and  made  the  selling  of  lottery  tickets  a  crime. 

J  Abraham  Bloodgood  was  a  lamarkable  man.  He  died  in  1837.  Mr.  Bloodgood  was 
an  earnest  Republican  or  Democrat,  and  a  bright  light  in  Tammany  Hall.  At  one  time, 
when  there  was  a  split  in  the  B.icktail  party  in  the  city  cn  some  local  question,  he  was 
the  leader  of  the  "  Swamp  Clique*'  in  opposition  to  the"  North  River  Squad,"  as  the 
two  factions  were  respectively  called. 

§  David  Bryson,  another  remarkable  man,  was  a  native  of  Ireland.  He  came  to  America 
after  the  Irish  rebellion  in  179t',  with  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  Dr.  Macneven,  and  other 
Irish  patriots.  He  began  business  in  the  Swamp  as  a  tanner  and  currier,  became 
wealthy,  and  sent  funds  to  Ireland  so  soon  as  prosperity  was  assured,  to  enable  his 
parents  to  come  to  America.  David  Bryson  was  a  wise  business  man,  and  those  who 
knew  him  best  loved  him  most.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Phoenix  Bank  and 
a  long  time,  and  until  his  death,  one  of  its  directors.  His  son  Peter  was  its  cashier 
at  one  time. 

I  Jonathan  Thorne  lived  in  good  health  of  body  and  mind  until  1884.  He  was 
born  in  the  town  of  Washington,  Duchess  County,  N.  Y.,  on  April  20,  1801.  His  great- 
grandfather, Isaac  Thorne,  ca;;ie  from  Long  Island  and  settled  in  that  region  in  1720. 
Pie  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends  or  Quakers,  and  so  is  the  subject  of  this 
sketch. 

Jonathan  Thorne*s  father,  Samuel  Thorne,  began  life  as  a  merchant  in  Washington  in 
1794,  and  continued  in  that  pursuit  until  1814,  when  he  purchased  a  farm  not  far  away, 
and  which  now  constitutes  the  famous  Thorndale  estate.  He  desired  his  only  son,  Jona- 
than, to  be  a  farmer,  and  it  was  for  that  purpose  that  the  broad  acres  were  bought.  The 
young  man,  after  several  years'  experience,  felt  a  restless  desire  to  try  his  fortune  in 
business  in  New  York.    Thither  he  went  in  1820,  and  engaged  in  the  dry-goods  trade. 


218 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOKE  CITY. 


Thomas  Everett,  Morgan  L.  Smith,  James,  George,  and  Thorn:'.; 
Brooks,  Daniel  Tooker,  Peter  Bonnett,  Henry  Ottery,  and  others.  The 
late  Charles  M.  Leupp,  a  son-in  law  and  partner  in  business  of  Gideon 
Lee,  once  said  : 

"  The  Roman  mother,  Cornelia,  when  asked  to  display  her  jewels, 
sent  for  her  sons  and  pointed  to  them.  So  can  we  to  these  [hide  and 
leather]  fathers,  and  claim  them  as  our  jewels.  Let  us  cherish  their 
example,  and  emulate  their  noble  qualities,  so  that  hereafter  our  suc- 
cessors may,  in  like  manner,  be  not  ashamed  of  any  of  us,  but  be  proud 
to  exclaim,  '  He,  too,  was  a  Swamper. '  " 

At  the  end  of  three  years  his  father,  needing  his  assistance  on  the  farm,  induced  Jona- 
than to  abandon  his  business  in  the  city  and  join  him.  The  young  merchant  of  twenty- 
three  did  not  return  alone,  for  he  had  married  the  amiable  Lydia,  daughter  of  Israel 
Corse.  She  cheerfully  left  the  city  for  a  home  in  the  country  for  his  sake.  But  her  hus- 
band yearned  for  the  greater  activity  of  mercantile  life,  with  all  its  possibilities  for  larger 
pecuniary  gain  than  that  of  farming,  and  in  March,  1830,  they  returned  to  New  York. 
His  father-in-law,  then  grown  aged  and  wealthy,  desired  to  retire  from  business,  and 
offered  to  transfer  it  to  young  Thorne.  The  latter  hesitated,  for  he  was  ignorant  of 
tanning,  and  indeed  of  other  parts  of  the  business.  His  brother  in-law,  Barney  Corse, 
who  was  his  father's  business  partner,  finally  induced  Thorne  to  join  him.  So  it  was 
that  Mr.  Thorne  entered  upon  the  business  of  a  manufacturer  of  leather  and  a  leather 
merchant  in  1830,  and  continued  it  without  interruption  until  1880,  a  period  of  fifty 
years.    For  forty  years  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  largest  house  in  the  business. 

The  new  firm  went  under  the  old  name  of  "  Israel  Corse  it  Son"  until  1832,  when  Mr. 
Thorne  bought  the  interest  of  his  brother  in-law,  and  for  the  first  time  put  up  his  own 
name  over  the  door.  After  that  there  were  several  changes  in  the  composition  of  the 
firm.    For  about  fifteen  years  his  son  Edwin  (now  of  Thorndale)  was  a  member. 

No  merchant  ever  enjoyed  a  better  reputation  for  honor  and  probity  than  Jonathan 
Thorne.  He  made  it  a  rule  from  the  beginning  to  win  the  confidence  of  his  customers 
in  bis  integrity.  There  are  three  kinds  of  leather— perfect  sides,  slightly  damaged  sides, 
and  badly  damaged  sides.  He  always  instructed  his  men  when  assorting  leather  to  put 
with  the  badly  damaged  sides  the  slightly  damaged  ones.  This  was  bis  invariable  habit. 
Very  soon  he  gained  a  reputation  of  immense  value  to  him.  His  "  damaged  "  leather, 
containing  so  much  slightly  injured  leather,  always  commanded  a  higher  price  than 
damaged  leather  in  general,  and  secured  for  him  an  enviable  reputation.  He  bad  the 
satisfaction  of  an  approving  conscience  and  of  illustrating  the  truth  of  the  maxim  that 
"  honesty  is  the  best  policy." 

Mr.  Thorne  came  into  the  possession  of  the  estate  of  Thorndale  on  the  death  of  his 
father,  in  1849.  He  made  it  his  summer  residence.  Observing  the  inferiority  of  the 
live-stock  even  in  the  fine  farming  region  of  Duchess  County,  he  determined  to  give 
his  country  the  benefit  of  an  importation  of  England's  finest  Shorthorn  or  Durham 
cattle.  He  paid  as  high  as  $5000  for  a  single  animal,  but  found  the  venture  finally 
profitable.  In  time  the  Thorndale  stock  became  famous  among  breeders  on  both  sides 
of  the  Atlantic,  and  animals  were  exported  from  it  to  England. 

Mr.  Thorne  left  business  with  an  ample  fortune,  and  lives  in  elegant  retirement  in 
Fifth  Avenue,  New  York.  His  wife  died  in  the  city  of  Loudon,  England,  in  1872,  and  in 
187-1  he  married  Mrs.  Merritt,  daughter  of  George  S.  Fox. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


219 


About  the  year  1830  the  methods  of  mercantile  life  in  New  York 
were  rapidly  changing-.  Up  to  about  that  period  railroads  for  travel 
were  unknown  in  America.  A  visit  of  a  country  merchant  to  New 
York  was  a  marked  event  in  his  life,  lie  generally  went  to  the  city 
twice  a  year  (fall  and  spring)  to  purchase  goods.  An  advertisement  of 
one  of  these  merchants  in  a  Poughkeepsie  newspaper,  in  the  fall  of 
1824,  reads  : 

"  I  have  been  in  New  York  a  fortnight  making  a  careful  selection  of 
goods,  and  1  now  offer  for  sale,  at  a  moderate  profit,  a  large  assortment 
of  articles  suitable  for  the  fall  and  winter." 

The  wholesale  dry-goods  merchants,  as  we  have  observed,  were  then 
chiefly  to  be  found  in  Pearl  Street.  The  families  of  many  of  them 
lived  over  their  stores  and  boarded  the  clerks,  and  apartments  not  so 
occupied  were  boarding-houses.  These  were  exclusively  for  country 
merchants.  Those  who  traded  in  rural  districts  kept  a  variety  store — 
dry  goods,  groceries,  hardware,  crockery,  medicines,  etc.  They 
remained  several  days  in  the  city,  buying  their  various  goods,  and  it 
was  an  object  of  jobbers  to  have  one  of  their  best  salesmen  board  at  a 
large  lodging-house  for  country  merchants. 

Merchants'  clerks  in  those  clays  performed  manual  services  unknown 
to  their  class  in  1883.  There  were  very  few  carts  then  used  by  the 
dry -goods  merchants.  Most  of  their  limited  business  in  city  trans- 
portation was  done  by  street  porters,  with  hand-carts  and  large  wheel- 
barrows. They  stood  at  street  corners  ready  to  t  ke  or  go  for  a  load. 
TheyAvere  regularly  licensed,  and  wore  a  brass  plate  with  their  number 
on  the  register  engraved  upon  it.  Their  charges  for  any  distance  below 
Chambers  Street  was  one  shilling  (12$  cents)  ;  for  any  distance  above 
Chambers  Street,  a  pistareen  (18|  cents).  Such  heavy  trucks  as  are 
now  seen  were  never  heard  of.  "  "When  our  employer  would  purchase 
a  lot  of  goods  at  auction,"  wrote  the  late  William  E.  Dodge  concerning 
his  experience  as  a  dry -goods  clerk,  "  it  was  our  business  to  go  to  the 
auction-rooms  and  compare  them  with  the  bill,  and  if  two  of  us  could 
carry  them  home  we  did  so,  as  it  would  save  the  shilling  porterage. 
I  remember  that  while  in  this  store  I  carried  bundles  of  goods  up 
Broadway  to  Greenwich  Yillage,  near  what  are  now  Seventh  and 
Eighth  avenues  and  Fourth  to  Tenth  Street."* 

*  William  E.  Dodge  was  an  eminent  merchant  and  philanthropist.  He  was  born  in 
Hartford,  Conn.,  September  4.  1805  ;  went  to  New  York  in  1818,  and  became  a  clerk  in  a 
wholesale  dry-goods  store.  In  1827  he  began  business  for  himself  in  the  same  line. 
The  next  year  he  married  Melissa,  a  daughter  of  Anson  G.  Thelps,  a  dealer  in  metals. 
They  celebrated  their  golden  wedding  June  24,  1878,  at  their  country-seat  in  Tarrytown- 


220 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  retail  trade  was  mostly  in  William  Street  and  Maiden  Lane, 
excepting  a  few  fashionable  houses  on  Broadway.  The  cheap  retail 
stores  were  in  upper  Pearl  and  Chatham  streets.  The  trade  was 
mostly  divided  by  sections,  some  selling  almost  entirely  to  Southern 
merchants,  others  to  Northern  and  Western  merchants,  and  others  to 
Eastern  and  Long  Island  merchants.  A  "  jobber"  before  1830  was  con- 
sidered sound  and  had  good  credit  if  he  had  invested  in  business 
$15,000  to  $20,000.  Probably  not  over  a  half  dozen  persons  in  New 
Yoi*k  sold  goods  to  the  value  of  over  $1,000,000  a  year  ;  now  there 
are  some  who  sell  a  million  a  week.* 

on  the-Hudson,  where  their  seven  children,  all  sons,  were  present.  In  1833  Mr.  Dodge 
sold  out  his  dry-goods  business  and  became  a  partner  with  his  father-in  law,  under  the 
firm  name  of  Phelps,  Dodge  iV  Co.  He  accumulated  a  large  fortune,  continuing  in  busi- 
ness until  his  death,  February  9,  1883. 

Mr.  Dodge  was  singularly  active  in  various  business  enterprises  and  in  religious  and 
philanthropic  movements.  For  twelve  years  he  was  a  director  of  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany ;  was  president  of  the  Houston  and  Texas  Railroad,  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Central  Railroad  of  New  Jersey  and  of  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna,  and  Western  Railroad. 
He  was  a  director  in  other  railroad  companies,  in  banks,  and  in  insurance,  trust,  and 
telegraph  companies.  He  was  a  member  of  the  famous  Peace  Congress  at  Washington  in 
18(51,  and  of  the  Indian  Commission  appointed  by  President  (Jraut.  Mr.  Dodge  was  a 
member  of  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  in  which  he  served  on  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs.  In  1800  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  Loyal  Convention  held  in  Philadelphia.  He 
was  also  for  many  years  an  active  member  of  the  Union  League  Club.  In  1855  he 
became  a  member  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  was  its  vice-president  four 
years,  elected  president  in  1807,  and  re-elected  for  three  successive  terms. 

He  was  connected  with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  was  an  elder  and  for  twenty 
years  a  Sabbath-school  superintendent.  In  his  early  days  he  assisted  in  the  organization 
of  the  Young  Men's  Bible  Society  of  New  York,  and  was  at  his  death  a  manager  of  the 
American  Bible  Society.  He  was  deeply  interested  in  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tions, in  foreign  missions,  in  the  cause  of  temperance,  and  in  various  organizations  for 
the  promotion  of  religion  and  morality,  and  in  the  physical  comfort  of  his  fellow-men. 
He  was  president  of  the  American  Branch  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  of  the  National 
Temperance  Society,  and  of  the  Christian  Home  for  Intemperate  Men,  and  was  largely 
instrumental  in  providing  a  similar  institution  for  women.  He  was  a  director  of  the 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  and  did  much  for  educational  institutions,  especially,  of 
late  years,  among  the  freedmen.  A  strict  Sabbatarian,  he  left  the  direction  of  the 
Central  Railroad  of  New  Jersey  because  they  allowed  trains  to  run  on  Sunday. 

Mr.  Dodge's  hand  was  always  open,  and  his  charities  are  said  to  have  amounted  an- 
nually to  $100,000.    His  remains  were  buried  in  the  family  vault  in  Woodlawn  Cemetery. 

*  Address  by  William  E.  Dodge,  at  Association  Hall,  April  27,  1880. 


CHAPTER  XL 


THE  various  industrial  pursuits  in  New  York  about  1830  were 
stimulated  by  the  increased  activity  in  commercial  business.  The 
shipbuilding  interest  especially  felt  the  thrill  of  the  new  life.  The  ship- 
yards, as  the  places  of  business  of  the  shipbuilders  were  called,  were 
clustered  on  the  shores  of  the  East  River,  from  Catharine  Street  to 
Thirteenth  Street. 

Chief  among  the  shipbuilders  at  that  time  was  Christian  Bergh, 
father  of  Henry  Bergh  the  philanthropist,  whose  yard  was  near  the 
(present)  Grand  Street  ferry.  He  was  a  native  of  Rhinebeck,  Duchess 
County,  N.  Y.,  where  he  was  born,  in  April,  1703.  His  ancestors  had 
come  to  America  from  Germany  in  the  seventeenth  century.  Having 
learned  the  business  of  marine  architecture  thoroughly,  and  being  very 
expert  and  very  honest,  he  never  lacked  employment  for  a  day. 

The  United  States  Government  appointed  him  to  superintend  the 
construction  of  the  frigate  President,  a  44-gun  ship  built  at  Xew  York, 
and  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  war  for  independence  (1812-15)  he 
was  sent  to  Oswego,  on  Lake  Ontario,  where,  with  Henry  Eckford,  he 
built  the  brig  Oneida,  under  the  direction  of  Lieutenant  Melancthon 
Woolsey,  of  the  United  States  Navy.  After  the  war  he  established  a 
shipyard  at  the  foot  of  Scammel  Street,  on  the  East  River,  where  he 
built  packet-ships  for  American  lines  for  European  ports.  There  for 
many  years  Mr.  Bergh 's  tall  and  commanding  figure  might  be  seen,  in 
hlne  coat  and  trousers  and  white  neckcloth.  He  was  very  popular  be- 
cause of  his  suavity  of  manner  and  inflexible  integrity. 

Christian  Bergh  was  a  bright  light  in  Tammany  Hall,  and  often  pre- 
sided with  dignity  at  the  meetings  of  the  sachems,  but  persistently 
refused  to  take  a  public  office  of  any  kind.  His  dislike  of  debt  was 
almost  a  passion  with  him.  In  his  last  illness  he  became  impressed 
with  the  idea  that  his  physician's  bill  had  not  been  paid.  He  desired 
his  son  Henry  to  fill  out  a  check.  On  being  reminded  that  it  was  not 
yet  presented  nor  yet  due,  he  nevertheless  persisted,  and  to  quiet  him  a 
check  was  filled  out,  and  witli  trembling  hand  lie  signed  it.  A  few 
days  afterward  the  famous  shipbuilder  and  honest  citizen  died  (June  21, 


222 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


1843),  at  the  age  of  eighty  years.  Christian  Bergh  was  the  first  ship- 
builder who  had  the  courage,  the  humanity,  and  the  common-sense  to 
employ  colored  men  in  his  yard. 

Below  Bergh's  shipyard  was  that  of  Thorn  <fc  Williams,  at  the  foot 
of  Montgomery  Street  ;  of  Carpenter  &  Bishop,  near  the  foot  of 
Clinton  Street.  Adjoining  the  latter  were  the  yards  of  Ficket  & 
Thomas  ;  of  Morgan  cV:  Son,  at  the  foot  of  Rutgers  Street,  and  one  or 
two  others  below.  Above  Bergh  were  the  yards  of  Sneedon  &  Law- 
rence, near  the  foot  of  Corlears  Street  ;  Samuel  Harnard's,  near  the 
foot  of  Grand  Street  ;  Brown  &  Bell's,  from  Stanton  to  Houston 
Street  (a  part  of  which  Henry  Eckford  had  formerly  occupied,  and  part 
by  Adam  and  Noah  Brown)  ;  Smith  &  Dimon's,  from  Fourth  to  Fifth 
Street  ;  Webb  &  Allen's,  from  Fifth  to  Seventh  Street  ;  Bishop  & 
Simonson's,  from  Seventh  to  Eighth  Street,  and  higher  up  were  the 
yards  of  Steel's  Brothers,  William  H.  Brown,  and  Thomas  Collyer. 
There  were  smaller  establishments,  the  whole  numbering  more  than 
thirty. 

The  shore  of  the  East  River  above  the  northernmost  yard,  at  the 
foot  of  Thirteenth  Street,  presented  a  fine  sandy  beach,  where  and  at 
the  foot  of  Corlears  Street  the  Baptists  immersed  their  converts  in  the 
limpid  water,  and  where,  in  summer  twilight,  groups  of  men  and  boys, 
women  and  girls,  at  a  place  called  Dandy  Point,  might  have  been  seen 
enjoying  salt-water  baths.  They  often  arrived  in  big  wagons,  holding 
more  than  a  dozen  of  both  sexes,  who  at  different  places,  the  men  at 
one  spot  the  women  at  another,  changed  good  garments  for  old  ones, 
without  the  convenience  of  bathing-houses.  ]Sear  by  was  a  house  for 
plain  refreshments,  kept  by  a  Scotchman  named  Gibson — "  Sandy 
Gibson."  Williarasburgh,  opposite,  was  then  a  straggling  hamlet  of 
cottages,  with  orchards  and  gardens. 

Two  of  the  shipbuilders  here  mentioned  were  apprentices  to  Henry 
Eckford,  who  in  the  early  part  of  this  century  was  the  most  eminent 
marine  architect  in  the  country.  He  was  a  native  of  Scotland,  who 
came  to  New  York  in  1796,  when  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age. 
He  and  Bergh  became  acquainted  at  an  early  day,  and  were  ever  after- 
ward fast  friends.  They  lived  near  each  other,  Bergh  on  the  north- 
east corner  of  Scammel  and  Water  streets,  and  Eckford  in  Water  Street. 
Their  chief  happiness  outside  their  homes  was  in  visiting  each  other. 
On  a  hill  near  by  Miss  MacLaughlin  kept  a  dairy  farm,  and  supplied 
the  shipbuilders  with  milk.  Two  of  Eckford's  apprentices,  Thomas 
Megson  and  William  Bennett,  are  yet  living  in  the  city  of  Xew  York. 

Eckford  established  a  shipyard  near  the  Brooklyn  Navy- Yard,  in 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


223 


1801,  and  soon  acquired  an  excellent  reputation.  He  built  a  ship  of 
1100  tons  for  John  Jacob  Astor,  and  was  employed  by  the  United 
States  Government  in  building  vessels  for  the  navv  during  the  war  of 
1812-15.  After  the  war  he  was  made  superintendent  of  the  Brooklyn 
Xavv-Yard.  He  was  a  faithful  public  officer.  One  day  he  found  the 
blacksmith  of  the  yard  shoeing  the  commodore's  horses,  lie  ordered 
them  to  be  immediately  removed,  saying,  "  The  business  of  this  shop 
is  to  repair  government  vessels,  not  to  shoe  commodore's  horses.'' 

Eckford  built  the  steamship  Robert  Fulton,  which  in  1822  made  the 
first  successful  ocean  voyage,  by  steam,  to  New  Orleans  and  Havana, 
lie  also  built  six  ships  of  the  line  for  the  government,  made  a  plan  for 
the  reorganization  of  the  navy,  at  the  request  of  President  Jackson,  and 
in  1831  constructed  a  ship  of  war  for  the  Sultan  of  Turkey.  He  entered 
the  service  of  the  Turkish  Government  as  naval  constructor  at  Con- 
stantinople, but  died  within  a  year  after  his  arrival  there — November 
12,  1832. 

Among  the  eminent  shipbuilders  of  that  day  who  survived  to  the 
period  of  the  present  generation  may  be  named  Isaac  Webb,  the  great 
builder  of  packet-ships,  born  in  Stamford,  Connecticut,  in  1794,  and 
died  in  1843  ;  Stephen  Smith,  a  native  of  the  same  town  ;  David 
Brown,  who  died  in  1852  ;  Jacob  Bell,  and  Jacob  A.  "NVestervelt,  a  native 
of  New  Jersey,  the  son  of  a  shipbuilder,  an  apprentice  with  Bergh, 
and  afterward  his  partner  in  business,  and  engaged  in  building  Havre 
and  London  packets  before  the  year  1837.  He  was  mayor  of  the  city 
of  New  York  in  1852,  and  immediately  afterward  built  the  United 
States  steam-frigate  Brooklyn. 

Another  of  the  old  shipbuilders  of  New  York  is  John  Inglis,  born  in 
1808,  and  became  an  apprentice  to  Stephen  Smith.  He  built  the 
steamships  Milwaukee  and  I?c//  Jacket  on  Lake  Erie  in  183",  and  on  his 
return  to  New  York  established  an  immense  shipyard  at  the  foot  of 
East  Fourth  Street,  where  he  sometimes  employed  between  400  and 
5oo  men.  His  specialty  was  steamship  building.  He  constructed  gov- 
ernment vessels  during  the  Civil  War.  He  also  built  river  and  Sound 
steamers  of  great  speed.  Before  1866  he  had  built  56  large  steam  ves- 
sels.* The  later  shipbuilders  and  the  business  of  shipbuilding  will  be 
considered  hereafter.  About  the  year  1844  began  the  most  important 
era  in  shipbuilding. f 

*  A  bronze  medal  was  awarded  to  John  Inglis  &  Sons,  by  the  American  Institute  in 
1863,  for  a  model  of  the  revenue  cutter  Askuelot,  which  was  lost  in  the  East  Indies  in  1882. 

f  The  labors  and  the  wages  of  workmen  in  the  shipyards  (and  indeed  everywhere  else) 
fifty  years  ago  and  now  appear  in  strong  contrast.    The  mechanic  then  worked  from 


224 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  manufactures  in  the  city  of  New  York  at  the  beginning  of  this 
decade  were  neither  extensive  nor  various,  but  very  soon  circumstances 
produced  a  rapid  increase  in  the  kinds  and  products  of  the  mechanic 
arts.  The  people  of  our  country  depended  largely  upon  Europe  for  the 
products  of  the  loom  and  the  forge,  for  foreign  labor  was  so  low  that 
American  mechanics  could  not  profitably  compete  with  it. 

To  remedy  this  disability  tariffs  on  foreign  goods  were  established. 
So  early  as  181<!  Henry  Clay  and  John  C.  Calhoun  were  associated  in 
establishing  the  "  American  system" — that  is,  stringent  tariffs  for  the 
protection  of  American  manufacturers  of  every  kind.  The  tariff  of 
181(>  did  not  effect  much  in  the  way  of  encouraging  our  manufacturers, 
neither  did  a  more  stringent  tariff  law  in  1824,  but  that  of  1827-28  was 
effectual,  and  greatly  stimulated  the  growth  of  the  mechanic  arts  and 
textile  manufactures.  It  did  more  :  it  awakened  the  hostility  of  the 
cotton-growers  of  the  South,  and  led  to  the  intense  and  dangerous 
political  disturbance  known  in  history  as  the  Nullification  movement  in 
South  Carolina. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  decade  there  were  in  the  city  of  New  York 
a  score  or  more  of  incorporated  manufacturing  companies,  organized 
under  a  State  law  of  1811,  allowing  any  "five  or  more  persons"  to 
form  a  company  for  the  manufacture  of  certain  specified  articles.  The 
principal  of  these  companies  were  : 

The  Eagle  Manufacturing  Company,  for  the  manufacture  of  cotton, 
woollen  and  linen  goods  ;  the  Copper  Manufacturing  Company,  for  the 
manufacture  of  copper  and  brass  ;  the  Patent  Oil  Company,  for  press- 
ing and  straining  oil  ;  the  New  York  Gas-light  Company,  for  manu- 
facturing illuminating  gas  ;  the  New  York  Laboratory  Association,  for 
the  manufacture  of  white  and  red  lead  and  other  paints  ;  the  New 
York  Company,  for  the  same  purpose  ;  the  New  York  Steel  Company, 
Steam  Saw-mill  Company,  the  Linen  Company,  the  New  York  Manu- 
facturing Company,  the  New  York  Sugar  Iiefining  Company,  and  the 
New  York  Chemical  Company.  There  were  also  two  chartered  coal 
companies,  "for  the  purpose  of  exploring  and  working  mines  of  coal 
and  other  valuable  minerals,  and  for  delivering  at  New  York  coal  for 

sunrise  to  sunset,  or  from  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  half  past  seven  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  for  (1.25  a  day.  He  was  allowed  an  hour  for  breakfast  and  two  hours  for 
dinner.  Then  in  the  shipyards  the  heaviest  timbers,  now  handled  by  steam  or  horse 
power,  were  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  men  :  and  many  hours  were  consumed  in  sawing 
a  stick  of  live  oak  by  hand,  one  workman  standing  in  a  ditch  below,  his  face  protected 
from  the  sawdust  by  a  veil,  while  now  a  circular  saw  driven  by  steam  or  horse  power 
would  do  the  same  work  in  about  one  minute. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


225 


fuel,  from  the  Ohio  River,"  etc.  These  coal  companies  had  been 
organized  and  chartered  in  1814,  when  anthracite  first  became  publicly 
known  as  fuel.  It  was  not  generally  introduced  into  the  city  of  New 
York  before  1825. 

About  1832  English  mechanics,  disheartened  by  "  dull  times"  at  home 
and  attracted  by  "  flush  times"  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  began 
to  come  over  in  quite  large  numbers.  They  introduced  new  branches 
of  mechanical  business.  These  took  permanent  root.  Inventive  genius 
was  stimulated  in  a  remarkable  degree,  and  from  small  beginnings  fifty 
years  ago  New  York  has  become  the  leading  manufacturing  city  in  the 
Republic.  In  1880  the  number  of  its  manufacturing  establishments 
was  11,330,  employing  over  $181,ooo,000  of  capital',  and  producing  in 
that  year  goods  of  the  value  of  $172,020,437. 

The  increase  in  the  commercial  and  manufacturing  operations  in  the 
city  at  that  time  demanded  an  increase  of  banking  facilities  for  furnish- 
ing currency  and  aiding  a  universal  credit  system.  There  were  then 
sixteen  banks  of  issue  and  deposit  in  the  city  of  New  York,  including 
a  branch  of  the  United  States  Bank,  with  an  aggregate  capital  of 
$17,010,000.  They  were  :  The  U.  S.  Branch  Bank,  $2,500,000  ;  Bank 
of  New  York,  incorporated  in  1701,  $1,000,000  ;  Manhattan  Bank, 
incorporated  in  1799,  $2,050,000  ;  Merchants'  Bank,  incorporated  in 
1803,  $1,100,000  ;  Mechanics'  Bank,  incorporated  in  1810,  $l,5oo, ooo  ; 
Union  Bank,  incorporated  in  1811,  $1,000,000  ;  Bank  of  America, 
chartered  in  1812,  $2,000,000  ;  City  Bank,  incorporated  in  1812, 
$1,250,000  ;  Phoenix  Bank,  chartered  in  1812,  $500,000  ;  Franklin 
Bank,  incorporated  in  1818,  $500,000  ;  North  River  Bank,  incorpo- 
rated in  1821,  $500,000  ;  Tradesmen's  Bank,  chartered  in  1823, 
$600,000  ;  Chemical  Bank,  incorporated  in  1824,  $500,000  ;  Fulton 
Hank,  incorporated  in  1821,  $500,000  ;  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal 
Company,  incorporated  in  1825,  $1, 000,000,  of  which  $500,000  was 
employed  in  banking  ;  and  the  New  York  Dry  Dock  Company,  char- 
tered in  1825,  $700.1100.    Eleven  of  these  banks  are  in  existence  in  iss:;. 

There  was  then  only  one  savings  bank  in  the  city,  located  in  Cham- 
bers Street,  and  open  only  on  Monday  afternoons  from  four  to  six 
o'clock,  and  on  Saturday  afternoons  from  four  to  seven  o'clock  ;  on 
quarter  days,  from  eleven  to  one  o'clock.  The  genesis  of  this  first  sav- 
ings bank  in  the  city  of  New  York  is  interesting.  It  was  the  offspring 
of  the  active  brain  and  benevolent  nature  of  John  Pintard. 

Pintard  called  a  meeting  of  a  few  gentlemen  at  the  City  Hotel,  on 
November  20,  1810.  The  philanthropist,  Thomas  Eddy,  was  called  to 
the  chair,  and  J.  II.  Coyjreshall  was  chosen  secretarv.    Pintard  had 


226 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


prepared  the  following  resolution  before  he  went  to  the  meeting,  whic  h 
was  offered  by  John  Griscom,  and  unanimously  adopted  : 

"JSesofoed,  That  it  is  expedient  to  establish  a  savings  bank  in  Xew 
York  City." 

Pintard  had  also  prepared  a  constitution.  It  was  offered  by  Zacha- 
riah  Lewis,  and  adopted.  The  association  was  organized  by  the  choice 
of  twenty-eight  directors,  with  De  AVitt  Clinton  at  their  head.  The 
officers  chosen  were  William  Bayard,  president  ;  Noah  Brown,  Thomas 
II.  Smith,  and  Thomas  C.  Taylor,  vice-presidents.* 

The  institution  did  not  go  into  operation  until  Saturday  evening, 
July  3,  1819,  at  six  o'clock,  in  a  basement  room  in  Chambers  Street. 
The  office  of  deposit  was  kept  open  that  evening  until  nine  o'clock, 
when  the  sum  of  $'2^>7  had  been  received  from  eighty-two  depositors. 
The  largest  deposit  was  $300,  the  smallest  £2.f  Within  the  following 
six  months  there  had  been  received  $153,378,  from  1527  depositors. 

This  first  Bank  for  Savings,  the  firstorganized  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  is  yet  a  flourishing  institution,  occupying  an  elegant  banking- 
house  built  of  white  marble,  in  Bleecker  Street.  In  1883  there  were 
twenty-three  savings  banks  in  the  city  of  Xew  York.  The  original 
Hank  for  Savings,  established  in  1*19,  had  received,  during  P>3£  years, 
from  190,511  depositors,  the  sum  of  ^1  <>2,<>32,5 15  ;  to  which  add 
interest  up  to  January  1,  1883,  $20,501,7(51,  making  an  aggregate  of 
8191,531,2774 

When  this  savings  bank  was  firmly  established,  Mr.  Pintard,  in  pur- 
suance of  his  usual  custom  when  he  had  achieved  a  great  success,  with- 
drew, but  in  1828  he  accepted  the  presidency  of  it,  and  held  that 
office  until  1841,  when  he  was  eighty-one  years  old,  and  was  growing 
blind.  It  has  been  well  said,  "  There  never  was  a  man  in  the  city  who 
could  start  great  measures  as  John  Pintard  could.    He  could  indite  a 

*  The  following  named  gentlemen  were  chosen  directors  :  De  Witt  Clinton,  Archibald 
Grade,  CadwalJader  D.  Coiden,  William  Few,  John  Griscom,  Jeremiah  Thompson,  Duncan 
P.  Campbell,  James  Eastbum,  John  Pintard,  J.  H.  Coggeshall,  Jonas  Mapes,  Broekholst 
Livingston,  Richard  Varick,  Thomas  Eddy,  Peter  A.  Jay,  J.  Murray,  Jr.,  John  Slidell, 
Andrew  Morris,  Gilbert  Aspinwall,  Zachariah  Lewis,  Thomas  Buckley,  Xajah  Taylor, 
Francis  B.  Winthrop,  William  Wilson. 

f  John  Pintard,  John'E.  Hyde,  Duncan  P.  Campbell,  William  Bayard,  Colonel  William 
Few,  James  Eastbum,  Thomas  Eddy,  Zachariah  Lewis,  John  Mason,  Jacob  Sherrel, 
William  Wilson,  and  Jeremiah  Thompson  were  present  that  evening. 

J  The  officers  of  this  Bank  for  Savings  for  1883  were  :  Robert  Lenox  Kennedy,  presi- 
dent :  Wyllia  Blackstone  and  Benjamin  H.  Field,  vice  presidents  ;  George  Cabot  Ward, 
secretary  :  David  Olyphant,  treasurer  :  William  G.  White,  comptroller,  and  James 
Knowles,  accountant  at  the  bank. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


227 


handbill  that  would  inflame  the  minds  of  the  people  for  any  good 
work.  He  could  call  a  meeting  with  the  pen  of  a  poet,  and  before  the 
people  met  he  would  have  arranged  the  doings  for  a  perfect  success." 

At  the  time  we  are  considering  there  were  ten  marine-insurance 
companies  and  twenty-eight  fire-insurance  companies  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  with  the  agencies  of  four  outside  companies— namely,  the 
Duchess  and  the  Orange  County,  the  Western  (at  Buffalo),  and  the 
Utica  fire-insurance  companies. 

The  marine-insurance  companies  were  :  the  New  York,  the  Ocean, 
the  American,  the  Pacific,  the  Union,  the  Atlantic,  the  Mohawk  (for 
marine,  canal,  lake,  and  river  insurance),  the  Neptune,  and  the  Niagara, 
with  an  aggregate  capital  of  *4,0ou,000. 

The  fire-insurance  companies  were  :  the  Mutual,  the  "Washington, 
the  Eagle,  the  Hope,  the  Globe,  the  Franklin,  the  Merchants',  the 
Mercantile,  the  Mechanics',  the  Manhattan,  the  Fulton,  the  Farmers', 
the  North  River,  the  Chatham,  the  Equitable,  the  Phoenix,  the  New 
York  Contributorship,  the  Jefferson,  the  United  States,  the  yEtna,  the 
Sun,  the  Protection,  the  Howard,  the  Traders',  the  Tradesmen's,  the 
Firemen's,  and  the  Lafayette,  with  an  aggregate  capital  of  over 
$10, 000,000. 

The  fire  department  was  then  a  volunteer  association,  and  remained 
so  until  the  year  1865.  It  was  an  ancient  institution  in  the  city — as 
ancient  as  the  beginning  of  the  administration  of  Peter  Stuyvesant  of 
the  government  of  New  Netherlands. 

In  1648  Stuyvesant  appointed  four  fire-wardens  to  inspect  the 
wooden  chimneys  of  the  little  village  of  New  Amsterdam.  A  fine  of 
about  $1.30  was  imposed  upon  all  whose  chimneys  were  found  to  be 
imperfectly  swept.  These  fines  were  to  be  used  for  providing  leather 
fire-buckets  and  hooks  and  ladders.  The  fire-warden  was  among  the 
official  dignitaries  of  the  town,  and  was  not  to  be  treated  with  dis- 
respect. Madaline  Dircks,  one  of  the  good  dames  of  New  Amsterdam, 
was  fined  "  two  pounds  Flemish"  for  saying  to  a  fire-warden  as  she 
passed  his  door  (only  in  a  joking  way,  she  pleaded),  "  There  is  the 
chimney-sweep  in  the  door;  his  chimney  is  well  swept."  "Such 
jokes,"  the  court  said,  "cannot  be  tolerated,"  and  the  dame  was 
made  to  pay  dearly  for  her  fun.  One  half  of  the  fine  went  to  the 
church  and  the  other  half  to  the  poor. 

After  the  English  occupation  (1683)  the  office  of  "viewer  and 
searcher  of  chimneys  and  tire-hearths"  was  established,  and  a  fine  of 
fifteen  shillings  was  imposed  upon  those  who  should  allow  their  chim- 
neys to  take  fire  ;  now  the  fine  is  §5. 


228 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


As  the  city  increased,  numerous  hooks  and  ladders  were  added  to  the. 
scores  of  fire-huckets.  There  was  no  fire-engine  in  the  city  before 
1731.  In  May  of  that  year  the  city  authorities  ordered  the  purchase 
of  two  engines,  and  appointed  the  mayor  and  two  aldermen  a  commit- 
tee to  "  agree  with  some  proper  merchant  or  merchants1'  to  send  to 
London  for  the  same.  A  room  in  the  old  City  Hall,  in  Wall  Street, 
was  fitted  up  for  their  reception  and  security.  These  engines  were 
queer  looking  machines.  Each  consisted  of  a  short  "  oblong-square 
box,  with  the  condenser  in  the  centre,  and  was  played  by  short  arms 
at  each  end,  and  mounted  on  four  block-wheels,  made  of  thick  plank. 
There  was  no  traveller  forward  for  wheels  to  play  under  the  box  so, 
when  it  turned  a  sharp  corner,  the  engine  must  have  been  lifted 
around.*  The  engines  were  filled  by  means  of  fire-buckets.  No 
suction-pipes  were  used  before  the  year  1806. 

In  1737  the  Legislature  of  Xew  York,  sitting  in  the  city,  passed  an 
act  for  the  appointment  of  twenty-four  "  able-bodied  men,  who  shall 
be  called  the  firemen  of  this  city,  to  work  and  play  the  fire-engines, 
and  who  shall  he  exempt  from  serving  as  constables,  or  doing  militia 
duty  during  their  continuance  as  firemen."  This  was  the  beginning  of 
the  Xew  York  fibre  companies.  This  act  was  passed  in  consequence  of 
a  large  fire  which  had  recently  occurred  in  the  city.  Thirty  "  strong, 
able,  decent,  honest,  and  sober  men"  were  chosen  for  the  service  out  of 
the  six  wards  of  the  city — five  from  each  ward.f  The  first  engine- 
house  had  been  erected  at  the  corner  of  Wall  and  Broad  streets  the 
year  before. 

Near  the  close  of  the  last  century  each  engine-house  was  furnished 
with  long  poles,  on  each  of  which  twelve  leather  fire-buckets,  provided 
by  the  city,  might  be  carried,  for  it  was  found  inexpedient  to  depend 
upon  private  houses  for  a  sufficiency  of  fire-buckets. 

In  1798  "  The  Fire  Department  of  the  City  of  Xew  York'1  was  in- 
corporated by  act  of  the  Legislature.    It  was  to  consist  of  all  persons 

*  In  "The  Story  of  the  Volnnteer  Fire  Department  of  the  City  of  Xew  York,"  by 
George  W.  Sheldon,  p.  6,  may  be  seen  a  picture  of  one  of  these  engines.  To  that  excel- 
lent work  the  writer  is  greatly  indebted. 

f  The  men  who  composed  the  first  fire  company  in  the  city  were  :  John  Tiehout, 
Hercules  Wardeven,  Jacobus  de  la  Montagne,  Thomas  Brom,  Abraham  Van  Gelder, 
William  Roome,  Jr.,  Walter  Heycr,  Johannes  Alstein,  Evert  Pells,  Jr.,  Jacobus  Stouten- 
burgh,  Peter  Lote,  Peter  Braner,  Albertis  Tiebont,  John  Vredenburgh,  John  Dunscorube, 
Johannes  Roome.  Peter  Marscbalk,  Petrus  Kip,  Abraham  Kip,  Andrew  Meyer,  Jr.,  Robert 
Richardson,  Rymer  Burgus,  Barent  Burgh,  David  Van  Gelder,  Johannes  Van  Duerson, 
Martinns  Bogert,  Johannes  Vredenburgh,  John  Van  Suys,  Adolphus  Brase,  and  John 
Mann. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1841). 


229 


then  or  who  might  be  thereafter  members  of  any  fire  company  of  the 
city  of  New  York.  This  brought  the  firemen  of  the  cit}r  into  closer 
social  relations,  and  the  spirit  of  the  corps  was  very  high.  They  served 
without  pay,  excepting  in  the  form  of  some  privileges,  and  they  per- 
formed the  arduous  and  sometimes  dangerous  service  of  the  department 
with  the  utmost  enthusiasm.  "  The  pride  and  ambition  of  each  fire 
company,"  said  the  now  venerable  Front  Street  merchant,  Zophar 
Mills,  the  president  of  the  Exempt  Firemen's  Association,  to  Mr. 
Sheldon,  "  were  to  be  the  first  to  reach  a  fire,  and  the  most  efficient  in 
putting  it  out.  We  had  as  much  love  for  that  as  we  possibly  could  for 
anything  else.  We  would  leave  our  business,  our  dinner,  our  anything, 
and  rush  for  the  engine.  The  night  I  was  getting  married  there  was  a 
fire.  I  could  see  it,  and  I  wanted  to  go  immediately.  But  the  next 
morning  early,  before  breakfast,  there  was  another  fire,  and  I  went  to 
that.  So  you  may  judge  how  we  liked  it.  If  we  had  a  parade,  we 
paid  the  expenses  ourselves.  We  always  paid  for  the  painting,  repair- 
ing, and  decorating  our  engines.  The  engine  to  which  I  belonged 
(No.  13)  was  silver  plated — the  first  that  was  so — at  a  cost  perhaps  of 
$2000.  We  didn't  ask  the  corporation  to  foot  the  bill.  .  .  .  There 
were  few  '  roughs  '  then,  as  in  modern  times.  Nor  were  there  any 
salaries,  except  in  the  case  of  the  chief  engineer  and  temporarily  of  the 
assistant  engineer.  Firemen  now  are  liberally  compensated  ;  they  get 
$1200  a  year  each,  and  are  retired  on  half  pay,  if  infirm,  after  ten 
years'  service."  * 

Mr.  Mills  is  a  most  remarkable  man.  His  physical  and  mental 
energy  was  always  marvellous,  and  he  retains  these  characteristics 
now,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  years.  For  thirty  years  he  was  an 
ac  tive  member  of  the  fire  department  of  New  York  City,  as  a  private, 
foreman,  assistant  engineer,  and  president  of  the  department.  He 
began  the  peculiar  service  by  running  with  Engine  No.  13,  when  he 
was  a  boy  thirteen  years  of  age.  "  For  a  number  of  years,"  says  Mr. 
Sheldon,  "  he  acted  as  leader  of  the  floor  at  the  annual  ball  of  the 
department;  and  also  as  treasurer  of  the  ball  committee.  In  a  single 
night  often  he  would  be  at  the  treasurer's  office,  would  leave  for  the 
ball-room  and  show  the  firemen  how  to  dance,  would  run  with  his 
engine  to  a  fire,  and  then  return  and  dance  until  morning. 

Mr.  Mills,  in  his  prime,  had  a  voice  of  wonderful  power.  "  lie  had 
a  throat  like  a  lion,"  said  an  old  fireman  to  Mr.  Sheldon.  "  I  slept  in 
the  attic  of  my  house  in  order  more  easily  to  hear  alarms  of  fire.  I've 


*  Sheldon's  "  Story  of  the  Volunteer  Fire  Department."  p.  20. 


230 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


heard  Zopbar  Mills's  halloo  from  Pearl  Street,  when  I  was  in  bed  in 
William  Street,  '  Turn  out  !  turn  out  !  Fire  !  fire  !  '  Of  course  when 
he  yelled  that,  out  I  went.  The  tones  of  his  voice  had  come  to  me 
through  five  blocks— from  Pearl  to  Cliff  Street,  from  Cliff  to  Vande- 
water,  from  Vande water  to  Rose,  and  from  Hose  to  William— say 
eight  hundred  feet  at  least,  and  the}^  could  be  heard  distinctly  at  that 
distance.'1  On  one  occasion  he  ran  all  the  way  from  Pearl  Street  to 
the  Hell  Gate  ferry,  at  Eighty-sixth  Street,  and  then  crossed  the  river. 
Mr.  Mills  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  September,  1809.* 

The  New  York  Fire  Department  has  always  been  prompt  and  ener- 
getic in  responding  to  the  public  desires  when  any  great  parade  of  citi- 
zens was  to  take  place,  like  that  of  the  reception  of  Lafayette  in  1824, 
the  great  canal  celebration  the  next  year,  in  honor  of  the  revolution  in 
France  in  1830,  the  introduction  of  the  Croton  water  in  1842,  and  the 
completion  of  the  laying  of  the  Atlantic  cable  in  1S58. 

In  171>1  some  members  of  the  Volunteer  Fire  Department,  at  a  con- 
vivial party,  initiated  measures  for  creating  a  fund  called  the  "  Fire 
Department  Fund,"  for  the  benefit  of  indigent  and  disabled  firemen. 
In  the  charter  of  the  department,  obtained  in  1798,  there  was  a  provi- 
sion for  the  maintenance  of  such  a  fund.  For  a  long  series  of  years  the 
recipients  of  the  benefits  were  few,  and  a  surplus  was  accumulated.  It 
was  invested  in  fire-insurance  stock,  and  was  all  lost  when  the  great 
fire  of  1835  ruined  many  insurance  companies.  But  the  citizens  of 
New  York,  appreciating  the  services  of  the  department,  came  to  the 
rescue,  and  contributed  $24,000  toward  a  reinstatement  of  the  fun(L, 
It  experienced  vicissitudes  afterward,  and  the  Legislature  gave  it  aid 
at  one  time. 

After  the  volunteer  system  was  succeeded  by  a  Paid  Fire  Depart- 
ment, this  trust  was  confided  to  the  Exempt  Yolunteer  Firemen.  It 

then  amounted  to  $90,000  ;  it  is  now  (1883)  over  $130,  ».    The  Paid 

Fire  Department  has  a  fund  of  more  than  $400,000.  From  time  to 
time  this  fund  of  the  volunteer  firemen  was  increased  by  the  pro- 
ceeds of  entertainments  freely  given  by  theatres,  etc.  Among  the 
most  active  promoters  of  that  fund  was  the  now  venerable  John  W. 
Degrauw,  who  was  an  energetic  fireman  from  IS  1(5  to  1837.  For 
many  years  he  was  president  of  the  fire  department.  + 

*  In  December,  1853,  on  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Mills  from  the  office  of  president  of  the 
fire  department,  a  series  of  complimentary  resolutions  was  passed,  and  in  August,  1853, 
the  representatives  of  that  department  presented  him  with  a  tea-service  of  silver  which 
cost  $1000. 

\  John  W.  Degrauw  was  an  active  merchant  at  the  beginning  of  1883,  although  then 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


2',n 


The  Association  of  Exempt  Firemen  was  formed  in  1841,  for  the 
purpose  of  protecting  the  benevolent  fund  of  the  department,  for  there 
had  been  at  that  early  day  some  talk  of  a  Paid  Fire  Department.  In 
the  fall  of  1843  the  name  of  the  society  was  changed  to  "  The  Associa- 
tion of  Exempt  Firemen  of  the  City  of  New  York,"  with  the  avowed 
object  of  affording-  such  aid  to  the  fire  department  in  the  city  as  lay  in 
their  power.  The  first  president  of  the  association  was  Fzziah  Wen- 
man  ;  the  present  (1883)  incumbent  is  Zophar  Mills,  elected  in  1876. 

The  bill  establishing  the  Paid  Fire  Department  in  the  city  of  New 
York  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  on  the  30th  of  March,  1865.  The 
department  as  a  body  had  vehemently  opposed  the  measure.  It  was 
intimated  that  the  firemen  would,  in  a  body,  resign  and  abandon  their 
apparatus.  There  was  much  excitement  in  the  city.  On  one  engine- 
house  were  posted  the  words  "  To  let  ;"  on  another,  "  Closed  in  conse- 
quence of  a  death  in  the  family  ;"  and  on  another,  "  Shut  up  for  one 
year  ;  occupants  gone  to  Saratoga/''  The  firemen  met  in  most  of  the 
engine-houses  to  consider  the  situation,  and  most  of  them  "  took  the 

nearly  eighty-six  years  of  age,  having  been  born  in  May,  1797,  in  the  ward  in  which  his 
store  now  is,  No.  G7  Washington  Street.  He  is  of  Huguenot  descent.  His  father  and 
grandfather  were  soldiers  during  the  whole  of  the  old  war  for  independence.  He  went 
into  a  .store  as  clerk  seventy-five  years  ago,  and  has  been  in  business  ever  since. 

"  I'll  tell  you  how  I  live,"  Mr.  Degrauw  said  to  the  author  of  "  The  Story  of  the  Vol- 
unteer Fire  Department"  in  1880.  "  I  ride  every  day,  and  go  to  bed  every  night  at  nine 
o'clock.  I  get  my  dinner  here  [in  his  store — he  lives  in  Brooklyn]  -they  send  it  to  me 
from  home  -  and  take  a  little  drop  of  brandy  and  water.  I'll  show  you  my  dinner  to- 
day.'' He  brought  out  a  little  basket  containing  a  bottle  of  preserved  berries,  a  cup  of 
custard,  and  some  bread  and  butter.  "I  go  home  for  supper  ;  no  meat,  but  a  piece  of 
toast,  something  light,  and  a  cup  of  tea.  Then  to  bed  (unless  somebody  comes  in), 
and  half  a  wineglass  of  brandy  or  gin.  I  never  chewed  tobacco.  I  have  smoked  about 
all  my  life,  but  I've  given  that  up  now.    At  present  I  burn  only  two  or  three  cigars  a  day." 

Mr.  Degrauw  is  a  remarkable  man.  His  memory  goes  back  to  the  earlier  days  of  this 
century,  when  "  boys  skated  from  Broadway  near  Pearl  Street  to  the  North  River,"  and 
Hew  their  kites  on  the  green  hills  at  Leonard  Street,  beyond  the  old  hospital,  "  away  out 
in  the  country."  He  helped  east  up  intrenchments  at  McGowan's  Pass  (now  in  Central 
Park),  Manhattanville,  and  Brooklyn  during  the  war  of  1812.  He  served  a  term  in  the 
State  Legislature,  and  at  an  early  age  became  an  active  volunteer  fireman.  He  has  ever 
been  a  passionate  lover  of  flowers,  and  he  introduced  the  custom  of  decorating  the  coffin 
and  the  church  with  flowers  at  funerals.  For  thirteen  years  he  was  president  of  the  old 
Brooklyn  Horticultural  Society.  Of  music  too  he  is  fond,  and  has  been  for  many  years 
a  member  of  the  executive  committee  of  tbe  Brooklyn  Academy  of  Music. 

Mr.  Degrauw  was  a  volunteer  fireman  twenty  years,  a  member  of  Company  10  during 
the  whole  time.  For  several  years  he  was  a  trustee  and  president  of  the  fire  depart- 
ment :  chairman  of  the  school  committee  of  the  Trustees'  Fund  provided  for  the  educa- 
tion of  firemen's  children  ;  helped  to  make  arrangements  for  the  earliest  firemen's  balls, 
'  and  secured  benefits  from  the  managers  of  theatres. 


232  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

matter  philosophically."  At  a  meeting  at  Firemen's  Hall,  on  the  first 
of  April,  Chief-Engineer  Decker  advised  the  firemen  to  continue  then- 
services  to  the  city,  and  there  was  a  most  generous  spirit  displayed. 
By  their  conduct  at  that  crisis  the  firemen  of  New  York  won  the 
respect  and  gratitude  of  the  citizens.  The  Volunteer  Fire  Department 
was  disbanded,  and  the  Paid  Fire  Department  took  its  place.  The 
property  of  the  department  was  turned  over  to  a  board  of  fire  commis- 
sioners, appointed  by  the  governor  of  the  State. 

The  changed  conditions  of  the  city  made  this  revolution  in  the  firo 
department  necessary.  The  introduction  of  steam  fire-engines  dimin- 
ished the  number  of  men  necessary  to  the  successful  working  of  the 
machines.  The  rapid  extension  of  the  area  of  the  city  and  other  con- 
ditions made  it  advisable  to  have  a  fire  department  composed  of  men 
who  would  give  their  entire  time  to  the  extinguishment  of  fires. 

The  firemen  of  New  York  City  have  ever  been  ready  to  act  promptly 
and  bravely  in  defence  of  their  country.  In  the  war  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, in  the  second  war  for  independence,  and  in  the  late  Civil  War, 
their  conduct,  at  home  and  in  the  field,  was  ever  conspicuous.* 

The  steam  fire-engine  was  introduced  into  the  city  of  New  York  in 
1841.  The  frequency  and  extent  of  conflagrations  in  the  city  during 
the  winter  of  1S39-40  called  the  attention  of  the  citizens  generally,  and 
of  the  insurance  companies  in  particular,  to  the  subject  of  adopting 
more  efficient  means  for  extinguishing  fires  than  the  city  possessed. 

*  Scores  of  anecdotes,  amusing  and  pathetic,  have  been  related  concerning  the  conduct 
of  New  York  firemen.    The  following  characteristic  one  will  suffice  as  an  example  : 

"  In  Barnum's  old  Museum,  on  the  present  site  of  the  Herald  orhee,  some  firemen  once 
appeared  as  actors  in  a  play  entitled  The  Patriots  of  '76.  Barnum's  manager  had  ob- 
served that  the  Lady  Washington  Light  Guards,  a  target  company  composed  of  members 
of  Engine  Company  No.  40,  marched  with  considerable  precision,  having  been  drilled 
industriously.  '  Why  not  get  them  to  perform  some  of  tbeir  evolutions  in  our  new  mili- 
tary play  V  '  he  thought.  The  idea  was  not  distasteful  to  the  men  of  the  engine  company, 
and  they  agreed  to  accept  the  proposal  and  turn  over  the  proceeds  of  the  engagement  to 
some  of  their  number  who  were  out  of  work.  In  due  time  they  appeared  on  the  stage  of 
the  lecture-room  of  the  Museum,  some  dressed  as  Hessians  and  Continentals,  others  as 
Indians,  and  one  as  Moll  Pitcher,  the  famous  heroine  of  Revolutionary  days  ;  but  while 
in  the  midst  of  a  most  exciting  act  the  City  Hall  bell  sounded  an  alarm  of  fire.  '  Boys,' 
cried  their  foreman,  who  was  acting  with  them,  '  boys,  there's  a'fire  in  the  Seventh  Dis- 
trict !  '  The  words  had  scarcely  escaped  his  lips  when  his  thirty  comrades  bolted  from 
the  stage,  rushed  up  Broadway  for  their  engine,  and  soon  returned  with  it — the  most 
extraordinary  looking  fire  company  ever  seen  in  the  streets  of  a  civilized  or  uncivilized 
community,  Moll  Pitcher  at  the  head  of  the  rope,  and  a  live  Indian  brandishing  a  fore- 
man's trumpet.  On  reaching  the  fire,  followed  by  a  motley  and  jeering  crowd,  they 
applied  themselves  earnestly  to  the  brakes,  while  the  manager  in  the  Museum  was 
endeavoring  to  explain  to  his  audience  the  cause  of  his  sudden  dilemma." 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


233 


The  untiring  efforts  of  the  well-organized  Volunteer  Fire  Department 
seemed  insufficient  to  perform  the  arduous  duties  required  of  them,  and 
general  alarm  pervaded  the  community. 

At  this  juncture  the  Mechanics'  Institute  of  the  City  of  New  York 
offered  its  gold  medal — the  highest  honor  within  its  gift — as  a  reward 
for  the  best  method  of  applying  steam  as  a  motor  for  fire-engines. 
Several  plans  were  submitted,  and  the  award  was  given  to  Captain 
John  Ericsson,  an  eminent  Swedish  engineer,  who  had  recently  come 
to  America  from  England.  He  estimated  the  power  of  the  engine 
which  he  proposed  to  be  equal  to  that  of  108  men.* 

Boston,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  Cincinnati  had  steam  tire- 
engines  before  New  York,  owing  to  the  opposition  of  the  Volunteer 
Fire  Department  in  the  latter  city.  It  was  seen  that  if  four  or  live 
men  could  handle  a  machine,  there  was  no  use  of  having  sixty  men  and 
several  assistants  to  do  the  work.  The  occupation  of  the  Volunteer 
Department  would  be  gone.  This  opposition  was  effectual  to  prevent 
their  introduction  for  many  years.  The  chief  engineer,  so  late  as  1859, 
said  to  the  common  council  that  their  introduction  "  would  embarrass 
seriously  the  volunteer  system." 

Through  the  exertions  of  the  underwriters  a  steam  fire-engine 
appeared  in  the  city  in  1841.  It  was  built  by  Paul  Hodge  &  Co.,  in 
Laight  Street.  It  could  throw  10,000  pounds  of  water  through  a  two 
and  one  eighth  inch  nozzle  to  a  height  of  160  feet  a  minute.  But  it 
was  embarrassed  in  various  ways  by  the  practical  opposition  of  the 
firemen.  Nevertheless  the  steamers  by  their  own  merits  finally  con- 
quered all  opposition,  and  when  the  volunteers  perceived  their  intro- 
duction inevitable,  they  wisely  concluded  the  new  machines  would  be 
valuable  auxiliaries  cf  the  hand-engines.  In  time  the  steamers  su- 
perseded the  latter,  and  now  (1883)  the  city  of  New  York  possesses 
about  fifty  steam  fire-engines  and  as  many  hose-tenders. 

*  Engravings  of  this  engine,  elevation  and  plans,  were  made  by  the  author  of  this 
work,  and  published  in  Mapes' s  Repertory  of  Arts,  Science,  and  Manufactures  for  October, 
1840  ;  also  in  the  Family  Maijazine,  edited  by  the  present  writer. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


AT  the  beginning  of  the  first  decade  the  city  of  New  York  was 
furnished  with  an  amended  charter.  A  city  convention,  com- 
posed of  five  members  from  each  ward  (sixty-five  in  all),  chosen  by  the 
people  in  pursuance  of  a  recommendation  of  the  common  council,  met 
in  June,  1S29,  for  the  purpose  of  revising  and  proposing  amendments 
to  the  charter.  A  series  of  amendments  was  agreed  to,  after  a  pro- 
tracted discussion.  These  were  submitted  to  the  people  of  the  several 
wards,  and  approved  by  them  in  ratification  meetings.  Application 
was  then  made  to  the  Legislature  to  ratify  these  amendments  by  law, 
and  to  make  them  a  pai*t  of  the  charter.    This  was  done  on  April  7, 

The  essential  alterations  in  the  charter  consisted  in  a  division  of  the 
common  council  into  two  distinct  boards,  consisting  of  a  board  of  alder- 
men and  a  board  of  assistants,  to  sit  and  act  separately,  with  concurrent 
and  equal  powers.  These  two  boards  constituted  together  the  legisla- 
tive department  of  the  municipal  government.  It  provided  that  every 
law,  ordinance,  or  resolution  of  the  common  council  must  pass  both 
boards,  and  be  submitted  to  the  mayor  before  it  passes,  and  if  he, 
within  ten  days,  returned  the  same  with  objections,  it  must  be  reconsid- 
ered, and  pass  both  boards  by  a  majority  of  all  the  members  elected  to 
each  before  it  became  a  law  of  the  corporation. 

It  provided  for  the  choice,  for  one  year,  of  one  alderman  and  one 
assistant  alderman  in  each  ward.  The  two  boards  were  empowered  to 
direct  a  special  election  to  fill  any  vacancy  that  might  occur  in  their 
respective  boards.  Each  board  was  given  authority  to  compel  the 
attendance  of  absent  members,  to  punish  members  for  disorderly  be- 
havior, and  to  expel  a  member  with  the  concurrence  of  two  thirds  of 
the  members  elected  to  each  board.  Any  law,  ordinance,  or  resolution 
might  originate  in  either  board,  and  might  be  amended  or  rejected  by 
the  other. 

It  prohibited  any  member  of  either  board  from  holding  any  office  of 
which  the  emoluments  were  paid  from  the  city  treasury,  or  by  fees 
directed  to  be  paid  by  any  ordinance  of  the  common  council,  or  from 


FIRST  DECADE,  18:50-1840. 


235 


being  interested,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  any  contract,  the  expense  of 
which  should  he  paid  by  the  city  government. 

Hitherto  the  mayor  and  recorder  were  ex-officio  members  of  the 
common  council  ;  the  amended  charter  declared  that  neither  of  these 
officers  should  be  a  member  of  the  council  after  the  second  Tuesday  in 
May,  183 1.  The  mayor,  as  before,  was  to  be  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  State,  by  and  with  the  consent  of  the  State  Senate  ;  but 
by  the  alteration  of  the  charter,  and  by  act  of  the  Legislature,  March 
3,  1834,  it  was  provided  that  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  city  should  be 
chosen  annually  by  the  electors  of  the  municipality. 

The  amended  charter  provided  that  in  the  absence  of  the  mayor,  or 
when  there  should  be  a  vacancy  in  the  office,  the  president  of  the  board 
of  aldermen  should  exercise  the  functions  of  mayor.  The  mayor  was 
required  to  communicate  to  the  common  council  at  least  once  a  year 
(oftener  if  required)  a  general  statement  of  the  condition  of  the  city 
government,  finances,  and  improvements,  and  recommend  such  meas- 
ures as  he  should  deem  expedient.  The  common  council  were  prohib- 
ited from  borrowing  moneys  on  the  credit  of  the  corporation,  except  in 
anticipation  of  the  revenue  of  the  year,  unless  by  a  special  act  of  the 
Legislature,  and  their  intention  to  do  so  must  be  published  two  months 
preceding  the  charter  election.  It  provided  that  the  executive  business 
of  the  corporation  should  be  performed  by  distinct  departments^  which 
it  was  the  duty  of  the  common  council  to  organize  and  appoint  for  that 
purpose. 

This  charter  remained  in  force  and  unamended  until  1849,  excepting 
in  the  matter  relating  to  the  election  of  the  mayor  by  the  people.  The 
first  chief  magistrate  of  the  city  chosen  by  the  electors  was  Cornelius 
~W.  Lawrence,  who  was  elected  by  the  Democratic  party  in  1834. 

For  several  years  previous  to  the  creation  of  this  amended  charter, 
New  York  had  been  governed  by  one  body,  composed  of  the  mayor, 
recorder,  and  common  council  (the  latter  consisting  of  one  alderman 
and  assistant  alderman  from  each  ward),  sitting  in  one  chamber.  The 
corporation  was  vested  with  the  power  of  enacting  municipal  laws  and 
of  enforcing  their  observance,  under  proper  penalties.  The  mayor, 
recorder,  and  aldermen  were  ex-offieio  justices  of  the  peace,  having 
power  to  hold  courts  of  General  Sessions  and  to  decide  as  to  all  offences 
coming  under  the  cognizance  of  the  regular  justices  of  the  peace.  They 
were  likewise  included  in  the  commission  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  for  the 
trial  of  capital  offences,  and  were  empowered  to  hold  a  court  of 
Common  Pleas,  which  had  been  called  the  Mayor's  Court,  in  which 
civil  actions  of  every  description  were  tried. 


230 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOBK  CITY. 


Iii  1821  a  permanent  law  judge  was  appointed  to  preside  in  the 
Mayor's  Court,  an  act  having  been  passed  changing  the  name  to  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the  City  of  New  York.  This  act  was 
Irawn  by  John  Anthon,  then  the  most  prominent  practitioner  in  the 
Mayor's  Court.  The  officer  thus  created  was  called  the  first  judge, 
to  hold  office  during  good  behavior,  or  until  he  should  attain  the  age 
of  sixty  years.  In  1*22  the  term  of  this  office  was  changed  to  five 
years,  and  the  power  of  appointment,  theretofore  lodged  in  the  Council 
of  Appointment,  was  vested  in  the  governor  of  the  State.  The  mayor, 
recorder,  and  aldermen  were  still  authorized  to  sit  in  that  court,  but 
the  first  judge  was  empowered  to  hold  the  court  without  them  ;  indeed 
it  was  made  his  special  duty  to  hold  it.  John  T.  Irving,  a  brother  of 
"Washington  Irving,  was  the  first  judge  appointed  under  this  law,  and 
the  mayor  in  (Stephen  Allen)  ceased  to  preside  in  this  court. 

In  1823  Richard  Riker,  the  recorder,  took  the  place  of  the  mayor  as 
the  presiding  judge  of  the  Court  of  Sessions,  and  Irving  sat  as  the 
judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.    This  court  was  changed  in  1846. 

Judge  Irving  (born  in  177*)  was,  in  many  respects,  a  model  judge. 
He  was  remarkable  for  strict  integrity,  a  strong  love  of  justice,  and  for 
exact  and  methodical  habits.  He  was  attentive,  careful,  painstaking  ; 
considered  every  case  so  attentively  that  his  judgments  were  rarely 
reversed,  and  were  uniformly  treated  by  courts  of  revision  with  great 
respect. 

Like  his  brother  Washington,  he  had  talent  and  taste  for  literary 
composition.  He  published  in  the  newspapers,  particularly  in  the 
Mo r a  in «j  Chronicle,  a  Democratic  journal  started  by  his  brothers,  prose 
and  poetical  pieces,  especially  poetical  attacks  upon  his  political  oppo- 
nents, remarkable  for  their  point,  brilliancy,  and  satire.  When  he 
became  judge  his  conscientious  application  to  his  duties  ended  his  lit- 
erary career,  and  no  doubt  shortened  his  life.  At  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  March,  1838,  at  the  age  of  sixty,  the  bar  of  New  York 
caused  a  handsome  marble  tablet,  with  his  bust  in  relief  and  a  suitable 
inscription  in  Latin,  to  be  placed  in  the  court-room.  The  following  is 
a  copy  of  the  inscription  : 

"  VIRO  .  HONORATO 

Joanne  •  T  •  Irving 

QVEM  ■  JVDICES  •  OFFICIO  •  MVLTOS  •  PER  •  ANNOS  •  FVNCENTEM 
ET  •  LEGVM  •  DOCTRINI  •  ET  •  MORVM  ■  INTEGRITAS  •  FELICISSIME  •  CONDECORABANT 
IVRISCONSVLTI  •  NEO  •  EBORACENSES  •  QVTBVS  •  ET  •  AMICI  •  ET  •  M AGIST RI 
TAM  •  TRISTE  ■  RELQVTT  ■  DESI1JERVM 
H  •  M  ■  PONENDVM  •  CVRAVERVNT." 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840 


237 


It  was  during  the  presidency  of  Judge  Irving  in  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas  that  New  York  presented  a  remarkable  array  of  brilliant 
lawyers.  In  that  court  might  have  been  seen  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,* 
Peter  A.  Jay,f  Peter  W.  Radcliffe,  Samuel  M.  Hopkins,  John  Anthon,^: 
Martin  S.  Wilkins,  Elisha  W.  King,  David  l>.  Ogden,  William  Samson, 
William  Slosson,  Pierre  C.  Van  Wyck,  John  T.  Mulligan,  Robert 
Bogardus,  Thomas  Phoenix,  Josei)h  D.  Fay,  David  Graham,  Sen.,  Hugh 
Maxwell,  John  Leveridge,  Ogden  Hoffman  (then  rapidly  rising  in  the 
profession),  and  others. 

There  was  a  Court  of  Sessions,  a  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer,  a 
Marine  Court,  and  ward  district  courts.  The  Court  of  Sessions  was  a 
tribunal  for  determining  in  all  cases  of  felony  and  of  offences  committed 
within  the  city,  and  had  power  to  appoint  special  sessions  of  the  peace 
for  the  same  purposes.  The  judges  of  the  Court  of  Sessions  consisted 
of  the  recorder  and  two  aldermen  ;  that  of  the  Court  of  Oyer  and 
Terminer  consisted  of  the  recorder  and  aldermen,  and  was  empowered  to 
try  all  cases  of  treason,  felony,  and  other  inferior  crimes.  The  Marine 
Court  was  a  tribunal  consisting  of  three  judges,  two  of  whom  were 

*  Thomas  Addis  Enimet,  LL.D.,  a  political  refugee  from  Ireland,  was  an  eminent 
member  of  the  New  York  bar.  He  was  born  in  Cork  m  1704,  and  died  in  New  York  City 
in  November,  1827.  An  obelisk  of  white  marble  marks  his  grave  in  St.  Paul's  church- 
yard,  near  Broadway.  He  was  a  brother  of  the  celebrated  Irish  patriot  and  martyr, 
Robert  Emmet,  and  a  son  of  a  distinguished  Dublin  physician.  He  studied  medicine  in 
Edinburgh  and  law  in  England,  was  admitted  to  the  Dublin  bar  in  1701,  and  soon  rose 
to  distinction  in  his  profession.  He  was  a  leader  of  the  league  known  as  United  Irish- 
men, and  was  one  of  the  general  committee  of  that  body.  During  the  outbreak  in  Ire- 
land in  1 708  he  was  arrested,  with  others,  and  suffered  imprisonment  in  Scotland  more 
than  two  years,  during  which  time  he  wrote  a  work  entitled  "  Pieces  of  Irish  History," 
on  which  he  had  been  engaged,  and  illustrative  of  the  condition  of  the  Roman  Catholics 
in  Ireland,  which  was  printed  in  New  York  in  1807.  He  was  finally  permitted  to  with- 
draw to  France,  where  he  was  joined  by  his  family,  and  came  to  America,  arriving  at  New 
York  in  November,  1804.  There  he  soon  became  distinguished  in  his  profession  as  a 
laborious  and  successful  pleader  and  finished  orator.  In  1812  he  was  attorney-general  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  but  served  only  six  months.  In  1824  Columbia  College  conferred 
on  Mr.  Emmet  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D. 

t  Peter  Augustus  Jay  was  the  eldest  son  of  Governor  John  Jay,  and  was  his  private 
secretary  while  governor  and  chief  justice.  He  was  president  of  the  New  York  Histori- 
cal Society,  and  an  active  member  of  the  New  York  bar.  In  1810  he  represented  a  dis- 
trict in  the  New  York  Assembly,  and  was  recorder  of  New  York  City  in  1819-20.  Colum- 
bia College  conferred  on  him  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D. 

X  John  Anthon,  LL.D.,  was  a  native  of  Detroit,  where  he  was  born  in  1784.  He  was 
in  the  military  service  in  the  war  of  1812.  He  was  a  most  industrious  lawyer,  and  tried 
more  causes,  it  is  said,  than  any  other  man.  at  the  New  York  bar  or  elsewhere.  He  was 
instrumental  in  establishing  the  Superior  Court  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  the  Law 
Institute.  He  was  president  of  the  latter  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in  March,  1803.  He 
published  several  works  of  great  interest  to  the  legal  profession. 


238 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


always  present  at  a  trial,  or  no  legal  decision  could  he  obtained.  It 
was  empowered  to  try  actions  for  debt  to  the  amount  of  $100  or  less, 
to  determine  seamen's  wages  to  any  amount,  and  in  actions  of  assault 
and  battery  or  false  imprisonment  among  seamen  and  passengers.  It 
was  distinct  from  all  other  courts  of  justice  ;  it  had  no  power  to  hold 
sessions  of  the  peace,  but  as  to  keeping  the  peace  its  officers  had  the 
same  power  as  other  magistrates.  The  ward  district  courts  tried  ques- 
tions of  debt  and  trespass  to  the  amount  of  $")(>  ;  also  all  petty  cases, 
such  as  came  under  the  cognizance  of  justices  of  the  peace  in  towns. 
The  sessions  were  held  every  day  excepting  Sundays  and  holidays. 
The  district  courts  now  are  similar  to  those  of  1830. 

The  duties  of  the  police  of  the  city  at  that  time  were  regulated  and 
discharged  by  three  justices  appointed  for  the  purpose  by  the  common 
council.  The  chancellor,  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  members 
of  the  common  council  might  attend  the  sessions  of  the  Police  Court, 
which  Avere  held  every  day  excepting  Sunday,  and  assist  the  police 
justices.  At  least  one  police  justice  and  the  police  clerk  had  to  be  in 
attendance  at  sunrise  every  morning  to  take  cognizance  of  offences 
committed  during  the  night  against  the  peace  and  good  order  of  the 
city.  Besides  the  ordinary  duties  of  examining  persons  brought  up  for 
breaches  of  the  peace  and  other  offences,  and  binding  over  the  parties 
to  be  prosecuted  at  the  sessions  when  that  appeared  necessary,  the 
police  magistrates  possessed  powers,  in  certain  cases,  similar  to  those 
exercised  by  aldermen  of  the  city  in  certain  cases  out  of  the  sessions, 
such  as  "  illegitimate  children,  apprentices,  servants,  vagrants,  vaga- 
bonds," etc.  For  these  sessions  they  received  the  same  fees  as  alder- 
men, besides  a  fixed  salary. 

The  night  guardians  of  the  peace  and  of  the  property  of  the  citizens 
of  New  York  before  1831  were  a  few  watchmen,  stationed  upon  pre- 
scribed "  beats'"  and  subject  to  certain  rules.  They  were  appoint- 
ed by  the  common  council.  A  prescribed  number  of  men  —  trust- 
worthy men — were  chosen  from  among  the  householders  who  were 
citizens,  as  "  captains  of  the  watch."  These,  under  the  Watch  Com- 
mittee of  the  corporation,  fixed  the  rounds  of  the  watchmen,  who  were 
also  appointed  by  the  common  council,  prescribed  their  duties,  visited 
the  stations,  reported  delinquencies,  suspended  an  offending  watchman 
till  the  pleasure  of  the  common  council  should  be  known,  and  made  a 
return  every  morning  to  the  police  justices  of  the  names  and  number  of 
watchmen  on  duty  the  preceding  night,  and  the  delinquents,  if  any. 
For  these  services  each  captain  of  the  watch  received  81.87£  as  a  com- 
pensation for  each  night's  seiwice. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1880-1840. 


239 


The  watchmen  were  divided  into  companies,  and  to  each  company 
were  added  twelve  substitutes,  to  act  in  case  of  absence  of  the  regular 
watchmen.  The  watchmen  were  summarily  dismissed  if  found  sleep- 
ing- or  intoxicated  while  on  duty,  or  absent  without  sufficient  excuse. 
It  was  their  duty  to  arrest  offenders  and  detain  them  until  discharged. 
In  addition  to  these  routine  services,  the  watchmen  were  required,  in 
case  of  a  riot  or  disorder,  or  on  any  extraordinary  occasion,  to  assist 
those  in  other  districts.  For  all  this  prescribed  vigilance,  for  exposure 
to  the  vicissitudes  of  weather  and  to  the  danger  of  encounters  with 
desperate  men,  the  watchmen  in  the  city  of  New  York  fifty  years  ago 
were  paid  the  munificent  sum  of  $~&  cents  for  every  night's  service  ! 

The  most  notable  man  among  the  officers  appointed  to  administer 
justice  and  preserve  order  in  the  city  of  New  York  fifty  or  sixty  years 
ago  was  Richard  Riker,  a  sort  of  vicar-general  of  the  police,  night- 
watch,  and  fire  departments,  when  exercising  the  functions  of  his 
office.  He  was  an  upright  and  sagacious  judge  at  the  head  of  a  court, 
and  an  estimable  citizen.  He  served  as  recorder  of  the  city  twenty 
years,  at  three  different  times,  beginning  with  1815  and  ending  with 
1838.  Mr.  Edwards,  in  his  interesting  volume,  "  Pleasantries  about 
Courts  and  Lawyers  of  the  State  of  New  York,''  gives  most  agreeable 
glimpses  of  the  character  and  career  of  Recorder  Riker. 

"  No  one,"  says  Mr.  Edwards,  "  can  take  up  works  containing  crim- 
inal trials  of  the  period  when  Mr.  Riker  was  presiding  judge  without 
being  satisfied  that  he  was  a  sound  criminal  lawyer.  His  decisions 
were  generally  correct,  and  what  is  not  common  with  a  criminal  magis- 
trate, he  rather  softened  toward  the  ei'ring  as  his  years  on  the  bench 
increased — perhaps  even  a  weakness  was  exhibited  in  the  familiar  style 
he  used.  But  with  him  it  was  honesty  of  heart.  He  was  the  last  man 
to  wound  by  word  or  manner."  * 

Recorder  Riker  was  remarkably  courteous  and  gentlemanly  in  his 
deportment,  treating  all  persons  of  high  or  low  degree  with  equal 
suavity.  He  was  so  childlike  in  his  confidence,  that  when  sitting  at 
chambers  to  grant  oi-dei's,  for  which  judges  were  then  paid  a  fee  by 
fixed  statute,  he  seldom  looked  over  the  papers,  but  signed  his  name 
almost  as  a  matter  of  course.  It  is  related  that  Anthony  Dey,  who 
loved,  the  recorder,  made  a  small  wager  that  he  would  induce  Mr. 
Riker  to  grant  an  order  for  his  own  commitment  to  prison.  Dey  took 
a  mittimus  to  him  to  that  effect.  He  signed  it,  and  took  the  prescribed 
fee  for  his  signature.    The  paper  he  had  signed  authorized  the  sheriff 


*  "  Pleasantries,"  p.  389. 


240 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


of  New  York  City  and  County  to  "commit  Richard  Hiker,  Esq., 
recorder  and  supreme  court  commissioner,  to  the  common  jail  !" 

At  the  beginning  of  the  century,  when  Mr.  Riker  was  a  young  man 
and  political  party  spirit  was  fierce  between  Republicans  and  Federal- 
ists, after  the  election  of  Mr.  Jetfei"son  to  the  Presidency,  a  duel  had 
been  fought  between  De  "Witt  Clinton,  then  mayor  of  New  York,  and 
Colonel  John  Swartwout.  Riker,  then  about  thirty  years  of  age,  was 
a  warm  political  partisan  and  an  ardent  personal  friend  and  admirer  of 
Clinton.  They  had  studied  law  together,  and  were  as  intimate  as 
brothers.  lie  had  been  Mr.  Clinton's  second  in  the  duel.  After  that 
event  Clinton  was  scandalously  maligned  in  the  opposition  newspapers. 
He  was  satirized  and  caricatured.  Mr.  Riker  was  indignant,  and  pub- 
lished his  sentiments  in  defence  of  his  friend  so  freely  that  it  caused  a 
challenge  to  fight  to  be  sent  to  him  by  Colonel  Swartwout's  brother 
Robert. 

Young  Riker,  brave  as  he  was  generous,  accepted  the  challenge. 
They  fought  at  "Weehawken,  near  where  General  Hamilton  fella  few 
months  later.  Mr.  Pierre  C.  Van  Wyck  was  Mr.  Riker's  second.  At 
the  word  given  Riker  fell,  severelv  wounded  in  the  right  leg  a  little 
above  the  ankle  joint. 

The  wounded  man  was  taken  on  a  litter  to  his  house  in  "Wall  Street, 
near  the  old  City  Hall,  where  he  then  kept  bachelor's  hall  with  his 
brother.  Dr.  Richard  Kissam,  his  warm  friend,  was  in  immediate 
attendance. 

"  Would  you  like  a  consultation  of  surgeons  ?"  asked  Kissam. 
"  What  would  be  the  result  V  inquired  Riker. 

"  The  result  would  be  that  the  leg  must  be  taken  off,"  was  the  reply. 
"  What  chance  do  I  stand  for  my  life  by  keeping  my  limb  V  in- 
quired the  sufferer. 

"  One  chance  in  ten,"  was  the  reply. 

"  I  accept  the  chance  cheerfully,"  said  Riker  ;  *'  so  now,  my  friend, 
do  what  you  can,  and  by  the  aid  of  the  Almighty  and  a  fine  constitu- 
tion  I  may  yet  save  both  limb  and  life." 

This  duel  was  fought  on  November  1803.  "When  Swartwout  was 
afterward  asked  how  Riker  appeared  on  the  field  he  replied,  "  As  brave 
as  Julius  Caesar." 

Mr.  Riker's  political  enemies  tried  to  have  the  wounded  man  arrested 
for  the  misdemeanor  of  fighting  a  duel,  but  his  friend  General  Hamilton 
persuaded  the  law  officers  to  stop  the  proceedings.  At  that  time  Mr. 
Riker  was  deputy  attorney -general  of  the  State.  The  wound  made 
him  lame  all  his  life. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


241 


"  It  is  a  pity,"  says  Edwards,  "  Hal  leek,  so  full  of  heart  himself, 
should,  in  mere  playfulness,  have  penned  and  allowed  the  following 
incorrectness  to  go  in  type  in  his  poem,  '  The  Recorder,'  published  in 
1828  : 

"  '  The  Recorder,  like  Bob  Acres,  stood 
Edgewise  upon  a  field  of  blood, 

The  why  and  wherefore  Swartwout  knows  ; 
Pulled  trigger,  as  a  brave  man  should, 

And  shot,  God  bless  them,  his  own  toes.'  " 

In  the  same  poem  Halleck  wrote  : 

"  My  dear  Recorder,  you  and  1 

Have  floated  down  life's  stream  together, 
And  kept  unharmed  our  friendship's  tie, 
Through  every  change  in  Fortune's  sky, 

Her  pleasant  and  her  rainy  weather." 

As  an  instance  of  Mr.  Riker's  engaging  manner,  it  is  related  that 
when  John  Van  Wyck  took  Swartwout's  challenge  to  him  (who  was 
apprised  of  the  errand),  he  cheerfully  invited  the  bearer  into  his  office, 
saying  unconcernedly  that  he  had  an  interesting  law  case,  and  would 
like  to  have  Van  Wyck's  views  upon  it.  So  pleasant  and  kindly  was 
the  impression  which  was  made  of  Hiker  in  the  mind  of  Swartwout's 
messenger  that  he  went  back  and  told  his  principal  he  would  not  act 
as  his  second. 

Recorder  Riker's  methods  in  quelling  riots — using  kindness  instead 
of  ball  and  bayonet — were  marvellously  successful.  Undoubtedly  his 
own  personal  character  had  much  to  do  in  his  achieving  success. 

( )n  one  occasion  there  was  a  riot  in  the  Five  Points,  then  the  worst 
sink  of  iniquity  in  the  city.  Men,  women,  and  children  were  hurling 
missiles  of  every  kind  in  a  fearful  manner.  The  recorder  was  urged  to 
call  out  the  military  to  suppress  the  disturbance.  The  mob  was  com- 
posed largely  of  Irish.  He  called  on  the  aged  Father  O'Brien,  a 
Roman  Catholic  priest,  and  invited  him  to  assist  in  quieting  the  mob. 
The  good  priest  put  on  his  stole,  and  with  a  missal  in  hand  walked 
arm-in-arm  with  the  recorder-  to  the  scene  of  excitement.  The  priest 
went  reading  his  book.  In  an  instant  after  he  appeared  the  mob 
began  to  disperse,  and  very  soon  disappeared  down  cellar  steps  and 
through  narrow  alleys.  Before  the  two  had  reached  the  Points,  not  a 
person  was  to  be  seen. 

On  another  occasion,  returning  in  the  evening  from  his  almost  daily 
visit  to  his  aged  mother,  "  up-town,"  near  Canal  Street,  the  recorder 


242 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


saw  a  crowd  of  white  men  in  Broadway,  near  Anthony  (now  Worth) 
Street,  fiercely  attacking  a  house  occupied  hy  colored  people,  and  pelting 
them  with  missiles  as  they  attempted  to  leave  the  house.  The  occasion 
for  the  attack  was  the  marriage  of  a  white  girl  to  a  negro.  The 
frightened  inmates  rushed  to  the  street  for  safety  just  as  the  recorder 
appeared,  lie  went  into  the  midst  of  the  colored  people  and  told  them 
to  gather  around  him  and  he  would  protect  them.  Missiles  were  flying 
thick  and  fast.  Mr.  Biker  called  on  the  assailants  to  stop.  A  voice 
cried  out  : 

"  That's  the  recorder  ;  don't  throw  those  stones  I" 
The  assailants  obeyed,  and  then  shouted,  "  Hurrah  for  the  recorder  ! 
let  him  pass.*' 

Mr.  Riker  led  the  colored  people  in  safety  to  the  City  Hall,  where 
they  were  kept  in  security  until  morning.* 

At  this  period  the  Tammany  Society  or  Columhian  Order,  at  first 
organized  as  a  patriotic,  benevolent,  and  social  institution  at  the  begin- 
ning of  "Washington's  first  term  as  President,  was  a  controlling  power 
in  the  Democratic  party  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  has  been  ever 
since. 

It  was  founded  chiefly  through  the  exertions  of  William  Mooney,  an 
upholsterer  in  New  York  City.  Its  first  meeting  was  held  on  May  13, 
17S9,  about  a  fortnight  after  "Washington's  inauguration  in  the  New 
York  City  Hall.  The  society  took  its  name  from  St.  Tammany  or 
Tammanend,  a  noted  Delaware  chief,  supposed  to  have  been  one  of 
those  who  made  the  famous  treaty  with  William  Penn.    It  was  a  tra- 

*  Richard  Riker  was  born  at  the  family  homestead  on  the  shore  of  Bowery  Bay,  L.  I., 
just  opposite  Riker's  Island,  on  September  0,  1773.  The  tract  of  land  on  which  his  birth- 
place stood  was  given  by  William,  Prince  of  Orange,  in  1630,  to  Geysbert  Riker,  (he  pro- 
genitor of  the  family  in  this  country.  The  house  in  which  he  was  born  was  burned  by 
the  British  during  the  old  war  for  independence  ;  for  his  father,  Samuel  Riker,  was  a 
leading  patriot  in  that  region,  and  his  mother,  Anna  Lawrence,  was  the  daughter  of  an- 
other zealous  patriot,  Thomas  Lawrence.    It  was  rebuilt  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution. 

Mr.  Riker's  father  was  an  active  member  of  the  Committee  of  Correspondence  of  the 
town  of  Newtown,  a  lieutenant  of  a  troop  of  light-horsemen,  and  the  first  supervisor  of 
the  town  elected  by  the  people  at  the  close  of  the  war,  1783.  It  is  related  that  when 
Richard  was  three  years  of  age  a  British  officer  and  some  of  his  men  were  quartered 
upon  the  family  of  Mr.  Lawrence,  Mrs.  Riker's  father.  She  was  then  an  inmate  of  the 
house.  One  day  the  little  boy  was  playing  on  the  grass,  near  where  the  officers  were 
sitting,  watched  by  his  mother.  The  boy,  perceiving  a  small  ornamented  dirk  in  the 
officer's  belt,  suddenly  seized  it,  drew  it  from  its  sheath,  and  thrusting  it  toward  the 
officer,  said  : 

"  Dis  is  the  way  my  papa  'ticks  the  Reg'lars. " 

The  officer,  amused  by  the  spirit  of  the  boy,  playfully  caught  him  in  his  arms  and  said  : 


FIRST  DECADE,  18:30-1840. 


243 


dition  that  he  "loved  liberty  more  than  life,"  and  he' was  therefore 
chosen  to  be  the  tutelar  saint  of  the  new  patriotic  organization.  Tam- 
many was  canonized  by  his  admirers  during  the  old  war  for  indepen- 
dence, and  he  was  established  as  the  tutelar  stunt  of  the  new  Republic. 

In  imitation  of  a  similar  society  which  had  been  formed  in  Philadel- 
phia, the  officers  consisted  of  a  grand  sachem  and  thirteen  inferior 
sachems,  representing  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  the 
governors  of  the  thirteen  States.  Besides  these  there  was  a  grand 
council,  of  which  the  sachems  were  members.  It  very  soon  became 
exceedingly  popular,  and  its  membership  included  most  of  the  best  men 
of  New  York  City.  ~Ko  party  politics  were  allowed  to  be  discussed  at 
its  meetings. 

But  circumstances  soon  changed  the  character  of  the  association. 
On  account  of  the  violent  resistance  to  law  of  the  secret  Democratic 
societies  at  the  time  of  the  Whiskey  Insurrection  in  17!U,  President 
Washington  denounced  "  self -constituted  societies."  Nearly  all  the 
members  of  the  Tammany  Society,  believing  they  were  included  in  this 
condemnation,  withdrew  from  it.  Mooney  and  others  adhered  to  the 
organization,  and  from  that  time  it  became  a  political  society,  taking 
sides  with  Jefferson  and  the  Democratic  party,  of  which  he  was  the 
father.  They  first  met  as  such  at  Martling's  Long  Room,  on  the 
south-east  corner  of  Nassau  and  Spruce  streets. 

In  the  year  1S00  the  Tammany  Society  determined  to  build  a  "  wig- 
wam," and  Tammany  Hall,  after  considerable  delay,  was  erected,  on  the 
site  of  Martling's.    The  corner-stone  was  laid  in  May,  1811,  and  the 

"  If  I  meet  your  father  in  battle,  I  will  spare  him  for  your  sake,  my  brave  little  fellow  !" 

Richard  received  a  good  English  education,  and  studied  law  with  Samuel  Jones.  A 
fellow-student  was  De  Witt  Clinton.  They  there  formed  a  mutual  friendship,  which  was 
warm  and  unbroken  until  death. 

In  early  manhood  Biker  was  deputy  attorney-general  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and 
afterward  a  Supreme  Court  commissioner.  General  Hamilton  was  his  personal  and 
political  friend.  At  past  thirty  years  of  age  he  married  a  daughter  of  Daniel  Phoenix,  a 
leading  man  in  New  York  City.  He  was  one  of  a  party  who  received  General  Washing- 
ton at  Fraunce's  tavern,  and  read  an  address  of  the  citizens  to  him  after  the  evacuation 
of  the  city  by  the  British,  in  November,  1783.  Mr.  Phcenix  was  for  many  years  treasurer 
of  the  city.  Mr.  Eiker  was  married  (probably)  at  Mr.  Phcenix's  country  residence  at 
Greenwich  Village,  on  Manhattan  Island. 

Mr.  Hiker  was  first  chosen  recorder  of  the  city  in  1815,  and  served  four  years.  He  was 
again  chosen  in  1821,  and  served  two  years,  and  being  appointed  recorder  again  in  1824, 
he  served  fourteen  years  snccessively.  He  died  at  "  Arch  Brook,"  his  country  residence, 
at  the  foot  of  Seventy-fourth  and  Seventy-fifth  streets  (East  Eiver\  in  New  York  City,  on 
October  1C>,  1842.  He  has  two  daughters  living  in  the  city  of  New  York— Mrs.  Samuel 
Spring  ami  Mrs.  Harris  Wilson. 


244 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


hall  was  finished  the  next  year.  The  venerable  Jacob  Barker,  who 
died  in  Philadelphia  in  1871  at  the  age  of  ninety-two  years,  was  the 
last  survivor  of  the  building  committee  of  thirteen.  This  hall  was 
abandoned  a  few  years  ago  (now  occupied  by  the  Sun  newspaper  estab- 
lishment), and  a  new  building  was  erected  in  Fourteenth  Street,  not  far 
from  Irving  Place. 

One  of  the  most  active  members  of  the  Tammany  Society  for  many 
years  was  the  Hon.  Clarkson  Crolius,  who  was  the  grand  sachem  or 
sagamore  of  the  institution.  Year  after  year  the  political  and  social 
power  of  the  Tammany  Soc  iety  increased,  and  now  it  is  considered  the 
most  thoroughly  organized  body  of  the  kind  in  the  Republic.  It  ordi- 
narily polls  about  half  of  the  entire  vote  of  the  city.  It  has  com- 
mittees in  every  district  in  the  city,  and  a  central  or  general  com- 
mittee of  over  eleven  hundred  members.  This  committee  is,  in 
theory,  the  head  of  the  party,  but  usually  the  most  active  and  in- 
fluential member  of  the  party— a  "  boss" — controls  that  committee 
by  seeing  that  only  such  men  as  suit  his  views  are  chosen  by  it.  The 
executive  body  of  this  central  committee  is  the  Committee  on  Disci- 
pline, of  which,  generally,  the  chief  of  the  party  is  chairman.  Before 
the  Committee  on  Discipline  any  member,  either  of  a  district  committee 
or  of  the  central  committee,  may  be  summoned  and  tried  for  party  dis- 
loyalty, and,  if  found  guilty,  expelled.* 

It  was  at  the  beginning  of  this  decade  that  political  party  spirit, 
which  had  been  kept  partially  subordinate  to  the  public  good  for  sev- 
eral veal's,  appeared  in  a  most  aggressive  and  alarming  aspect.  It  had 
been  aroused,  fostered,  and  stimulated  by  the  events  of  the  presidential 
election  which  placed  General  Andrew  Jackson  in  the  chair  of  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  Republic,  in  the  spring  of  1829. 

A  disturbing  and  dangerous  element  had  now  begun  to  appear  prom- 
inently in  our  political  system.  The  practical  effects  of  universal 
suffrage,  very  little  restricted,  had  opened  a  wide  door  for  the  political 

*  The  device  of  the  certificate  of  membership  adopted  by  the  society  was  a  pointed 
arch  composed  of  two  cornucopias  resting  on  two  columns,  on  each  side  of  which  were 
two  figures,  one  of  Liberty,  the  other  of  Justice.  On  a  pedestal  bearing  the  former  were 
the  figures  177G  ;  on  that  bearing  the  latter  were  the  figures  178!).  Below  the  foundation 
upon  which  the  two  columns  rest  is  an  arch  resting  upon  rocks.  The  arch  is  composed 
of  thirteen  stones,  bearing  the  respective  names  of  the  thirteen  original  States.  The 
key-stone  is  Pennsylvania,  and  it  is  supposed  by  some  that  this  feature  in  the  Tammany 
certificate  of  membership  was  the  origin  of  the  calling  of  Pennsylvania  the  Keystone 
State.  Below  this  arch  is  a  view  of  land  and  water  and  symbols  of  agriculture  and  com- 
merce. The  certificate  was  designed  by  Dr.  Charles  Buxton,  and  engraved  on  copper  by 
George  Graham. 


FIRST  DECADE,  18:30-1840. 


245 


influences  of  ;i  new  class  of  citizens.  These  were  aliens  from  Europe, 
most  of  them  illiterate,  and  all  of  them  strangers  to  our  laws  and 
our  free  institutions.  These  immigrants  were  mostly  from  Ireland. 
They  were  met  by  naturalization  laws  which  discriminated  in  their 
favor,  as  to  native-born  citizens. 

The  American  citizen  arriving  at  the  "  age  of  accountability"'  has  to 
wait  seveii  years  before  he  may  exercise  the  great  right  and  privilege 
of  the  elective  franchise  ;  the  foreigner,  however  ignorant  or  debased, 
might  attain  that  grand  acquisition  of  American  citizenship  in  Jive 
veal's. 

This  discrimination  had  been  made  by  a  party  in  power  for  the  pur- 
pose of  securing  the  votes  of  these  foreigners,  of  whom  fully  ninety 
per  cent  could  neither  read  nor  write,  and  who,  as  a  rule,  could  be 
bought  and  sold  like  "  dumb,  driven  cattle."  New  York  City,  into 
which  a  greater  portion  of  the  tide  of  foreign  immigration  was  pouring 
at  that  time,  was  the  first  to  experience  the  pernicious  effects  of  the 
new  order  of  things.  These  effects  were  rapidly  developed,  and  it  was 
not  long  before  sensible  and  observing  men  perceived,  with  anxiety  if 
not  alarm,  that  the  elections  were  becoming  more  and  more  mere  shad- 
owy imitations  of  the  grand  institution  they  pretended  to  represent. 
Instead  of  being  the  theatre  for  the  exercise  of  one  of  the  holiest  rights 
and  privileges  of  an  American  citizen,  it  had  become  a  place  of  traffic 
between  demagogues  and  ignorant  voters,  in  which  the  commodities 
exchanged  were  the  products  of  knaves  and  dupes.  The  vicious  system 
then  developed  logically  led  to  the  fearful  election  riots  of  1834,  which 
will  be  considered  presently. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  a  more  pleasant  theme. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


A WRITER  in  1850,  alluding  to  the  period  of  the  first  decade,  said 
it  was  "  the  Augustan  age  of  American  literature."  It  was,  in- 
deed, comparatively  so,  for  there  was  then  a  brilliant  constellation  of 
intellectual  lights  of  various  magnitude  in  the  firmament  of  letters.  A 
large  number  of  these  were  then  in  New  York  City.  Such  a  cluster 
had  never  been  seen  before.  There  were  veteran  writers  whose  laurels 
were  secure  ;  there  were  young  aspirants  for  fame  which  they  after- 
ward obtained  in  full  measure. 

There  was  also  at  that  time  a  remarkable  cluster  of  artists  in  the  city 
of  New  York  :  some  veterans  wearing  their  laurels  proudly,  others  of 
rare  promise,  who  then  and  afterward  fully  vindicated  the  claims  of 
American  artists  to  the  meed  of  superior  excellence. 

The  literary  men  and  artists  were  working  together  in  the  spirit  of 
fraternal  love.  The  recent  creation  of  the  National  Academy  of  the 
Arts  of  Design  ;  the  Sketch  Club,  with  its  twofold  character,  and 
other  pleasant  associations  had  brought  the  men  of  letters  and  of  art 
into  closer  social  communion  than  they  ever  had  been  before.  There  was 
then  another  bond  of  union  still  more  potent  than  these.  It  was  the 
New  York  Mirror,  whose  editor-in-chief  and  proprietor  was  George  P. 
Morris,  the  eminent  lyric  poet.  In  its  pages  appeared  the  contribu- 
tions of  all  the  leading  literary  men  of  the  day,  and  in  its  few  illustra- 
tions were  displayed  the  genius  of  the  best  painters,  draughtsmen,  and 
engravers  of  the  time  in  the  city  of  New  York.  The  Mirror  was  the 
most  generous  patron  of  literature  and  the  fine  arts  of  that  time,  and 
had  a  deservedly  high  reputation  and  wide  circulation. 

In  the  opening  number  of  the  ninth  volume  of  the  Mirror  (1831-32) 
appeared  a  remarkable  poetical  contribution,  in  which  the  literati  and 
the  artists  (painters,  engravers,  and  musicians)  who  contributed  to  its 
pages  were  introduced  by  name.  The  poem  was  from  the  pen  of  an 
anonymous  correspondent.  General  T.  S.  Cummings,  who  was  one  of 
the  leading  artists  of  the  day,  and  now  (1883)  one  of  the  three  sur- 
vivors of  the  founders  of  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design, 
is  quite  certain  the  author  was  A.  J.  Mason,  an  Englishman,  who  was 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


247 


one  of  the  most  expert  engravers  on  wood  of  that  time.  Mr.  Mason 
had  come  to  New  York  in  1820,  and  in  1S32  was  chosen  professor  of 
wood  engraving-  in  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design.* 

The  poem  alluded  to  was  entitled  ki  The  Ninth  Anniversary  :  A  Dra- 
matic Medley  in  one  Act."  The  dramatis  persona)  were,  of  Immor- 
tals, the  nine  Muses,  and  of  Mortals,  the  editors,  collector,  and 
"  printer's  devil  "  of  the  Mirror,  and  the  librarian  of  Clinton  Hall. 

Three  of  the  goddesses — Polyhymnia,  the  muse  that  presides  over 
singing  and  rhetoric  ;  Erato,  the  presiding  genius  of  lyric  and  tender 
poetry,  and  Terpsichore,  the  muse  presiding  over  dancing— are  first 
represented  in  a  scene  on  the  Battery,  with  music  in  Castle  Garden. 
It  is  moonlight,  and  they  begin  chanting  thus  : 

"  Polyhymnia.  When  shall  we  three  meet  again 
In  honor  of  the  Mirror's  reign  ? 

Erato.  When  the  present  volume's  done, 
When  the  Ninth  is  Number  One. 

Terpsichore.  That  won't  be  till  June  has  run. 

rol.  Where's  the  place  ? 

Era.  Within  the  Park.  J 

Terp.  There  to  meet  with— 

Era.  M— s.$ 

Terp.  Hark  ! 

*  Abraham  J.  Mason  was  born  in  London,  April  4,  1794,  and  became  an  orplian  at  the 
age  of  nine  years.  In  1808  he  was  bound  as  an  apprentice  to  the  wood  engraver,  Robert 
Branston,  for  seven  years.  He  remained  with  Branston  as  assistant  five  years  more.  He 
engraved  on  metals  also,  but  in  1821  he  engaged  in  engraving  on  wood,  professionally,  on 
his  own  account.  In  1826  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Royal  Incorporated  Artists, 
and  the  next  year  was  on  the  committee  of  management  of  the  London  Mechanics'  Insti- 
tution. He  delivered  a  discourse  on  the  history  of  wood  engraving  before  members  of 
that  body,  and  was  invited  to  repeat  it  before  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great  Britain.  It 
whs  given  in  the  spring  of  1829,  before  the  literary  men  of  the  country.  In  the  summer 
he  gave  a  full  course  of  lectures  on  the  subject  before  the  Mechanics'  Institution.  In 
the  autumn  of  that  year  Mr.  Mason  came  to  the  United  States  with  his  family,  bringing 
with  him  letters  of  introduction  from  eminent  men  (among  them  Lord  Brougham)  to  Dr. 
Hosack  and  other  scientific  men  in  the  city  of  New  York.  He  was  made  an  associate  of 
the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design  in  1830,  and  delivered  his  course  of  lectures 
before  that  body.  In  1832  he  was  chosen  professor  of  wood  engraving  to  the  Academy. 
He  also  lectured  in  Boston.  He  was  an  anonymous  contributor  to  the  Mirror,  and  some 
of  his  engravings  appear  in  that  periodical. 

So  limited  was  the  demand  for  wood  engravings  in  this  country  that  Mr.  Mason 
returned  to  England  late  in  1838.  He  was  a  poet  as  well  as  an  artist.  I  have  a  copy  of 
a  little  volume  entitled  "  Poetical  Essays,  by  A.  J.  Mason,"  illustrated  with  exquisite 
wood  engravings  by  himself,  and  printed  in  London  in  1822.  The  engravings  are  from 
designs  by  John  Thurston. 

f  The  Park  Theatre.  J  Morris. 


248 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Pol.  I  come,  Euterpe. 

Era.  <  !lio  calls 
From  the  Castle  Garden  wails. 

Alt.  Fair  or  foul,  we  pay  no  fare, 
Hover  o'er  the  bridge,  and  through  the  air." 

Euterpe,  the  presiding  genius  of  music  ;  Thalia,  the  muse  who  pre- 
sides over  comic  poetry,  and  Clio,  the  genius  of  history,  meet  in  the 
Park  Theatre,  while  music  is  resounding  from  Peale's  Museum.  They 
enter  into  conversation  thus  : 

"  Euterpe.  Where  hast  thou  been,  sister,  say? 

Thalia.  Strolling  up  and  down  Broadway, 
Stripping  vice  of  its  disguise, 
Shooting  folly  as  it  flies. 
Paulding  *  now  deiuands  my  aid  ; 
That's  a  call  1  can't  evade. 
Halleck  f  asks  no  favors,  bless  him  ! 
All  the  sisters  so  caress  him. 
Cox,}:  you  know,  in  Albion's  isle 
Waits  for  my  inspiring  smile  ; 
Thither  in  a  shell  I'll  sail, 
Bannered  with  a  peacock's  tail  ; 
He  will  folly's  emblem  view, 
And  then  he  11  do,  he'll  do,  he'll  do  ! 

Eat.  Fll  give  thee  a  favoring  wind. 

Thai.  Thank  thee,  sister,  thou  art  kind. 

Clio.  I'll  supply  thee  with  another. 

Thai.  I  myself  have  all  the  other. 
Where  hast  thou  been  with  thy  flute? 

Eut.  Austin's  voice  has  kept  it  mute  ; 
For  I  cannot  work  such  tones 
As  Cinderella  breathes  with  Jones. 
Brichta,  Gillingham,  and  Knight 
Fill  their  hearers  with  delight  , 
Feron,  George,  and  tuneful  Poole, 
Pupils  of  a  Sterling  school, § 
All  have  won  such  bigb  repute, 
I' ve  a  mind  to  break  my  flute  ! 

*  James  K.  Paulding.  f  Fitz-Greene  Halleck. 

\  William  Cox,  an  Englishman  by  birth,  who  was  employed  upon  the  Mirror,  and 
made  a  literary  reputation  by  his  contributions  to  that  periodical  and  the  publication  of  a 
volume  in  1833  entitled  "  Crayon  Sketches  by  an  Amateur."  It  had  a  preface  written 
by  Theodore  S.  Fay.  Of  this  work  the  late  Gulian  C.  Verplanck  wrote  :  "  It  is  full  of 
originality,  pleasantry,  and  wit.  alternately  reminding  the  reader  of  the  poetic  eloquence 
of  Hazlitt  and  the  quaint  humor  and  eccentricities  of  Charles  Lamb."  Cox  was  a  printer 
by  trade.    He  returned  to  England,  and  died  there  in  1851. 

£  These  were  public  singers  at  the  theatres. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


249 


All  that  I  cun  now  pretend 
Is  these  sweetest  airs  to  blend, 
Copied  weekly  from  the  stage 
For  the  Mirror's  music  page. 

Thai.  Where,  hast  thou  been,  Sister  Clio  ? 

Clio.  In  the  classic  isle  of  Scio, 
Gathering  facts  to  form  a  story 
Of  Moslem  hate  and  Grecian  glory  ; 
Present  times  and  former  ages, 
Fit  to  grace  the  Mirror's  pages. 
Buried  archives,  deep  and  loamy, 
Look  what  I  have ! 

Thai.  Show  me  !    Show  me  ! 

Olio.  Here  I  have  Minerva's  thumb 
Dug  from  Herculaueum. 

Eut.  Be  dumb  !  be  mum  !    Our  sisters,  come  !" 


Then  enter  all  the  Muses,  and  sing  in  concert.  The  editors  of  the 
Mirror  appear,  reading  contributions  by  moonlight,  and  making  com- 
ments on  them.  They  are  astonished  at  the  sight  of  the  Muses,  each 
with  her  finger  on  her  lip. 

"  They  look  not  like  the  belles  of  gay  Broadway," 

say  the  editors,  and  add  : 

"  As  females  you  appear, 

And  yet  your  silence  baffles  this  idea." 

The  Muses  greet  them  cordially  with  : 

"  All  hail,  M — s,  F— y  *  and  M — s,  hail  !" 

They  praise  the  editors,  and  promise  great  things  for  the  Mirror. 
After  that  the  Muses  all  appear  on  the  Battery  in  the  moonlight,  sing- 
ing and  dancing  in  a  frolicsome  manner.    They  chant  in  chorus  : 

"  Many  more  volumes  must  this  one  ensue  : 
New  pictures  will  abound, 
And  elegance  surround, 
As  if  in  plates  were  found 
Propagation  too." 

While  the  nine  sisters  are  dancing  and  uttering  words  of  joy  because 
of  the  success  of  the  Mirror,  Apollo,  the  patron  of  all  the  fine  arts, 
suddenly  appears,  frowning  in  anger.    Thalia  speaks  : 


*  George  P.  Morris  and  Theodore  S.  Fay,  the  joint  editors  of  the  Mirror. 


Z50 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


"  Thai.  How  now.  Apollo  !  what's  the  matter  now? 
There  seems  to  be  a  cloud  upon  thy  brow. 

Apollo.  Have  I  not  reason  ?  meddlers  as  ye  are, 
Saucy  and  overbold  ?    How  did  you  dare 
To  trade  and  traffic  after  dark, 
With  F— y  and  M— B  in  the  Park? 
And  I,  the  leader  of  your  choir, 
*  The  bright-haired  master  of  the  lyre,' 
Was  never  called  to  bear  my  part 
Or  show  the  glory  of  our  art." 

Apollo  orders  the  Muses  to  disperse,  and  meet  again  at  the  Park 
Theatre  at  dawn.  With  Terpsichore  he  ascends  in  a  balloon  to  spend 
the  night  in  the  air  over  "  poets'  garrets."  At  sunrise  the  ]S'ine  are 
seen  in  Clinton  Hall,  and  in  the  midst  of  them  is  a  "  magic  urn,"  into 
which  they  cast  their  contrihutions  for  the  Mirror — treasures  of  litera- 
ture and  art,  all  inspired  by  their  potent  spells.  Apollo  enters  and 
says  : 

"  O,  well  done  !  I  commend  your  pains 
For  nothing's  lost  the  Mirror  gains  ; 
And  now  about  the  urn  we'll  sing, 
Like  elves  and  fairies  in  a  ring, 
Enchauting  all  that  we  put  in. 

Sonc;. 

Grave  essays  and  light, 

Sad  stories  and  gay, 
Mingle,  mingle,  mingle, 

You  that  mingle  may." 

Then  Melpomene,  the  muse  of  tragedy  ;  Calliope,  the  muse  of  epic 
poetry  ;  Urania,  the  muse  of  astronomy,  and  all  the  others  join  in  con- 
cocting the  mixture  : 

"  Pol.  Sedley,  Sedley,  and  his  medley. 

Terp.  Wit  of  Paulding,  sharp  and  scalding. 

Erat.  Verse  of  Palmer,*  that's  a  charmer. 

Melpomene.  Tale  from  Leggett.f  readers  beg  it. 

Chorus.  Around,  around,  around,  about,  aboul, 
Put  in  the  good  and  keep  the  others  out. 

Thai.  Paulding's  Dutch  and  Yankee  chat. 

Apollo.  Put  in  that  -put  in  that. 

Urania.  Here's  Bulwer's  brain. 

Apollo.  Put  in  a  grain. 

Thai.  Here  is  Cox's  latest  letter, 
That  will  please  the  reader  better,"  etc. 


""'  William  Pitt  Palmer,  one  of  the  poetical  contributors  to  the  Mirror.  He  produced  a 
few  charming  verses. 

f  William  Leggett,  then  associated  with  Bryant  in  editing  the  Evening  Post. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


The  librarian  of  Clinton  Hall  enters  with  a  packet  containing  a 
"  bucket-fal  of  sentiment,"  when  Apollo  says  : 

"  Pour  it  in,  'tis  Woodworth's *  measure," 

and  Erato  speaks  : 

"  Thus  in  poesy  divine 

Many  a  gem  tor  us  doth  shine. 

Sprague  f  our  fingers  shall  inspire 

With  his  grandeur  and  his  fire  ; 

Halleck's  classic  satires  charm, 

Wetmore's  |  martial  numbers  warm  ; 

Pierrepont's  £  airs  and  Schroeder's  ||  lays 

Cheer  us  on  our  rugged  ways  ; 

Here  with  Brooks's  r  taste  is  blent 

Bryant's**  heartfelt  sentiment  ; 

Bands'sff  humor,  Whittier' s  ||  strength, 

Bryan's  charity  and  length  : 

Pickering,  5;^  nature's  simple  bard  ; 

Smooth  and  polished  Everard, 

Willis,     delicate  and  chaste, 

Percival,*" of  classic  taste  : 

Cooper,***  Irving.ftf  Hillhouse,^}:  Clark,§§§ 

Nack  Hill  and  all  will  "  toe  the  mark." 

Here  is  Huntley's  wrr\  sweetness  stealing, 

Here  is  Embury's  ****  depth  and  feeling  ; 

Thyrza,  Isabel,  and  Cora, 

Hinda,  Jane,  Estelle,  and  Nora, 

Ida,  Selim,  Alpha,  Reuben, 

Damon,  Rusticus,  and  Lubin  ; 

Woodbridge,  Iclante,  Delia, 

Mary,  Emma,  and  Aurelia  :  f f ff 

Bogert  gentle,  Muzzy  tender, 

£3f"s  and  ***s  of  every  gender. 

Signs  and  Greek  initials  plenty, 

A.  B.  C.  the  fonr-and-twenty." 


*  Samuel  Woodworth,  a  printer,  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Mirror.    The  "  bucket- 
ful of  sentiment"  is  in  allusion  to  Woodworth's  popular  song,  "  The  Old  Oaken  Bucket." 
t  Charles  Sprague.  \  General  Prosper  M.  Wetmore.  §  John  Pierrepont. 

I  Rev.  J.  F.  Schroeder,  then  assistant  minister  of  Trinity  Church. 


X  James  G.  and  Mary  E.  Brooks. 
**  William  Culler.  Bryant. 
f+  Robert  C.  Sands. 
\\  John  Greenleaf  Whittier. 

John  Pickering,  son  of  Timothy  Pickering. 
H  N.  P.  Willis. 
•  ■   James  < I.  Pel-rival. 


***  James  Fenimore  Cooper. 

\\\  Washington  Irving. 

XXX  James  A.  Hillhouse. 
85  8  Willis  Gaylord  Clark. 

WOO  ^ 

III  James  Nack,  a  deaf  mute. 
«  ■  •   Mrs.  Lydia  Huntley  Sigoumey. 
****  Mrs.  Emma  C.  Ernbury. 


tttf  The  assumed  fictitious  names  of  some  of  the  writers  for  the  Mirror. 


252 


HISTOEY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Apollo  speaks  : 

"  Nor  doth  talent  less  abound. 
Nor  is  lesser  riches  found 
In  tliose  columns  which  compose 
Story  or  romance  of  prose  ; 
Mirthf  ill  sketch,  or  strictures  grave, 
Tales  of  wonder  on  the  wave, 
Told  in  '  Leisure  Hours  at  Sea.'  * 
When  the  wind  is  fair  and  free. 

Erato.  '  Little  Genius, '  f  bright  and  gay, 
From  the  racy  pen  of  F— y. 
Critical  remarks  by  B., 
On  dramatic  melody  : 
Inman's  J  candid  speculations 
On  dramatic  publications  ; 
W.'s  '  each  month  in  York,' 
All  combine  to  aid  the  work." 

Apollo  says  : 

"  Enough  of  letters  ;  now  commence 
A  detail  of  embellishments." 

Clio  begins  : 

"  Here  then,  as  before,  I  place 
Weir's  £  grandeur,  Ingham's  I  grace  ; 
Newton's"  truth  and  Bennett's  **  nature, 
Henry  Inman's  ff  skill  in  feature  ; 
Hoyle's  Xt  pellucid  lake  and  sky, 
Fisher's       coursers  as  they  fly  ; 
Architectural  grace  that  shines, 
Bright  in  Davis's  ||||  designs  : 
Cummings's  •      delicious  bloom, 
Speaking  eye  and  snowy  plurae  : 
Jarvis,***  Leslie, fff  Morse,  and  Cole,  J  J}: 
Full  of  feeling,  fire,  and  soul  : 


*  This  is  the  title  of  a  collection  of  poems  of  William  Leggett. 

f  Under  the  name  of  "  The  Little  Genius,"  Theodore  S.  Fay  wrote  a  series  of  short 
essays  for  the  Mirror. 

I  John  Inman.  **  W.  J.  Bennett,  a  landscape  painter. 

§  Robert  W.  Weir.  f|  Henry  Inman,  a  portrait  painter. 

||  Charles  C.  Ingham.  jj  Raphael  Hoyle. 

If  G.  S.  Newton.  Alvan  Fisher,  an  animal  painter. 

HI  A.  J.  Davis,  an  architect,  who  drew  several  sketches  of  buildings  for  the  Mirror. 
If^f  Thomas  S.  Cummings,  "miniature"  or  small  portrait  painter. 
***  John  Wesley  Jarvis.  ftt  c-  R-  Leslie. 

J}J  Thomas  Cole,  the  eminent  landscape  painter. 


FIRST  DECADE.  1830-1840. 


253 


Mountain  scenery,  bold  and  grand, 
From  the  pencil  of  Durand  ;  • 
Trumbull's  f  patriotic  groups 
And  Revolutionary  troops  ; 
Agate,  I  Reinagle.JJ  and  Morse,  | 
Who  teach  the  canvas  to  discourse 
"With  a  host  of  names  as  high, 
Which  oblivion  shall  defy  ; 
Forming  each  a  radiant  gem, 
Modern  painting's  diadem." 

Calliope  speaks  : 

"  From  the  graver's  hand  I  Viring 
No  less  rich  an  offering  ; 
Sculptured  on  their  plates,  there  shine 
Form  for  form,  and  line  for  line  ; 
Light  for  light,  and  shade  for  shade 
In  these  picture-gems  displayed. 
All  may  thus  their  beauties  own, 
Kept  before  by  one  alone  ; 
Living  on  such  lasting  plate, 
Though  the  models  yield  to  fate. 
Here  are  Smillie's  ";  force  and  brightness, 
Hoagland's**  depth  and  Hatch's  ff  lightness 
Sparkling  touches  by  Durand. 
Scenes  from  Smith's  ft  ingenious  hand  ; 
Balch§§  and  Eddy,  Bawdon,  Wright,  |J 
Whose  performances  delight  ; 
Mason, I-"  Adams,***  Anderson, ff-|- 
With  a  host  come  crowding  on, 
Far  too  numerous  to  name, 
All  whose  works  are  known  to  fame." 

Here  Apollo  breaks  in  : 

"  Hold  !  enough  of  graphic  art  ; 
City  view  and  rural  chart  ; 
Leave  them  all  to  graceful  Weir, 
He  will  see  that  they  appear  ; 

*  Asher  B.  Durand  (still  living),  the  eminent  engraver  on  steel,  and  also  a  painter, 
f  Colonel  John  Trumbull,  then  president  of  the  American  Academy  of  Fine  Arts. 
X  F.  S.  Agate.  §  Hugh  Reinagle,  architect  and  painter. 

|  Professor  S.  F.  B.  Morse. 

%  James  Smillie,  yet  (1883)  engaged  in  engraving  on  steel. 

**  William  Hoagland,  an  engraver  on  wood.  \\  George  W.  Hatch. 

tt  John  R.  Smith,  an  Englishman,  and  teacher  of  drawing.  William  Balch. 

||  Members  of  the  firm  of  Rawdon.  Wright  &  Hatch,  bank-note  engravers. 
1T"~  A.  J.  Mason.  ***  Joseph  A.  Adams. 

f++  Dr.  Alexander  Anderson,  the  earliest  engraver  on  wood  in  America. 


254 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Though  we  highly  prize  such  treasures, 
They  must  yield  to  Music's  measures. 
For  our  spells  are  not  complete 
Till  we  add  our  art  so  sweet." 

Then  Euterpe  speaks  : 

"  Let  the  graceful  task  he  mine  : 
Haydn's  splendor  here  shall  shine, 
Handel's  solemn  grandeur  roll, 
Weber's  horrors  fright  the  soul, 
Sweet  Rossini's  strains,  that  move 
E'en  the  sternest  hearts  to  love  ; 
With  the  grave  Mozart's  combined. 
Here  shall  charm  the  oar  and  mind  ; 
While  a  thousand  more  in  turn 
Shall  contribute  to  the  Urn." 

This  little  drama  made  quite  a  stir  in  the  realm  of  letters  and  art  at 
that  time,  and  public  curiosity  was  piqued  because  of  the  mystery  that 
enveloped  the  authorship.  It  was  considered  a  clever  production  of  the 
kind.  Because  it  contains  the  names  of  many  of  the  chief  literary  men 
and  artists  of  the  day  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  because  it  was  one 
of  the  curiosities  of  the  literature  of  the  metropolis,  it  has  been  so 
largely  quoted  from  here.  Doubtless  some  of  the  older  readers  of  this 
work  will  remember  the  "town  Uilk*'  it  occasioned  at  the  time,  and 
the  numerous  wild  o-u  >sses  that  were  made  as  to  its  authorship. 
Mason,  the  supposed  author,  returned  to  London  a  few  years  after- 
ward. 

Among  the  literary  men  of  New  Fork  fifty  years  ago,  the  most  con- 
spicuous were  Washington  Irving,  James  K.  Paulding,  Gulian  C. 
Verplanck,  Fitz-Greene  Halleck,  William  Cullen  Bryant,  William 
Leggett,  Robert  C.  Sands,  George  P.  Morris,  Theodore  S.  Fay,  and 
promising  Nathaniel  P.  Willis. 

Mr.  Irving  had  lately  returned  from  Europe  with  a' wealth  of  mate- 
rials to  use  in  his  future  literary  labors.  He  had  added  to  his  literary 
reputation  in  England  by  the  publication  of  his  "  Sketch  Book"  by  the 
prince  of  publishers.  John  Murray,  to  whom  he  sold  the  copyright  for 
$1000.  In  London  he  was  attached  to  the  American  legation,  as  secre- 
tary under  Minister  McLane.  in  1829,  Before  leaving  England  the 
University  of  Oxford  conferred  on  him  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D. 
He  arrived  in  New  York  in  May,  1S32.  and  was  a  participant  in  a 
public  banquet  spread  in  his  honor  at  the  famous  City  Hotel  by  leading 
men  in  the  city  of  his  birth. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


255 


Mr.  Paulding  was  a  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  Irving,  the  sister  of  the 
former  having  married  the  hitter's  brother  William.  Paulding  began 
his  literary  career  with  Irving  in  the  publication  of  a  series  of  sketches 
which  were  entitled  "  Salmagundi  ;  or  the  Whimwhanis  and  Opinions 
of  Launcelot  Lang-staff  and  Others."  They  were  the  joint  productions 
of  Paulding  and  Irving,  and  continued  to  be  issued  periodically  by 
David  Longworth  during  the  entire  year  1807.  These  papers  hit  off 
the  humor  of  the  times  with  great  freshness  and  vigor,  and  were  very 
popular. 

Paulding  was  a  poet  as  well  as  a  novelist.  His  first  poem  was  "  The 
Backwoodsman,"  which  appeared  in  1818.  In  ls^i;  appeared  his 
"  Merry  Tales  of  the  Three  Wise  Men  of  Gotham"  who  "  went  to  sea 
in  a  bowl."  It  was  a  satire  upon  the  social  system  propounded  by 
Robert  Owen.  It  was  followed  in  1828  by  "  The  Traveller's  Guide," 
which  was  surnamed  "The  Xew  Pilgrim's  Progress."  It  was  a  bur- 
lesque on  the  grandiloquent  guide-books  to  the  city  and  the  works  of 
English  travellers  on  America.  It  gave  satirical  sketches  of  fashionable 
life  and  manners  in  Xew  York  when  to  be  the  mistress  of  a  three-story 
brick  house,  with  mahogany  folding-doors  between  the  parlors,  and 
marble  mantels,  was  the  highest  ambition  of  a  Xew  York  belle.  This 
and  a  half-score  of  other  books  from  his  pen  had  made  Paulding,  at  the 
time  under  consideration,  very  popular  as  a  brilliant  and  entertaining 
writer. 

Mr.  Verplanck*  ranked  among  literary  veterans  even  at  that  period. 

*  Chilian  Crommelin  Verplanck,  LL.D.,  was  for  more  than  fifty  years  one  of  the  best 
known  anion"  the  literary  men  of  New  York.  He  was  horn  in  that  city  iu  1780  ;  gradu- 
ated at  Columbia  College  in  1801  ;  studied  law  with  Edward  Livingston  ;  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1807,  and  made  his  first  appearance  in  public  as  a  Fourth  of  July  orator  in 
the  North  Dutch  Reformed  Church  in  1809.  In  1811  he  was  a  principal  actor  in  the 
defence  of  a  .student  of  Columbia  College  during  the  commencement  exercises  at  Trinity 
Church,  and  was  fined  by  Mayor  De  Witt  Clinton  for  an  infraction  of  law.  The  matter 
assumed  a  political  aspect,  and  some  of  Mr.  Verplanck"s  earlier  literary  efforts  were  in 
the  form  of  political  writings,  the  most  noted  of  which  was  -  'The  State  Triumvirate,"  a 
sharp  satire  aimed  at  De  Witt  Clinton  and  his  friends.  In  1811  Mr.  Verplanck  married 
Miss  Eliza  Fenno,  by  whom  he  had  two  children,  one  of  whom  survives.  In  1813  he  became 
■  contributor  to  the  Analecfic  Magazine,  edited  by  Washington  Irving.  He  went  to  Europe 
in  1810,  and  remained  two  years.  On  his  return  he  delivered  an  anniversary  discourse 
before  the  New  York  Hospital,  which  gave  him  a  great  literary  reputation.  He  became 
an  earnest  politician,  and  was  elected  a  member  of  the  New  York  Assembly  in  1810  by 
the  "  Bucktail  "  party,  opposed  to  Clinton.  He  was  appointed  a  professor  in  the  Union 
Theological  Seminary  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  In  1825  he  was  elected  to 
Congress.  On  retiring  from  that  position  he  devoted  himself  mainly  to  literary  pursuits. 
In  a  discourse  before  the  literary  societies  of  Colnmbia  College  in  1830  he  paid  a  generous 


256 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


He  was  chiefly  distinguished  as  an  essayist,  treating  of  literature, 
history,  law,  science,  politics,  and  religion  ;  and  he  was  the  author  of 
numerous  occasional  addresses.  In  1827  he  and  Sands  and  Bryant 
united  in  the  production  of  an  "  annual  "  (a  popular  style  of  literary 
production  at  that  time)  called  "The  Talisman."  It  was  illustrated 
with  engravings  from  the  burins  of  American  artists.  This  work  was 
issued  three  successive  years,  and  these  volumes  contain  some  of  the 
choicest  productions  of  this  trio  of  writers. 

Halleck  was  then  at  the  height  of  his  fame  as  a  writer — a  poet,  a 
wit,  and  a  satirist.  A  series  of  poetical  satires  on  town  life  and  char- 
acters—on the  Tammany  politicians,  editors,  aldermen,  and  local 
celebrities  in  New  York — had  appeared  in  the  Evening  1 W  over  the 
signature  of  "  Croaker  &  Co.,"  written  by  him  and  Joseph  Rodman 
Drake  jointly.  These  were  published  in  1819,  and  in  1821  his 
"  Fanny,"  in  a  similar  strain,  was  published.  These  productions  had 
made  liim  very  popular,  and  his  society  was  coveted  by  the  literati  of 
the  day.  Cooper,  often  cynical,  loved  Halleck,  and  always  greeted 
him  w  ith  pleasure  at  the  Bread  and  Cheese  Club,  and  elsewhere  in 
society. 

The  acquaintance  of  Halleck  and  Drake  was  begun  under  peculiar 
circumstances.  One  charming  summer  afternoon  in  1819,  Halleck, 
Dr.  De  Kay,  and  other  young  men  were  standing,  just  after  a  shower, 
admiring  a  resplendent  rainbow. 

"  If  I  could  have  my  wish,"  said  one  of  them,  "  it  would  be  to  lie  in 
the  lap  of  that  rainbow  and  read  Tom  Campbell." 

Another  of  the  group,  a  stranger  to  the  speaker,  immediately  stepped 
forward  and  said  to  him. 

tribute  to  the  character  of  De  Witt  Clinton  (who  died  in  1828),  with  whom  he  so  long 
quarrelled  through  the  press,  in  which  he  said  :  "  Whatever  of  party  animosity  might 
have  blinded  me  to  his  merits  died  away  long  before  his  death." 

Mr.  Verplanck  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate  in  1838,  and  was  a  controlling  power  in 
the  Court  of  Errors.  Through  his  life  he  had  been  a  diligent  student  of  Shakespeare, 
and  in  1847  he  completed  the  editing  of  a  new  edition  of  his  works,  published  by  Harper 
&  Brothers.  In  this  task  he  exhibited  much  erudition.  For  more  than  fifty  years  he 
was  a  trustee  of  the  Society  Library,  forty  four  years  a  regent  of  the  University  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  twenty-six  years  a  vestryman  of  Trinity  Church,  twenty-four  years 
president  of  the  Board  of  Emigration,  an  active  member  of  the  New  York  Historical 
Society,  many  years  one  of  the  governors  of  the  New  York  Hospital,  a  trustee  of  Colum- 
bia College,  a  member  of  the  Sketch  Club,  and  a  working  member  of  the  Century  Club. 
But  while  he  was  liberal  in  giving  his  personal  attention  to  the  management  of  various 
institutions,  he  was  never  a  contributor  of  pecuniary  aid  to  any  of  the  benevolent  and 
charitable  institutions  of  the  city.  He  was  the  inheritor  of  a  liberal  competence,  but  his 
estate  was  not  very  large  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in  March,  1870. 


FIRST  DECADES,  1830-1840. 


"  You  and  I  must  be  acquainted  :  my  name  is  Drake." 

"  My  name,"  said  the  other,  "  is  Fitz-Greene  Halleck." 

From  that  day  Drake  and  Halleck  were  fast  friends.  They  were  of 
the  same  age,  almost  to  a  day — twenty-four  years.  The  productions  of 
the  kk  Croakers"  soon  afterward  appeared,  and  created  a  great  deal  of 
amusement  and  not  a  little  irritation.  Drake  died  a  little  more  than  a 
year  after  his  first  acquaintance  with  Halleck,  and  was  sincerely 
mourned  by  the  latter,  who- wrote  the  touching  tributary  lines  begin- 
ning with  the  familiar  verse  : 

"  Green  be  the  turf  above  thee, 
Frier)  d  of  my  better  days  ; 
None  knew  thee  but  to  love  thee, 
None  named  thee  but  to  praise." 

At  the  time  under  consideration  Halleck  was  engaged  in  mercantile 
pursuits.  Poets  cannot  dwell  always  in  the  clouds  nor  banquet  on  air. 
He  wrote  : 

"  No  longer  in  love's  myrtle  shade 
My  thoughts  recline  ; 
I'm  busy  in  the  cotton  trade 
And  sugar  line. " 

He  was  also  agent  for  the  Duchess  County  Insurance  Company. 

Mr.  Bryant,  then  about  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  had  made  his 
advent  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1S25  as  editor  of  the  New  York 
Review.  In  1826  he  connected  himself  editorially  with  the  Bearing 
Post,  and  remained  with  it  as  editor-in-chief  and  proprietor  until  his 
death.  In  1832  a  complete  edition  of  Mr.  Bryant's  poems  appeared  in 
New  York.  Washington  Irving,  then  in  England,  caused  it  to  be 
reprinted  there,  with  a  laudatory  preface  which  he  prepared.  His 
most  notable  poem,  "  Thanatopsis,"  had  been  written  in  1812,  when 
he  was  eighteen  years  of  age.  Mr.  Bryant,  like  Halleck,  was  of 
medium  size,  lithe  and  active;  but,  unlike  Halleck,  he  was  cool  and 
reserved  in  manner,  and  yet  he  always  possessed  a  quiet  vein  of 
humor. 

Mr.  Leggett,  the  junior  of  Bryant  by  eight  years,  a  native  of  New 
York  City,  had  been  a  midshipman  in  the  United  States  Navy,  but  had 
resigned  in  182*5.  In  1S28  he  began  the  publication  of  the  Critic,  a 
Weekly  literary  periodical,  in  which  the  reviews,  criticisms  of  the  drama 
and  fine  arts,  essays,  and  tales  were  nearly  all  from  his  pen.  It  died  at 
the  end  of  six  months  for  want  of  pecuniary  sustenance.  His  ability 
and  versatility  had  been  so  conspicuously  illustrated  that  in  1829  Mr. 


258  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

Lejnrett  became  associated  with  Mr.  Brvant  in  editing  the  Evening 
/V/.  lie  had  stipulated  that  he  should  not  be  called  to  write  political 
articles,  because  they  were  distasteful  to  him,  and  he  had  no  settled 
convictions  on  the  subject,  but  before  the  end  of  the  year  he  became  a 
zealous  Democrat,  and  took  decided  ground  in  favor  of  free  trade  and 
against  the  United  States  Bank.  Mr.  Leggett  died  May  29,  1839.  He 
was  of  medium  height,  compactly  built,  and  possessed  great  powers  of 
endurance. 

Mr.  Sands,  a  native  of  Flatbush,  L.  L,  was  then  about  thirty-two 
years  of  age.  lie  had  begun  his  literary  career  at  the  age  of  fourteen 
years.  From  1827  to  the  time  of  his  death,  December  17,  1832,  he 
was  assistant  editor  of  the  Xew  York  Commercial  Advertiser.  Gillian 
C.  Verplanck  published  a  memoir  of  his,  with  selections  from  his 
works.  "While  engaged  in  writing  an  article  upon  "  Esquimaux  Lit- 
erature,'"' for  the  Knickerbocker  Magazine,  on  December  IT,  1832,  he 
was  seized  with  apoplexy,  and  his  pencil  dropped  from  his  hand.  Tie 
arose  to  leave  his  room,  but  fell  at  the  threshold,  and  lived  only  a  few 
hours. 

Mr.  Sands  had  studied  law,  but  soon  after  his  admission  to  the  bar 
he  abandoned  the  profession  and  devoted  himself  to  literature.  One  of 
his  best  productions — "  The  Dream  of  the  Princess  Rapantzin" — w;;s 
published  in  the  TaUsmtm.  After  that,  and  while  connected  with  the 
Commercial  Advertiser,  he  wrote  several  works,  chiefly  essays,  in  prose 
and  poetry.  In  connection  with  J.  W.  Eastburn  he  wrote  a  poem 
called  "  Yamovden,"  founded  on  events  in  the  life  of  King  Philip. 
He  began  the  Atlantic  Magazine  in  1*24-,  and  in  1828  he  wrote  an 
"Historical  Notice  of  Hernan  Cortez."  In  1831  he  wrote  and  pub- 
lished "  The  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Paul  Jones."  His  last  fin- 
ished composition  was  a  poem  on  £>  The  Dead  of  lx:52.'' 

Morris,  the  chief  proprietor  of  the  Mirror,  was  a  thick-set,  compactly 
built  man,  jolly  in  expression  and  deportment,  with  flashing  dark  eyes 
and  hair,  florid  complexion,  and  about  thirty  years  of  age.  Fay  and 
"Willis  were  of  the  same  age,  within  a  month — twenty-four  years.  Fay 
began  his  literary  life  on  the  Mirror.  Willis  had  written  poetry  while 
in  college,  and  in  1*2*,  when  twenty-one  years  of  age,  he  established 
the  American  Monthly  Magazine.  It  was  merged  into  the  Mirror  in 
1830.  He  soon  afterward  went  to  Europe  and  wrote  for  the  Mirror 
the  remarkable  series  of  letters  under  the  head  of  "  Pencillings  by  the 
Way. "  Fay  was  tall  and  thin.  AYillis  was  also  rather  tall,  lithe,  and 
handsome.  When  he  was  seventeen  years  of  age  Rembrandt  Peale 
met  him  in  the  street  in  Boston,  and  struck  with  the  exquisite  com- 


FIRST  DKC'ADE,  ISJSO-lSKl. 


859 


])loxion  of  the  young-  stranger,  lie  invited  him  to  his  studio  in  order  to 
paint  his  portrait,  the  color  of  his  face  was  so  perfect.* 

The  welcome  and  the  banquet  given  to  Washington  Irving  on  his 
return  from  Europe,  just  mentioned,  was  one  of  the  most  notable 
events  of  the  kind  that  citizens  of  Xew  York  had  ever  participated  in. 
It  seemed  to  be  a  revival  of  the  glowing  enthusiasm  with  which  the 
corporation  and  citizens  welcomed  the  naval  heroes  of  the  second  war 
for  independence. 

Mr.  Irving  had  returned  from  Europe  late  in  May,  and  received  an 
invitation  from  his  fellow-townsmen  to  receive  "  a  cordial  welcome  to 
his  native  city''  at  a  public  dinner.  The  invitation  was  signed  by 
about  forty  citizens  prominent  in  social  life  in  the  city,  headed  by  Pro- 
fessor James  Renwick  of  Columbia  College. 

The  banquet  was  spread  in  the  great  saloon  of  the  City  Hotel. 
Chancellor  Kent  presided,  assisted  by  Messrs.  Philip  Hone,  John  Duer, 
Professor  Ren  wick,  T.  L.  Ogden,  Samuel  Swart  wout,  and  Charles 
Graham,  as  vice-presidents.  Among  the  guests  were  representatives 
of  foreign  governments,  officers  of  the  army  and  navy,  judges,  Bishop 
Onderdonk,  Lieutenant-Governor  Livingston,  Joseph  Bonaparte,  dis- 
tinguished literary  men,  and  others.  When  they  were  all  seated  Irving- 
entered  the  room  leaning  on  the  arm  of  the  venerable  Chancellor  Kent. 
After  the  cloth  was  removed  the  chancellor  arose,  made  an  admirable 
speech  of  welcome,  and  then  offered  the  following  toast  : 

"  Our  Illustrious  Guest  :  thrice  welcome  to  his  native  land." 

To  this  Mr.  Irving  made  a  most  happy  and  feeling  response.  Then 
followed  speeches  by  Philip  Hone  and  the  other  vice-presidents,  each 
offering  a  toast.  The  regular  and  numerous  volunteer  toasts  were 
then  offered,  and  the  company  broke  up  about  midnight. 

A  project  was  set  on  foot  about  that  time  for  the  ladies  of  the  city, 
"  who  had  participated  but  slightly  in  the  pleasure  of  welcoming  their 
favorite  hachclor  home/'  to  give  him  a  grand  fancy  ball  in  the  autumn, 
in  which  all  the  characters  in  his  works  would  be  represented. 

The  most  prominent  painters  mentioned  in  the  drama  were  Trumbull, 
Jarvis,  Weir,  Leslie,  Inman,  Morse,  Cole,  Cu minings,  Agate,  Durand, 

*  The  writer  of  this  work  remembers  going  on  some  business,  into  the  editor's  room 
of  the  Mirror  (a  very  small  apartment  in  James  Conner's  type-foundry  building,  corner 
of  Fulton  and  Nassau  streets)  in  1835.  Morris  was  reading  one  of  Willis's"  Pencillings" 
in  manuscript,  just  received,  to  four  gentlemen  who  were  seated  there.  The  writer  was 
invited  to  take  a  seat.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  reading  he  was  introduced  to  the  four 
gentlemen— Washington  Irving,  Dr.  John  W.  Francis.  Fitz-Greene  Halleck,  and  Theodore 
S.  Fay.  Mr.  Irving  was  much  sunburned,  for  he  had  just  returned  from  a  tour  on  the 
prairies. 


260 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOKE  CITY. 


and  Ho  vie.  The  most  prominent  engravers  on  metal  were  Durand, 
Smillie,  and  Hatch,  and  on  wood,  Mason,  Adams,  and  Anderson. 

Trumbull  was  a  small  man.  He  was  the  painter  of  four  of  the  fa- 
mous pictures  which  fill  panels  in  the  rotunda  at  Washington,  ordered 
and  paid  for  by  the  National  Government.  They  represent  scenes 
in  the  history  of  the  old  war  for  independence.  Trumbull  was  then 
nearly  eighty  veal's  of  age.  Fifty -seven  of  his  pictures  are  now  in  the 
"  Trumbull  Gallery  "of  Tale  College.  He  presented  them  to  the  col- 
lege on  condition  of  receiving  an  annuity  of  $1000.  He  died  in  Xew 
York  in  1843. 

John  "Wesley  Jarvis  was  a  native  of  England,  where  lie  was  born  in 
1780,  and  was  a  nephew  of  Wesley,  the  founder  of  Methodism.  Jarvis 
came  to  Philadelphia  when  five  years  of  age,  but  was  a  citizen  of  New 
York  most  of  his  life,  where  he  was  the  leading  portrait  painter  many 
years.  He  was  a  diligent  student  of  all  information,  especially  that 
which  pertained  to  his  calling.  Jarvis  had  a  lucrative  business,  but  his 
extravagant  habits  and  irregular  life  kept  him  always  comparatively 
poor.  He  earned  $6000  in  six  months  in  New  Orleans,  where  he  had 
Henry  Inman,  his  pupil,  with  him.  He  received  six  sitters  a  day.  A 
sitting  occupied  an  hour.  The  picture  was  handed  to  Inman  to  paint 
in  the  background  and  drapery  under  the  master's  eye. 

Jarvis  was  a  genuine  humorist.  Diuilap  relates  several  stories  illus- 
trative of  this  trait  in  his  character.  Stopping  at  the  house  of  a 
planter  near  Charleston,  Jarvis  perceived  a  dog-kennel  near  the  gate 
at  the  highway,  which  was  some  distance  from  the  mansion.  The 
planter  was  absent  some  days,  leaving  the  house  in  charge  of  Jarvis. 
He  painted  on  the  kennel,  in  large  letters,  the  words  "  Take  care  of  the 
dog."  Everybody  shunned  the  kennel,  and  took  other  routes  to  the 
house.  When  the  owner  came  home,  he  too,  seeing  the  words  of 
warning,  shunned  the  kennel. 

"  Why,  Jarvis,"  he  said.  "  what  have  you  got  in  the  dog-kennel  ?" 

"  A  dog,  to  be  sure.    Come  and  see." 

They  went,  and  the  painter  took  out  of  the  dog-house  a  puppy  whose 
eyes  were  not  yet  open. 

"  Poor  little  fellow,"  said  Jarvis,  as  he  stroked  the  puppy's  back  ; 
"  don't  you  think  it  necessary  to  take  care  of  him  ?" 

On  one  occasion,  while  painting  a  portrait  of  Bishop  Moore,  the  prel- 
ate asked  Jarvis  some  question  about  his  religious  belief.  The  painter, 
as  if  intent  upon  catching  the  likeness  of  the  sitter,  said,  quietly, 
"  Turn  your  face  more  that  way,  and  shut  your  mouth."  Jarvis  died 
in  New  York  City,  January  12,  1840. 


FIRST  DECADE,  18  0-1840. 


"Weir  was  at  that  time  a  little  under  thirty  years  of  age.  He  had 
straggled  with  misfortune  in  earlv  life,  discerned  his  own  genius  for  art 

DO  «-  *  O 

and  heeded  its  promptings,  had  become  a  pupil  in  art  before  be  was 
twenty,  and  was  now  a  successful  practitioner  of  the  delightful  profes- 
sion of  a  painter.  He  had  lately  painted  a  fine  portrait  of  the  Seneca 
chief  lied  Jacket,  and  his  designs  were  the  delight  of  the  engraver. 
Weir  was  not  tall,  but  possessed  an  excellent  physique,  and  was  com- 
pactly built.* 

C.  R.  Leslie  was  Weir's  senior  by  nine  years,  and  was  at  this  time 
teacher  of  drawing  at  West  Point.    He  resigned  in  1834.  f 

Thomas  Cole,:}:  the  fine  landscape  painter,  was  at  that  time  in  Eng- 
land, having  gone  there  in  182!».    Tie  did  not  return  until  1S32. 

*  Robert  Walter  Weir  -was  bom  in  New  Iiochelle,  Westchester  County,  N.  T.,  June  18, 
1803.  His  father  was  a  merchant,  who  failed  in  business  when  Robert  was  a  lad.  He 
was  taken  from  school  and  placed  in  n  cotton  factor}-.  Afterward  he  was  engaged  in  a 
mercantile  house,  first  in  Albany  and  afterward  in  the  South  and  in  New  York  City.  His 
fondness  for  sketching  made  him  resolve  to  be  a  painter.  He  took  lessons  in  drawing, 
and  made  excellent  copies  of  paintings  loaned  him  by  Mr.  Paff,  a  famous  dealer  in  art 
productions,  which  brought  young  Weir  fame  and  employment.  So,  at  the  age  of  less 
than  twenty  years,  his  art  life  began.  His  "  Embarkation  of  the  Pilgrims,"  painted  to 
fill  a  panel  in  the  rotunda  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  is  regarded  as  the  best  painting 
under  the  roof  of  that  building. 

Mr.  Weir  was  professor  of  perspective  in  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design 
(1830-34),  when  he  succeeded  C.  E.  Leslie  as  instructor  of  drawing  in  the  Military  Acad- 
emy at  West  Point,  where  he  remained  about  forty  years  in  that  capacity.  He  has  pro- 
duced some  exquisite  paintings,  remarkable  for  sentiment,  accuracy  of  drawing,  and 
admirable  coloring,    ne  now  (1883)  resides  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

f  Charles  Eobert  Leslie  was  born  in  London,  October  17,  1794,  and  died  near  that  city 
on  May  5,  1859.  His  parents  were  natives  of  Maryland,  and  returned  to  America  when 
Charles  was  five  years  of  age.  At  six  he  could  make  sketches  from  memory  with  much 
accuracy.  He  studied  art  in  Europe,  and  spent  some  time  in  England  studying  and 
painting.  He  was  appointed  teacher  of  drawing  at  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point, 
on  the  Hudson.  That  position  he  resigned  in  1834,  when  he  returned  to  England,  where 
he  died. 

1  Thomas  Cole  was  r.n  eminent  landscape  painter,  a  native  of  Lancashire,  England, 
where  he  was  born  in  February,  1801.  His  parents  were  Americans,  and  returned  to 
America  when  Thomas  was  eighteen  years  of  age.  He  began  portrait  painting  at  Steu- 
benville,  Ohio,  and  in  1822  he  left  home  as  an  itinerant  portrait  painter.  Being  unsuc- 
cessful, he  turned  his  attention  to  landscape  painting,  and  became  a  master  in  that  line 
of  art.  Enamored  by  the  scenery  of  the  Hudson  River,  all  his  talent  was  drawn  out  by 
the  inspiration.  He  entered  upon  a  very  successful  career.  In  1829  he  visited  England  ; 
he  also  went  to  Paris  and  Italy,  and  in  1832  returned  to  New  York.  He  finally  made 
Catskill,  N.  Y.  his  place  of  abode.  There  he  painted  his  famous  serial  pictures,  "  The 
Course  of  Empire"  (now  in  the  gallery  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society)  and  "The 
Voyage  of  Life."  He  left  an  unfinished  series.  "  The  Cross  and  the  World,"  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  which  occurred  February  11.  1847. 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Henry  Inraan  had  then  superseded  his  master,  Jarvis,  as  a  portrait 
painter.  lie  was  thirty  years  of  age,  possessed  conversational  powers 
of  a  high  order,  and  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  anecdote  and  wit. 

C.  C.  Ingham  *  was  a  very  small  and  a  very  active  man,  and  an 
exquisite  painter  of  portraits,  finishing  them  up  with  all  the  delicacy  of 
touch  of  the  small  ivory  portraits.  Durand  was  then  engaged  in  alter- 
nate labor's  with  the  brush  and  burin.  Cummings  was  producing  his 
exquisite  small  portraits  on  ivory  and  paper  ;  Iloyle,  the  gifted,  was 
painting  beautiful  landscapes,  but  died  a  few  years  afterward,  while 
Agate,  who  began  the  practice  of  the  painters  art  at  an  early  age,  was 
successfully  painting  portraits  in  Albany,  t  Morse  was  already  a  veteran 
in  art,  president  of  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design,  and 
at  that  time  was  about  to  return  from  England  with  the  grand  idea  of 
an  electro-magnetic  telegraph  about  to  blossom  out  of  his  brain  and 
produce  the  wonderful  fruit  for  which  the  civilized  world  is  indebted 
for  a  great  blessing. 

Durand  was  then  the  foremost  engraver  of  pictures  on  metals  in  the 
United  States,  especially  in  delineations  of  human  flesh,  while  James 
Smillie  was  the  most  effective  engraver  of  landscapes.  Both  are  yet 
among  living  artists.  Mr.  Smillie,  the  younger  of  the  two.  is  actively 
engaged  with  the  burin  at  his  pleasant  home  in  Pouglikeepsie.^ 

*  Charles  C.  Ingham  was  a  native  of  Dublin,  Ireland,  where  he  was  horn  in  1707.  He 
came  to  New  York  at  the  age  of  twenty,  ami  with  his  brother  held  a  front  rank  as  a  por- 
trait painter.  His  "  Death  of  Cleopatra"  gave  him  great  notoriety  and  extensive  busi- 
ness.   He  produced  other  beautiful  compositions. 

+  Frederick  S.  Agate  was  a  native  of  Westchester  County,  New  York,  born  in  1807. 
Showing  a  propensity  for  "sketching  everything*'  in  early  childhood,  he  was  placed 
under  the  tuition  of  John  R.  Smith,  a  teacher  of  drawing,  when  he  was  fourteen  years  of 
age.  He  became  a  pupil  of  S.  F.  I>.  Morse  in  painting.  He  began  portrait  painting  as 
a  profession  in  1827,  and  became  an  exceedingly  skilful  artist  in  that  line,  as  well  as  in 
historical  painting.  Mr.  Agate  died  in  New  York  City  in  1844.  His  best  known  works 
are  "  Dead  Christ  and  Mother,"  "  Columbus  and  the  Egg,"  "  The  Ascension,"  and 
"  Count  TJgolino." 

^  James  Smillie  is  a  native  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  where  he  was  born  on  November 
23,  1807.  His  father  was  a  manufacturing  jeweller  and  an  enthusiastic  mineralogist. 
The  son  at  a  very  early  age  felt  a  strong  desire  to  become  an  engraver,  but  did  not  at 
first  receive  much  encouragement  from  his  mother,  for  he  was  only  eleven  years  of  age  — 
"  too  young  to  think  of  it."  But  the  boy  determined  to  try  his  luck.  He  found  a  silver 
engraver  willing  to  take  him  as  a  pupil,  and  he  entered  his  service.  This  tutor  soon 
afterward  died,  and  James  found  a  situation  with  an  historical  engraver,  where,  however, 
he  did  nothing  more  than  make  drawings. 

Mr.  Smillie's  parents  emigrated  to  Quebec  when  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age.  There, 
with  very  little  experience,  he  began  the  practice  of  the  art  of  engraving.  He  soon 
acquired  skill  in  cutting  letters,  and  he  set  up  for  himself,  giving  public  notice  that  he 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


2G3 


George  "Wnitefield  Hatch,  then  the  partner  in  business  with  Mr. 
Smillie,  was  charming  the  public  with  his  delicate  designs  and  rare 
skill  as  an  engraver.  He  had  lately  engraved  on  steel  for  the  Mirror  a 
fine  portrait  of  Washington  Irving,  from  a  painting  by  Leslie. 

Mr.  Hatch  was  a  native  of  Johnstown,  Montgomery  County,  X.  Y., 
where  he  was  born  April  27,  ls,»4.  A  portion  of  his  early  life  was 
passed  at  Auburn,  Cayuga  County.  X.  V.,  where  he  began  the  study 
of  law  with  his  half-brother,  Enos  T.  Throop,  who  became  lieutenant- 
governor  of  Xew  York.  His  love  of  art  and  his  developing  ability  to 
pursue  it  successfully  so  predominated  in  his  nature  that  with  the  sanc- 
tion of  his  friends  he  abandoned  the  study  of  the  law  and  ever  after- 
ward worked  and  dwelt  in  the  realm  of  art. 

While  yet  a  lad  young  Hatch's  exquisite  designs  attracted  attention, 
and  as  he  grew  to  manhood  his  skill  with  the  pencil  assured  his  future 

was  prepared  to  "  engrave  spoons,  door-plates,  and  dog-collars."  He  afterward  engraved 
maps  for  the  Canadian  government  so  skilfully  that  he  was  awarded  a  silver  medal 
and  was  made  a  member  of  the  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
in  Canada.  He  finally  went  to  England  to  acquire  a  more  thorough  knowledge  of  his 
art.  He  suffered  many  vicissitudes  there,  and  after  receiving  five  months'  instruction 
from  an  engraver  in  Edinburgh,  he  returned  to  Quebec  and  resumed  the  practice  of 
engraving  there.  He  etched  scenery  about  Quebec  and  evinced  great  skill  and  promise 
in  that  line  of  art. 

In  1830  Mr.  Smillie  went  to  New  York,  determined  to  push  his  way  in  landscape 
engraving  exclusively,  and  succeeded  to  his  heart's  content.  His  first  essay  was  getting 
op  cheap  labels  for  cigar-boxes,  with  Mr.  Gimber,  an  engraver.  There  he  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Mr.  Weir,  the  painter,  who  engaged  him  to  engrave  a  convent  gate,  near 
Rome,  which  Weir  had  painted,  and  generously  invited  him  to  be  his  guest  and  to  use 
his  studio  while  engaged  upon  it.  He  was  successful.  He  made  the  acquaintance  of 
A.  B.  Durand,  who  engaged  him  to  do  some  work  on  a  steel  plate,  the  first  he  had  ever 
undertaken  on  that  metal.  He  succeeded,  and  Mr.  Durand  generously  gave  him  S10 
more  than  he  asked  for  his  work.  He  returned  to  Canada.  Soon  afterward  he  received 
an  invitation  from  a  Xew  York  publisher  to  return  and  engrave  views  about  New  York 
for  him,  assuring  him  he  would  earn  $10  a  week.  He  accepted  the  invitation,  arrived 
in  New  York  in  May,  1831,  and  was  not  disappointed.  In  the  fall  he  sent  for  his 
mother  and  her  family.  He  successfully  engraved  for  a  publisher  "  The  Garden  of 
Eden,"  from  a  painting  by  Cole,  and  began  to  engrave  plates  for  the  New  York  Mirror 
and  the  "  Annuals."  He  formed  a  partnership  in  engraving  with  George  W.  Hatch, 
which  did  not  endure  long,  for  that  gentleman  entered  the  firm  of  Rawdon  &  Wright, 
bank-note  engravers.  From  that  time  Mr.  Smillie  was  eminently  successful  in  business, 
producing  the  finest  landscape  engraving  in  the  country. 

In  1831  Mr.  Smillie  was  elected  a  member  of  the  first  Sketch  Club,  was  made  an  asso- 
ciate of  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  ot  Design  in  1832,  and  an  academician  in  1851. 
He  became  a  member  of  the  National  Bank  Note  Company  in  180-!.  He  left  it  in  1868 
and  joined  the  American  Bank  Note  Company,  of  which  he  is  now  (1883)  a  member.  He 
removed  to  the  city  of  Poughkeopsie,  where  he  is  delightfully  engaged  in  the  pursuit  oi 
his  favorite  art,  and  has  thu  happiness  of  seeing  his  sons  successful  artists. 


264 


HISTOUY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


position.  Dunlap  says  he  took  lessons  in  engraving  from  Durand — was 
his  pupil.  At  the  age  of  twenty-five  he  married  Miss  Mary  Daniels,  of 
Albany.  He  had  then  become  a  successful  engraver  as  well  as  a 
designer  and  draughtsman. 

About  1S28  Mr.  Hatch  took  up  his  abode  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
where  he  soon  stood  in  the  front  rank  in  the  practice  of  the  graphic 
art.  In  1831,  perceiving  the  skill  in  landscape  engraving  of  James 
Smillie,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  him.  Not  long  afterward  Mr. 
Hatch  formed  a  business  connection  with  Messrs.  Rawdon  and  Wright, 
bank-note  engravers.  The  firm  of  Rawdon.  Wright,  Hatch  &  Co. 
became  very  famous,  and  for  many  years  they  did  most  of  the  bank- 
note engraving  of  the  country.  Many  of  the  most  beautiful  designs 
that  embellished  the  bank-notes  were  from  his  hand.  In  1S5S  this  firm 
and  other  engravers  of  later  distinction  joined  in  forming  the  American 
Bank  Note  Company.  Of  this  association  Mr.  Hatch  was  made  the 
president,  which  office  he  held  at  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred 
on  February  13,  ISM,  at  his  beautiful  suburban  seat  at  Dobb's  Ferry, 
on  the  Hudson,  in  the  sixty-second  year  of  his  age.  His  widow  sur- 
vived him  more  than  nine  years. 

Mr.  Dunlap,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Arts  of  Design,"  wrote  of  Mr. 
Hatch  in  1834  :  "  He  designs  with  taste,  skill,  and  accuracy.  That  I 
am  not  able  to  give  a  detailed  and  accurate  notice  of  this  very  estimable 
gentleman  is  owing  to  a  reserve,  on  his  part,  that  is  to  me  inexplicable. 

He  began  a  picture  some  years  ago,  which  has  been  favorably 
spoken  of,  but  he  says  he  shall  not  finish  it  until  he  has  made  his 
fortune.  He  is  a  member  of  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of 
Design,  and  I  have  admired  his  sketches  at  our  Sketch  Club." 

Late  in  life  Mr.  Hatch  went  to  Europe,  where  he  visited  the  most 
famous  art  galleries  in  France,  Italy,  and  Germany.  It  was  a  realiza- 
tion of  a  delicious  dream  of  his  youth,  and  he  returned  satisfied.  In  his 
business  and  social  relations  Mr.  Hatch  was  always  genial,  and  honor- 
able in  all  his  ways.  He  was  ever  ready  to  assist  the  deserving  and 
the  needy.  His  remains  repose  in  a  beautiful  cemetery  at  Auburn,  N.  Y. 
Mr.  Hatch  founded  the  (present)  "Hatch  Lithographic  Company." 

"  Mason,  Adams,  Anderson,"  mentioned  in  the  "  drama,"  were  the 
three  principal  engravers  on  wood  then  in  New  York  ;  indeed  there 
were  only  two  others.  Joseph  A.  Adams  gave  to  his  work  most 
exquisite  mechanical  execution.  He  was  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  but 
was  so  reticent  about  his  own  career  that  no  one  ever  had  sufficient 
materials  for  the  most  meagre  biographical  sketch.  He  became  widely 
known  as  the  engraver  of  the  illustrations  of  Harper's  beautiful  folio 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


265 


"Bible.  Tie  spent  many  years  in  Europe  after  18-tS,  and  died  about  the 
year  1S7S. 

Dr.  Alexander  Anderson  was  a  most  remarkable  man.  He  was  born 
in  the  city  of  Xew  York  in  April,  1775.  His  father  was  a  Whig 
printer,  and  fled  from  the  city  when  the  British  took  possession  of  it  in 
1770.  He  evinced  a  taste  and  talent  for  ait  at  a  very  early  age,  but 
studied  medicine  and  graduated  at  the  medical  school  of  Columbia  Col- 
lege. He  preferred  art,  and  especially  engraving,  as  a  life  pursuit. 
Having  engraved  about  half  the  illustrations  for  a  book  on  type-metal, 
he  discovered  that  similar  pictures  Avere  made  on  wood,  and  he 
engraved  the  remainder  on  the  latter  material.  This  was  the  first 
engraving  on  wood  done  in  America.  He  pursued  the  art  consecu- 
tively for  seventy-five  years,  or  until  the  ninety-fifth  year  of  his  age. 
He  died  when  within  three  months  of  ninety-five  years  of  age,  January 
16,  1870. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


THE  beginning  of  this  decade  was  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  in  jo'.r.  - 
nalism,  not  only  in  the  city  of  New  York  but  in  both  hemi- 
spheres. 

In  1827  there  were  ten  daily  newspapers  published  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  of  which  six  were  issued  in  the  morning  and  four  in  the 
evening.  The  morning  daily  papers  were  the  New  York  Gaae&e,  the 
Mercantile  Ad 'vertixi-r,  the  National  Advocate,  the  Doilg  Advertiser, 
the  Xeio  York  Xational  Advocate,  and  the  Times. 

The  evening  papers  were  the  Commercial  Advertiser,  the  Keening 
Post,  the  Statesman,  and  the  American.  Xot  one  of  the  morning 
daily  papers  named  is  now  in  existence  ;  of  the  evening  papers,  the 
Commercial  Advertiser  and  Evening  Post  are  flourishing  in  green  old 
age. 

There  were  seven  semi-weekly  papers  and  sixteen  weekly  newspapers 
in  the  city  in  1827.  The  former  were  issues  of  the  dailies  for  the  coun- 
try ;  some  of  the  latter  were  such  issues,  and  some  were  independent 
publications.  Of  the  weekly  papers  of  that  day,  only  one  survives — 
the  New  York  Ohx<rvcr — which  ranked  as  a  "  religious  newspaper." 
There  are  now  published  in  New  York  twenty-one  daily  morning 
papers  and  eight  daily  evening  papers.  There  are  eleven  semi-weekly 
papers  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  weekly  papers.  There  are  also  five 
bi-weekly  and  fifteen  semi-monthly  papers.  Of  "  periodical  "  publica- 
tions so  called,  there  are  one  hundred  and  sixteen  monthlies,  two 
bi-monthlies,  and  six  quarterlies. 

It  was  at  about  this  time  that  a  new  power  in  the  realm  of  journal- 
ism appeared  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  the  person  of  a  young 
lieutenant  in  the  army,  who  had  lately  resigned.  Ib;  was  then  nearly 
twenty-six  years  of  age. 

In  May,  1827,  a  daily  newspaper  had  been  started  in  New  York 
called  the  Morning  Courier.  It  had  struggled  with  adversity  a  little 
more  than  six  months  when,  in  December,  it  was  about  to  abandon  the 
contest  for  fife  because  of  a  lack  of  money  to  sustain  it,  when  the 
young  army  officer  referred  to  became  its  proprietor.    Signs  of  new 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


207 


life  and  uncommon  energy  immediately  appeared,  and  the  resuscitated 
Courier  started  vigorously  on  a  lung  and  wonderful  career. 

Let  us  here  pause  a  moment  and  take  a  brief  survey  of  the  antece- 
dents of  this  young  newspaper  proprietor.  It  will  help  us,  by  an 
insight  into  his  character  at  this  period,  to  better  comprehend  what 
follows  in  an  outline  picture  of  events  at  the  dawn  of  the  new  era  in 
journalism. 

The  new  proprietor  of  the  Courier  was  the  son  of  a  gallant  officer  of 
the  army  of  patriots  in  the  war  of  the  American  Revolution.  His 
brother-in-law  and  guardian  wished  him  to  study  law.  Though  onlv  a 
boy  of  twelve  years,  he  said,  decidedly  : 

"  No,  I  want  to  enter  the  army  or  navy,  or  study  medicine.'" 

"  Out  of  the  question,'' 1  said  his  kinsman. 

Both  were  obstinate,  and  a  compromise  followed.  The  boy  was 
to  try  the  mercantile  profession.  The  experiment  continued  three 
months,  when  the  boy  decided  it  wn.i  a  failure.  His  guardian  insisted 
it  was  too  late  to  make  a  change  ;  the  boy  thought  not,  and  acted  in 
accordance  with  his  convictions.  lie  endured  the  restraints  of  guar- 
dianship until  he  was  about  seventeen  years  old,  when  he  suddenly  dis- 
missed his  overseers  by  a  summary  process,  and  started  out  in  life  free 
and  independent. 

The  lad  was  then  a  resident  of  Cherry  Valley,  X.  Y.  Having  pro- 
vided himself  legitimately  with  means  from  his  own  inheritance,  he 
sent  word  to  his  guardian  that  he  no  longer  required  his  services  as 
such,  and  then  started  for  New  York  City  to  see  Governor  Clinton, 
whom  he  knew  personally.  He  told  the  governor  he  was  on  his  way 
to  Washington  to  get  a  commission  in  the  army,  and  asked  him  for  a 
letter  of  introduction  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  the  Secretary  of  AVar.  It  was 
given  him,  and  the  youth  went  on  his  way  rejoicing. 

After  reading  the  governor's  letter,  the  secretary  said  : 

"  It  is  impossible  to  give  you  a  place.  The  graduating  class  at  West 
Point  is  very  large — more  than  sufficient  to  fill  all  vacancies." 

Here  was  a  dilemma.  The  youth  had  only  $3  left,  and  too  proud 
ever  to  return  home  if  he  failed.  After  a  moment's-  reflection  he 
asked  : 

"  If  there  had  been  no  graduating  class,  would  my  claims  have  been 
respected  V 

"  Certainly  ;  but  why  do  you  ask  V  Mr.  Calhoun  inquired,  greatly 
interested  by  the  business  view  of  matters  taken  by  the  youth. 

"  Because, "  said  the  lad,  "  in  that  case  I  wish  permission  to  address 
you  a  letter,  examining  into  the  justice  of  the  ground  upon  which  you 


268 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


have  made  a  decision  which  cannot  fail  to  have  an  influence  upon  my 
future  life." 

The  astonished  secretary  readily  granted  the  favor.  It  was  in  the 
middle  of  August,  1819.  The  young  adventurer  returned  to  his  lodg- 
ings. The  weather  was  extremely  hot,  hut  he  sat  down  to  his  task, 
and  did  not  leave  it  until  it  was  finished.  He  wrote  a  long  letter,  in 
which  he  contrasted  the  position  of  the  graduates  of  "West  Point  with 
his  own  ;  they  being  young  men  selected  mostly  from  political  consid- 
erations, educated,  supported,  and  clothed  at  the  expense  of  the  gov- 
ernment for  four  yeare,  and  having  no  claims  upon  the  country  other 
than  their  fitness  for  military  service.  He,  on  the  contrary,  had  been 
educated  at  his  own  expense  ;  his  father  had  been  a  meritorious  officer 
during  the  whole  period  of  the  Revolution,  and  had  spent  his  fortune 
and  his  best  years  in  the  service  of  his  country.  The  young  man 
claimed  to  be  as  well  qualified  as  they,  in  all  respects  save  in  military 
tactics  ;  and  he  proposed  that  a  board  of  officers  should  be  appointed 
to  examine  him  in  all  studies  pursued  at  the  Military  Academy,  except- 
ing engineering  and  other  purely  military  studies  ;  and  if  found  com- 
petent, then  he  insisted  that  it  was  his  right  to  receive  a  commission 
regardless  of  the  graduating  cadets  and  their  claims.  The  letter  closed 
with  an  intimation  that  he  would  call  at  the  house  of  the  secretary  the 
next  morning  at  nine  o'clock  to  learn  his  decision. 

The  young  man  called  at  the  appointed  time,  and  was  politely 
received. 

"  Young  gentleman,"  said  the  secretary,  rather  coldly,  "I  suppose 
you  have  come  to  know  your  fate  ?" 

Believing  by  Mr.  Calhoun's  manner  that  the  decision  was  adverse  to 
his  wishes,  the  youth  firmly  answered,  "  I  have,  sir."  The  secretary's 
features  relaxed  into  one  of  his  blandest  smiles  as  he  took  the  young 
man  by  the  hand  and  said  : 

"  I  have  carefully  read  your  letter,  and  you  have  demonstrated  your 
claim  to  be  appointed,  while  the  manner  in  which  you  have  accom- 
plished your  purpose  is  with  me  evidence  of  your  fitness  for  the  army." 

A  long  conversation  then  ensued,  in  which  Mr.  Calhoun  drew  from 
him  an  admission  that  he  was  a  runaway  from  home,  only  seventeen 
years  of  age.  The  secretary  gave  him  a  commission  of  lieutenant  in 
the  Fourth  Battalion  of  artillery,  with  orders  to  report  for  duty  at 
Governor's  Island  in  the  harbor  of  New  York.  For  seven  years  this 
young  soldier  served  his  country  faithfully  and  efficiently,  chiefly  in 
the  Xorth-West,  when  Chicago  was  only  a  military  post  and  a  trading 
station,  and  all  the  region  now  teeming  with  millions  of  inhabitants 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


was  a  Solitary  wilderness,  trodden  only  by  the  foot  of  the  barbarian. 
In  September,  1S2T,  he  resigned  his  commission,  and,  as  we  have  ob- 
served, became  the  proprietor  of  a  dailv  newspaper  in  the  citv  of  New 
York. 

That  energetic  and  determined  runaway,  that  adventurous  soldier, 
that  inchoate  newspaper  editor  and  publisher,  who  was  to  speedily 
revolutionize  the  methods  of  journalism,  was  James  Watson  "Webb,  still 
a  tower  of  intellectual  and  moral  strength,  and  wearing  the  snow-white 
crown  of  an  octogenarian. 

In  1820  Mordecai  Manasseh  Noah  (better  known  as  Major  Noah), 
who  had  edited  the  Advocate,  of  which  Henry  Eckford,  the  great  ship- 
builder, was  one  of  the  proprietors,  disagreeing  with  that  gentleman, 
started  a  paper  of  his  own,  which  he  called  the  National  Advocate. 
Enjoined  at  the  instance  of  Eckford  and  his  partners,  the  name  was 
changed  to  Noah's  New  York  National  Advocate.  Again  enjoined, 
he  named  his  journal  the  New  York  Enquirer.  This  paper  was  pur- 
chased by  James  Watson  Webb  in  the  spring  of  1S29,  when  it  was 
merged  into  the  Morning  Courier  and  the  famous  Courier  and  "En- 
quirer was  established.  It  reigned  right  royally  in  the  realm  of  jour- 
nalism for  more  than  a  generation. 

Major  Noah  went  into  the  editorial  rooms  of  the  Courier  and 
Enquirer,  and  was  associated  in  editorial  duties  with  James  Lawson, 
James  Gordon  Bennett,  Prosper  M.  Wetmore,  and  James  Gordon 
Brooks — a  notable  editorial  staff  —under  the  control  of  the  masterly 
executive  hand  of  Mr.  Webb. 

A  new  feature  in  journalism  was  soon  introduced.  At  the  opening 
of  Congress  in  December,  1827,  Mr.  Bennett  was  sent  to  Washington 
to  be  a  regular  daily  correspondent  of  the  Courier  and  Enquirer  during 

*  Mordecai  Manasseh  Noah  was  born  in  Philadelphia  in  July,  1785.  His  parents  were 
Hebrews,  and  he  adhered  to  their  faith  through  a  long  life.  He  died  in  New  York  in 
March,  1851.  He  studied  law,  went  to  Charleston,  S.  C,  and  in  that  city  edited  the  City 
Gazette  in  1810.  In  1811  he  was  American  consul  at  Riga,  and  afterward  at  Tunis,  and 
went  on  a  mission  to  Algiers.  On  his  way  thither  he  was  captured  by  the  English.  On 
his  return  to  America  in  181G  he  published  incidents  of  his  sojourn  abroad,  and  became 
editor  of  the  Xational  Advocate,  a  Democratic  journal,  until  1825,  and  the  next  year  he 
established  the  New  York  Enquirer.  In  1834  he  established  the  New  Era.  Afterward  he 
withdrew  from  the  daily  press,  and  for  several  years  published  the  Sunday  Times.  About 
1820  Mr.  Noah  conceived  a  scheme  for  founding  a  Jewish  colony  on  Grand  Island,  in  the 
Niagara  River.  There  he  set  up  a  monument  inscribed,  "  Ararat,  a  city  of  refuge  for  the 
Jews,  founded  by  Mordecai  M.  Noah,  in  the  month  of  Tishri,  5586  (September,  1825), 
and  in  the  50th  year  of  American  Independence."  Mr.  Noah  hold  the  offices  of  sheriff, 
judge  of  the  Court  of  Sessions,  and  surveyor  of  the  port  of  New  York.  He  was  the 
author  of  several  dramas  and  other  works. 


270 


HISTORY  OF  .NEW  YORK  CITY. 


the  session.  Hitherto,  with  a  slight  exception,  the  "Washington  corre- 
spondent, now  such  an  important  adjunct  to  every  reputable  news- 
paper, had  been  a  member  of  Congress  writing  an  occasional  letter  to  a 
newspaper  in  his  own  district. 

Bennett  was  equal  to  the  task  assigned  him,  and  he  soon  changed 
the  tone,  temper,  and  style  of  Washington  correspondence.  Eeceiv- 
mg  a  hint  from  Horace  Walpole's  racy  letters  written  in  the  reign  of 
George  II.,  Mr.  Bennett  penned  entertaining  epistles  descriptive  of  life 
at  the  capita]  in  all  its  phases — the  legislation  of  the  day.  politics,  soci- 
ety in  general,  fashionable  life,  and  personal  sketches  of  all  the  gay, 
witty,  and  beautiful  characters  which  appeared  in  Washington  during 
that  winter.  These  pen-pictures  were  sketched  at  random  without 
being  offensive  to  any  one — indeed  they  were  mostly  complimentary 
and  pleasing  to  the  parties  mentioned. 

At  this  time  the  newspaper  press  of  New  York  showed  very  little 
enterprise  in  the  way  of  giving  news.  It  was  running  in  a  rut  worn 
nearly  half  a  century.  The  then  leading  morning  papers  did  not  con- 
tain, in  the  aggregate,  more  editorial  matter  combined  than  now 
appears  m  a  leading  editorial  of  the  Tribune  or  Times.  A  rowboat 
collected  the  ship  news  and  the  newspapers  from  the  packet-ships  as 
they  arrived,  and  all  were  content  with  transferring  to  their  columns 
such  news  as  they  mutually  possessed.  Conspicuous  for  activity  in 
everything  he  undertook,  Mr.  Webb  was  not  satisfied  with  this  system, 
and  he  very  soon  set  up  a  news-collecting  establishment  of  his  own. 
He  employed  a  Baltimore  clipper  (the  Eclipse)  and  a  fleet  of  small 
boats  in  collecting  news  on  the  water.  This  compelled  the  other  news- 
papers to  combine  in  a  similar  enterprise,  and  both  parties  kept  a  news- 
schooner  cruising  off  Sandy  Hook,  and  small  boats  communicating  with 
her  from  time  to  time. 

Webb  determined  not  to  be  equalled,  even  in  enterprise.  lie  had  a 
clipper-schooner  of  one  hundred  tons  built  in  New  York,  with  the  stip- 
ulation that  she  should  equal  in  speed  any  New  York  pilot-boat  or  he 
could  not  be  compelled  to  take  her.  It  was  accomplished.  She  was 
named  the  ('<>>iri<  r  a/hd  Wnquwet.  "With  this  schooner  cruising  seventy 
to  one  hundred  miles  at  sea,  the  Eclipse  at  Sandy  Hook,  and  a  fleet  of 
small  boats  inside,  all  opposition  was  soon  put  down,  and  the  other 
newspapers  were  compelled  to  purchase  their  news  from  Mr.  "Webb. 

Having  achieved  this  triumph  in  the  ocean-news  department,  he  next 
turned  his  attention  to  procuring  early  and  exclusive  intelligence  from 
"Washington  during  the  sessions  of  Congress.  Telegraphs  and  railroads 
then  existed  only  in  the  dreams  of  philosophers.    The  mails  then  left 


FIRST  DECADfr  1830-1840. 


"Washington,  say  on  Monday  morning,  and  reached  New  York  on 
"Wednesday  night  in  time  for  the  news  they  brought  to  appear  in  tlx- 
newspapers  on  Thursday  morning.  Webb  determined  they  slum!  ! 
appear  in  the  Courier  and  Enquirer  on  "Wednesday  morning.  He 
made  a  contract  with  certain  parties  to  run  a  daily  horse  express  be- 
tween Washington  and  New  York  during  the  entire  session  of  Congress 
(1S35-36),  for  which  he  agreed  to  pay  $7500  a  month.  It  was  done 
most  satisfactorily.  Horses  were  stationed  at  points  only  six  miles 
apart.  This  "  pony  express"  brought  news  twenty-four  hours  in 
advance  of  the  mails,  and  enabled  the  Courier  and  Enquirer  to  give 
news  that  length  of  time  in  advance  of  all  competitors. 

"  Under  this  system  of  collecting  the  news,"  wrote  George  II. 
Andrews  a  few  years  ago,  "  enlarging  the  paper,  employing  additional 
editors  and  reporters,  opening  correspondence  in  different  quarters,  and 
devoting  whole  columns  to  subjects,  never  before  touched  upon  by  the 
I  tress,  the  expenses  of  the  daily  press  were  more  than  quadrupled,  and 
four  of  the  old  morning  papers  died  out.  But  a  new  impetus  was  thus 
given  to  the  newspaper  press  of  the  city,  which  has  continued  to 
increase  to  this  day  ;  and  for  that  impetus  to  an  influence  upon  the 
public  mind  and  the  character  of  the  press,  the  community  are  unques- 
tionably indebted  to  General  Webb. " 

For  some  time  the  Courier  and  Enquirer  remained  the  unrivalled 
distributor  of  the  earliest  news  from  Washington  and  from  Europe  ; 
but  it  was  not  long  before  powerful  competitors  appeared,  and  the 
enterprising  newspaper  which  had  achieved  so  much  was  compelled  to 
succumb.  In  183$  the  first  ocean  steamship,  the  Siriw,  arrived  at 
New  York  from  England,  and  from  that  day  her  successors  brought  all 
the  news  from  abroad  to  the  city  in  advance  of  the  news-boats.  Soon 
afterward  the  telegraph  and  railroad  put  an  end  to  the  pony  express, 
and  now  the  Associated  Press  performs  for  all  alike  the  duty  of  collect- 
ing and  distributing  the  current  news  of  the  day.  There  is  now  no 
field  for  the  exercise  of  individual  enterprise  in  this  direction. 

In  the  matter  of  collecting  news  the  Journal  of  ( 'ommeree,  a  morning 
paper  of  the  same  age  of  the  Courier  and  Enquirer,  was  a  sharp  and 
powerful  competitor.  It  too  had  its  news-schooner  and  small  boats, 
and  when  the  Courier  and  Enquirer  started  the  pony  express  the 
Journal  of  Commerce  speedily  became  its  rival.  They  were  both  com- 
peting sharply  for  the  patronage  of  the  commercial  community.  For 
that  purpose,  and  to  accommodate  mercantile  advertisers  with  adver- 
tisements, these  papers  were  enlarged  from  time  to  time  until  they 
acquired  dimensions  which  caused  them  to  be  called  "  blanket  sheets." 


272 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


These,  enormous  and  expensive  newspapers  caused  a  yearning  in  the 
public  mind  for  something  smaller  and  less  expensive.  It  came  to 
be  felt  as  a  public  want.  That  want  was  soon  supplied  by  the  ad- 
vent of  what  is  called  the  "  penny  press."  The  Journal  of  Commerce 
is  yet  a  flourishing  morning  paper  ;  the  Courier  and  Enquirer  be- 
came united  with  the  New  York  World  on  the  first  of  July,  1861, 
when  its  form  was  changed  from  "  folio"'  to  the  more  popular  one  of 
"quarto."  Then  that  great  newspaper  disappeared  from  the  field 
of  journalism.  The  Journal  of  Commerce  remained  the  last  of  the 
"  blanket  sheets." 

A  taste  for  cheap  literature  had  been  fostered,  if  not  created,  by  the 
publication  of  the  Illustrated  Petnm/y  Magazine  in  London,  in  1830. 
Large  quantities  of  this  publication  were  sold  in  America,  and  induced 
the  starting  of  the  Family  Magazine  on  a  similar  plan  in  New  York  in 
1834.  Tin1  publication  of  small  cheap  newspapers  was  undertaken  here 
and  there  at  about  the  same  time.  The  Boston  ian  was  one  of  these. 
The  Cent  was  issued  in  Philadelphia  in  1S30,  and  in  1832  James 
Gordon  Bennett,  who  had  left  the  service  of  the  Courier  and  Enquirer, 
attempted  to  establish  a  small  newspaper. 

Mr.  Bennett  withdrew  from  the  Courier  and  Enquirer  in  August, 
1832,  and  on  the  20th  of  October  following  he  issued  an  evening  paper, 
twelve  by  seventeen  inches  in  size,  half  the  size  of  the  other  news- 
papers, called  the  Xew  York  Globe.  He  announced  that  it  would  be 
published  daily  at  eight  dollars  a  year,  that  its  politics  would  be  Demo- 
cratic, that  it  would  adhere  to  Jefferson's  doctrine  of  State  Rights 
(State  supremacy),  would  be  opposed  to  nullification,  and  in  favor  of 
various  reforms  in  the  government.  Bennett  had  then  been  acting  in 
the  capacity  of  an  editor  for  about  twelve  years,  and  he  might  be  con- 
sidered a  sort  of  veteran.    But  the  enterprise  was  a  failure. 

On  New  Year's  day,  1833,  Dr.  H.  D.  Shepard,  with  Horace  Greeley 
and  Francis  V.  Story  as  partners,  started  a  two-cent  daily  paper  called 
the  Morn  mg  Post.  They  had  a  capital  of  $200,. and  no  credit.  It  lived 
twenty-one  days,  and  expired.  It  was  the  seed  of  the  cheap  press,  and 
took  root,  though  it  yielded  no  fruit  to  the  planter. 

On  Tuesday,  the  3d  of  September  following,  a  small  morning  paper 
called  the  Sim  was  issued  by  Benjamin  II.  Day,  a  printer,  at  No.  222 
"William  Street.  The  enterprise  was  suggested  by  George  "W.  "Wisner, 
a  compositor  then  working  for  J.  S.  Redfield,  stereotyper,  in  William 
Street.  "Wisner  talked  almost  incessantly  about  the  feasibility  of  pub- 
lishing a  one-cent  newspaper.  The  other  compositors  laughed  at  him, 
and  for  a  while  he  found  no  one  willing  to  risk  anything  in  such  a  wild 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


273 


enterprise.  At  length  Day  had  the  sagacity  and  the  courage  to  try 
the  experiment  with  him.  Wisner  soon  left  Mr.  Day  and  went  West, 
and  the  latter  bore  the  burden  alone. 

The  first  number  of  the  Sun  bore  a  picture  of  a  spread-eagle  bearing 
the  motto  K  Pluribus  Unum,  and  contained  the  following  brief  and 
business-like  prospectus  : 

"  The  object  of  this  paper  is  to  lay  before  the  public,  at  a  price 
within  the  means  of  every  one,  all  the  news  of  the  pay,  and  at  the 
same  time  afford  an  advantageous  means  of  advertising.  The  sheet 
will  be  enlarged  as  soon  as  the  increase  of  advertisements  requires  it,  the 
price  remaining  the  same. 

"  Yearly  advertisers  (without  the  paper),  thirty  dollars  per  annum. 
Casual  advertising  at  the  usual  prices  charged  by  the  city  papers. 

"  Subscriptions  will  be  received,  if  paid  in  advance,  at  $3  per 

annum." 

In  a  speech  at  a  dinner  given  to  Colonel  Richard  M.  Hoe,  the  in- 
ventor of  printing-presses,  in  1851,  Mr.  Day  gave  the  following  history 
of  the  origin  of  the  Sun  newspaper  : 

"  It  is  true  I  originated  the  Stm,  the  first  penny  newspaper  in 
America,  and,  as  far  as  I  know,  the  first  in  the  world.  But  I  have 
always  considered  the  circumstance  as  more  the  result  of  an  accident 
than  any  superior  sagacity  of  mine.  It  was  in  1832  when  I  projected 
the  enterprise,  during  the  first  cholera,  when  my  business  as  a  job 
printer  scarcely  afforded  a  living.  I  must  say  I  had  very  little  faith  in 
its  success  at  that  time,  and  from  various  causes  it  was  put  off.  In 
August,  1833,  I  finally  made  up  my  mind  to  venture  the  experiment, 
and  I  issued  the  first  number  of  the  Sun  September  3d. 

"  It  is  not  necessary  to  speak  of  the  wonderful  success  of  the  paper. 
At  the  end  of  three  years  the  difficulty  of  striking  off  the  large  edition 
on  a  double-cylinder  press  in  the  time  usually  allowed  to  daily  news- 
papers was  very  great. 

"  In  1835  I  introduced  steam  power,  now  so  necessary  an  appendage 
to  almost  every  newspaper  office.  It  was  the  first  application  of  that 
power  to  move  a  printing  machine  in  a  newspaper  office.  At  that  time 
all  the  Napier  presses  in  the  city  were  turned  by  crankmen,  and  as  the 
Sun  was  the  only  daily  newspaper  of  large  circulation,  so  it  seemed  to 
be  the  only  establishment  where  steam  was  really  indispensable.  But 
even  this  great  aid  to  the  speed  of  the  Napier  machines  did  not  keep  up 
with  the  increasing  circulation  of  the  Sun/'' 

One  cent  continued  to  be  the  price  per  copy  of  the  Sun  for  about 
thirty  years.    After  the  Civil  "War  broke  out  the  price  of  everything 


274 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


was  so  increased  that  the  Sun  was  doubled  in  price,  and  so  it  remains. 
In  1838  Mr.  Day  sold  the  Sun  to  Moses  Y.  Beach,  his  brother-in-law. 
It  had  been  much  enlarged,  but  owing  to  dull  times  Mr.  Beach  cut 
down  the  paper  to  a  smaller  size,  but  enlarged  it  soon  afterward  when 
business  was  better. 

The  Sun  was  made  up  of  twelve  columns,  each  ten  inches  long.  It 
was  a  simple  newspaper.  It  gave  no  opinions,  no  commercial  reviews, 
no  financial  reports,  and  no  account  of  stock  sales.  It  made  no  special 
promisee  of  future  career.  It  had  four  columns  of  advertisements  ;  one 
column  embraced  a  "  New  York  Bank  Note  Table  ;"  two  columns 
were  devoted  to  anecdotes  and  a  short  Story,  a  quarter  of  a  column  to 
the  arrivals  and  clearances  of  vessels  on  the  previous  day,  one  column 
to  poetry,  and  the  remainder  to  police  and  miscellaneous  items.  The 
circulation  of  the  Sun  ran  up  to  8000  copies  daily  by  the  end  of  two 
years  from  its  birth. 

So  soon  as  the  success  of  the  Sun  was  assured  a  plentiful  crop  of 
rivals  speedily  appeared.  Within  a  few  months  the  Man,  the  Tran- 
script, and  the  Day- Book,  and  subsequently  a  Democratic  paper  called 
the  Jeffersonian,  appeared.  Later  the  Xeie  Era.  the  True  Sun,  and 
the  Herald — all  cheap  newspapers.  The  Transcript  was  a  success  for 
several  years.  The  Herald,  published  by  Anderson  \fc  Smith  and 
edited  by  James  Gordon  Bennett,  Avent  down  in  the  great  fire  in  Ann 
Street  early  in  1835. 

In  a  recent  letter  to  the  author  of  this  work  Mr.  Day  wrote  respect- 
ing tin;  beginning  of  the  career  of  the  Sun,  the  first  one-cent  news- 
paper ever  published  : 

"  You  will  appreciate  some  of  the  difficulties  under  which  I  labored 
when  I  tell  you  there  was  not  up  to  that  time  a  newsboy  or  newsman 
in  existence  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  I  was  compelled  to  hire  boys 
to  sell  the  paper  and  pay  them  weekly  wages.  As  for  newsmen,  the 
newspaper  carriers  scouted  the  idea.  They  delivered  the  daily  papers 
to  subscribers  only,  and  were  paid  weekly  wages.  My  plan  altered 
that  in  a  few  years."  * 

*  Benjamin  H.  Day  was  born  in  West  Springfield,  Mass.,  April  10,  1810.  The  Days, 
most  of  them  well-to-do  farmers,  were  then  numerous  in  that  vicinity.  His  father,  a 
manufacturing  hatter,  died  when  Benjamin  was  an  infant,  and  was  the  only  son  of  a 
widowed  mother.  He  received  an  academic  education  at  three  different  places,  the  last 
one  in  a  high  school  in  Utica,  where  he  .remembers  Horatio  Seymour  and  Judge  Ward 
Hunt  were  among  the  pupils.  Young  Day  was  apprenticed  to  Samuel  Bowles,  of  the 
Springfield  Republican  (the  father  of  the  late  editor  of  the  same  name),  where  he  learned 
the  printer's  trade  in  all  its  branches.    In  1830  he  established  himself  as  a  job  printer  at 


FIRST  DECADE,  1880-1840. 


275 


The  first  newsboy  who  sold  copies  of  the  Stn<  in  the  streets  of  Xew 
York  was  Silas  Davenport,  who  was  living  in  Sharon,  Massachusetts, 
in  1882. 

We  have  observed  that  the  Ilercild,  published  by  Anderson  &  Smith, 
went  down  in  the  great  fire  in  Ann  Street  in  1835.  It  was  revived 
shortly  afterward  by  Mr.  Bennett,  who  started  it  with  a  nominal  cash 
capital  of  §500,  but  with  a  hundredfold  more  capital  in  the  brains  of 
the  founder. 

The  first  number  of  this  famous  newspaper  was  issued  on  Wednesday 
morning.  May  G,  1835,  from  a  basement  room  at  No.  20  Wall  Street, 
under  the  title  of  the  Morning  Herald.  The  second  number  was 
issued  on  Monday,  the  11th,  and  from  that  tune  until  now  its  regular 
issues  have  not  been  interrupted  for  a  day.  In  this  second  issue  the 
editor  promised  to  "  give  a  correct  picture  of  the  world — in  Wall  Street, 
in  the  Exchange,  in  the  Police  office,  at  the  Theatre,  in  the  Opera — in 
short,  wherever  human  nature  and  real  life  best  display  their  freaks  and 
vagaries." 

This  promise  the  Herald  fulfilled  from  the  beginning.  It  exhibited 
the  true  elements  of  journalism — intelligence,  industry,  tact,  and  inde- 
pendence. All  the  brain  work  was  done  by  the  editor.  "  The  leading 
articles,"  says  Mr.  Hudson,  "  the  police  reports,  the  literary  intelli- 
gence, the  pungent  paragraphs,  the  news  from  abroad  and  home,  the 
account-books,  the  bills,  the  clerk's  duties  in  the  office,  were  all 
written,  prepared,  arranged,  made  out,  and  performed  by  Mr.  Bennett. 
The  columns  of  the  little  sheet  were  filled  with  the  peculiar  points  and 
hits  and  predictions  which  have  ever  since  characterized  the  Herald. 
In  one  of  the  first  numbers,  for  instance,  he  said  : 

".'The  Xew  York  and  Erie  Railroad  is  to  break  ground  in  a  few 
days.    We  hope  they  will  break  nothing  else.''  " 

In  the  second  number  of  the  Herald  Mr.  Bennett  introduced  an 
entirely  new  feature  in  journalism  —  the  Money  Article.  For  many 
years  these  articles  were  written  by  Mr.  Bennett  himself,  and  attracted 
universal  attention.    From  the  15th  of  June,  1835,  these  articles — then 

No.  222  William  Street,  New  York.  From  his  office  he  issued  the  Sun  newspaper,  the 
first  one-cent  new  spaper  ever  published,  and  has  the  honor  of  being  the  pioneer  in  the 
business  of  publishing,  not  only  cheap  newspapers,  but  cheap  literature.  Two  years 
after  he  sold  the  Sun,  Mr.  Day  became  lialf-owner  of  the  Brother  Jonathan,  a  literary 
weekly  edited  by  N.  P.  Willis  and  H.  Hastings  Weld.  It  was  a  successful  undertaking. 
Soon  afterward  he  was  engaged  in  the  publication  of  cheap  books.  About  the  year  1802 
or  18G3  Mr.  Day  left  business  with  an  ample  fortune,  and  has  since  lived  a  retired  life  in 
the  city  of  New  York. 


276 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


reports  of  transactions  in  stocks,  etc..  in  Wall  Street — formed  a  feature 
in  every  issue  of  the  paper.* 

The  New  York  Express  was  established  as  a  "  blanket  sheet"  in 
1836.  The  first  number  was  issued  on  the  first  of  June.  Its  founder 
was  James  Brooks, f  who  soon  associated  his  brother  Erastus  with  him- 

*  The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  first  Wall  Street  report.  May  11,  1835  : 

"  MONEY  MARKET. 

"  Stocks  are  somewhat  shaken  since  the  late  arrivals.  The  winding  op  of  three  or  four 
United  States  branch  banks  makes  dealers  pause  as  to  the  future  operations  of  the  money 
market.    On  Saturday  railroads  started  two  or  three  per  epnt. 

"  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  Boston  are  all  on  the  qui  vive  about  stocks. 
Speculation  in  this  article  was  never  so  nourishing.  The  rise  is  greater  in  fancy  stocks 
or  new  banks,  such  as  the  Morris  Canal,  Baltimore  Canton  Company,  Kentucky  Northern 
Bank,  and  especially  certain  railroads. 

"  What  is  the  cause  of  these  movements?  How  long  will  they  last?  Who  will  be 
losers  ?    'Who  will  be  winners  ? 

"  The  uncommon  rise  in  the  stock  market  is  not  produced  by  accident.  A  secret  con- 
federacy of  our  large  capitalists  in  the  commercial  cities,  availing  themselves  of  the 
political  and  commercial  events  of  the  times,  could  easily  produce  the  speculation  tLat 
has  astonished  the  world  during  the  last  three  months.  It  is  a  universal  law  of  trade 
that  if  an  article  is  made  scarce  it  will  rise  ;  if  plenty,  it  will  fall.  A  dozen  large  capital- 
ists, controlling  twenty  or  thirty  principal  banks  in  the  chief  cities,  can  make  money 
plenty  or  scarce  just  as  they  choose.  When  money  is  scarce  stocks  of  all  kinds  fall. 
The  QOnfedi  rates  buy  in  at  low  prices  ;  loan  money  to  the  merchants  at  two  and  three 
per  cent  per  month.  This  is  one  operation.  The  next  movement  is  to  set  on  foot  the 
machinery  to  raise  stocks,  which  can  be  effected  by  permitting  the  banks  to  loan  money 
liberally  to  the  merchants  at  large.  Stocks  then  will  begin  to  rise  slowly  at  first,  but 
faster  and  faster  as  speculators  lead  the  way.  When  the  confederates  have  got  rid  of  all 
their  fancy  stocks  at  high  prices  to  merchants  and  small  dealers,  or  anybody  not  in 
the  secret,  then  they  begin  secretly  to  prepare  for  a  fall.  This  is  done  by  a  general  and 
simultaneous  curtailment  of  discounts  by  the  banks,  which  soon  knocks  down  stocks, 
ruins  thousands,  and  raises  the  value  of  money  two  and  three  per  cent  per  month,  thus 
furnishing  always,  either  falling  or  rising,  the  knowing  ones  an  opportunity  to  make  at 
least  thirty  per  cent  on  their  capital  the  year  round. 

"  This  is  truth,  and  we  seriously  advise  young  merchants  and  dealers  to  bo  careful. 
Who  can  tell  but  at  this  very  moment  two  dozen  large  moneyed  men  in  our  commercial 
cities  have  not  already  appointed  the  very  week,  day,  even  the  hour,  when  a  new  move- 
ment will  commence  which  will  knock  down  stocks  twenty  to  forty  per  cent  a  month  ? 
When  the  April  weather  is  particularly  sweet  and  soft,  look  out  for  a  storm  the  next  day.-' 

f  James  Brooks  was  born  in  Portland,  Maine,  in  November,  1810,  and  graduated  at 
Waterville  College.  He  was  for  a  time  at  the  head  of  the  Latin  School  in  Portland. 
Finally  he  became  a  regular  correspondent  at  Washington  for  several  newspapers  during 
the  sessions  of  Congress.  In  1835  he  was  a  member  of  the  Maine  Legislature,  and  intro- 
duced into  that  body  the  first  proposition  for  a  railway  between  Portland,  Montreal,  and 
Quebec.  The  same  year  he  made  a  pedestrian  tour  on  the  continent  of  Europe  and  the 
British  Islands,  and  published  a  series  of  descriptive  letters  in  the  Portland  Advertiser. 
He  established  the  New  York  Express  in  1830.  In  1847  he  was  a  member  of  the  New 
York  Assembly,  and  1840  to  1853,  and  from  18G5  until  his  death,  in  April,  1873,  he  was  a 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


217 


self  in  the  publication  of  the  paper.  In  the  autumn  of  that  year  the 
Express  united  with  the  old  Dully  Advertise!',  and  was  issued  both  as  a 
morning  and  evening  paper.  It  paid  special  attention  to  shipping 
news,  and  finally  a  marked  feature  of  the  paper  was  a  list  of  the  daily 
arrivals  at  the  principal  hotels.  Because  of  this  feature  the  Herald 
called  it  the  Dram wer's  Gazette,. 

In  its  first  issue  the  Express  announced  that  in  its  politics  it  would  be 
"decidedly  Whig.'"  While  the  American  or  Know-Nothing  party 
was  conspicuous  it  was  an  adherent  and  champion  of  that  party. 
Finally  its  numerous  editions  issued  during  the  day  destroyed  its  char- 
acter as  a  strictly  morning  newspaper,  and  it  was  issued  in  1864  as  the 
Evening  Repress.  By  junction  with  the  Evening  Mail,  in  1SS2,  it 
assumed  the  title  of  Mail-Express.  Soon  after  the  breaking  out  of 
the  Civil  War  the  Express  became  a  Democratic  paper,  and  so  it 
remains.  The  Brookses  withdrew  from  it  several  years  ago.  Before 
they  retired  from  it,  it  had  assumed  the  popular  form  of  the  "  cheap 
press."  Of  all  the  daily  "  blanket  sheets'"  published  when  the  Express 
was  started,  only  it  (merged  with  the  Evening  Mail,  under  the  title  of 
The  Evening  Mail- Express)  and  the  Journal  of  Commerce  now  (1883) 
survive. 

We  have  observed  that  the  New  York  Morning  Herald  was  started 
upon  a  nominal  cash  capital  of  $500,  and  that  for  a  while  nearly  all 
editorial  service  was  performed   by  one  man — the  founder."  The 

member  of  Congress.  In  1871  Mr.  Brooks  made  a  rapid  tour  around  the  world,  and  an 
account  of  it  was  published  in  a  volume  entitled  "  A  Seven  Months'  Run  Up  and  Down 
and  Around  the  World.' 

James  Brooks's  brother  Erastus,  four  years  his  junior,  is  also  a  native  of  Portland,  and 
a  graduate  of  Brown  University.  He  was  a  school-teacher  and  editor  for  a  while,  and 
became  associated  with  his  brother  in  the  Express  as  joint  editor  and  proprietor.  Ho 
travelled  extensively  in  Europe  in  1843.  Ten  years  later  he  was  a  member  of  the  New 
York  State  Senate,  and  became  involved  in  a  controversy  with  Archbishop  Hughes  in 
consequence  of  his  advocacy  of  a  bill  divesting  Roman  Catholic  bishops  of  the  title  to 
church  property  in  real  estate. 

*  James  Gordon  Bennett  was  born  in  Banffshire,  Scotland,  in  September,  1705,  and 
died  in  New  York  City  in  June,  1872.  His  parents  were  Roman  Catholics,  and  intended 
the  son  for  the  priesthood.  In  1819  he  came  to  America,  taught  school  in  Halifax,  N.  S., 
a  while,  and  reached  Boston  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  where  he  engaged  in  proof- 
reading. There  he  wrote  and  published  some  poems.  In  1822  he  was  engaged  on  the 
Charleston  Courier  as  Spanish  translator,  but  soon  came  to  New  York,  where  he  unsuc- 
cessfully tried  the  experiment  of  opening  a  commercial  school.  He  became  a  casual 
reporter  and  writer  for  the  newspapers,  and  finally,  as  mentioned  in  the  text,  established 
the  New  York  Herald.  It  was  the  first  daily  paper  that  issued  a  Sunday  edition.  Mr. 
Bennett  left  two  children— a  son  and  daughter.  To  the  latter  he  bequeathed  the  llerald, 
and  it  is  still  (1883)  conducted  by  James  Gordon  Bennett,  Jr. 


278 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


marvellous  increase  of  labor  and  expenditure  in  the  field  of  journalism 
in  New  York  City,  and  proportionally  of  its  products,  since  that  time 
— the  lapse  of  less  than  fifty  years — is  conspicuously  illustrated  by  the 
following  statement,  made  by  the  able  editor  and  successful  publisher 
of  the  New  York  Smi  newspaper,  Charles  A.  Dana.  The  Sun,  be  it 
remembered,  is  the  pioneer  of  the  cheap  press,  and  at  the  time  the 
Herald  was  started  had  a  daily  circulation  of  6000  copies.  This  state- 
ment was  made  in  April,  1SS3,  in  response  to  the  inquiry,  "  "What  does 
it  cost  to  run  a  first-class  New  York  newspaper  ?" 

"  A  first-rate  newspaper  in  Xew  York  will  require  about  ten  edi- 
torial writers,  whose  daily  duty  it  is  to  furnish  leading-  articles  and 
editorial  paragraphs.  Many  of  these  writers  have  their  special  duties, 
but  there  must  always  be  five  or  six  men  who  are  able  to  turn  their 
hands  to  subjects  of  any  description  as  they  happen  to  come  up.  A 
competent  writer  of  leaders  will  be  paid  from  $100  to  $150  per  week, 
and  no  man  fit  to  supervise  them  and  perform  the  functions  of  editor- 
in-chief  can  be  had  for  less  than  from  $lf>0  to  $2o0  per  week.  The 
reporters  are  of  two  classes — first,  those  of  the  regular  staff,  who  are 
paid  by  the  week  at  rates  varying  from  £20  to  $00.  These  perform 
not  only  tho  routine  duties  of  reporting,  but  are  always  prepared  to  be 
Bent  off  upon  special  service,  in  which  case  their  railroad  fares,  carriage 
hire,  hotel  bills,  and  other  expenses  are  paid  by  the  office. 

"  Then  there  are  a  number  of  reporters  attached  to  each  paper  who 
are  paid  according  to  the  work  they  perform,  without  having  any  pre- 
scribed Functions,  and  who  must  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to  do 
whatever  may  be  necessary.  Some  of  these  gentlemen  are  men  of 
talent  and  learning,  and  in  time  will  make  their  way  into  the  front 
rank  as  writers  and  editors.  I  know  men  who,  without  having  regular 
salaries,  average  from  $50  to  $75  a  week.  Of  these  two  classes  of 
reporters,  taken  together,  a  first-rate  paper  must  employ  about  fifty. 
Next  there  are  the  correspondents,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  these 
are  likewise  divided  into  two  classes,  those  who  are  employed  on  regular 
salaries  and  those  who  are  paid  as  their  contributions  are  printed.  In 
Washington,  for  instance,  each  newspaper  has  need  both  of  regular 
correspondents  or  reporters  and  of  occasional  contributors,  and  the 
different  papers  differ  as  to  the  respective  numbers  of  these  two  classes. 
In  Albany  each  New  York  paper  must  have  its  regular  staff  devoted  to 
its  service,  while  in  the  other  capitals  of  such  States  as  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  Massachusetts,  the  papers  are  served  by  occa- 
sional correspondents,  since  the  news  of  these  more  distant  places  is, 
for  the  most  part,  not  important  enough  in  New  York  to  be  constantly 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


279 


reported  there.  In  Europe  also,  every  leading  paper  has  its  regular  list 
of  correspondents  in  the  chief  cities.  There  must  especially  be  a  corre- 
spondent in  London  and  one  in  Paris  who  report  constantly  either  by 
post  or  by  cable. 

"  In  the  Sunday  edition  of  most  of  the  prominent  papers  of  New 
York  City  there  is  always  a  cable  despatch  summing  up  the  news  of 
the  week  and  reporting  interesting  political,  social,  artistic,  or  literary 
events  on  which  the  reporters  of  the  Associated  Press,  whose  telegrams 
are  forwarded  every  day,  do  not  ordinarily  dwell.  Thus  the  expenses 
of  the  sort  of  papers  we  are  considering  vary  for  the  most  part  mainly 
according  as  they  print  large  or  small  editions,  their  chief  difference 
being  in  their  consumption  of  white  paper.  Of  this  the  Herald  uses 
more  than  any  other  journal.  On  Sunday  especially  its  advertising 
sheets  are  many,  and  on  that  day  it  will  sometimes  print  130  columns 
of  advertisements  alone,  so  that  the  amount  of  white  paper  it  uses  is 
enormous. 

"  But  apart  from  this  item,  the  expenses  of  one  of  these  papers  for 
the  editorial  department,  including  writers,  reporters,  and  correspond- 
ents, will  be  from  $4000  to  $5000  per  week,  and  its  ordinary  telegraph 
bills,  including  the  cost  of  special  cables  from  Europe,  will  average 
perhaps  from  $700  to  $1000  a  week  ;  its  composition  bills  will  vary 
from  $1000  to  $2000  ;  its  publication  department  will  cost  from  $1000 
to  $2000  ;  its  stereotyping  will  be  perhaps  $500,  and  its  miscellaneous 
expenses  from  $1000  to  $2000,  making  a  total  of  from  $9000  to  $12,000 
a  week.  Of  course  these  figures  will  be  a  little  less  in  dull  times,  when 
there  is  little  telegraphing  and  no  occasion  for  special  expenditures,  than 
when  there  is  a  great  public  excitement,  such  as  a  presidential  canvass 
or  a  great  public  catastrophe,  when  it  is  necessary  to  send  many  men 
out  and  spend  a  great  deal  of  money  in  obtaining  news  ;  but  the  gen- 
eral average  will  ba  about  what  I  have  stated." 

Of  the  fifteen  daily  newspapers  printed  in  New  York  on  the  first  of 
May,  1835,  or  less  than  fifty  years  ago,  one  only  (the  Sun)  had  a  daily 
circulation  of  6000.  All  the  others  were  far  below  5000,  and  one  was 
not  more  than  500.  "It  was  estimated,"  says  Hudson,  "that  the 
average  daily  circulation  of  the  '  sixpenny  sheets  '  was  1700  only."  * 
New  York  at  that  time  contained  a  population  of  270,000. 

The  New  York  Weekly  Mirror  was  the  only  true  representative  of 
the  literature  and  art  of  the  city  of  New  York  at  the  beginning  of  this 
decade.    It  was  founded  in  1S22  by  Samuel  Wopdworth,  a  printer  and 


*  "  Journalism  in  the  United  States  from  1690  to  1H72,"  by  Frederic  Hudson,  p.  431. 


280 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


poet,  and  George  P.  "Morris,  a  young  poet  twenty-two  years  of  age. 
It  very  soon  took  a  high  position  as  a  generous  patron  of  literature  and 
art,  and  attracted  to  its  columns  the  choicest  contributions  from 
authors,  artists,  and  musicians,  as  has  been  observed  in  a  former  chap- 
ter. It  held  this  lofty  position  for  twenty  years.  It  was  a  literary 
institution  of  the  country.  In  1842  it  was  suspended,  but  was  revived 
the  next  year.  At  an  early  period  in  its  history  Woodworth  with- 
drew, and  X.  P.  Willis  took  his  place. 

The  Fa mi1> i  Magazine  was  begun  in  the  city  of  Xew  York  in  1S3-4-, 
and  flourished  for  eight  years.  It  was  always  a  paying  enterprise,  but 
not  largely  so.  It  was  the  first  illustrated  magazine  published  in  this 
country.  Its  engravings  were  all  done  on  wood,  and  it  was  an  imitator 
of  the  London  Penny  Maga&ine. 

This  periodical  was  established  by  the  Rev.  Origen  Bacheler,  who 
was  better  known  as  a  book  canvasser  than  as  a  preacher.  He  edited 
and  published  the  work,  canvassing  for  subscribers  to  it,  and  receiving 
one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  for  one  year,  payable  in  advance,  for  each 
subscriber.  It  being  a  novelty,  he  soon  obtained  a  respectable  list  of 
subscribers. 

Finally,  its  circulation  did  not  increase,  and  having  no  capital. 
Bacheler  turned  the  publication  over  to  Justus  S.  Redflcld,  the  stereo- 
typer  of  the  work,  who  was  his  principal  creditor.  Mr.  Redfield 
assumed  its  publication  and  Bacheler  edited  it  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  soon  after  this  change. 

Dr.  A.  S.  Doane  succeeded  Bacheler  as  editor,  and  conducted  the 
magazine  for  several  years,  until  appointed  health  officer  at  Quarantine, 
when  he  was  succeeded,  temporarily,  by  Thomas  Allen,  afterward  the 
editor  of  the  Madison ian  at  Washington,  and  who  moi*e  recently 
ranked  among  the  railway  magnates  of  the  country.  In  1840  Ben- 
son J.  Lossing  became  the  editor  of  the  magazine,  and  executed  the 
engravings  for  it.  It  was  discontinued  at  the  close  of  the  eighth 
volume. 

It  was  early  in  this  decade  that  the  two  most  extensive  publishing 
houses  in  the  city  of  Xew  York  in  1883  began  to  take  an  important 
position  in  the  realm  of  literature.  These  ai'e  the  houses  of  Harper  & 
Brothers  and  Daniel  Appleton  &  Company.  The  former  takes  prec- 
edence in  point  of  time,  that  of  Harper  &  Brothers  beginning  business 
in  the  city  of  Xew  York  in  1817,  and  Daniel  Appleton  &  Company  in 
1825.  The  former  was  established  by  James  and  John  Harper,  sons  of 
a  Long  Island  farmer.  Both  had  been  apprentices  to  different  persons 
in  Xew  York  to  learn  the  art  of  printing. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


881 


When,  the  brothers  had  reached  manhood  they  joined  interests  and 
began  business  for  themselves  by  setting  up  a  small  book  and  job  print- 
ing office  in  Dover  Street,  in  New  York,  not  far  from  the  great  estab- 
lishment of  Harper  &  Brothers  at  the  present  time.  It  was  an  auspi- 
cious time  for  them,  as  with  the  return  of  prosperity  after  the  war  cf 
1812-15  there  was  a  great  demand  for  books.  Evart  A.  Duvckinck 
was  then  a  prosperous  bookseller  in  New  York,  and  he  employed 
<;  J.  &  J.  Harper"  to  print  the  first  book  that  was  issued  from  their 
press.  In  August,  1817,  they  delivered  to  him  two  thousand  copies  of 
a  translation  of  Seneca's  Morals,"  which  they  had  "  composed  "  and 
printed  with  their  own  hands.  In  the  winter  of  1818  they  resolved  to 
print  a  book  on  their  own  account.  They  first  ascertained  from  lead- 
ing booksellers  how  many  copies  each  one  would  purchase  from  them  in 
sheets.  In  April  they  issued  five  hundred  copies  of  a  reprint  of  Locke's 
"  Essay  on  the  Human  Understanding,"  with  the  imprint  of  J.  &  J. 
Harper. 

Joseph  Wesley  and  Fletcher,  two  younger  brothers,  who  had  learned 
the  printer's  trade  with  James  and  John,  became  partners  with  the 
elder  ones,  the  former  in  1S23  and  the  latter  in  1826.  Then  was 
organized  the  firm  of  "  Harper  &  Brothel's,"  which  continued  forty- 
three  years  without  interruption,  when  the  senior  partner  of  the  house 
was  suddenly  separated  from  it  by  death.  The  brothers  had  estab- 
lished themselves  in  Cliff  Street,  and  when  the  youngest  entered  the 
firm  they  were  employing  fifty  persons  and  ten  hand-presses.  This 
was  then  the  largest  printing  establishment  in  New  York. 

At  the  end  of  nine  years  after  J.  &  J.  Harper  began  business  they 
purchased  the  building  on  Cliff  Street  in  which  they  were  established. 
They  began  to  stereotype  their  works  in  1830,  and  led  the  way  to  the 
production  of  cheap  books  and  the  creation  of  a  new  army  of  readers. 
They  continually  enlarged  their  business,  purchasing  building  after 
building  on  Cliff  Street,  and  had  erected  a  fine  structure  on  Franklin 
Square,  connecting  with  those  on  Cliff  Street  (altogether  nine  in  num- 
ber), when,  at  midday  on  December  9,  1853,  the  whole  establishment 
was  laid  in  ashes,  the  fire  occurring  from  an  unfortunate  mistake  of  a 
plumber  at  work  in  the  building.  Their  total  loss  was  very  heavy,  but 
very  soon  the  present  magnificent  structures  arose  out  of  the  ruins. 
These  consist  of  an  immense  building  of  iron  on  Franklin  Square,  five 
stories  in  height,  with  cellar  and  subcellar,  and  another  on  Cliff  Street, 
in  the  rear  of  the  Franklin  Square  edifice,  built  of  brick  and  six  stories 
in  height,  with  a  basement  used  for  press-work.  These  buildings  are 
connected  by  iron  bridges  at  each  story,  which  terminate  at  an  iron 


282 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


spiral  staircase  in  a  round  tower  in  the  centre  of  the  court  between  the 
two  main  structures. 

Harper  &  Brothers'  establishment  is  thoroughly  equipped  with  im- 
proved maclrnerv  and  materials  of  every  kind  for  carrying  on  the  pub- 
lishing business,  from  setting  up  the  type  from  manuscript  copy  and 
stereotyping  to  the  finishing  of  the  complete  book  for  the  reader. 
About  one  thousand  persons — men  and  women,  girls  and  boys — are 
employed  in  the  establishment.  Besides  their  immense  issue  of  bound 
books  and  large1  pamphlets,  under  the  title  of  the  "Franklin  Square 
Library,",  they  publish  four  illustrated  periodicals.  In  1850  they 
began  the  publication  of  Harper's  New  Monthly  Magazine,  which  has 
ever  since  held  the  position  of  a  leader  among  the  periodical  literature 
of  the  day.  It  has  now  attained  a  circulation  in  this  country  and  in 
England  of  nearly  200,000  copies  a  month.  Harper's  Weekly,  an  illus- 
trated paper,  was  begun  in  January,  1857  ;  Harper's  Bazar,  a  beauti- 
fully illustrated  repository  of  knowledge,  of  current  fashions,  and  gen- 
eral literature,  was  begun  late  in  1867,  and  Harper's  Young  People, 
an  illustrated  weekly  paper  of  smaller  dimensions  for  the  class  men- 
tioned in  its  title,  was  begun  in  November,  1880. 

To  supply  these  periodicals  with  illustrations  they  have  an  art  depart- 
ment, composed  of  draughtsmen  and  many  engravers,  and  much  art 
work  is  done  outside. 

The  four  brothers — James,  John,  Joseph  Wesley,  and  Fletcher — 
have  passed  from  among  the  living,  and  the  great  establishment,  con- 
stantly increasing  in  the  bulk  and  prosperity  of  business,  is  conducted 
by  five  sons  and  one  grandson  of  the  founders  of  the  house,  with  great 
ability  and  success.  To  give  an  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  the  business 
of  the  great  publishing  house  it  may  be  stated  that  the  white  paper 
used  in  their  business  costs  over  $2000  a  day  for  every  working  day  in 
the  year.  The  four  brothers  were  born  at  Newtown,  L.  I.  James 
was  born  on  the  13th  of  April,  1705,  and  died  on  the  27th  of  March, 
1869.  He  was  at  one  time  mayor  of  the  city  of  New  York.  John 
was  born  on  the  22(1  of  January,  1707,  and  died  on  the  22d  of  April, 
1875.  Joseph  Wesley  was  born  on  the  25th  of  December,  1801,  and 
died  February  14,  1870.  Fletcher  was  born  on  the  31st  of  January, 
1806,  and  died  on  the  20th  of  May,  1877. 

The  publishing  house  of  Daniel  Appleton  &  Company  was  founded 
in  1S25.  The  founder,  Daniel  Appleton,  whose  name  is  still  retained 
in  the  firm,  was  a  native  of  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  and  was  bora 
December  10,  1785.  There  he  began  his  business  life  as  a  retail  mer- 
chant.   Afterward  he  was  a  dealer  in  dry  goods  in  Boston,  and  in  1825 


FIRST  DECADE,  1880-  18*0. 


he  went  to  New  York  for  the  purpose  of  engaging-  in  the  book  trade. 
He  opened  a  store  in  Exchange  Place,  then  a  fashionable  section  of  the 
business  of  the  city,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  elegant  private  residences. 
He  dealt  chiefly  in  foreign  books,  and  catered  to  the  best  literary  taste 
of  the  day. 

The  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  Appleton,  Jonathan  Leavitt,  a  skilful 
bookbinder,  joined  him  in  business  under  terms  of  a  partnership  limited 
to  five  years.  The  store  and  bindery  were  subsequently  removed  to 
Broadway,  corner  of  John  Street,  where  the  bookselling  department, 
was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Appleton's  son,  William  II.  Appleton, 
the  present  head  of  the  house.  On  the  expiration  of  the  partnership  of 
Appleton  cfe  Leavitt,  in  1830,  Mr.  Appleton  withdrew  and  established 
himself  as  a  bookseller  in  Clinton  Hall,  on  Beekman  Street,  between 
Kassau  Street  and  Theatre  Alley. 

Mr.  Appleton  had  been  very  successful  in  his  undertakings,  and  now 
he  determined  to  venture  upon  the  career  of  a  publisher.  The  first 
book  bearing  his  imprint  was  a  small  volume  of  Bible  texts,  entitled, 
"  Crumbs  from  the  Master's  Table  ;  or  Select  Sentences,  Doctrinal, 
Practical,  and  Experimental,"  by  W.  Mason.  It  was  only  three  inches 
square  and  half  an  inch  thick,  and  contained  only  192  pages.  It  gave 
the  firm  great  anxiety,  but  about  one  thousand  copies  were  sold.  The 
"  Crumbs"  was  followed  by  two  other  small  religious  books,  the  last 
one  in  1S32,  the  year  Avhen  the  city  of  Xew  York  and  other  places 
were  dreadfully  ravaged  by  the  cholera.  The  book  was  entitled,  "  A 
Eefuge  in  Time  of  Plague  and  Pestilence."  It  was  published  at  an 
auspicious  moment,  for  the  public  mistook  it  for  a  treatise  on  cholera, 
and  it  had  an  enormous  sale. 

Mr.  Appleton  did  not  venture  largely  into  the  publishing  business  for 
a  long  time.  English  and  German  books  sold  readily,  and  he  made  the 
importation  and  sale  of  them  a  specialty.  In  1835  W.  II.  Appleton, 
then  twenty-one  years  of  age,  was  sent  to  England  and  Germany  to 
look  after  importing  interests  there,  and  soon  afterward  a  London 
branch  of  the  house  was  established,  and  has  been  continued  ever  since. 

In  1838  "William  H.  Appleton  became  the  business  partner  of  his 
father.  The  store  was  then  removed  to  Xo.  200  Broadway.  Ten 
years  later  the  founder  of  the  house  retired  from  business,  and  died  in 
Xew  York  a  few  months  afterward.  That  event  occurred  on  March 
27,  1849.  He  had  expressed  a  desire  that  his  name  might  be  connected 
with  the  house  as  long  as  possible,  for  he  had  a  clear  perception  of  its 
future  growth,  and  he  was  proud  of  the  prosperous  establishment  which 
he  had  founded.    His  son  promised  him  that  no  note  or  check  of  the 


284 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


firm  should  ever  be  signed,  while  he  lived,  without  the  full  name, 
Daniel  Appleton  &  Company.    That  promise  has  been  sacredly  kept. 

Mr.  Appleton  was  a  conspicuously  honorable  and  honest  man,  and 
despised  mean  things.  He  was  sometimes  reticent  and  often  a  little 
brusque  in  his  intercourse  with  men,  but  he  possessed  a  kind  and 
genial  nature,  true  courtesy,  and  many  fine  personal  qualities,  which 
endeared  him  to  his  family  and  friends. 

After  Mr.  Appleton's  death  the  house  was  reorganized  with  William 
H.  Appleton  at  the  head,  and  his  brothers  John  A.  and  Daniel  Sidney 
associated  with  him  as  partners.  The  business  of  the  establishment 
increased  rapidly.  They  imported  books,  they  published  books,  and 
they  sold  books  with  ever-increasing  expansion  of  their  business.  Their 
list  of  publications  soon  included  all  the  standard  works  of  American 
and  foreign  authors. 

With  the  northward  extension  of  the  city  the  house  of  Daniel 
Appleton  &  Company  has  gradually  moved  up  town  until,  after  five 
removals  after  leaving  Xo.  200  Broadway,  it  now  seems  permanently 
located  in  a  spacious  building,  six  stories  in  height,  at  Nos.  1,  3,  and  5 
Bond  Street,  near  Broadway.  Of  this  building  the  Appletons  occupy 
two  floors  and  two  basements.  The  retail  business  of  the  house  was 
abandoned  when  they  took  possession  of  the  present  premises  in  1880. 

In  1805  George  S.  Appleton,  a  brother  of  the  other  members  of  the 
firm,  came  into  the  partnership.  His  exquisite  taste  and  deep  interest 
in  art  caused  the  house  to  undertake  beautifully  illustrated  books,  which 
soon  became  a  marked  feature  of  their  publications.  He  died  in  1878. 
In  July,  1881,  another  brother  and  member  of  the  firm,  John  A. 
Appleton,  departed  this  life.  Of  him  it  might  be  truthfully  said,  in 
the  beautiful  words  of  Halleck  : 

"  None  knew  him  but  to  love  him. 
None  named  him  but  to  praise." 

The  members  of  the  firm  now  (1883)  are  W.  H.  Appleton,  Daniel  S. 
Appleton,  William  W.  Appleton  (son  of  W.  H.  Appleton),  and  Daniel, 
son  of  the  late  John  A.  Appleton. 

The  publications  of  the  Appletons  now  embrace  the  whole  range  of 
human  knowledge,  from  the  small  text-book  and  railway  guide  to  the 
most  elaborate  and  abstruse  philosophical  treatise.  Some  of  their  pub- 
lications are  superb  specimens  of  art.  The  most  costly  publications  are 
undertaken  without  hesitation,  caution  and  enterprise  going  hand  in 
hand  in  their  mode  of  conducting  business.  Their  ventures,  as  a  rule, 
have  been  successful. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


285 


In  order  to  give  an  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  business  of  this  estab- 
lishment it  may  be  stated  that  the  cost  of  the  white  paper  alone 
required  for  their  use  averages  fully  $1000  for  each  working  day  in  the 
year. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  a  consideration  of  some  of  the  most  important 
current  events  in  the  city  of  New  York  during  the  first  decade. 


CHAPTER  XY. 


THE  long-suppressed  discontent  of  the  people  of  France  under  the 
rule  of  their  Bourbon  king,  Charles  X.,  finally  led  to  a  short, 
sharp,  and  decisive  revolution  that  overturned  a  dynasty  forever.  The 
people  had  observed  with  uneasiness  the  gradual  abridgment  of  their 
liberties,  and  the  silent  but  sure  growth  of  absolutism  fostered  by  the 
monarch.  He  was  not  only  disposed  to  be  tyrannical,  but  was  faith- 
less. His  promises  were  made  with  an  evident  intention  to  violate 
them.  In  March,  1S30,  the  king  made  a  threatening  speech  to  the 
representatives  of  the  people.  In  July  he  signed  an  ordinance  to  put 
an  end  to  the  freedom  of  the  press,  and  dissolved  a  recently  elected 
Chamber  of  Deputies.  These  acts  unloosed  the  pent-up  tempest  of 
popular  indignation.  The  people  of  Paris  flew  to  arms  and  drove  the 
monarch  from  his  throne,  and  Louis  Philippe,  Duke  of  Orleans,  was 
seated  in  his  place. 

This  revolution,  so  speedily  and  so  effectually  accomplished,  enlisted 
the  sympathies  of  all  lovers  of  freedom.  It  especially  stirred  the  feel- 
ings of  the  American  people,  for  it  was  the  fruit  of  their  own  acts  in 
the  past  and  in  the  present.  Xor  could  that  sympathy  be  confined  to 
mere  emotions  and  words  ;  it  finally  culminated  in  a  grand  public 
demonstration  in  the  city  of  Xew  York-in  the  autumn  of  1S30. 

A  meeting  was  held  at  the  Westchester  House,  on  October  5th, 
1830,  at  which  the  following  resolution  was  passed  : 

"Brxolral,  That  this  meeting  cannot  but  express  their  admiration 
and  esteem  for  the  brave  and  magnanimous  daring  of  their  brother 
mechanics  and  workingmen  of  Paris,  who,  rising  in  their  strength, 
regardless  of  consequences  to  themselves,  nobly  burst  asunder  the 
chains  which  an  ignorant  and  bigoted  aristocracy  had  forged  to  subvert 
the  rights  and  liberties  of  France." 

These  workingmen  had  come  together  for  the  avowed  purpose  of 
taking  into  consideration  the  "  propriety  of  celebrating  the  late  glori- 
ous revolution  in  France."  After  adopting  the  above  resolution,  they 
appointed  a  committee  composed  of  one  from  each  ward  to  "  prepare 
an  address  and  a  call  for  a  public  meeting,  for  the  purpose  of  congratu- 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


287 


lating  the  '  glorious  Parisian  populace  '  on  the  happy  result  of  their 
noble  devotion  and  sacrifices  to  the  cause  of  the  liberties  of  mankind." 

At  a  meeting  held  on  November  8  it  was  resolved  to  divest  the 
affair  of  all  party  feeling,  and  the  committee  was  increased  by  the 
addition  of  the  names  of  about  two  hundred  and  sixty  of  the  most 
prominent  citizens.  This  ne\v  list  of  committeemen  was  headed  by  the 
mayor,  Walter  Bowne,  and  followed  by  such  well-known  men  as 
General  Lamb,  Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  M.  M.  Noah,  George  D.  Strong, 
John  Haggerty,  General  Morton,  Gideon  J.  Tucker,  Campbell  P. 
White,  Francis  P>.  Cutting,  C.  C.  Cambreling,  ex-President  James 
Monroe,  John  I.  Mumford,  George  P.  Morris,  Isaac  "Webb,  Clarkson 
Crolius,  Henry  Hone,  Albert  Gallatin,*  S.  L.  Gouverneur,  Thomas 
H.  Leggett,  Charles  O'Conor,  Fitz-Greene  Halleck,  Alfred  S.  Pell, 
James  "Watson  "Webb,  Samuel  Swartwout,  Philip  Hone,  Henry  Eck- 
ford,  Richard  Piker,  Jacob  Lorillard,  Commodore  Chauncey,  Gideon 
Lee,  Colonel  Trumbull,  Rembrandt  Peale,  Judge  T.  J.  Oakley,  Clarkson 
Crolius,  Jr.,  Stephen  Yan  Rensselaer,  Morgan  Lewis,  Comfort  Sands, 
Governor  Yates,  Colonel  Yarick,  Charles  King,  and  others.  These 
men  all  accepted  the  position  and  joined  heartily  in  the  celebration  and 
in  prepa rat  ions  for  it. 

It  was  resolved  to  hold  the  celebration  on  November  25,  the  anni- 
versarv  of  the  evacuation  of  New  York  by  the  British.  A  meeting1 
was  called  at  Tammany  Hall  on  the  12th,  at  which  ex-President 

*  Albert  Gallatin,  LL.D.,  was  a  native  of  Switzerland,  born  in  Geneva  in  January, 
1701,  and  left  an  orphan  at  an  early  age.  He  graduated  at  the  University  of  Geneva  in 
1770.  Like  Lafayette,  he  sympathized  with  the  Americans,  sailed  for  Boston  in  1780, 
offered  his  services  to  the  Americans,  and  was  placed  in  command  of  the  fort  at  Passama- 
quoddy.  At  the  conclusion  of  peace  he  became  a  tutor  of  French  in  Harvard  College. 
Deceiving  his  patrimony  in  1784,  he  invested  it  in  lands  in  Virginia  and  Pennyslvania, 
settled  on  the  banks  of  the  Monongahela,  and  engaged  in  agriculture.  In  1780  he  was  a 
member  of  the  constitutional  convention  of  Pennsylvania,  and  of  the  State  Legislature 
in  1700-92.  He  took  part  in  the  Whiskey  Insurrection  in  1794,  and  assisted  in  the  set- 
tlement of  the  difficulty.  From  1795  to  1801  he  was  a  member  of  Congress.  In  the  latter 
year  President  Jefferson  called  him  to  his  cabinet  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  which 
office  he  filled  with  great  ability  until  1813,  when  ho  was  sent  on  a  mission  to  St.  Peters- 
burg. He  was  one  of  the  American  commissioners  who  negotiated  a  treaty  of  peace  at 
Ghent  in  1814.  Gallatin  was  United  States  minister  at  the  French  court  from  1815  till 
1823,  and  went  on  special  missions  elsewhere,  Returning  to  America,  he  made  New 
York  City  his  future  residence,  and  died  there  in  August,  1840.  There  he  devoted  him- 
self to  literature  and  philosophical  and  historical  studies.  He  became  much  interested 
in  the  study  of  the  philology  and  ethnology  of  the  North  American  Indians,  and  was  the 
founder  and  first  president  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society.  In  1843  Mr.  Gallatin 
was  chosen  president  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  and  held  that  position  until 
his  death.    Mr.  Gallatin  was  one  of  the  ablest  financiers  of  his  time. 


288 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Monroe  presided,  assisted  by  Thomas  Ilertell,  Mayor  Bowne,  and 
Albert  Gallatin  as  vice-presidents,  and  Daniel  Jackson  and  M.  M.  Xoah 
secretaries.  The  great  hall  was  packed  with  men.  The  venerable 
President  was  in  feeble  health  (he  died  a  few  months  afterward),  but 
presided  with  dignity,  and  made  a  patriotic  speech  on  the  occasion, 
dwelling  largely  upon  the  character  of  Lafayette,  who  had  been  so 
conspicuous  in  the  Revolution  in  America,  and  had  borne  such  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  revolution  they  were  about  to  celebrate. 

At  this  meeting  the  general  arrangements  were  made.  It  was 
resolved  to  invite  the  participation  in  the  celebration  of  the  mayor  and 
common  council,  the  judges,  charitable  and  literary  societies,  mechani- 
cal and  scientific  associations,  the  president,  faculty,  and  students  of 
Columbia  College,  the  scholars  of  the  public  schools,  the  unifonned 
militia  companies  of  the  city,  and  the  natives  of  France.  For  each  of 
these  objects  a  committee  of  seven  was  appointed.  A  committee  was 
also  appointed  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  French  people,  also  a  com- 
mittee to  select  an  orator  and  a  grand  marshal.  There  was  a  committee 
of  fifty  persons  appointed  as  a  general  executive  committee  of  arrange- 
ments, of  which  Philip  Hone  was  chairman. 

The  chairman  of  the  committee  to  select  an  orator  was  "William  M. 
Price  ;  to  receive  deputations  from  mechanics'  societies,  Robert 
Walker  :  to  receive  deputations  from  colleges  and  public  schools, 
Samuel  Stevens  ;  to  select  a  grand  marshal,  Andrew  Jackson  ;  to  pre- 
pare an  address  to  the  French  people,  Thomas  Ilertell  ;  of  the  music 
committee,  George  P.  Morris  ;  to  confer  with  the  military,  James 
Watson  Webb. 

Invitations  to  participate  were  extended  to  the  Cincinnati  Society, 
to  United  States  officers  of  the  Revolution  and  of  the  late  war,  to  the 
superintendent,  faculty,  and  cadets  of  the  "West  Point  Military  Acad- 
emy, to  the  corporation  of  the  "village  of  Brooklyn,"  and  various 
other  bodies  who  were  specially  indicated.  Among  the  veterans  of  the 
Revolution  was  Enoch  Crosby,  the  original  of  Cooper's  "  Spy." 

Samuel  L.  Gouverneur  (son-in-law  of  ex-President  Monroe)  was 
chosen  to  be  the  orator  of  the  day.  and  Samuel  Swartwout,  the  grand 
marshal,  with  twenty-one  aids.  The  dress  of  the  chief  marshal  and 
his  aids  was  prescribed  as  follows  :  Blue  coat,  with  white  facings  and 
gilt  buttons  ;  huff  vest,  with  plain  gilt  buttons  ;  white  pantaloons  ; 
chapeau-de-bras,  tricolored  cockade,  and  plume  ;  tricolored  scarfs  ; 
tri colored  badge,  with  the  stripes  of  the  United  States  flag  to  be  worn 
on  each  lapel  :  dress  sword  and  gilt  spurs. 

A  number  of  French  residents  offered  their  services  as  an  escort  for 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


289 


the  g^and  marshal,  and  were  accepted,  and  many  of  the  natives  of 
France  prepared  to  participate  in  the  grand  fete. 

As  the  appointed  day  approached,  the  military,  firemen,  exempt  fire- 
men, fire-wardens,  college  students,  pupils  of  schools,  various  societies, 
the  professions  and  trades,  were  active  in  preparations  for  the  grand 
event.  Flags  and  hanners,  badges  and  cockades,  scarfs  and  rosettes, 
the  tricolor  rose  everywhere  and  on  everything,  were  made  ready. 

The  autumn  was  very  mild.  The  Indian  summer  had  made  its  ad- 
vent early,  and  with  its  delicious  haze,  its  balmy  temperature,  and  its 
fading  glories  among  the  trees,  the  vines,  and  the  flowers,  had  given 
its  full  measure  of  enjoyment  to  the  town  and  country  before  the 
momentous  day  arrived.  When  it  arrived  the  weather  was  very  in- 
clement, and  the  celebration  was  postponed  until  the  next  day  by  the 
display  of  a  red  flag  upon  the  City  Hall,  at  Niblo's,  at  Castle  Garden, 
at  the  Washington  Parade-Ground,  and  at  the  Liberty  Pole  in  Grand 
Street,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

The  storm  was  over  before  the  dawn  of  the  26th.  The  sky  was  cov- 
ered with  gray  clouds,  and  the  atmosphere  was  bleak  and  chilly.  Be- 
fore sunrise  the  notes  of  preparation  for  the  celebration  that  day  were 
heard  on  every  side,  and  at  nine  o'clock  the  procession  began  to  form 
at  the  Battery.  When  everything  was  in  readiness  it  moved  up  Broad- 
way to  the  Washington  Parade-Ground  (now  Washington  Square), 
where  certain  ceremonies  were  to  be  held. 

The  procession  was  led  by  a  squadi*on  of  cavalry  elegantly  uniformed. 
These  wei'e  followed  by  the  grand  marshal  and  his  aids,  and  eight 
French  gentlemen  wearing  the  beautiful  uniform  of  the  National 
Guards  of  France,  as  the  marshal's  escort.  These  were  all  on  horse- 
back. Following  them  was  a  barouche  containing  the  orator  of  the 
day  and  the  reader  of  the  address  to  the  French  people.  Ex-President 
Monroe  was  expected  to  occupy  a  seat  in  this  vehicle,  but  the  feeble 
state  of  his  health  forbade  it,  and  he  joined  the  procession  when  it 
approached  the  parade-ground.  Other  vehicles  followed  bearing  com- 
mitteemen, officers  of  the  city  government,  members  of  Congress  and 
the  State  Legislature,  judges  of  the  National  and  State  courts,  foreign 
ministers  and  consuls,  and  the  Xew  York  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

In  a  barouche  was  Anthony  Glenn,  a  naval  officer  of  the  Revolution, 
with  David  Williams,  one  of  the  captors  of  Andre  ;  Enoch  Crosby,  the 
patriotic  spy  of  the  Revolution,*  and  Alexander  Whaley,  one  of  the 

*  Enoch  Crosby  was  a  witness  in  a  court  of  justice  in  New  York  in  1827,  and  was  recog- 
nized by  an  old  gentleman,  who  introduced  him  to  the  audience  as  the  original  of  Cooper's 


290 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOKE  CITY. 


famous  Boston  tea-party.  Captain  Glenn  bore  aloft  unfurled  the  iden- 
tical standard  which  was  hoisted  by  him  on  the  flagstaff  at  the  Battery 
or  Fort  George  on  the  evacuation  of  the  city  by  the  British  on  the  25th 
of  November,  17S3.  By  his  side  rode  John  Van  Arsdale,  who,  when 
young,  pulled  down  the  British  flag  from  the  same  staff  on  that  momen- 
tous occasion.  lie  received  the  halyards  from  Captain  Glenn  when  he 
raised  the  old  flag  aloft. 

The  bulk  of  the  grand  procession  was  made  up  of  the  faculty  and 
students  of  Columbia  College  bearing  a  medallion  likeness  of  Lafayette, 
with  the  legend  in  Greek,  "  The  glory  of  this  man  shall  be  forever  ;" 
the  members  of  various  professions — law.  medicine,  science,  and  litera- 
ture ;  officers  of  the  army  and  navy,  and  a  vast  array  of  members  of 
the  various  trades  pursued  in  the  city.  These,  with  appropriate  and 
elegant  banners,  made  a  most  attractive  display.  Among  these  the 
printers  and  type-founders  and  persons  connected  with  the  New  York 
press  in  every  capacity  took  the  lead,  preceded  by  a  beautiful  banner 
displaying  a  picture  of  a  Clymer  printing-press.  Their  marshal  was 
the  venerable  John  Lang,  who  had  been  connected  with  the  press 
more  than  forty  years. 

The  fire  department,  which  turned  out  in  full  force,  was  under  the 
direction  of  James  Gulick.  The  New  York  pilots  made  a  fine  display, 
having  a  car  bearing  a  representation  of  a  French  ship-of-war.  The 
cartmen  of  the  city  numbered  about  three  hundred.  They  were  in 
white  frocks,  wearing  on  their  left  breast  a  tricolored  cockade  and  a 
badge  printed  on  white  satin. 

There  was  a  grand  display  of  the  military  organizations  of  the  city 
in  the  procession,  under  the  command  of  the  venerable  General  Jacob 
Morton.  On  his  staff  was  Lieutenant-Colonel  Andrew  Warner,  who  is 
now  (lss:>)  and  has  been  for  many  years  the  recording  secretary  of  the 
New  York  Historical  Society.  All  the  other  members  of  General 
Morton's  staff  on  that  occasion  are  dead. 

A  staye  had  been  erected  near  the  centre  of  Washington  Parade- 
Ground.  Ex-President  Monroe,  who  had  consented  to  preside  on  the 
occasion,  with  the  orator  of  the  day  and  others,  awaited  the  arrival  of 
the  procession  at  the  house  of  Colonel  J.  B.  Murray,  near  by.  Monroe 
was  then  taken  in  a  barouche  to  the  stage,  where  the  Ohairmakers' 
Association  presented  him  with  an  elegant  arm-chair,  made  during  the 

Harvey  Birch  in  his  novel  of  "  The  Spy."  The  fact  was  noised  abroad.  The  Spy,  dram- 
atized, was  in  course  of  performance  at  one  of  the  theatres.  Crosby  was  invited  to 
attend.  His  acceptance  was  announced,  and  that  evening  a  crowded  audience  greeted 
the  old  soldier. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


291 


progress  of  the  procession.  This  the  venerable  statesman  occupied  on 
the  occasion. 

After  a  prayer  by  the  Rev.  Richard  Yarick  Dey,  the  address  to  the 
French  people  was  read  by  William  M.  Price,  when  Samuel  L.  Gouver- 
neur  was  introduced  as  the  oi*ator  of  the  day,  who  pronounced  a  most 
interesting-  address  to  the  vast  throng  before  him.  The  oration  was 
followed  by  the  singing  of  an  appropriate  ode  written  by  Samuel 
Woodworth  for  the  occasion,  by  the  entire  band  of  choristers  attached 
to  the  Park  Theatre,  led  by  Mr.  E.  Richings. 

When  the  music  ceased  a  tricolored  flag  which  had  been  borne  in  the 
procession  was  presented,  on  behalf  of  the  natives  of  France  resident  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  to  the  First  Division  of  New  York  State  Artil- 
lery, commanded  by  General  Morton.  Then  the  Marseillaise  Hymn 
was  sung  by  the  choir,  and  the  vast  audience  joined  in  the  stirring 
chorus.  The  brilliant  affair  at  the  Washington  Parade-Ground  was 
closed  at  three  o'clock  by  a  feu  dejoie  by  the  military. 

"  The  day  will  long  live  in  story,' 1  said  the  New  York  Courier  and 
Enquirer  the  next  morning,  "  and  fill  up  many  a  pleasant  hour  when 
the  children  of  1830,  in  the  winter  of  their  day,  shall  speak  of  the 
events  in  olden  times,  among  the  least  interesting  of  which  shall  not  be 
numbered  the  celebration  of  the  Revolution  of  France  in  the  city  of 
New  York."  It  is  for  the  purpose  of  awakening  in  the  memory  of  the 
"  children  of  1830"  a  vivid  recollection  of  the  event  which  stirred  the 
heart  of  the  great  city  fifty  years  ago,  and  to  tell  to  their  children, 
in  a  few  simple  words,  how  the  bosoms  of  their  fathers  glowed  with 
patriotic  emotion  because  of  the  triumph  of  liberty  beyond  the  sea, 
that  this  record  has  been  made  here. 

In  commemoration  of  Evacuation  Day  and  the  Revolution  in  France 
banquets  were  partaken  of  in  the  evening  in  several  wards,  the  work- 
ingmen  and  the  Literary  Association  of  the  Friends  of  Ireland  at 
Tammany  Hall,  at  all  of  which  there  was  great  hilarity,  speech-making, 
and  singing  of  songs  or  odes  for  the  occasion,  while  there  were  specially 
appropriate  performances  at  the  theatres. 

This  decade  is  a  remarkable  period  in  the  history  of  the  city  of  New 
York  for  the  successful  introduction  of  a  new  system  of  treatment  of 
diseases — a  system  founded  upon  the  positive  knowledge  of  the  science 
of  physiology  (the  basis  of  all  rational  medicine),  which  has  been  de- 
veloped within  the  last  three  fourths  of  a  century  ;  a  system  which  has 
contributed  largely  in  effecting  a  radical  reform  in  the  practice  of  the 
healing  art  of  every  school. 

Previous  to  this  period  "the  practice  of  the  art,  here  and  there," 


FIRST  DECADE,  1880-1840. 


progress  of  the  procession.  This  the  venerable  statesman  occupied  on 
the  occasion. 

After  a  prayer  by  the  Rev.  Richard  Variek  Dey,  the  address  to  the 
French  people  was  read  by  William  M.  Price,  when  Samuel  L.  Grouver- 
neur  was  introduced  as  the  orator  of  the  day,  who  pronounced  a  most 
interesting  address  to  the  vast  throng  before  him.  The  oration  was 
followed  by  the  singing  of  an  appropriate  ode  written  by  Samuel 
Woodworth  for  the  occasion,  by  the  entire  band  of  choristers  attached 
to  the  Park  Theatre,  led  by  Mr.  E.  Richings. 

When  the  music  ceased  a  tricolored  flag  which  had  been  borne  in  the 
procession  was  presented,  on  behalf  of  the  natives  of  France  resident  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  to  the  First  Division  of  New  York  State  Artil- 
lery, commanded  by  General  Morton.  Then  the  Marseillaise  Hymn 
Avas  sung  by  the  choir,  and  the  vast  audience  joined  in  the  stirring 
chorus.  The  brilliant  affair  at  the  Washington  Parade-Ground  was 
closed  at  three  o'clock  by  a  feu  dejoie  by  the  military. 

"  The  day  will  long  live  in  story,"  said  the  New  York  Courier  and 
Enquirer  the  next  morning,  "  and  fill  up  many  a  pleasant  hour  when 
the  children  of  1830,  in  the  winter  of  their  day,  shall  speak  of  the 
events  in  olden  times,  among  the  least  interesting  of  which  shall  not  be 
numbered  the  celebration  of  the  Revolution  of  France  in  the  city  of 
New  York."  It  is  for  the  purpose  of  awakening  in  the  memory  of  the 
"  children  of  1830''  a  vivid  recollection  of  the  event  which  stirred  the 
heart  of  the  great  city  fifty  years  ago,  and  to  tell  to  their  children, 
in  a  few  simple  words,  how  the  bosoms  of  their  fathers  glowed  with 
patriotic  emotion  because  of  the  triumph  of  liberty  beyond  the  sea, 
that  this  record  has  been  made  here. 

In  commemoration  of  Evacuation  Day  and  the  Revolution  in  France 
banquets  were  partaken  of  in  the  evening  in  several  wards,  the  work- 
insmen  and  the  Literarv  Association  of  the  Friends  of  Ireland  at 
Tammany  Hall,  at  all  of  which  there  was  great  hilarity,  speech-making, 
and  singing  of  songs  or  odes  for  the  occasion,  while  there  were  specially 
appropriate  performances  at  the  theatres. 

This  decade  is  a  remarkable  period  in  the  history  of  the  city  of  New 
York  for  the  successful  introduction  of  a  new  system  of  treatment  of 
diseases — a  system  founded  upon  the  positive  knowledge  of  the  science 
of  physiology  (the  basis  of  all  rational  medicine),  which  has  been  de- 
veloped within  the  last  three  fourths  of  a  century  ;  a  system  which  has 
contributed  largely  in  effecting  a  radical  reform  in  the  practice  of  the 
healing  art  of  every  school. 

Previous  to  this  period  "the  practice  of  the  art,  here  and  there," 


292  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

says  Dr.  (Tray,  "  consisted,  with  no  really  scientific  exceptions,  in  a 
heroic  combat  with  two  mythical  demons  of  medicine,  the  strong  and 
the  weak — inflammation  and  debility —  by  means  of  emetics,  cathartics, 
venesections,  vesicatories,  sedatives,  tonics,  and  stimulants.  The 
'  principles  '  upon  which  this  terrific  practice  was  founded  were  all 
deduced  from  the  poor  basis  of  the  physiology  of  the  last  century  ;  and 
that,  without  having-  interrogated  this  physiology  as  to  the  real  powers 
of  the  vast  drug  apparatus  they  used,  either  specific  and  direct,  or  reac- 
tion and  revolutionary.  Nothing  was  scientifically  known  of  the  action 
of  any  drug,  by  any  physiological  test  :  none  other  than  the  little 
derived  from  its  empirical  use  in  disease,  and  from  the  scarcity  and 
unarranged  memoranda  of  toxicology.  .  .  Hut  the  profession, 
even  at  the  period  of  which  we  are  treating,  were,  as  their  literature 
now  and  then  discloses,  by  no  means  satisfied  with  the  uncertain  prin- 
ciples and  distinctive  processes  of  their  therapeutics  ;  there  were  not 
wanting  in  all  countries  men  who  looked  for  as  great  and  radical  a 
reformation  in  the  healing  art  as  had  already  occurred  in  the  sciences 
of  astronomy  and  chemistry,  or  as  great  a  change  as  had  taken  place  in 
the  art  of  navigation.  Nearly  all,  indeed,  outside  the  walls  of  mercan- 
tile cliques  and  colleges  were  discontented  with  the  principles  evulgated 
in  medical  schools  and  books  ;  but  not  looking  in  the  direction  of  phar- 
macology for  the  new  truths  waited  for,  each  earnest  man  repeated  the 
old  method  of  excogitating  a  new  theory,  or  of  compounding  an  eclectic 
art  from  the  multitude  of  extant  hypotheses."  * 

Jn  the  fulness  of  time  a  radical  and  learned  reformer  appeared  in 
the  person  of  Samuel  Hahnemann,  an  eminent  German  physician  and 
philosopher,  who  so  early  as  1810  sounded  the  keynote  for  an  entirely 
new  method  in  medical  logic  by  the  publication  of  a  treatise  styled 
"  Organon  of  Rational  Therapeutics."  lie  announced  the  idea  of 
forming  a  materia  medica  upon  the  rational  process  of  patient  physio- 
logical tests  of  the  powers  of  drugs.  So  soon  as  his  work  appeared 
many  persons  in  the  profession  and  votaries  of  science  joined  him  in 
making  his  "drug  tests."  He  collected  from  the  literature  of  the 
profession  in  all  ages  the  scattered  fragments  denoting  the  purely 
physiological  power  of  drugs,  and  combined  them  with  the  new  prov- 
ings.  These  tests  extended  over  a  space  of  more  than  a  dozen  years, 
and  in  1S21  he  completed  his  great  work  which  embodied  the  result  of 
all  researches  up  to  that  time,  entitled  "  Pure  Materia  Medica." 

The  system  then  introduced  was  termed  Homoeopathy,  from  two 

*  "The  Early  Annals  of  Homoeopathy  in  New  York,"  by  John  F.  Gray,  M.D. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1880  1840. 


Greek  words  signifying'  "similar  suffering."  It  is  founded  on  the 
belief  that  medicines  have  the  power  of  curing  morbid  conditions  simi- 
lar to  those  which  they  have  the  power  to  excite,  expressed  by  the 
words  "  like  cures  like  ;"  in  other  words,  a  disease  produced  in  a 
healthy  person  by  a  substance  may  be  cured  by  administering  the  same 
substance  to  a  patient  suffering  from  the  same  disease. 

This  was  not  a  new  idea,  for  Hippocrates  gave  this  remarkable  pre- 
scription for  mania  :  "  Gisre  the  patient  a  draught  made  from  the  root 
of  mandrake,  in  a  vmaller  done  than  sufficient  to  induce  man  in."  And 
Milton,  in  his  preface  to  "  Samson  Agomstes,"  says  :  "  In  physic, 
things  of  melancholic  hue  and  quality  are  used  against  melancholy, 
sour  against  sour,  salt  to  remove  salt  humors,"  etc.  But  to  Hahne- 
mann belongs  the  glory  of  propounding  and  enforcing  the  startling 
dogma. 

One  of  the  early  disciples  of  Hahnemann  was  John  Gram,  a  native 
of  Boston.  His  father,  a  Dane,  emigrated  to  America  at  the  close  of 
our  old  war  for  independence.  He  married  an  American  wife,  and 
died  quite  young,  leaving  two  or  three  children.  John  was  the  oldest, 
and  when  he  was  about  fourteen  years  of  age  he  went  to  Copenhagen, 
Denmark,  where  he  was  furnished  with  a  good  education  by  his  rela- 
tions, some  of  whom  were  distinguished  in  public  life.  He  studied 
medicine,  obtained  a  lucrative  practice  in  Copenhagen,  acquired  a  com- 
petent fortune,  and  having  tested  Hahnemann's  method  and  become  an 
enthusiastic  convert,  he  came  to  his  native  land,  after  an  absence  of 
about  twenty  years.  He  gave  up  a  lucrative  practice  in  Copenhagen, 
and  landed  in  New  York  an  avowed  apostle  of  the  new  faith. 

Dr.  Gram  translated  one  of  Hahnemann's  most  powerful  essays, 
"  The  Spirit  of  Homoeopathy,"  printed  it,  and  scattered  it  widely  and 
gratuitously  among  the  medical  profession  in  this  country,  especially  in 
the  city  of  New  York.  His  imperfect  use  of  the  English  language 
and  the  difficulty  of  conveying  scientific  knowledge  from  German  into 
English  caused  his  pamphlet  to  be  unappreciated,  even  by  men  like  Drs. 
Hosack  and  Francis. 

Dr.  John  F.  Gray,  then  a  young  physician  of  New  York  with  an 
extensive  practice,  was  Dr.  Gram's  first  convert.  He  was  introduced 
to  Gram  in  1S2(>  by  one  of  his  patients  suffering  with  dyspepsia,  who 
had  heard  of  the  new  system.  The  apostle  of  the  new  faith  had  ki  laid 
his  hands"  on  Gray's  patient  with  wonderful  effect.  Dr.  Gray  was 
astonished,  and  at  once  put  Hahnemann's  method  to  a  severe  test,  not 
by  his  own  prescriptions,  but  by  those  of  Dr.  Gram.  The  first  subject 
was  a  scrofulous  girl,  the  second  a  maniac  whose  malady  was  caused  by 


294 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


puerperal  fever,  and  the  third  was  a  confirmed  drunkard.  Dr.  Gram  pre- 
scribed for  all.  The  first  and  third  cases  were  cured  by  a  single  dose  of 
the  remedy  prescribed,  Dr.  Gray  arranging  the  diet  and  moral  conditions. 

The  second  case — mania — was  under  diet  rule  fourteen  days,  and 
then  a  single  dose  of  nux  vomica  was  administered.  "  She  fully  recov- 
ered her  reason  within  half  an  hour  after  taking  the  dose  of  muse 
vomica"  says  Dr.  Gray,  "  and  never  lost  it  afterward."  *  Within  a 
year  Dr.  Gray  became  a  full  convert  to  homoeopathy,  the  first  in 
America. 

The  second  convert  to  homoeopathy  in  Xew  York  was  Dr.  A.  D. 
Wilson,  in  1829.  He  was  a  ripe  scholar  and  in  full  practice.  The 
next  convert  was  Dr.  A.  G.  Hull,  a  thoughtful  student  of  medicine 
and  a  graduate  of  Union  College  in  1828.  lie  had  entered  Rutgers 
Medical  College,  where  he  found  such  able  physicians  and  surgeons  as 
Drs.  Hosack,  Macneven,  Mott,  and  Francis  as  professors.  Gram  taught 
him  botany  in  summer,  and  reviewed  prescriptive  anatomy  with  him  in 
winter.  Hull  was  admitted  to  practice  by  the  Xew  York  Medical 
Society  in  1832.  lie  was  a  convert  to  homoeopathy,  and  wrote  in  sup- 
port of  the  new  school  so  early  as  1834. 

In  1832  Dr.  William  Channing  became  a  convert.  He  was  a  man  of 
large  culture  in  letters,  thoroughly  educated  in  medicine,  and  had  a 
large  practice.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  cholera  in  1832  he  perceived 
the  ill-success  of  the  medical  treatment  of  cholera  patients  in  the  hos- 
pitals. He  tried  Hahnemann's  prescriptions  with  wonderful  success. 
They  were  so  elficient  that  Dr.  Channing  published  in  the  Commercial 
Advertiser,  over  his  own  signature,  an  account  of  the  treatment.  Soon 
after  that  he  was  an  avowed  convert  to  the  new  faith.  These  early 
converts  and  one  or  two  others,  with  Dr.  Gram,  kept  up  regular  social 
reunions  with  great  pleasure  and  profit  until  the  death  of  the  master  in 
1840. 

The  translation  of  Hahnemann's  "  Pure  Materia  Medica"  into 
French,  in  1832-33,  by  Dr.  Jourdan  of  Paris,  gave  a  fresh  impetus  to 
the  spread  of  homoeopathy  in  Europe  and  America.  Before  that  time 
no  physician  could  test  the  practice  without  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  German  language.  This  difficulty  explains  the  slowness  of  the 
expansion  of  the  system  during  the  first  eight  years  after  Gram's 
advent  in  Xew  York. 

The  social  relations  of  the  converts  with  their  professional  brethren 
of  another  school,  or  with  the  Medical  Society,  were  not  disturbed  by 


*  "  The  Early  Annals  of  Homoeopathy  in  New  York,"  by  J.  F.  Gray,  M.D.,  p.  14. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


295 


their  heresy.  They  wisely  avoided  disputation  or  discussion.  The 
topic  was  treated  of  sparingly.  Homoeopathy  and  quackery  were  asso- 
ciated in  the  minds  of  a  great  proportion  of  the  medical  profession  and 
of  the  laity.  But  its  devotees  kept  steadily  on,  winning  the  confidence 
of  the  people  more  and  more,  and  fully  persuaded  of  the  value  of  the 
great  reform  they  were  the  almost  silent  instruments  in  effecting. 

When  in  1S3T-3S  Hahnemann's  great  work  was  translated  and  pub- 
lished in  the  chief  spoken  languages  of  Europe,  they  Avere  reticent  no 
longer.  Thev  then  began  a  manly  and  vigorous  defence  of  the  system. 
Dr.  Gray  revived  the  publication  of  the  American  Journal  of  Horace,  tp- 
athy,  which  had  been  suspended,  and  a  distinct  Homoeopathic  Society 
was  formed.  From  that  hour  the  conflict  waxed  warm.  The  princi- 
ples of  the  new  school  were  promulgated  and  discussed.  New  converts 
appeared.  Drs,  Ticknor,  Freeman,  Curtis,  Taylor,  Coxe,  Rosman. 
Vanderburgh,  Joslin,  and  Snow  left  the  old  school  and  joined  the  new. 

About  the  period  of  Gram's  death  homoeopathy  began  to  be  sup- 
ported in  various  cities  in  the  State  of  New  York,  as  well  as  in  other 
States.  "  Regular*'  physicians  earnestly  examined  its  principles,  and 
profited  by  an  acceptance  of  them  in  practice,  while  adhering  tech- 
nically to  the  old  school.  Confidence  in  the  system  rapidly  spread 
among  the  laity.  Prejudice  gave  way  in  the  circle  of  the  medical  pro- 
fession. Institutes  sprung  up  in  support  of  the  system  of  homoeopathy. 
Legislators  favored  it  with  encouraging  laws,  and  in  the  city  of  Xew 
York  to-day  there  are  flourishing  public  homoeopathic  institutions,  such 
as  a  college,  a  dispensary,  an  asylum,  an  infirmary,  and  a  hospital. 

The  State  Medical  Society  and  county  medical  societies  vehemently 
opposed  the  new  faith,  and  made  the  act  of  consulting  with  a  homoeo- 
pathic physician  on  the  part  of  any  of  the  members  a  misdemeanor  to 
be  visited  with  discipline,  and  possibly  punished  by  excommunication  — 
dismissal  from  the  society.  Gradually,  as  the  progress  of  medical 
science  diffused  new  light,  and  thoughtful  members  of  the  medical 
societies  of  the  old  school  perceived  that  the  summit  of  human  knowl- 
edge had  not  yet  been  attained  by  the  profession,  there  appeared  a 
possibility  that  these  despised  competitors  might  become  pleasant  coad- 
jutors in  the  toilsome  ascent.  Toleration  interposed  its  genial  influ- 
ence, and  common-sense  asserted  its  rights. 

In  1882  the  "regular"  Medical  Society  of  the  State  of  Xew  York 
voted  that  its  members  might  fully  consult  with  homoeopathic  phy- 
sicians. This  liberal  measure  was  vehemently  opposed  by  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  "  regular''  profession,  and  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
society,  in  January.  183§,  an  attempt  was  made  to  rescind  that  resolu- 


20G 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


tion,  and  withdraw  the  invitation  to  homoeopathic  physicians  to  consulta- 
tion with  "  regulars. "  But  the  society  refused  to  reverse  that  decision, 
by  a  vote  of  105  to  99.  An  analysis  of  that  vote  and  a  reference  to 
the  proceedings  show  that  the  more  eminent  and  learned  members  of 
the  society,  such  as  Drs.  Willard  Parker,  Fordyce  Barker  (president  of 
the  Academy  of  Medicine),  Cornelius  11.  Agnew,  and  others,  advo- 
cated (and  voted  for)  the  liberal  side  of  the  question. 

In  the  Code  of  Ethics  formulated  by  the  American  Institute  of 
Homoeopathy  for  the  government  of  its  members  and  of  societies  in 
affiliation  with  it,  adopted  nearly  twenty  years  ago  (1864),  is  the  fol- 
lowing paragraph  concerning  the  duty  of  physicians  in  regard  to  con- 
sultation : 

"  No  difference  in  views  on  subjects  of  medical  principles  or  practice 
should  be  allowed  to  influence  a  physician  against  consenting  to  a  con- 
sultation with  a  fellow  practitioner.  The  very  object  of  a  consultation 
is  to  bring  together  those  who  may  perhaps  differ  in  their  views  of  the 
disease  and  its  appropriate  treatment,  in  the  hope  that  from  a  compari- 
son of  different  views  may  be  derived  a  just  estimate  of  the  disease  and 
a  successful  course  of  treatment.  No  tests  of  orthodoxy  in  medical 
practice  should  be  applied  to  limit  the  freedom  of  consultations." 

Dr.  Gram,  the  founder  of  homoeopathy  in  America,  was  the  grand- 
son of  a  wealthy  merchant  of  Copenhagen.  His  son,  the  father  of  the 
doctor,  came  to  America  when  quite  young,  fell  in  love  with  an  inn- 
keeper's daughter  in  Boston,  and  married  her,  and  was  disinherited  by 
his  offended  father.  The  doctor  Avas  born  in  1786.  He  is  represented 
as  a  most  exemplary  man.  Dr.  Gray  says  :  "  He  wasan  earnest  Chris- 
tian of  the  Swedenborgian  faith,  a  man  of  the  most  scrupulously  pure 
and  charitable  life  I  have  ever  known.  The  squalid  hovel  of  the  sick 
poor  was  to  Gram  ever  the  most  holy  temple  of  religion.  .  .  .  No 
darkness  or  wintry  storm  or  failure  of  strength  or  allurement  of  the 
world  detained  Gram  when  the  suffering  poor  needed  his  healing  pres- 
ence. He  believed  in  God  ;  he  worked  and  walked  his  earthly 
pilgrimage  with  his  Redeemer.  And  yet,  this  good  man  and  earnest 
believer  was  often  called  an  infidel,  sometimes  even  by  thoughtless 
Christian  ministers,  because  he  abstained  from  the  topic  on  all  occasions 
and  with  all  people,  except  when  he  was  called  to  the  performance  of 
his  kind  of  religious  worship." 

Dr.  Gram's  first  American  convert,  and  the  able  pioneer  in  the 
practice  of  the  homoeopathic  system  of  medicine,  was  Dr.  Gray.* 

*.Tohn  Franklin  Gray,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  was  a  remarkable  man.  He  was  horn  at  Sher- 
burne, Chenango  Count}',  N.  Y.,  on  September  3,  1804,  and  lived  a  life  of  great  usefulness 


FIRST  DECADE,  1S30-1S4U. 


297 


He  had  then  a  large  and  rapidly  increasing  circle  of  patients, 
and  families  and  fame  and  fortune  beckoned  him  to  their  embrace. 
But  his  new  departure — his  wandering  in  an  untraversed  wilderness  of 
a  strange  medical  theory,  as  it  was  considered  by  the  profession  here — 
lost  him  the  larger  portion  of  his  patients.  The  few  who  clung  to  him 
were  of  the  grateful  but  unremunerative  sort.  He  was  compelled  to 
give  up  his  carriage,  which  had  been  needful  in  his  daily  duties.  His 
professional  brethren  regarded  him  as  an  outcast,  and  hardly  recognized 
him  as  one  of  their  fraternity.    They  pitied  him  because  of  his  lunacy. 

But  Dr.  Gray  had  the  courage  of  his  convictions.  Satisfied  of  the 
truth  of  the  doctrine  he  had  embraced  and  practised,  and  with  a  firm 
belief  that  those  truths  would  ultimately  triumph,  he  struggled  man- 
fully against  the  strong  current  of  prejudice  and  ignorance,  and  labored 
untiringly  for  the  fulfilment,  in  his  own  time,  of  the  sure  prophecy  that 
gladdened  his  mental  vision.  He  beheld  the  promised  land  from  the 
Pisgah  of  his  own  consciousness.    Dr.  Gram  sustained  him  with  his 

for  nearly  fourscore  years.  His  grandfather  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  the  township 
of  Sherburne. 

Young  Gray  was  left  at  an  early  age  and  with  a  meagre  education  to  depend  upon  his 
own  exertions  to  obtain  a  livelihood.  He  earned  with  his  own  hands  money  sufficient  to 
"  seek  his  fortune  abroad."  He  travelled  as  far  as  Hamilton,  Oneida  County,  and  ob- 
tained employment  in  the  office  of  Dr.  Haven  as  clerk  and  assistant,  with  the  privilege  of 
studying  medicine  when  he  had  leisure  to  do  so.  He  had  a  receptive  and  retentive  mind, 
and  had  conceived  a  very  strong  desire  to  become  a  practitioner  of  the  healing  art. 

Dr.  Haven,  perceiving  his  studious  habits  and  longing  for  knowledge,  especially  of  the 
healing  art,  gave  him  every  opportunity  for  study  in  his  power.  During  the  two  years 
Gray  was  with  him  the  youth  acquired  a  fair  knowledge  of  Latin,  under  the  instructions 
of  the  principal  of  the  village  academy,  since  expanded  into  Madison  University.  His 
wardrobe  needing  replenishment,  he  taught  a  district  school  a  few  months,  obtained  a 
new  suit  of  clothes,  and  started  on  foot  to  visit  his  parents,  more  than  two  hundred 
miles  deeper  in  the  western  wilderness,  in  Chautauqua  County,  where  they  had  removed. 
He  opened  a  private  school  near  Dunkirk,  was  very  successful,  and  having  studied 
continually  with  the  object  of  entering  the  medical  profession,  he  was  enabled,  with 
money  enough  saved  from  his  earnings,  to  start  for  New  York  to  take  instruction  in  the 
medical  college  there.  He  bore  influential  letters  of  introduction  ;  among  others  one 
from  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton  to  Dr.  Hosack  and  others.  He  received  the  diploma 
of  a  Doctor  of  Medicine  from  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  March, 
1826,  when  he  was  twenty-two  years  of  age. 

By  the  advice  of  Dr.  Hosack,  Dr.  Gray  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  and  continued  active  in  it  fifty-five  years.  He  opened  an  office  in 
Charlton  Street,  then  far  "up  town."  His  success  was  remarkable  from  the  beginning. 
He  married  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Amos  G.  Hull,  and  his  personal  and  professional  relations 
in  the  city  were  most  happy.  As  we  have  seen,  he  became  the  first  convert  of  the 
apostle  of  homoeopathy,  Dr.  Gram,  and  was  ever  afterward  his  most  efficient  champion  by 
word  and  deed. 


208 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


professional  skill  and  counsel.  Success  in  his  practice  brought  friends, 
old  and  new,  to  his  support.  A  convert  from  the  old  school  now  and 
then  appeared,  as  we  have  seen,  and  it  was  not  a  very  long  time  before 
Dr.  Gray  needed  a  carriage  again  in  the  performance  of  his  daily  duties. 

The  violent  professional  assaults  made  upon  Dr.  Gray  practically 
proved  the  truth  of  the  saying,  "  The  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed 
of  the  church."  The  comparative  results  of  the  various  sorts  of  medi- 
cal treatment  were  so  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  mild  and  simple  and 
successful  course  pursued  from  the  first  by  Dr.  Gray  and  his  handful  of 
compeers  that  they  set  thoughtful  persons  to  candid  thinking,  and  gave 
a  powerful  impulse  to  the  spread  of  homoeopathy  ;  and  Dr.  Gray  lived 
to  see  Hahnemann's  system  of  cure,  from  the  first  planting  in  this 
country,  established  in  every  part  of  it,  with  its  educated  and  trained 
practitioners  numbered  by  thousands,  its  societies  and  institutions  sanc- 
tioned by  law  in  every  State  of  the  Republic,  with  its  colleges,  hos- 
pitals, infirmaries,  and  dispensaries  existing  in  numbers  to  meet  the 
rapidly  increasing  demand. 

In  1834  Dr.  Gray,  in  conjunction  with  his  brother-in-law  (his  pupil 
and  convert),  Dr.  A.  G.  Hull,  established  the  first  American  Journal 
of  IIomaojHttlnj.  Its  issue  soon  ceased  for  want  of  support,  but  was 
afterward  revived  for  a  while  under  another  name.  At  Dr.  Gray's 
suggestion,  an  association  of  all  the  disciples  of  Hahnemann  in  the 
United  States  was  formed,  with  the  title  of  "  American  Institute  of 
Homoeopathy.'"  It  is  the  oldest  national  medical  institution  in  the 
country.    Dr.  Gray  was  for  years  the  leading  spirit  of  the  society. 

The  literature  of  homoeopathy  in  America  received  very  important 
but  not  very  numerous  contributions  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Gray  ;  his 
personal  exertions  in  promoting  the  spread  and  success  of  the  new 
system  of  therapeutics  were  enormous.  As  president  of  the  State 
Homoeopathic  Medical  Society,  he  successfully  exerted  his  influence 
with  the  Legislature  of  New  York  in  favor  of  the  enactment  of  a  law  for 
the  promotion  of  a  higher  standard  of  education  by  providing  for  the 
appointment  of  a  board  of  State  examiners,  entirely  unconnected  with 
the  medical  colleges,  for  the  examination  of  candidates  for  a  higher 
honorary  degree,  to  be  conferred  only  by  the  regents  of  the  University 
of  the  State.  After  much  opposition  such  a  law  was  enacted  May  16, 
1872.  Under  this  "advanced  medical  act"  the  Board  of  Regents 
enjoined  a  rigid  code  of  rules  and  regulations  for  the  conduct  of  .these 
examiners.  Dr.  Gray  was  appointed  president  of  the  first  board  of 
examiners,  and  held  that  position  until  his  death,  which  occurred  on 
June  5,  1S82,  when  he  was  in  the  seventy-eighth  year  of  his  age. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


299 


Dr.  Gray  was  a  thorough  classical  scholar,  and  conspicuous  for  his 
wide  and  varied  knowledge.  He  was  generous,  kind-hearted,  and 
ever  ready  to  give  a  hand  to  help  the  needy.  His  professional  benefac- 
tions among  the  poor  were  far  beyond  the  public  ken.  The  sick  poor 
always  found  in  him  an  attentive  physician  and  a  sympathizing  friend. 
A  single  anecdote  will  fitly  illustrate  this  phase  of  his  character.  A 
poor  sewing-girl  went  to  Dr.  Gray  for  advice.  He  gave  her  a  vial  of 
medicine,  and  told  her  to  go  home  and  go  to  bed. 

"  I  can't  do  that,  doctor,"  said  the  girl,  "for  I  am  dependent  on 
what  I  earn  every  day  for  my  living.'" 

"  If  that  is  so,"  said  the  doctor,  "Til  change  the  medicine  a  little. 
Give  me  back  the  vial." 

He  took  it,  and  wrapping  around  it  a  ten-dollar  bill,  returned  it  to 
the  poor  girl,  and  repeated  his  order  : 

"  Go  home  and  go  to  bed.    Take  the  medicine,  wrapper  and  all." 

New  York  City  has  now  a  large  body  of  homoeopathic  physicians  of 
the  highest  professional  character  and  attainments.  Among  the  most 
successful  of  these  are  Drs.  Egbert  Guernsey,*  E.  E.  Marcy,  f  and 
"William  Tod  Helmuth.  The  latter  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  skil- 
ful surgeons  in  the  city,  and  has  contributed  largely  and  usefully  to  the 
literature  of  homoeopathy.^: 

*  Dr.  Egbert  Guernsey  is  a  native  of  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  and  a  graduate  of  the 
medical  department  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York.  He  took  his  degree  in 
1844.  After  his  graduation  he  took  charge  of  a  drug-store  for  a  while.  In  1849  he  was 
appointed  city  physician  of  Williamsbnrgh,  now  Brooklyn,  Eastern  District.  At  that 
time  the  cholera  prevailed  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn.  After  exhausting  every  means 
the  allopathic  materia  medica  furnished  for  the  restoration  of  his  patients,  he  consulted 
Dr.  Cox,  a  recent  convert  to  homoeopathy,  who,  in  his  prescription  of  a  few  doses  of 
arsenicum,  prepared  homoeopathically,  relieved  a  patient  he  was  attending.  This  service 
induced  him  to  examine  the  system  of  Hahnemann,  and  he  became  a  convert.  He  was 
eminently  successful  in  all  cholera  and  dysentery  eases.  Dr.  Guernsey  settled  in  the  city 
of  New  York  in  1851,  and  the  next  year  he  published  his  work  on  "  Domestic  Practice," 
a  most  valuable  family  guide.  His  practice  in  New  York  soon  became  extensive,  and  also 
profitable  to  his  patients  and  himself. 

f  Dr.  E.  E.  Marcy  is  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  and  was  born  in  1819.  After  practis- 
ing medicine  allopathically  for  about  ten  years,  he  discarded  it  and  began  the  homoeo- 
pathic practice  in  New  York  about  1850,  where  he  originated  the  North  American  Homa'o- 
pathic  Journal,  of  which  he  was  the  principal  editor  for  about  fifteen  years.  Dr.  Marcy 
is  a  very  skilful  physician  and  has  a  large  practice.  His  contributions  to  homoeopathic 
literature  are  many  and  important. 

$  William  Tod  Helmuth,  M.D.,  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  October  30,  1833.  He 
was  educated  at  St.  Timothy's  College,  Baltimore,  and  in  1850  began  the  study  of  medi- 
cine under  his  uncle,  Dr.  William  S.  Helmuth,  then  professor  of  the  history  and  practice 
of  medicine  in  the  Homoeopathic  Medical  College  of  Pennsylvania.    Graduating  in  1853 


300 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


with  honor,  he  received  his  doctorate  and  began  the  practice  of  his  profession,  having 
for  a  while  acted  as  dispensary  physician  of  the  college. 

In  1855,  when  he  was  only  twenty-two  years  of  age,  Dr.  Helmnth  was  elected  professor 
of  anatomy  in  his  alma  mater,  and  in  the  same  year  he  completed  and  published  a  work 
of  650  pages,  entitled  "  Surgery,  and  its  Adaptation  to  Honuropathic  Practice."  In  1858 
Dr.  Helinuth  removed  to  St.  Louis  and  became  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Homoeopathic 
Medical  College  of  Missouri,  in  which  he  occupied  the  chair  of  anatomy.  He  also  be- 
came one  of  the  surgeons  of  the  Good  Samaritan  Hospital,  which  position  he  occupied 
until  1870,  when  he  made  his  place  of  residence  and  field  of  professional  labor  in  the 
city  of  New  York. 

In  1866  Dr.  Helinuth  delivered  the  annual  address  before  the  American  Institute  of 
Homoeopathy,  and  in  18(17,  at  its  session  in  the  city  ot  New  York,  he  was  chosen  its 
president.  The  following  year  he  went  to  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  his 
knowledge  of  surgical  science,  and  made  quite  an  extensive  tour  on  the  continent.  On 
his  return,  in  186'.),  he  organized  the  St.  Louis  College  of  Homoeopathic  Physicians  and 
Surgeons,  and  became  its  dean  and  professor  of  surgery.  In  1870  lie  received  an  urgent 
call  to  the  chair  of  surgery  in  the  Homoeopathic  Medical  College  of  New  York,  which 
he  accepted.  On  his  departure  fiom  St.  Louis  for  his  new  field  of  action  his  profes- 
sional and  other  friends  in  tbat  city  gave  him  a  banquet,  and  presented  him  with  a  com- 
plete service  of  silver,  as  "  a  token  of  their  high  esteem  for  him  as  a  citizen  and  a  man 
of  science."  With  such  a  gratifying  farewell  demonstration  he  left  the  West  and  took 
up  his  residence  in  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the  Republic,  where  he  is  now,  in 
the  enjoyment  of  an  extensive  professional  practice,  which  he  soon  won  by  his  skill  and 
industry. 

Dr.  Helinuth  married  Miss  Pritchard,  of  St.  Louis,  in  1859.  Since  that  time  his  lit- 
erary labors  in  the  cause  of  medical  science  have  been  extensive  and  useful.  We  have 
seen  that  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  published  an  important  volume.  In  1864  he  became 
one  of  the  founders  and  the  principal  editor  of  the  Western  Homoeopathic  Obseruer,  which 
he  conducted  with  great  ability  until  he  left  St.  Louis,  a  period  of  about  seven  years. 
During  his  residence  in  New  York,  besides  making  frequent  contributions  to  periodical 
medical  literature,  he  lias  revised  and  annotated  the  four  editions  of  his  "  System  of 
Surgery."  He  has  published  a  volume  of  "  Surgical  Clinics,"  a  monograph  on  "  Nerve 
Stretching,' '  an  account  of  "  A  Dozen  Cases  in  Clinical  Surgery"  (which  are  all  rare  and 
interesting),  an  essay  on  "  The  Excision  of  the  Rectum,"  and  a  quarto  volume  on 
'•Supra-Pubic  Lithotomy,"  illustrated  with  colored  lithographic  plates.  Dr.  Helmnth 
has  indulged  in  lighter  literature,  having  issued  several  humorous  poems,  among  them 
"The  Doctor  "Woman,"  "  My  First  Patient,"  "  How  I  Became  a  Surgeon,"  and  a  collec- 
tion of  fugitive  pieces  entitled  "  Scratches  of  a  Surgeon,"  and  a  little  volume  entitled 
"  A  Steamer  Book"— a  sort  of  book  of  travel  to  be  read  upon  a  steamboat. 

Dr.  Helmnth,  besides  occupying  the  chair  of  surgery  in  the  New  Y'ork  Homoeopathic 
Medical  College,  is  one  of  the  surgeons  to  the  Ward's  Island  Hospital,  to  the  Hahnemann 
Hospital,  and  to  the  New  York  College  and  Hospital  for  Women.  He  is  a  "  Yeteran" 
member  of  the  American  Institute  of  Homoeopathy  ;  a  Fellow  of  the  New  Y'ork  Medico- 
Chirurgieal  Society  ;  a  member  and  late  president  of  the  Homoeopathic  County  Medical 
Society  ;  a  permanent  member  of  the  Homoeopathic  Medical  Society  of  the  State  of  New 
Y'ork  ;  and  during  a  recent  visit  to  Europe  was  elected  an  honorary  member  of  the 
Societe  Homceopathique  de  France.  He  is  also  an  honorary  member  of  the  State  socie- 
ties of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


IN  1832  a  radical  change  in  the  system  of  public  instruction  in  the 
city  of  New  York  was  begun.  Before  considering  that  topic 
further,  let  us  take  a  brief  retrospective  glance  at  the  condition  of 
public  instruction  on  Manhattan  Island  from  the  beginning  of  settle- 
ments thereon. 

The  Hollanders  who  settled  on  the  site  of  the  city  of  New  York  had 
enjoyed  the  blessings  of  free  public  schools  in  their  native  land,  and 
provision  was  made  in  the  charter  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company 
for  "  good  and  fit  preachers,  schoolmasters,  and  comforters  of  the  sick1' 
in  the  wilderness  of  New  Netherland.  It  was  ordained  that  the  relig- 
ious and  secular  teachers  should  walk  hand  in  hand  in  the  high  employ- 
ment of  educating  the  head  and  the  heart.  For  a  time  the  minister 
and  schoolmaster  were  found  in  the  same  person,  but  in  1633  Dominie 
Bogardus,  the  minister,  who  had  also  been  the  school-teacher,  was 
relieved  of  pedagogical  duties,  and  Adam  Roelandsen  was  installed  as 
schoolmaster.  He  was  the  first  of  a  long  line  of  secular  instructors  of 
the  young,  who  may  be  justly  regarded  as  among  the  grandest  builders 
of  our  free  institutions.  Roelandsen  should  be  canonized  as  the  tutelar 
saint  of  the  thousands  of  school-teachers  in  the  city  of  New  York  who 
to-day  are  fostering  education,  which,  as  Burke  said,  is  "the  cheap 
defence  of  nations. ' ' 

When  Dutch  rule  ended  on  Manhattan  Island  there  were  three  pub- 
lic schools  and  more  than  a  dozen  private  schools  in  New  Amsterdam, 
now  New  York.  The  first  of  these  is  yet  in  existence,  and  known  as 
the  "  School  of  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church,"  founded  by 
Governor  Stuyvesant,  and  probably  the  oldest  educational  institution 
in  our  country. 

In  1059  an  excellent  Latin  School  was  established,  and  fostered  by 
the  Dutch  Government.  It  was  continued  eight  years  after  the  Eng- 
lish took  possession  of  New  Amsterdam.  William  III.  decreed  that 
the  minister  of  the  Dutch  Church  should  have  the  right  to  nominate 
school-teachers.  In  1702  a  Free  Grammar  School  was  founded,  and  an 
edifice  for  it  was  built  on  the  King's  Farm.    Two  years  later  William 


302 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Vesey,  a  minister  of  the  Church  of  England,  opened  a  school  for  col- 
ored children.  This  was  followed  in  1710  by  the  establishment,  by 
that  church,  of  Trinity  School. 

In  1 732  the  first  free  school  for  the  teaching  of  Latin,  Greek,  and 
mathematics  was  established  by  law,  and  in  1773  the  English  language 
was  first  taught  in  the  Dutch  Church  school.  All  the  schools  were 
closed  during  the  Revolution.  The  Dutch  Church  school  reopened  in 
178-1.  The  next  year  the  Manumission  Society  was  formed,  with  John 
Jay  as  its  president,  and  its  first  school  for  colored  children  was  opened 
in  17S7,  on  Cliff  Street,  with  one  hundred  pupils.  At  that  time  there 
were  about  four  thousand  colored  people  in  the  city,  of  whom  more 
than  one  half  were  slaves.  Other  schools  were  afterward  opened  by 
this  society. 

The  first  movement  for  establishing  common  schools  throughout  the 
State  was  siunj-ested  bv  Governor  Geonre  Clinton  in  his  annual  message 

DO  •/  O  O 

in  171*5.  The  Legislature  appropriated  s;>o,ono  a  year  for  five  years 
for  the  purpose.  It  was  at  that  period  that  a  benevolent  spirit, 
directed  in  its  work  largely  to  providing  means  of  education  for  the 
poor,  began  to  prevail  in  England  and  the  United  States.  Sunday- 
schools  were  established,  and  in  18()2  the  Female  Association  for  the 
Relief  of  the  Poor,  founded  by  benevolent  women,  members  of  the 
Society  of  Friends  or  Quakers,  opened  a  school  for  the  free  education 
of  white  girls.  This  society  was  the  original  founder  of  the  free-school 
system  in  Xew  York  City.  It  soon  extended  its  influence  and  labors, 
so  that  at  one  time  it  had  several  large  elementary  free  schools  under 
its  direction  and  control.  It  wrought  vigorously  and  gloriously  for 
nearly  half  a  century,  when  it  expired,  leaving  a  sweet  memory  of 
good  deeds  as  a  legacy  for  mankind. 

The  success  of  this  society  and  the  advice  of  its  members  induced  a 
number  of  gentlemen,  mostly  of  the  same  religious  society,  to  attempt 
the  same  benevolent  purpose  for  the  neglected  boys  of  the  city.  This 
led  to  the  establishment  of  the  Free  School  Society,  which  afterward 
became  the  Public  School  Society  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

The  Free  School  Society  was  established  in  1805,  and  opened  its  first 
school  in  May,  1800.  The  population  of  the  city  of  Xew  York  was  then 
nearly  seventy-six  thousand.  A  Teachers'  Association  had  been  in  ex- 
istence about  six  years.  There  were  then  in  the  city  one  hundred  and 
forty-one  teachers,  all  engaged  in  private  schools,  excepting  a  few  in  the 
denominational  schools.  Of  these,  thirty-five  were  women.  The  same 
year  the  common-school  fund  of  the  State  was  established  by  law. 

The  primary  object  of  the  Free  School  Society  of  the  city  was  to 


FIRST  DECADE.  1880-1840. 


•30.'5 


impart  education  to  the  neglected  classes.  Leading  citizens  took  great 
interest  in  its  efforts.  De  Witt  Clinton  was  its  warm  supporter  and  its 
first  president.  Indeed  the  petition  for  its  charter  (granted  April  9, 
1805)  was  first  signed  by  him,  and  last  signed  by  Dr.  Samuel  L. 
Mitchill. 

The  society  took  prompt  measures  to  put  the  new  plan  into  opera- 
tion. A  school  was  opened  in  May,  1806,  in  a  small  room  in  the  old 
Mission  House,  on  Madison  Street,  near  Pearl  Street.  It  was  soon 
overcrowded  with  nearly  seventy  children,  when  Colonel  Rutgers  <rave 
the  society  a  lot  of  land  in  Henry  Street  on  which  to  build  a  school- 
house.  It  was  not  used  immediately,  for  prudential  reasons.  The  city 
corporation  allowed  the  society  the  use  of  a  building  adjoining  the 
almshouse  and  £500  to  put  it  in  suitable  condition.  When  completed 
it  would  accommodate  about  two  hundred  pupils.  To  this  building  the 
school  was  removed,  in  April,  1S07,  where  it  soon  had  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pupils,  including  fifty  pauper  children.  This  building,  too,  was 
soon  overcrowded. 

The  society  now  procui'ed  from  the  city  authorities  a  building  known 
as  the  Old  Arsenal,  on  Chambers  Street  and  Tryon  Row,  and  a  small 
sum  of  money  (81500)  to  assist  in  making  it  suitable  for  a  school,  on  the 
condition  that  they  should  educate  all  the  children  in  the  almshouse. 
It  was  made  to  accommodate  five  hundred  children.  Meanwhile  the 
society  had  received  some  aid  from  the  Legislature,  with  a  promise  of 
more.  In  December,  1S09,  the  new  school  building,  long  known  as 
Xo.  1,  was  opened  with  interesting  ceremonies,  De  Witt  Clinton  giv- 
ing a  memorable  address,  as  president  of  the  Free  School  Society.  A 
report  of  the  board  of  education  in  185-1,  referring  to  that  address, 
spoke  of  it  as  "  sowing  the  seed  wheat  of  all  the  harvests  of  education 
which  subsequent  years  have  gathered  into  our  garners."  Among  the 
most  conspicuous  working  members  of  the  society  at  that  time  were 
De  Witt  Clinton,  Thomas  Eddy,  Samuel  Wood,  Robert  Brown,  John 
Griscom,  Joseph  Curtis,  Charles  Wilkes,  Cadwallader  D.  Colden,  Dr. 
John  W.  Francis,  and  others. 

The  Legislature  continued  to  give  moderate  pecuniary  aid,  and  the 
coi*poration  of  Trinity  Church,  which  had  a  large  parochial  free  school 
in  operation,  gave  to  the  society  several  lots  on  Christopher  Street  for 
a  school  building  in  1811.  The  name  of  the  society  in  1808  was 
changed  from  the  Societv  for  Establishing  a  Free  School  to  the  Free 
School  Society  of  the  City  of  Xew  York. 

By  subscription  from  the  citizens  the  society  raised  about  si:5,ooo  to 
erect  a  school-house  on  the  lot  generously  given  them  by  Colonel  - 


* 


304 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Rutgers.  It  was  completed  early  in  the  autumn  of  1811,  and  on  the 
13th  of  November  it  was  opened  as  Public  School  No.  2. 

The  second  war  for  independence  (1812-15)  interrupted  the  benefi- 
cent labors  of  the  society,  but  they  resumed  their  work  with  vigor  at 
its  close.  They  received  from  the  Legislature  that  year  (1815)  their 
quota  of  the  State  school  fund,  amounting  to  $3708.  From  that  time 
the  number  of  public-school  houses  gradually  increased.  In  1818  No.  3 
"was  opened  for  pupils  on  the  corner  of  Amos  and  Hudson  streets,  and 
the  next  year  No.  4  was  erected  in  Rivington  Street,  when  a  new  de- 
parture in  the  arrangement  of  public-school  buildings  was  made.  That 
was  the  first  in  which  were  separate  departments  for  boys  and  girLs. 
Afterward  a  small  library  was  introduced  into  each  school. 

The  free  public  schools  became  more  and  more  popular,  and  the 
favor  of  the  citizens  received  a  powerful  impetus  from  a  circumstance 
which  occurred  in  1824.  In  October  of  that  year  Lafayette  visited  the 
city  of  New  York.  In  company  with  State  and  city  officials  he  visited 
Public  School  No.  3,  which  contained  five  hundred  boys  and  two  hun- 
dred girls.  In  the  presence  of  these  seven  hundred  children,  all  tidy  in 
appearance  and  orderly  in  behavior,  this  "  guest  of  the  nation11  listened 
to  a  poetical  address  recited  by  a  class  of  girls  in  concert.  At  two 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  Lafayette  reviewed  all  the 
children  of  the  public  schools  in  the  city  before  a  large  concourse  of 
people  in  the  City  Hall  Lark.  The  children  numbered  more  than  three 
thousand.  They  carried  banners  with  appropriate  inscriptions,  on  one 
of  which  were  the  significant  words,  "  Education  is  the  Basis  of  Free 
Government."  A  sweet  little  girl  recited  a  touching  poetic  address, 
expressing,  in  the  name  of  the  children  of  America,  their  gratitude  to 
this  friend  and  associate  of  "Washington.  When  she  closed  the  address, 
she  gently  laid  a  beautiful  wreath  of  laurel  and  flowers  on  the  head  of 
the  venerable  man,  who  rewarded  the  little  spokeswoman  with  an 
affectionate  kiss. 

The  public  schools  had  now  become  so  popular  that  "  middle-class 
citizens,11  desirous  of  having  their  children  taught  in  them,  offered  to 
pay  for  tuition.  This  afforded  to  the  trustees  a  temptation  to  adopt  an 
injurious  measure.  There  had  been  much  opposition  to  the  free  schools 
on  the  ground  that  those  who  accepted  the  boon  acknowledged  them- 
selves a  sort  of  paupers.  To  allay  this  feeling  the  society  considered  the 
propriety  of  converting  the  schools  into  pay  schools.  They  ascertained 
that  there  were  in  the  city  about  four  hundred  pay  schools,  most  of 
them  small  and  miserably  conducted,  and  it  was  concluded  if  the 
studies  in  the  public  school  should  be  revised  and  greatly  extended,  and 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


305 


at  the  same  time  a  small  amount  of  pay  for  instruction  demanded,  they 
would  secure  the  personal  interest  and  patronage  of  the  large  and  im- 
portant class  of  citizens  who  supported  these  private  schools.  It  w;is 
proposed  to  consolidate  the  schools  of  the  Free  School  Society,  of  the 
Manumission  Society,  and  those  of  the  Female  Association  under  one 
organization  known  as  the  Public  School  Society. 

It  was  argued  that  the  proposed  scheme  would  be  a  more  democratic 
principle  in  the  schools,  where  the  rich  and  poor  would  meet  together  ; 
that  it  would  harmonize  religious  sects  ;  that  it  would  attract  more 
attention  and  support  to  the  public  schools,  and  secure  a  uniform  sys- 
tem in  all  elementary  schools  ;  also  to  foster  the  cultivation  of  a  proper 
feeling  of  independence  among  the  poor  and  laboring  classes. 

These  specious  arguments  prevailed,  and  in  January,  182fi,  the  society 
procured  a  new  charter,  which  authorized  them,  under  the  title  of  the 
Public  School  Society,  to  receive  low  rates  of  payment  for  teaching, 
from  25  cents  to  $2  per  quarter.  Fifty  members  were  added  to  the 
trustees,  and  an  executive  committee  was  appointed,  consisting  of  five 
trustees  elected  by  ballot,  together  with  the  president,  vice-president, 
secretary,  and  treasurer,  and  the  chairman  of  each  of  the  several  local 
sections,  ' '  with  power  to  appoint  teachers  and  take  general  charge 
during  the  recess  of  the  board  of  trustees." 

This  committee  became  the  working  power  of  the  society.  New 
school-houses  were  erected  to  meet  the  expected  great  influx  of  pupils, 
and  the  course  of  studies  in  the  schools  was  greatly  extended.  Steps 
were  also  taken  for  establishing  a  normal  school  for  the  "  instruction  of 
tutors  and  monitors,"  for  the  Lancastrian  system  was  in  full  force. 

The  pay  system  speedily  proved  to  be  a  disastrous  failure.  Many  of 
those  who  had  never  paid  before  withdrew  their  children  ;  there  was 
great  difficulty  in  collecting  the  dues  from  parents  ;  many  insisted  that 
as  the  schools  received  money  from  the  State  school  fund,  there  existed 
no  right  to  demand  pay  from  individuals,  and  the  popularity  of  the 
public-school  system  rapidly  declined.  The  number  of  children  who 
came  in  from  the  private  schools  was  far  less  than  anticipated.  Many 
parents  paid  only  one  or  t  wo  quarters,  so  as  to  have  their  children 
appear  on  the  pay-list,  and  never  paid  afterward.  The  register  of 
pupils  on  August  1,  1825,  showed  the  number  to  be  5919  ;  on  the  first 
of  May,  1826,  the  day  when  the  new  law  went  into  operation,  it  had 
shrunk,  in  nine  months,  to  4054. 

The  trustees  struggled  against  fate  so  long  as  hope  remained,  but 
when  they  perceived  the  solid  ground  slipping  from  beneath  their  feet 
— the  grand  postulate  that  Education  is  a  right  appearing  like  a  new 


306 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOliK  CITY 


light  in  the  social  firmament — the  undoubted  signs  of  utter  and  disas- 
trous failure  appearing  on  every  side,  they  paused  to  consider.  They 
perceived,  among  the  most  alarming  symptoms  of  disintegration  of  the 
system,  the  growth  of  an  injurious  caste  spirit.  The  children  whose 
parents  paid  looked  down  upon  those  whose  parents  did  not  or  could 
not  pay.  They  also  discovered  that  the  doors  of  the  denominational 
free  schools  were  thrown  wide  open,  and  that  they  had  established 
cheap  pay  schools  which  were  drawing  many  children  from  the  public 
schools.  The  intelligence  of  the  period  had  outstripped  the  monitorial 
system,  which  had  become  a  hindrance,  and  the  clamor  for  assistant 
teachers  was  loud  and  powerful.  They  finally  gave  up  the  contest  and 
abolished  the  pay  system  altogether.  On  February  3,  1832,  public 
notice  was  given  that  the  public  schools  were  open  to  all  as  a  common 
right,  and  that  every  effort  would  be  made  to  render  them  attractive 
and  desirable  to  all  classes.  This  act  was  done  just  in  time  to  save  the 
public-school  system  from  ruin. 

From  the  beginning  the  Lancastrian  system  of  popular  education 
and  school  government  had  been  in  operation  in  the  public  schools  of 
New  York.  It  was  so  called  from  Joseph  Lancaster,  an  Englishman, 
who  at  the  beginning  of  this  century  introduced  into  England  a  method 
adopted  by  Dr.  Bell  at  the  English  hospital  in  Madras  in  17i>5.  It 
consisted  of  the  employment  of  monitors,  or  really  assistants  of  the 
teacher,  composed  of  some  of  the  brightest  boys  and  girls  in  school, 
who  each  had  charge  of  the  discipline  and  tuition  of  a  section  of  the 
schools.  They  enforced  discipline  by  watchfulness  and  prompt  report- 
ing to  the  teacher,  and  taught  by  rote  under  his  instruction. 

This  system  was  intended  to  secure  the  public  teaching  of  children  in 
the  most  economical  way,  and  so  well  effected  its  purpose  for  years 
that  its  power  and  usefulness  were  much  praised.  Ordinarily  a 
teacher  could  not  well  manage  over  seventy  or  eighty  pupils  in  well- 
organized  classes  ;  by  the  monitorial  system  one  teacher  could  manage 
a  school  of  three  or  four  hundred  children. 

While  the  Free  School  Society  in  New  York  was  preparing  to  begin 
operations,  one  of  its  members  being  in  England  visited  a  school  near 
London,  which  Lancaster  had  opened  in  1801.  He  was  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  great  value  of  the  new  system,  and  on  his  return  he 
succeeded  in  persuading  the  society  to  adopt  the  system.  Lancaster 
was  a  Friend  or  Quaker,  and  when  he  came  to  New  York  in  1820  the 
members  of  the  Society  who  were  Friends,  and  many  others,  received 
him  most  cordially.  But  he  had  nothing  new  to  offer.  The  system 
bearing  his  name  had  been  tested  for  years.    Tt  had  many  adherents 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


307 


and  as  many  opponents.  It  had  not  borne  the  anticipated  fruit.  He 
acknowledged  that  he  had  only  trodden  in  the  footsteps  of  Dr.  Bell, 
and  was  not  the  originator  of  the  system.  Personally  he  was  not  very 
agreeable,  and  his  residence  in  this  country  did  not  advance  the  spread 
of  his  system.  It  gradually  declined  in  favor,  and  was  finally  aban- 
doned. 

Meanwhile  an  innovation  in  education  had  begun  to  develop  itself  in 
New  York.  It  was  a  practical  testing  of  the  system  of  Pestalozzi, 
who  sought  to  educate  infants  by  a  combination  of  industrial,  enter- 
taining, intellectual,  and  moral  instruction,  without  the  use  of  books, 
and  by  oral  and  object  teaching  entirely — the  fundamental  ideas  of 
the  kindergarten  system  of  Froebel. 

This  system  was  put  in  practice  in  New  York  by  an  association  of 
ladies  called  the  Infant  School  Society,  of  which  Mrs.  Joanna  Bethune 
was  the  chief  manager.  The  ages  of  the  children  instructed  ranged 
from  two  to  six  years.  At  that  time  the  public  schools  were  not 
graded,  and  the  youngest  children  were  taught  with  the  oldest  in  one 
department,  promiscuously.  The  trustees,  pleased  with  the  Pestaloz- 
zian  system,  ventured  upon  the  experiment  of  separating  the  younger 
children  from  the  older  pupils,  and  in  May,  1828,  an  infant  department 
was  opened  in  a  basement  of  one  of  the  public  schools,  and  the  counsel 
and  assistance  of  ladies  of  the  Infant  School  Society  (then  having  a 
school  of  one  hundred  and  seventy  pupils  in  Canal  Street)  solicited. 

In  the  new  organization  of  the  public  schools,  begun  in  1832  on  a 
positively  free  basis,  the  schools  were  graded.  They  were  classed — 
first,  as  "  public  schools,"  having  the.  more  advanced  boys  and  girls  in 
separate  departments;  second,  "primary  departments, "  which  were 
modified  infant  schools;  and  third,  "primary  schools."  Both  the 
lower  orders  of  the  school  were  to  make  regular  promotions  to  the 
public  schools.  Radical  changes  were  made  in  the  upper  departments. 
The  course  of  study  was  greatly  extended,  assistant  teachers  were  em- 
ployed, and  separate  recitation-rooms  provided.  Paid  monitors  were 
retained.  Late  in  1832  the  managers  of  the  Manumission  Society 
proposed  to  transfer  the  six  or  seven  African  schools,  as  they  Avere 
called,  with  a  register  of  nearly  fourteen  hundred  pupils,  to  the  Public 
School  Society.    This  was  effected  in  1 S34. 

In  the  summer  of  1832  the  medical  fraternity  and  the  various 
methods  of  therapeutics  in  New  York  were  severely  tested  on  the 
invasion  of  the  city  by  a  dreadful  scourge  called  the  Asiatic  cholera. 
Its  approach  westward  from  the  Orient  had  been  slow,  and  had  been 
watched  with  great  interest  by  medical  men  in  Western  Europe  and  in 


308 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


the  United  States.  It  seems  to  have  started  westward  from  nearly  the 
same  point  in  Central  Asia  whence  the  great  Indo-European  migra- 
tions proceeded.  It  was  several  years  before  it  entered  Europe.  It 
reached  England  in  1831,  and  ravaged  the  United  Kingdom.  It  was 
carried  to  Quebec  in  the  spring  of  1832  in  Irish  emigrant  ships.  It 
spread  along  the  St.  Lawrence  River  to  the  great  lakes,  and  fearfully 
scourged  tbe  north-western  region  of  the  United  States. 

Believing  the  dreadful  scourge  would  pass  across  the  continent  and 
disappear  without  touching  the  more  southerly  States,  very  few  sani- 
tary measures  were  adopted  in  the  city  of  New  York,  where  its  twin 
pestilence,  yellow  fever,  had  often  done  fearful  work.  But  when  the 
footsteps  of  the  destroyer  were  heard  in  the  valley  of  the  Upper  Hud- 
son, making  its  death-march  from  Montreal  in  the  direction  of  the  sea, 
the  city  authorities  of  Xew  York  took  measures  to  prevent  its  advent 
there  by  cleaning  the  streets.  But  this  was  not  done  until  the  grim 
visitor  was  at  the  threshold.  So  late  as  the  middle  of  July  one  of  the 
city  papers  said  : 

"  The  corporation  have  not  done  their  duty.  The  streets  have  at 
length  been  cleaned  ;  how  long  they  will  continue  to  be  kept  so  we 
know  not.  This  laudable  event  was  accomplished,  not  as  it  should 
have  been,  when  the  dreaded  scourge  was  evidently  rolling  westward 
— to  Newcastle,  London,  Paris,  Liverpool — not  even  when  it  blazed 
forth  in  Canada  ;  but  when  it  startled  us  by  rising  up  actually  in  the 
midst  of  us,  then  efficient  numbers  of  men  began  to  appear  with 
brooms,  and  the  streets  looked  less  filthy.  .  .  .  We  would  like  to 
see  a  man  with  such  decision  as  Napoleon  in  this  crisis.  He  would  not 
sit  in  his  arm-chair  and  recommend  people  to  do  this  and  to  do  that. 
He  would  never  rest  until  he  saw  it  <loue" 

Over  three  thousand  live  hundred  persons  were  swept  from  the  earth 
in  the  city  of  New  York  by  the  cholera  in  1S32.  It  came  so  suddenly 
and  unexpectedly,  after  all,  that  it  created  a  fearful  panic,  a  flight  of 
the  inhabitants  to  the  country,  and  a  great  paralysis  of  business.  It 
reappeared  in  1834,  killing  about  one  thousand  persons,  and  again  in 
1849,  when  a  very  large  number  perished  from  this  pestilence.  In 
1855  three  hundred  and  seventy-four  persons  died  of  the  disease  in  New 
York.  Its  last  appearance  there,  with  power,  was  in  1800,  when  more 
than  twelve  hundred  persons  died  of  the  disease. 

The  prominent  physicians  in  the  city  of  New  York  at  that  time  were 
Drs.  Hosaek,  Francis,  Mott,  Macneven,  Post,  Griscom,  Stearns,  AVillard 
Parker,  Gray,  and  others.  Some  were  veterans  ;  some  physicians  not 
here  named  were  then  aspirants  for  the  fame  they  afterward  enjoyed. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-18-10. 


309 


During  the  quarter  of  the  century  previous  to  the  dreadful  pesti- 
lence medical  science  had  made  wonderful  strides  toward  perfection  in 
the  city.  Medical  institutions  had  vastly  increased  the  moans  for 
diffusing  professional  enlightenment,  and  collateral  branches  of  science 
had  come  to  the  aid  of  the  medical  profession  with  generous  power, 
with  improved  apparatus,  and  with  positive  knowledge  taught  by  phi- 
losophy. Medical  and  scientific  literature  had  been  far  more  extensively 
and  persistently  cultivated  than  before,  and  the  practical  displays  of 
clinical  science  had  begun  to  furnish  instruction  to  the  masters  of  the 
medical  art  abroad.  Collegiate  education  among  practitioners  had 
become  far  more  extensively  diffused  than  formerly,  and  the  profession 
had  become  fully  awake  to  the  wisdom  of  Dr.  Abernethy's  words  : 
'k  The  hospital  is  the  college  to  build  up  the  practitioners." 

At  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  the  cholera  in  New  York  City  the 
skill,  zeal,  and  benevolence  of  the  medical  faculty  were  conspicuous  ; 
but  these  qualities  were  not  properly  complemented  by  vigilance  and 
energy  wisely  directed  on  the  part  of  the  municipal  authorities.  To 
this  allusion  has  already  been  made.  Had  the  city  then,  as  now,  pos- 
sessed an  energetic  and  enlightened  sanitary  commission,  or  board  of 
health,  to  co-operate  with  the  physicians  by  diminishing  the  causes  of 
disease,  probably  one  half  of  the  victims  of  cholera  might  have  been 
saved  from  death.  The  city  then,  as  now,  possessed  great  topographi- 
cal advantages  for  the  conservation  of  health,  but  either  from  igno- 
rance or  indifference  the  public  mind  seemed  stupefied,  and  could  not, 
even  by  such  dreadful  shocks  as  those  given  by  yellow  fever  and  the 
cholei'a,  comprehend  the  vital  importance  of  employing  every  sanitary 
remedy  in  their  poAver  for  foiling  the  destructive  dragon  of  disease. 

There  was,  indeed,  a  Health  Department  of  the  city  government, 
which  had  been  established  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  passed  March 
26,  1813,  to  "  provide  against  infectious  diseases."  Its  functions  were 
divided  into  two  classes  of  operation — one  to  guard  against  the  recur- 
rence of  pestilential  diseases  from  abroad,  and  the  other  to  guard 
against  their  origination  from  any  domestic  cause.  The  first  class  was 
composed  of  the  health  officer,  the  health  commission,  and  a  resident 
physician,  all  appointed  by  the  governor  and  having  cognizance  of  the 
affairs  at  Quarantine  and  the  Marine  Hospital  on  Staten  Island.  The 
other  class — the  guardians  of  the  health  of  the  city  against  internal 
dangers  originating  there — was  composed  of  the  mayor,  recorder,  and 
aldermen,  appointed  annually  by  the  common  council.  It  might  con- 
sist of  as  many  persons  as  should  be  thought  proper,  but  as  a  rule  only 
the  functionaries  mentioned  composed  the  Health  Department  of  the 


310 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


city  proper.  Their  duties  consisted  in  enforcing  the  State  and  munici- 
pal laws  which  related  to  the  public  health,  and  the  enacting'  of  laws 
and  ordinances  respecting  the  removal  of  nuisances  and  the  preserva- 
tion of  cleanliness. 

In  the  spring  of  1834  the  mayor  of  Xew  York  City  was  elected  by 
the  people  for  the  first  time  in  its  history.  Party  politics  then  ran 
high.  Never  since  the  marshalling  of  the  hosts  of  the  Federal  and 
Republican  parties  for  the  mighty  conflict  for  the  prize  of  the  Presi- 
dency of  the  United  States  at  the  close  of  the  last  century  had  party 
spirit  appeared  so  virulent  and  uncompromising. 

The  energetic  administration  of  President  Jackson  had  won  for  him 
a  host  of  warm  adherents  and  arrayed  against  him  a  host  of  hitter 
opponents.  The  heroic  methods  of  his  warfare  against  the  Fnited 
States  Bank  had  intensified  the  animosity  of  his  political  enemies  to  a 
degree  almost  incredible. 

Xowhere  was  party  spirit  more  implacable  than  in  the  city  of  Xew 
York,  and  nowhere  were  more  dangerous  elements  of  society  seen 
menacing'  the  sanctitv  of  the  hallot-box  than  in  Xew  York  at  this 
juncture.  Easy  naturalization  laws,  as  we  have  observed,  had  created, 
out  of  often  ignorant  and  sometimes  depraved  foreign  immigrants, 
American  citizens,  endowed  with  all  the  tremendous  power  for  good  or 
ill  which  a  secret  ballot  implies  in  a  republic,  and  disposed  to  wield 
their  power  as  demagogues  might  direct.  Both  political  parties  sought 
the  control  of  the  votes  of  the  new-born  citizens.  It  gravitated  to  the 
Democratic  side  in  politics,  the  idea  involved  in  the  name  democrat 
having  a  potent  influence  in  their  decision. 

At  the  time  under  consideration  the  Democratic  majority  in  the  city 
was  very  large,  but  a  feud  was  then  distracting  the  organization,  dis- 
turbing its  harmony,  weakening  its  power,  and  shaking  its  integrity  to 
its  foundations.  Influenced  by  the  teachings  of  Fanny  "Wright,  a 
strong-minded  Scotch  woman  who  had  lectured  extensively  in  the 
United  States  in  the  inculcation  of  a  sort  of  social  communism,  an 
"  Equal  Eights  party,"  as  it  called  itself,  had  grown  to  quite  a  power- 
ful faction  in  the  Democratic  party.  It  had  great  influence  in  the 
councils  of  Tammany  Hall,  the  rallying-place  of  the  party,  and  the 
result  was  a  split  early  in  1834.  At  a  meeting  at  Tammany  Hall, 
where  the  two  factions  were  assembled,  each  assumed  the  leadership. 

Bitter  strife  ensued.  Both  parties  claimed  the  right  to  the  chair 
and  the  management  of  the  meeting.  Yiolent  words  were  speedily 
followed  by  violent  action.  One  party  made  a  rush  to  remove  the 
chairman  and  his  fellow-officers  by  force.    A  grand  row  ensued,  and 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


311 


considerable  personal  violence  was  used.  During  the  fracas  some  one 
turned  off  the  gas,  leaving  the  room  in  darkness.  One  of  the  Equal 
Rights  men,  or  Radicals,  having  some  loco-foco  matches  in  his  pocket, 
relighted  the  lamps,  and  the  business  of  the  meeting  proceeded.  "  I 
was  one  of  the  vice-presidents, ' '  wrote  one  of  the  actors,  "and  was 
compelled  to  buy  a  new  suit  of  clothes  the  next  day,  and  in  a  short 
time  the  whole  Democratic  party  were  known  as  Loco- Tocos." 

The  opponents  of  the  Democrats  were  then  called  Whigs.  They 
had  recently  been  so  named  by  Colonel  James  "Watson  Webb,  the  chief 
editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Xew  York  Courier  and  Enquirer.  "While 
attending  a  convention  of  the  Anti-Masonic  party  at  Philadelphia  in 
1832,  which  nominated  William  Wirt  for  the  Presidency  of  the  United 
States,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  his  journal  over  his  own  proper  signature, 
giving  an  account  of  the  convention,  in  which  he  pointed  out  the  folly 
of  the  opponents  of  General  Jackson  wasting  their  energies  by  being 
cut  up  into  different  factions,  such  as  Anti-Masons,  Anti-Slavery  men, 
Republicans,  National  Republicans,  etc.  He  set  forth  the  importance 
of  union  under  one  head — one  rallying  name — to  fight  what  he  deemed 
the  dangerous  Democracy.  He  reminded  his  political  friends,  aside 
from  the  great  issues  of  the  tariff  and  the  United  States  Bank,  that 
they  were  fighting  for  the  restriction  of  executive  power  against  those 
who  were  laboring  to  increase  it,  as  Jackson  had  practised  in  his  war 
against  the  bank,  the  currency,  and  the  tariff  ;  that  they  were,  in 
fact,  battling  for  the  Constitution  against  Executive  usurpation. 

"  We  are  therefore  "Whigs,"  he  said,  "  while  our  opponents  are 
waging  war  to  sustain  the  Executive  in  his  usurpations  of  power,  and 
in  so  doing  they  are  Tories  !  Why  not,  then,  take  to  ourselves  the 
name  of  AVhigs,  which  represents  our  principles,  and  give  to  our  oppo- 
nents the  name  of  Tories  ?" 

Colonel  Webb  proceeded  to  show  that  many  of  the  evils  under  which 
the  country  was  suffering  emanated  from  the  President  being  eligible 
to  re-election,  and  he  urgently  recommended  the  great  opposition 
meeting,  that  was  to  assemble  at  Masonic  Hall  in  Broadway,  to  adopt 
for  those  opposed  to  General  Jackson's  re-election  the  name  of  Whig, 
and  to  give  to  their  opponents  that  of  Tory.  He  also  urged  the  adop- 
tion of  a  resolution  in  favor  of  the  one-term  principle. 

Colonel  "Webb's  letter  was  published  on  the  morning  of  the  day  that 
the  great  meeting  at  Tammany  Hall  took  place.    Philip  Hone  *  pre- 

*  Philip  Hone  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  New  York  City,  where  he 
was  born  in  1781,  and  where  he  died  on  May  4,  1851.    He  exerted  a  marked  influence  in 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


sided  at  the  meeting,  and  on  taking  the  chair  he  read  the  letter  to  the 
people  and  suggested  the  adoption  of  the  name  of  Whig  for  the  great 
opposition  party.  The  response  was  unanimous,  not  only  at  the  meet- 
ing assembled  at  Masonic  Hall,  but  by  the  opposition  press  and  people 
all  over  the  country.  So  it  was  that  the  great  historic  political  organi- 
zation known  as  the  Whig  party  received  its  name  in  1832. 

At  the  time  of  the  municipal  election  in  Xew  York  in  the  spring  of 
1834,  the  Whig  party,  thoroughly  organized,  was  strong  in  numbers  and 
influence,  while  the  Democratic  party  was  weakened  by  strife  within 
its  ranks.  This  state  of  things  promised  a  hot  contest  for  the  mayor- 
alty, and  there  were  forebodings  of  personal  conflicts  at  the  polls.  At 
that  time  the  election  continued  three  days. 

Gideon  Lee,  the  eminent  leather  merchant  of  The  Swamp,  was  then 
mayor  of  the  city,  and  a  Democrat  in  politics.*  Cornelius  W.  Law- 
politics,  commerce,  and  social  life  in  New  York  for  more  than  forty  years.  With  his 
brother  he  was  a  successful  business  man,  amassed  a  fortune,  and  retired  from  the  marts, 
but  not  from  active  citizenship.  He  was  ever  ardently  devoted  to  whatever  measures 
tended  to  the  promotion  of  the  prosperity  and  honor  of  his  native  city.  He  was  its  chief 
magistrate  in  1825-2G,  and  was  a  model  mayor.  He  was  one  of  the  chief  founders  of  the 
Mercantile  Library,  and  also  of  the  New  York  Athenaeum.  The  latter  institution  was 
largely  indebted  to  him  for  its  early  prosperity.  Mr.  Hone  was  ever  an  active  and  abiding 
promoter  of  literature  and  art,  and  while  he  lived  he  was  a  conspicuous  actor  in  all  the 
more  elevated  social  movements  in  the  city.  A  genuine  New  Yorker  of  the  Knicker- 
bocker race,  he  was  enlightened  and  progressive.  The  Hone  Club,  an  association  of  rare 
spirits,  was  so  named  in  his  honor.  President  Taylor  appointed  Mr.  Hone  naval  officer 
for  the  port  of  New  York  in  1849,  in  the  duties  of  which  he  was  engaged  at  the  time  of 
his  death. 

*  Gideon  Lee  was  born  in  Amherst,  Mass.,  on  April  27,  1778.  His  father  died  when* 
Gideon  was  very  young,  and  the  boy  was  apprenticed  to  a  tanner  and  shoemaker  (these 
pursuits  then  being  carried  on  together)  at  fourteen  years  of  age.  He  worked  at  tanning 
in  the  summer  and  shoemaking  in  the  winter. 

Lee  began  business  on  his  own  account  when  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age,  at 
Worthington,  Mass.  His  early  education  was  very  meagre,  and  the  first  money  he  could 
spare  from  his  young  manhood's  earnings  he  spent  in  acquiring  knowledge  at  Westfield 
Academy.  He  formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  Hubbard,  and  Lee  &  Hubbard  tanned  leather 
for  the  firm  of  Dwight  ft  Edwards,  quite  extensive  dealers  in  leather.  In  1807  he  went 
to  New  York  to  act  as  agent  for  the  sale  of  their  leather  there,  at  a  salary  of  $1000  a  year. 

The  next  year  Mr.  Lee  hired  a  store  in  The  Swamp  of  Jacob  Lorillard,  and  set  up  in 
business  for  himself  at  the  corner  of  Jacob  and  Fern-  streets,  which  ho  called  "  Fort 
Lee."  The  whole  business  of  The  Swamp  was  then  small.  One  firm  now  does  almost  as 
much  business  in  a  year  as  the  aggregate  firms  in  that  locality  did  then.  The  usual 
practice  with  the  \eather  dealers  then  was  to  make  annual  settlements.  Mr.  Lee  was  the 
first  to  depart  from  the  custom,  and  to  sell  on  time,  taking  negotiable  notes  in  payment. 

In  1809  he  became  the  agent  of  the  Hampton  Leather  Manufacturing  Company,  and 
soon  won  for  himself  a  high  name  for  energy  and  fidelity. 

In  1817  the  New  York  Tannery  was  established  by  a  stock  company,  of  which  Mr.  Lee 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


rence,  of  the  auction  house  of  Hicks,  Lawrence  &  Co. ,  was  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  the  mayoralty,  and  Gillian  C.  Verplanck  was  the 
opposing  candidate.  The  election  was  begun  on  Tuesday,  the  Sth  of 
April,  and  ended  on  Thursday  evening,  the  10th.  All  votes  were  then 
polled  at  one  place  in  each  ward.  There  were  then  fifteen  polling- 
places  in  the  city  ;  now  there  are  about  two  hundred  of  them,  and  the 
election  consumes  only  one  day  between  sunrise  and  sunset. 

The  morning  of  the  Sth  was  dark  and  stormy.    A  chilling  rain  fell 

was  conspicuous.  Its  capital  was  $60,000.  The  factory  was  entirely  under  cover,  and 
could  tan  10,000  hides  a  year.  It  was  planned  by  Mr.  Lee,  and  was  the  first  so  built.  Its 
first  product  was  sent  to  market  in  1818,  when  the  novel  plan  of  selling  leather  by  auction 
was  first  introduced.  He  had  erected  on  land  bought  in  1815,  in  Ferry  Street,  what  was 
then  regarded  as  a  very  spacious  warehouse,  a  two-story  brick  building,  in  which  the 
leather  was  hoisted  by  horse  power — a  great  novelty  then. 

Mr.  Lee  had  a  clerk  of  most  excellent  character.  He  was  energetic  in  business,  and 
honest  and  true  in  all  his  transactions.  Knowing  his  worth,  he  took  him  into  partner- 
ship in  1819.  That  clerk  was  the  afterward  well-known  and  highly-esteemed  Shepherd 
Knapp.  The  firm  of  Lee  &  Knapp  flourished  without  intermission  twenty  years.  The 
auction  sales  became  an  institution  in  The  Swamp.  Other  dealers  soon  followed  suit. 
Manufacturers  came  from  the  adjacent  States  to  attend  them,  to  lay  in  supplies  of 
leather.  On  the  day  of  sales  a  table  would  be  spread  with  plenty  of  "  meat  and  drink.'' 
Lee  &  Knapp  also  engaged  largely  in  the  business  of  stocking  tanneries  with  hides  and 
selling  the  leather  on  commission. 

Mr.  Lee  was  uniformly  prosperous  in  his  business  undertakings,  and  while  he  was  not 
a  politician  in  the  common  meaning  of  the  term,  he  was  a  man  of  strong  political  con- 
victions. In  1822  he  represented  his  district  in  the  Assembly  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
In  1828-29  and  1830  he  was  alderman  of  the  Twelfth  Ward,  and  in  1833-34  he  was 
mayor  of  the  city.  It  was  during  his  mayoralty  that  the  famous  "  election  riots"  of  1834 
took  place,  in  which  trying  time  he  displayed  energy  and  wisdom.  He  declined  a  re- 
election. 

In  1835  Mr.  Lee  was  elected  a  member  of  Congress,  and  served  two  consecutive  terms 
by  re-election.  In  1840  he  was  chosen  presidential  elector.  He  had  retired  from  busi- 
ness in  1839,  when  the  old  firm  was  succeeded  by  his  son-in-law,  Charles  M.  Leupp,  and 
John  Burke.  In  1830  Mr.  Lee  built  his  lofty  store  in  Ferry  Street,  the  first  structure 
over  two  stories  in  height  built  in  the  neighborhood. 

Mr.  Lee  was  twice  married — first  in  1807  to  Miss  Buffington,  who  died  in  1818,  and  in 
1823  to  Miss  Isabella  Williams,  daughter  of  a  Scotch  clergyman.  He  lived  some  years  in 
Frankfort  Street,  afterward  near  the  present  Astor  Place,  and  finally  built  a  fine  house 
on  Bond  Street,  which  became  the  fashionable  part  of  the  city.  During  the  last  few 
years  of  his  life  his  residence  was  at  Geneva,  N.  Y.,  where  he  died,  August  21,  1841,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-three  years,  leaving  a  large  estate  and  an  honored  and  stainless  name. 
Alluding  to  a  report  of  the  failure  of  his  house  during  the  panic  of  1837,  Mr.  Lee  said  : 
"  I  commenced  business  when  I  was  poor,  on  credit  ;  I  thrived  by  credit  ;  and  I  will 
sacrifice  my  property  before  that  credit  shall  be  dishonored.  I  have  carried  the  lapstone, 
and  can  do  it  again,  but  I  will  never  suffer  a  promise  of  mine  to  be  broken.' ' 

"  Mr.  Lee  was  justly  called  the  '  father  of  the  leather  trade,'  "  says  a  writer  in  the 
Shoe  and  Leather  Reporter,  published  by  Isaac  H.  Bailey,  from  which  the  principal  facts  in 
the  foregoing  sketch  were  obtained. 


314 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


copiously  until  nearly  ten  o'clock,  but  it  did  not  dampen  the  ardor  of 
the  opposing  hosts  of  voters.  The  popular  feeling-  was  at  fever  heat, 
and  men  went  through  the  storm  in  crowds  to  the  polls,  some  to  de- 
posit an  honest  vote,  and  some  to  vote  "  early  and  often."  It  was  the 
opening  of  the  most  exciting  election  ever  held  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  Many  left  their  places  of  business  with  subordinates,  deter- 
mined to  "  fight  it  out"  with  moral  weapons  to  the  bitter  end  ;  many 
others  went  from  their  abodes  determined  to  fight  it  out  with  brute 
force  if  necessary.  The  Democrats  were  determined  to  elect  their 
candidate  ;  the  Whigs  were  determined  to  elect  theirs.  "  When 
Greek  meets  Greek,  then  comes  the  tug  of  war." 

The  Democrats  were  deeply  incensed  by  the  undemocratic  name  of 
Tories  which  the  Whigs  applied  to  them,  and  were  especially  offended 
with  the  editor  of  the  Couri< r  and  Enquirer  as  the  originator  of  the 
opprobrious  title.  Much  wrath  was  directed  toward  him  and  his  pub- 
lishing establishment,  as  we  shall  observe  presently. 

There  were  evidences  visible  at  an  early  hour  in  the  election  that 
there  was  a  determination  on  the  part  of  some  demagogues  to  use  the 
brute  force  of  ignorant  naturalized  citizens,  in  wards  where  they  largely 
abounded,  in  driving  the  Whigs  from  the  polls.  The  latter  had  un- 
fairly, in  accordance  with  the  vicious  maxim,  "  All's  fair  in  politics," 
wrested  the  words  of  President  Jackson,  "  Perish  credit,  perish 
commerce,"  from  their  proper  context,  and  had  used  them  to  inflame 
the  business  community  against  him  and  his  supporters. 

These  words  were  posted  all  over  the  city  in  large  letters,  and  pro- 
duced great  excitement  and  determination.  The  seamen  in  the  port 
naturally  coalesced  with  the  Whigs.  They  rigged  up  a  little  frigate 
which  they  named  the  Constitution,  mounted  it  on  wheels,  and  with 
Whig  banners  floating  over  it  paraded  it  past  the  polls  in  different 
wards.  In  Wall  Street,  the  focal  point  of  commercial  transactions,  it 
w  as  greeted  with  great  enthusiasm.  At  twelve  o'clock  the  Merchants' 
Exchange  was  closed,  the  national  flag  was  unfurled  over  its  lofty 
dome,  and  its  inmates  and  frequenters,  with  many  others,  unmindful  of 
the  mud  and  drizzling  rain,  fell  into  a  procession  behind  the  little  vessel. 

To  counteract  the  effect  of  this  demonstration,  the  Democrats  hastily 
fitted  up  a  boat,  mounted  it  on  wheels,  and  raised  a  flag  over  it  bearing 
the  word  "  Veto"  in  large  letters.  The  two  vessels  went  through  the 
streets  side  by  side  for  a  while,  the  recipients,  respectively,  of  approv- 
ing huzzas  and  bitter  execrations.  It  was  evident  that  a  collision 
would  occur,  but  the  authorities  seemed  powerless  to  suppress  these 
demonstrations. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


315 


In  most  of  the  strong  Democratic  wards,  where  the  voting  was 
largely  on  one  side,  there  was  quiet,  hut  in  the  Sixth  Ward,  where 
there  was  a  large  alien  population,  a  storm  soon  gathered  and  hurst 
in  fury.  It  was  evident  mob  law  reigned  in  the  vicinity  of  the  polls 
there.  Men  were  gathered  in  a  mass,  yelling  and  threatening  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  "Whig  committee-room. 

Some  were  seen  brandishing  clubs,  and  even  knives.  The  tumult 
grew  louder  and  louder.  At  length  some  roughs,  led  by  an  ex-alder- 
man, made  a  rush  for  the  committee-room,  where  their  opponents  were 
gathered  in  a  considerable  number.  Before  these  could  offer  resist- 
ance, so  sudden  and  fierce  was  the  attack  that  in  a  few  minutes  nearly 
twenty  had  heen  feUed  bleeding  to  the  floor,  and  one  was  carried  out 
in  a  dying  condition.  Some  of  those  who  escaped  to  the  street  were 
hatless,  and  with  torn  garments.  The  mob  tore  down  all  the  political 
banners,  destroyed  the  ballots,  and  made  a  wreck  of  everything. 

The  outrages  fearfully  excited  the  opposition  party,  and  it  was  deter- 
mined to  take  vigorous  measures  for  the  defence  of  the  ballot-boxes 
and  the  voters  on  the  morrow.  A  call  was  issued  for  a  meeting  of  the 
Whigs  at  Masonic  Hall  that  evening.  The  room  was  crowded.  Four 
thousand  Whigs  were  there.  General  Bogardus  was  called  to  the 
chair,  and  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions  were  adopted  by 
unanimous  vote  : 

"  Wliereas,  The  authority  of  the  police  of  the  city  has  been  set  at  defiance  by  a  band 
of  hirelings,  mercenaries,  and  bullies  in  the  Sixth  Ward,  and  the  lives  of  our  citizens  put 
in  jeopardy  ;  and  whereas,  it  is  evident  we  are  in  a  state  of  anarchy,  which  requires 
the  prompt  and  efficient  interposition  of  every  friend  of  good  order  who  is  disposed  to 
sustain  the  Constitution  and  laws  ;  therefore  be  it 

'•  Resolved,  That,  in  order  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  city,  and  especially  of  the  Sixth 
Ward,  the  friends  of  the  Constitution  and  the  liberties  of  the  citizen  will  meet  at  this 
place  [Masonic  Hall]  to-morrow  (Wednesday)  at  half-past  seven  o'clock  a.m.,  and  repair 
to  the  Sixth  Ward  poll  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  it  open  to  all  voters,  until  such  time  as 
the  official  authorities  shall  procure  a  sufficient  number  of  special  constables  to  keep  the 
peace. 

"  Resolved,  That  while  at  the  Sixth  Ward  poll,  those  who  are  not  residents  thereof  will 
not  take  part  in  the  election,  but  simply  act  as  conservators  of  the  peace,  until  such  time 
as  the  majesty  of  the  laws  shall  be  acknowledged  and  respected." 

This  preamble  and  the  resolutions  were  adopted  by  acclamation  and 
the  most  significant  demonstrations  of  approval.  But  the  resolutions 
proposed  no  specific  action  the  next  day  that  promised  to  be  efficient : 
only  the  passive  attendance  of  the  Whigs  in  numbers  sufficient  to  over- 
awe the  turbulent  element.  A  bolder  and  more  effective  course  was 
proposed  by  the  editor  of  the  Courier  and  Enquirer.    Colonel  "Webb 


316 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


arose,  after  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions,  and  reminded  the  thou- 
sands present  that  action  was  more  necessary  than  talking,  and  he  in- 
vited less  than  three  hundred  resolute  and  patriotic  citizens  to  meet  him 
at  the  Whig  headquarters  the  next  morning  at  six  o'clock. 

At  the  appointed  time  Colonel  Webb  was  met  by  more  men  than  he 
needed.  They  were  all  armed  for  defence,  if  necessary.  Accompanied 
by  about  two  hundred,  he  marched  to  the  City  Hall,  where  they  were 
all  sworn  in  by  the  sheriff  as  special  constables,  and  appropriate  badges 
were  distributed  among  them.  They  then  marched  to  the  Sixth  Ward 
poll,  where  they  found  the  Irish  assembled.  Colonel  Webb  made  a 
speech  to  them,  reminding  them  of  their  conduct  on  the  previous  day, 
and  told  them  he  and  his  associates  were  there  as  officers  of  the  law, 
and  were  armed,  not  to  interfere  with  the  legal  rights  of  any  man,  but 
to  protect  the  rights  of  all,  and  should  only  use  their  arms  to  preserve 
the  peace,  and  to  secure  to  all  the  free  exercise  of  their  right  to  vote. 
The  crowd  swore  and  threatened,  but  the  special  constables  showing  a 
determined  front,  they  confined  their  demonstrations  to  oaths  and 
menaces. 

There  were  two  doors  to  the  polling-room,  the  one  for  the  entrance 
of  voters,  the  other  for  their  egress.  To  each  of  the  doors  Colonel 
Webb  formed  a  double  line  of  determined  men,  and  every  voter  was 
compelled  to  pass  through  the  lane  thus  formed  to  the  door  of  entrance 
and  the  ballot-box,  and  when  the  voters  had  deposited  their  ballots  a 
body  of  special  constables  conducted  them  to  the  door  of  exit,  and  com- 
pelled each  voter,  separate  and  alone,  to  pass  into  the  street.  Thus,  in 
the  midst  of  much  loud  talking  and  threatening,  everybody  was  pro- 
tected in  the  exercise  of  the  precious  right  to  vote  without  illegal 
hindrance.  Colonel  Webb  marched  back  to  headquarters  at  Masonic 
Hall  the  special  constables  not  wanted  at  the  Sixth  Ward  poll,  and 
enjoined  them  to  be  in  readiness  for  action  in  case  they  were  needed 
anywhere. 

That  night  came  the  crisis.  Thousands  of  rioters  paraded  the  streets, 
threatening  violence  and  creating  universal  anxiet}r  and  alarm  in  the 
city.  An  enormous  mob  assembled  in  the  City  Hall  Park,  threatening 
vengeance  upon  everybody,  especially  the  mayor  and  common  council 
then  in  session.  It  was  soon  reported  to  that  body  that  at  the  Sixth 
Ward  poll,  near  the  City  Hall,  the  Irish  had  erected  a  very  large  cross, 
which  bore  a  banner,  and  on  it  was  inscribed,  in  large  letters,  "  Down 
with  the  Courier  and  Enquirer  building  ;"  and  after  the  fashion  in 
Ireland  in  such  cases  the  people  were  marched  by  it,  when  each  one 
touched  the  cross,  and  by  so  doing  was  sworn  to  do  what  the  banner 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


317 


proclaimed.  In  adroit  speeches  to  the  mob  in  the  Park,  demagogues 
urged  the  rioters  to  proceed  to  Wall  Street  and  destroy  the  obnoxious 
building  and  its  contents. 

The  danger  was  imminent.  The  common  council  became  alarmed, 
and  appointed  James  G.  King  (of  the  firm  of  Prime,  Ward  &  King, 
bankers)  and  his  brother,  Charles  King  *  (afterward  president  of  Co- 
lumbia CoUege),  a  deputation  to  go  to  the  office  of  the  Courier  and 
Enquirer  and  warn  Colonel  Webb  of  his  peril.  Tbey  performed  the 
mission,  and  as  the  city  government  coidd  afford  Webb  no  protection, 
these  gentlemen  requested  that  he  would  close  the  office  and  leave  it  to 
its  fate,  as  resistance  and  bloodshed  would  only  increase  the  general 
danger. 

The  office  of  the  Courier  and  Enquirer  was  on  the  first  floor  of  No. 
58  Wall  Street.  These  gentlemen  found  it  all  lighted  up  as  usual,  the 
doors  wide  open,  for  the  evening  was  warm,  and  piles  of  printing  paper 
in  bundles  were  arranged  in  each  of  the  two  large  windows,  six  feet 
in  height.  Colonel  Webb  told  the  deputation  to  say  to  the  mayor  and 
the  common  council  that  he  had  not  asked  for  nor  did  he  want  their 
protection  ;  that  his  usual  hour  for  closing  his  office  was  ten  o'clock, 
but  that  on  this  occasion  it  would  be  kept  open,  with  all  the  lights 
burning,  all  night  ;  that  he  had  in  the  building  seventy  muskets  and 
plenty  of  ammunition,  a  hundred  pistols  (no  revolvers  then),  and  at 
that  moment  not  less  than  thirty  of  the  best-known  young  merchants, 
who  had  volunteered  to  stand  by  him,  were  in  the  office.  He  told 
them  also  that  he  had  on  the  roof  of  his  five-story  building  five  loads 
of  paving-stones,  any  one  of  which  dropped  on  the  head  of  a  rioter 
in  the  street  was  as  certain  to  disable  him  as  a  musket-ball. 

*  Charles  King,  LL.D.,  a  journalist  and  scholar,  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York 
March  16,  1789.  He  was  a  son  of  the  eminent  Rufus  King.  While  his  father  was 
United  States  minister  in  London,  he  was  sent  to  Harrow  School  and  to  a  preparatory 
school  in  Paris.  On  the  return  of  his  father  to  America  he  was  placed  in  a  banking- 
house  in  Amsterdam.  He  returned  to  New  York  in  1806,  and  in  1810  he  married  a 
daughter  of  the  eminent  merchant  Archibald  Gracie,  and  became  associated  with  his 
father-in-law  in  business.  In  1813  he  was  a  member  of  the  New  York  Legislature,  and 
the  next  year  he  was  a  volunteer  in  the  army.  Mr.  King  became  connected  with  Gulian 
C.  Verplanck  in  the  publication  of  the  New  York  American  in  1823.  Mr.  Verplanck 
retired  in  1827,  and  Mr.  King  remained  sole  editor  for  twenty  years.  In  1849  he  was 
chosen  president  of  Columbia  College,  which  post  he  resigned  in  1864.  Mr.  King  died 
near  Rome,  Italy,  September  27,  1867.  He  was  sent  to  England  after  the  war  of  1812  to 
investigate  the  treatment  of  American  captives  in  Dartmoor  prison.  He  did  not  hesitate 
to  exonerate  the  British  authorities  from  all  censure  in  the  matter,  and  thereby  he  drew 
upon  himself  a  storm  of  indignation  from  his  countrymen,  which  was  not  allayed  for 
long  years  afterward. 


318 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  Messrs.  King  assured  Colonel  Webb  that  they  felt  certain  what 
his  answer  would  be,  or  they  would  not  have  consented  to  bear  to  him 
the  message  of  the  common  council. 

After  much  speaking  and  threatening  in  the  City  Hall  Park,  the 
mob  moved  down  William  Street  toward  Wall  Street.  Colonel 
Webb  had  his  agents  out,  who  reported  to  him  from  time  to  time. 
For  a  while  their  reports  were  simply  that  the  rioters  were  advancing, 
but  when  they  reached  Maiden  Lane  the  front  files,  cowards,  as  all 
rioters  are,  rapidly  fell  off  and  passed  to  the  rear.  When  they  had 
reached  Pine  Street  the  rear  had  become  the  front,  and  when  the 
crowd  reached  Wall  Street,  instead  of  wheeling  for  the  Courier  office 
the  mob  crossed  the  street,  moved  into  Pearl  Street,  and  when  they 
had  again  reached  Wall  Street  appeared  entirely  demoralized.  A  large 
crowd  passed  up  the  street  to  the  Cowribr  office,  when  Colonel  Webb 
simply  closed  the  door  and  awaited  events. 

The  dense  crowd  filled  the  street  in  front,  which  was  quite  brightly 
Lighted  by  a  lamp,  and  began  groaning,  threatening,  and  knocking 
their  clubs,  banner  staves,  and  missiles  of  all  kinds  against  the  building, 
exciting  themselves  to  a  dangerous  degree,  when.  Colonel  Webb  seized 
a  musket,  broke  it  through  a  pane  of  glass,  and  gave  notice  that  when 
he  found  it  covered  a  rioter  he  should  lire.  He  then  passed  the  muzzle 
of  the  gun  slowly  up  the  street,  when  away  scampered  the  cowards, 
lie  then  slowly  turned  it  down  Wall  Street,  with  the  same  notice,  and 
it  was  amusing  to  see  how  rapidly  the  street  was  cleared  of  the  redoubt- 
able  Irishmen.  A  portion  of  the  mob  passed  up-town  to  Colonel 
Webb's  residence,  in  Bleecker  Street,  but  contented  themselves  with 
groans,  yells,  and  ringing  his  door-bell. 

In  ti.e  forenoon  of  the  next  day  (April  loth)  there  was  a  fierce  col- 
lision between  the  sailors  with  the  little  frigate  Constitution  which  was 
used  to  convey  voters  to  the  polls,  and  their  opponents,  near  Masonic 
Hall,  in  Broadway.  Hearing  the  affray,  many  Whigs  went  out  of  the 
hall  to  assist  the  seamen,  and  a  severe  battle  with  fists  and  missiles 
occurred.  Word  being  sent  to  the  Sixth  Ward  poll,  a  large  number  of 
fighting  men  there  rushed  up  Duane  Street  and  drove  the  Whigs  back 
into  their  headquarters.  The  mob  then  attacked  the  building,  smash- 
ing its  windows  and  attempting  to  force  an  entrance.  Mayor  Lee  was 
sent  for.  lie  came,  with  one  or  two  aldermen,  and  mounting  the  steps 
of  the  building,  raised  his  staff  of  office.  The  crowd,  maddened  with 
liquor  and  aroused  passions,  gave  no  heed  to  the  symbol  of  authority, 
but  h,urled  missiles  at  the  magistrate.  One  of  these  knocked  him 
down,  and  he  was  quite  severely  beaten. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


319 


A  rumor  was  now  circulated  at  Masonic  Hall  that  rioters  were 
attempting  to  break  open  the  arsenal,  situated  on  the  corner  of  White 
and  Elm  streets,  to  procure  arms.  There  was  a  ciy,  "  To  the  arsenal  ! 
To  the  arsenal  !"  and  the  "Whigs  rushed  from  the  hall  toward  the 
menaced  building,  pell-mell.  It  was  not  far  to  go.  The  excited 
crowd  scaled  the  fences,  and  the  more  active  among  them  mounting 
the  shoulders  of  others  climbed  into  the  second-story  windows.  But 
this  movement  of  the  rioters  had  been  anticipated,  and  a  guard  of 
Colonel  Webb's  special  constables,  under  the  direction  of  the  late 
Simeon  Draper,  was  already  there  when  the  Whigs  from  the  hall  and 
the  rioters  came.  The  latter  were  astonished  to  find  on  parade  a  large 
body  of  men  with  muskets,  prepared  to  keep  the  peace. 

The  mayor  had  applied  to  the  Brooklyn  Navy- Yard  for  a  company 
of  marines  the  day  before,  to  assist  his  police  in  suppressing  the  riotous 
spirit  in  the  city,  but  they  were  refused  by  the  commodore,  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  no  authority  to  send  them.  A  similar  request  sent 
to  the  military  commander  at  Governor's  Island  met  with  a  refusal  for 
the  same  reasons.  Then  he  directed  General  Sandford  to  order  out 
some  of  the  city  militia,  and  soon  infantry  and  cavalry  appeared. 

On  hearing  that  the  arsenal  was  in  the  possession  of  one  of  the  polit- 
ical parties,  the  mayor  ordered  the  Twenty-seventh  Begiment  of  the 
National  Guard,  Colonel  Linus  W.  Stevens,  to  proceed  thither.  Mr. 
Draper  and  his  men  had  only  been  placed  there  to  defend  it  from  a 
mob  until  relief  should  come.  The  Whigs  readily  gave  it  up  to  the 
military  and  retired.  Three  hundred  members  were  on  duty  at  the 
arsenal  and  patrolled  the  streets  until  the  next  morning. 

Commissar-General  Arcularius,  who  had  charge  of  the  arsenal  at 
the  time,  made  a  most  ridiculous  report  of  the  matter.  Not  knowing 
the  name  of  Mr.  Draper,  who  was  active  in  keeping  back  the  mob  in 
front  of  the  arsenal  after  the  arrival  of  his  political  friends,  alluded  to 
him  repeatedly  in  his  report  as  the  "  man  with  a  claret-colored  coat 
on."  This  description  of  the  then  popular  young  politician  so  amused 
his  friends  and  the  wits  of  the  town  that  it  became  long  a  phrase  in 
political  circles  in  the  city. 

After  the  exciting  election  was  over,  the  ballot-box  of  the  Sixth 
Ward  (which  at  that  time  received  the  title  of  "  the  bloody  Sixth") 
was  taken  to  the  City  Hall  under  a  strong  guard,  followed  by  a  turbu- 
lent  multitude,  and  locked  up  for  the  night.  But  the  excitement  did 
not  end  with  the  election.  It  was  intense  until  the  result  was  known, 
almost  thirty-six  hours  afterward.  All  the  next  day  business  was 
nearly  as  much  neglected  as  during  the  election.    It  was  estimated 


320 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


that  at  one  time  there  were  over  ten  thousand  citizens  in  a  crowd  in 
Wall  Street  awaiting  the  conclusion  of  the  canvass.  AY  hen  it  was 
finally  announced,  and  it  was  ascertained  that  the  Democrats  had 
barely  missed  a  most  signal  defeat,  the  opposition  party  felt  jubilant. 
The  Democrats  had  elected  their  candidate  for  mayor  by  a  small 
majority  ;  the  Whigs  had  carried  the  common  council.  This  event 
the  latter  celebrated  at  a  mass-meeting  held  in  Castle  Garden,  where 
Daniel  Webster,  who  had  been  sent  for  to  make  a  speech,  appeared, 
and  was  supported  by  several  of  the  finest  speakers  of  the  city  of  New 
York. 

The  election  riot  of  1834  was  the  first  of  four  riots  which  occurred 
in  New  Y'ork  during  this  decade — 1S30-40. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


THE  Twenty-seventh  Regiment  National  Guard,  called  but  at  the 
time  of  the  election  riots  in  1834,  is  now  the  famous  Seventh 
Regiment  New  York  State  National  Guard  of  the  City  of  New  York. 
Its  services  on  that  occasion,  as  an  active  guardian  of  the  peace  of  the 
city,  were  the  second  they  had  rendered  in  that  capacity,  the  first 
having  been  given  to  preserve  the  peace  at  the  execution  of  James 
Reynolds,  November  19,  1825.  The  mayor  thanked  them  for  their 
promptness  and  efficiency,  and  from  that  time  until  now  that  regiment 
has  acted  and  been  relied  upon  as  a  sure  defender  of  public  order  in  the 
metropolis. 

The  Twenty-seventh  Regiment  was  not  an  original  organization,  but 
the  offspring  of  the  Eleventh  Regiment  of  Artillery,  created  in  1812. 
The  pedigree  of  the  Eleventh  Regiment  may  be  traced  back  to  the 
period  of  the  old  war  for  independence. 

In  1824  the  Eleventh  Regiment  consisted  of  two  battalions,  one 
artillery  proper,  and  the  other  infantry,  four  companies  each.  On 
the  16th  of  August  of  that  year  General  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette 
arrived  at  New  York,  the  guest  of  the  nation,  and  the  citizen  soldiery 
then  turned  out  in  full  force,  under  General  Jacob  Morton,  to  give  him 
a  hearty  welcome.  They  were  reviewed  at  the  Battery  by  the  illustri- 
ous soldier.  While  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  distinguished  visitor, 
the  officers  of  the  infantry  battalion  of  the  Eleventh  Regiment  then  on 
duty  fell  into  conversation  on  a  subject  which  had  frequently  occupied 
their  thoughts,  namely,  the  independent  organization  of  their  battalion. 

The  choice  of  a  name  had  been  a  difficult  problem.  Some  one  of  the 
officers  having  made  allusion  to  Lafayette's  connection  with  the 
National  Guard  of  Paris.  Major  John  D.  Wilson  immediately  asked  : 

"  Why  will  not  National  Guard  be  a  good  name  for  the  proposed 
corps  ?" 

The  idea  was  received  with  enthusiasm  by  every  officer  present,  and 
every  member  of  the  battalion  heartily  approved  it. 

A  few  evenings  afterward  (August  25,  1S24)  these  officers  met  at  the 
Shakespeare  Tavern,  on  the  south-west  corner  of  Fulton  and  Nassau 


322 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


streets,*  and  adopted  a  resolution  to  form  an  independent  battalion, 
composed  of  the  four  companies  of  infantry  of  the  Eleventh  Regiment, 
to  he  thereafter  "known  and  distinguished  by  the  name  of  the 
National  Guard.'"  The  captains  of  the  four  companies  were  Irad 
Hawley,  John  Telfair,  William  B.  Curtis,  and  Howard  B.  Simmons. 

Having  obtained  permission  of  the  proper  authorities  to  create  the 
proposed  organization,  the  important  question  arose,  What  shall  be  our 
uniform  ?  Philetus  Holt,  a  private  in  the  Fourth  Company  Avho  was 
present,  was  dressed  in  a  neatly-fitting  single-breasted  gray  office-coat, 
that  attracted  the  attention  of  Acting  Brigade  Major  Prosper  M.  Wet- 
more.  He  suggested  Holt's  coat  as  a  suitable  model,  and  at  a  meeting 
at  the  Shakespeare,  not  long  afterward,  Major  J.  D.  Wilson  exhibited 
a  pattern  suit,  which  was  adopted  by  unanimous  consent. 

To  the  four  companies  were  presently  added  two  others,  raised  and 
commanded  respectively  by  Captains  Linus  W.  Stevens  and  Oliver  M. 
Lownds.  In  June  of  the  following  year  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton 
issued  an  order  instituting  the  battalion  of  the  National  Guard.  It 
was,  unfortunately,  consolidated  with  the  artillery  battalion.  Difficul- 
ties arose,  and  in  October,  1S25,  a  separation  was  effected,  and  the 
battalion  of  six  companies  was  made  an  independent  corps.  Another 
company,  under  Captain  Van  Buren,  was  added  at  about  this  time. 

*  The  Shakespeare  Tavern,  where  the  new  battalion  of  National  Guards  was  organized, 
was  the  headquarters  of  the  Eleventh  and  of  the  Twenty-seventh  regiments  for  many 
years,  and  remained  so  until  the  building  was  demolished,  when  Fulton  Street  was 
widened,  in  1830.  It  was  not  a  tavern— a  place  for  the  entertainment  of  travellers — in 
the  American  sense  of  that  term,  but  was  a  place  of  resort  of  some  of  the  better  class  of 
city  residents.  It  was  a  sort  of  club-house,  where  choice  wines  and  quiet,  excellent  sup- 
pers might  be  obtained.  It  was  originally  built  after  the  model  of  an  English  alehouse. 
It  was  a  low,  old-fashioned,  and  rather  massive  edifice,  two  stories  in  height,  with  dormer 
windows.  It  was  erected  by  John  Leake  before  the  Revolution.  On  the  second  story 
there  was  a  room  for  military  drills  and  public  meetings,  and  there  were  appointments 
for  social  or  political  gatherings.  It  was  a  great  resort  for  literary  men  sixty  years  ago. 
It  is  said  that  in  a  room  in  that  tavern  the  young  poet,  Robert  C.  Sands,  recited  to 
Gulian  C.  Verplanck  and  two  or  three  literary  friends  his  last  and  most  remarkable 
poem,  entitled  "  The  Dead  of  1832."  In  that  poem  his  theme  was  the  triumphs  of 
Death  and  Time  over  the  eminent  men  who  had  died  that  year,  and  closing  with  these 
words  : 

"  All  earth  is  now  their  sepulchre. 

The  Mind  their  monument  r-ublime— 
Young  in  eternal  f>  me  they  arc — 
Sure  are  your  triumphs,  Death  and  Time." 

This  poem  was  published  in  the  Commercial  Advertiser  only  a  few  days  before  Sands' s 
own  sudden  death,  in  December,  1832. 

The  Shakespeare  was  known  for  several  years  as  "  Stoneall's,"  James  C.  Stoneall  being 
its  proprietor. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


323 


Prosper  M.  Wetmore  was  elected  lieutenant-colonel,  and  Linus  W. 
Stevens  major. 

Another  company  would  raise  the  battalion  to  the  dignity  of  a 
regiment.  Measures  were  taken  to  form  one.  This  work  was 
accomplished  on  the  4th  of  May,  1826,  when  the  eighth  company, 
commanded  by  Captain  Andrew  Warner  (now  the  recording  secretary 
of  the  New  York  Historical  Society)  was  admitted  into  the  corps. 
Two  days  afterward  Governor  Clinton  issued  an  order  constituting  the 
battalion  the  Twenty-seventh  Regiment  of  Artillery. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  officers  of  the  Twenty-seventh  at  the  Shake- 
speare Tavern  on  May  23,  1826,  Prosper  M.  Wetmore  was  chosen 
colonel,  Linus  W.  Stevens  lieutenant- colonel,  and  John  Telfair  major. 
The  National  Guard  paraded  as  a  regiment  for  the  first  time  on  May 
31st,  when  they  received  an  elegant  stand  of  colors  from  Mayor  Philip 
Hone.  Sergeant  Asher  Taylor,  a  beloved  veteran  of  the  National 
Guard,  gives  the  following  account,  in  his  curious  illustrated  volume 
entitled  "  Notes  on  the  Colors  of  the  National  Guard,  with  some  Inci- 
dental Passages  of  the  History  of  the  Keginient,"  printed  on  an 
"  amateur  press  for  private  circulation'"  in  1863  : 

"  When  the  corps  was  detached  as  a  separate  command,  the  subject 
of  providing  suitable  colors  for  it  engaged  the  early  attention  of  the 
board  of  officers,  and  Captain  John  Telfair,  Captain  James  T.  Flinn, 
Lieutenant  Charles  B.  Spicer,  Adjutant  Andrew  "Warner,  and  Surgeon 
Edward  P.  Marcellin  Avere  appointed  a  committee  to  procure  a  standard 
which  should  be  the  banner  of  the  National  Guard.  The  committee 
spent  some  time  bowing  around  and  flirting  and  coquetting  among 
their  fair  friends,  in  the  hope  of  eliciting  an  offer  from  some  of  them 
to  embroider  and  present  a  standard  ;  and  Young  Moustache  will  be 
amused  to  learn  that  all  their  efforts  were  in  vain,  as  they  reported 
(March  29,  1826)  that  '  the  expectations  hitherto  entertained  on  that  .sub- 
ject had  not  been  realized  ' — a  humiliating  admission  that  would  well- 
nigh  '  burst  the  kids  '  of  half  the  gallant  and  irresistible  fellows  of  the 
regiment  of  the  present  day.  Subscription  papers  for  the  requisite 
funds  were  circulated  through  the  ranks  of  the  corps,  and  promptly 
filled  up." 

The  colors  consisted  of  the  regimental  standard  of  red  silk,  bearing 
the  coat-of-arms  of  the  i*egiment,  described  below,  and  a  State  standard 
of  blue  silk.  The  design  of  the  arms  on  the  regimental  standard  was 
traced  out  on  the  silk  by  Sergeant  Taylor,  and  was  very  beautifully 
embroidered  in  natural  colors,  under  his  supervision,  by  Mrs.  Windsor. 

A  coat-of-arms  and  a  motto  having  primarily  been  designed  by. 


32i 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Sergeant  Taylor,  Major  Wetmore  employed  Dr.  Alexander  Anderson, 
the  pioneer  wood-engraver,  to  reproduce  it  on  wood,  and  presented  it  to 
the  corps.  The  arms  consisted  of  an  escutcheon  quartered.  The  first 
grand  quarter  was  the  shield  of  the  United  States,  the  second  the 
shield  of  the  State  of  New  York,  the  third  the  shield  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  the  fourth  the  initials  of  the  New  York  State  Artil- 
lery. On  an  in-escutcheon  of  gold  were  the  initials  of  the  National 
Guard  in  cipher.  The  crest  was  a  spread-eagle,  and  the  motto  was 
Pro  Patria  d  Gloria  and  the  words  "  National  Guard." 

Late  in  November,  1830,  the  regiment  bore  a  conspicuous  part 
among  the  military  of  the  city  of  Xew  York  in  a  grand  parade  of  citi- 
zens and  soldiers  as  an  expression  of  sympathy  with  those  who  had 
effected  a  revolution  in  France,  driven  one  king  from  the  throne  and 
set  another,  more  acceptable,  upon  it.  On  February  7,  L832,  at  a 
meeting  of  the  board  of  officers  of  the  regiment,  Major  Oatlin  Sug- 
gested the  propriety  of  presenting  a  gold  medal  to  the  Marquis  de 
Lafayette. 

On  tlx1  22d  of  that  month  the  centennial  anniversary  of  the  birth  of 
Washington  was  celebrated  bv  the  regiment.  The  late  G.  W.  P. 
Custis,  the  adopted  son  of  Washington,  who  possessed  the  patriot's 
war-tent,  lent  it  to  the  regiment  f<  r  that  occasion,  and  under  it  the 
officers  were  assembled,  while  thousands  of  spectators  viewed  the  inter- 
esting relic.  In  that  tent  Lieutenant-Colonel  .Moiyan  L.  Smith  offered 
the  following  resolution  : 

"  Resolved,  That  on  this  auspicious  day,  while  assembled  beneath  the  ample  folds  of 
the  tent  that  sheltered  Washington  and  Lafayette  during  the  Revolution,  the  officers  of 
this  regiment  desire  to  express  their  humble  thanks  to  Almighty  God  for  the  blessings 
which  have  grown  out  of  the  Revolution,  and  that  we  deem  this  a  most  appropriate 
occasion  to  honor  one  of  His  instruments  by  causing  a  medal  of  gold  to  be  struck  and 
presented  to  the  surviving  hero,  General  Lafayette,  commemorative  of  our  abiding  friend- 
ship for  him,  and  also  that  existing  between  France  and  America." 

This  resolution  was  adopted,  and  a  committee  of  field  officers,  con- 
sisting of  Colonel  Stevens,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Smith,  and  Major  Cat- 
lin,  was  appointed  to  accomplish  the  object.  In  July  following  the 
medal  was  completed  and  exhibited  to  the  members  of  the  regiment  at 
Camp  Putnam,  near  New  Haven.  It  was  sent  to  James  Fenimore 
Cooper,  the  novelist,  to  present  to  Lafayette.  Mr.  Cooper  was  absent 
from  Paris  then  and  for  several  months  afterward.  On  his  return,  in 
November,  he  gave  a  dinner  to  Lafayette,  at  which  were  General 
Wool,  several  other  Americans  of  distinction,  and  representatives  of 
European  nations,  as  guests.    On  that  occasion  the  medal  was  pre- 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


o25 


sented,  received  with  gratitude,  and  acknowledged  in  pleasing  terms 
by  the  recipient. 

This  superb  medal  was  made  of  solid  gold  from  the  mines  of  North 
Carolina  ;  those  of  California  were  then  unsuspected.  It  weighed  one 
hundred  and  fifty-seven  pennyweights.  In  the  centre  of  a  rich  frame- 
work were  medallions  bearing  the  portraits  of  Washington  and 
Lafayette  inclosed  in  a  wreath  of  olive  and  laurel  leaves.  Above  the 
medallions  was  a  Roman  lictor's  axe  inclosed  in  fasces,  and  below 
these  an  escutcheon  containing  the  coat-of-arms  of  the  National  Guard. 
The  whole  was  surmounted  by  a  spread-eagle  standing  upon  a  globe, 
on  which  were  the  words  "  America  and  France."  On  each  side  were 
the  flags  of  America  and  France  combined.  On  a  scroll  at  the  base  of 
the  medal  were  the  words  yi.Pro  Patr'ta  et  Gloria.''''  This  medal  was 
furnished  by  Marquand  &  Brother,  then  the  leading  jewellers  of  New 
York,  who  employed  Bowler  &  Ward,  of  Poughkeepsie,  to  execute  the 
Work.  The  die  was  cut  by  Ward.  The  writer  watched  the  progress 
of  the  work  with  great  interest.  An  engraving  of  the  medal,  the 
natural  size,  appeared  in  the  New  York  Mirror  in  1832,  and  in  the 
American  Historical  Record  in  187-1. 

Under  the  title  of  Twenty-seventh  Regiment  National  Guard  the 
corps  performed  its  duty  faithfully  in  military  drills  and  as  defenders 
of  public  order  in  the  city  of  New  York  on  several  occasions,  until 
1847,  when  the  governor  of  the  State  ordered  that  the  regiment,  then 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  Bremmer,  "  be  thereafter  called  and 
known  as  the  Seventh  Regiment  National  Guard/'  Such  is  the 
genesis  and  early  history  of  this  yet  famous  regiment.  We  shall  meet 
it  on  important  fields  of  duty  hereafter. 

In  the  summer  of  1831  the  peace  of  the  city  of  New  York  was  fear- 
fully disturbed  by  riotous  proceedings  directed  against  the  advocates 
of  the  freedom  of  the  slaves  in  our  country.  From  the  foundation  of 
our  national  government  the  public  mind  had  been  much  agitated 
from  time  to  time  by  discussions  concerning  the  slavery  of  negroes  in 
our  land.  Indeed  before  the  Revolution  their  emancipation  was 
strongly  urged  by  benevolent  and  enlightened  men,  not  only  from 
humane  considerations,  but  as  a  wise  measure  of  political  economy. 

In  the  midst  of  the  political  excitement  in  Massachusetts  in  1700, 
growing  out  of  the  Stamp  Act  quairel,  this  topic  was  the  cause  of  a 
warm  controversy,  in  which  Nathaniel  Appleton  and  James  Swan, 
merchants  of  Boston,  distinguished  themselves  as  writers  on  the  side  of 
human  freedom.  This  controversy  was  renewed  from  time  to  time 
until  1773,  when  it  became  so  warm  that  it  was  the  subject  of  disputa- 


32  G 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


tions  at  Harvard  College.  The  Colonial  Assembly  made  efforts  to 
restrict  the  further  Importation  of  negroes  into  the  province,  and  a  test 
suit  was  carried  into  the  Supreme  Court,  on  the  question  whether  any 
person  could  be  held  as  a  slave  in  Massachusetts.  It  took  the  form  of 
a  suit  by  a  negro  to  recover  wages  from  his  alleged  master.  The  court 
decided  in  favor  of  the  slave. 

During  the  old  war  for  independence  the  consciences  of  many  prom- 
inent slaveholders  made  them  question  the  righteousness  of  holding 
their  fellow-men  in  bondage.  Henry  Laurens  expressed  his  conviction 
that  men  fighting  for  their  own  freedom  could  hardly  expect  the  favor 
of  God  in  their  undertaking  while  thev  held  other  human  beings  in 
slavery.  Societies  were  formed  to  create  public  opinion  in  favor  of  the 
emancipation  of  the  blacks.  One  established  in  Philadelphia  had  Dr. 
Franklin  for  its  president  and  Dr.  Rush  for  its  secretary. 

After  the  war  these  humane  efforts  were  continued.  In  1TS5  the 
"Manumission  Society  of  New  York  was  established,  of  which  John  Jay 
was  president.  The  society  of  Friends  or  Quakers  always  formed  a 
permanent  anti-slavery  society,  and  were  ever  active.  They  presented 
the  first  petition  to  the  National  Congress  for  the  abolition  of  slavery. 
In  1S15  an  abolition  society  was  formed  in  Ohio.  During  the  debate 
in  Congress  and  out  of  it,  on  the  admission  of  Missouri  into  the  Union 
as  a  State  (1820-21),  the  country  was  fearfully  agitated  by  the  discus- 
sion of  the  slavery  question.  The  subject  was  vehemently  revived  in 
ls:;i  by  the  utterances  of  the  Liberator,  an  anti-slavery  newspaper 
published  in  Boston  by  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  which  denounced 
slavery  as  "  a  sin  against  God  and  a  crime  against  humanity."  On 
the  basis  of  such  sentiments  an  anti-slavery  society  was  formed  in 
Boston  in  1832,  and  the  next  year  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society 
was  organized  in  Philadelphia,  which  existed  until  the  institution  of 
slavery  was  destroyed  by  the  fires  of  the  great  Civil  War  in  1861-65. 

Among  the  opponents  of  slavery  in  this  decade  the  Friends  or 
Quakers  were  the  most  earnest,  the  most  prudent,  and  the  most  prac- 
tical. They  warred  against  the  institution,  not  against  its  (supporters. 
They  condemned  the  system  of  slavery  as  unjust  and  unrighteous,  but 
did  not  denounce  slaveholders.  They  did  not  stand  behind  their  safe 
position  in  a  Northern  State  and  abuse  the  Southern  people,  but  they 
went  among  the  Southern  people  themselves  and  tried  to  persuade 
them  to  renounce  their  unrighteous  labor  system. 

One  of  the  boldest  and  truest  of  these  preachers  of  righteousness 
was  Elias  Hicks,  of  Long  Island.  In  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  he 
preached  more  vigorously  against  slavery  than  in  New  York  and 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


327 


Pennsylvania.  As  a  rule  be  was  listened  to  with  interest  and  kindly 
treated.  Sometimes,  however,  he  aroused  indignation,  but  always  met 
it  boldly.  On  one  occasion  a  hearer  left  the  meeting-  in  flaming  anger, 
and  swore  he  would  "  shoot  that  fellow"  if  he  came  near  his  planta- 
tion. Kicks  heard  of  the  threat,  and  after  meeting  put  on  his  hat  and 
went  straight  to  the  planter's  house.  The  man  was  at  dinner.  In  a 
little  while  he  appeared,  when  Hicks,  in  a  calm  and  dignified  manner, 
said  : 

"  I  understand  thou  hast  threatened  to  blow  out  the  brains  of  Elias 
Hicks  if  he  comes  upon  thy  plantation.    I  am  Elias  Hicks." 

The  Virginian  said  he  thought  he  would  be  justified  in  doing  such  a 
deed  Avhen  a  man  came  to  preach  rebellion  to  his  slaves. 

"  I  came  to  preach  the  Gospel, "  said  the  Quaker,  "  which  inculcates 
forgiveness  of  injuries  upon  slaves  as  well  as  upon  other  men.  But  tell 
me,  if  thou  canst,  how  this  Gospel  can  be  truly  preached,  without 
showing  the  slaves  that  they  are  injured,  and  thus  making  a  man  of 
thy  sentiments  feel  as  if  they  were  encouraged  in  rebellion." 

A  long  and  friendly  argument  ensued.  At  parting  the  slaveholder 
shook  hands  with  the  preacher,  and  invited  him  to  come  again.  Hicks 
repeated  the  visit,  and  six  months  afterward  this  Virginian  emanci- 
pated his  slaves.* 

So  early  as  the  autumn  of  1833  there  were  abundant  symptoms  of  a 
riotous  spirit  among  the  ignorant  and  dangerous  classes  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  directed  against  the  "  abolitionists,"  as  the  anti-slavery 
people  were  now  called.  The  vigorous  and  aggressive  onslaughts  upon 
the  institution  of  slavery  which  the  Anti-Slavery  Society  was  then 
making  had  created  a  feeling  of  intense  opposition  among  all  classes, 
especially  business  men  in  the  city  of  New  York  connected  with  the 
Southern  trade,  and  the  champions  of  a  holy  cause  soon  found  they 
were  breasting  an  almost  irresistible  current.  The  lofty  motives  which 
animated  the  philanthropists  were  not  comprehended  or  given  sufficient 
weight  by  the  general  public,  and  the  anti-slavery  people  were  re- 
garded as  pragmatical  fanatics.  Xor  were  the  methods  of  the  aboli- 
tionists always  judicious  or  wise. 

The  avowed  object  of  the  anti-slavery  societies  had  created  alarm 
and  indignation  and  chronic  irritation  among  the  people  of  the  slave- 
labor  States,  and  very  soon  the  muttering  thunder  of  threats  of 
disunion  were  heard.  This  ominous  sound  disturbed  the  nerves  of 
commerce  at  the  North.    New  York  City  especially  was  intimately 

*  "  Life  of  Isaac  T.  Hopper,"  by  Lydia  Maria  Child. 


328  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

connected  in  interest  with  all  the  business  centres  in  the  South,  and 
when  her  merchants  and  other  business  men  observed  their  Southern 
customers  becoming  suspicious  and  less  cordial,  and  disposed  more  and 
more  to  halt  at  Baltimore,  they  naturally  regarded  the  abolitionists  as 
the  enemies  of  the  Union — at  least  enemies  of  a  unity  of  feeling  be- 
tween the  people  of  the  two  sections  of  the  Republic. 

The  opposition  to  the  abolitionists  everywhere  was  intensified  by  the 
course  pursued  by  "William  Lloyd  Garrison,  who  was  in  England  in 
1833.  lie  joined  the  anti-slavery  men  of  that  country  in  fierce  denun- 
ciations of  his  own  land  before  the  world,  as  inconsistent  in  its  policy, 
false  in  its  high  pretensions  as  the  guardian  of  free  institutions,  and 
criminal  in  a  high  degree.  The  patriotism  of  our  people  was  shocked, 
and  the  old  prejudices  against  the  "  Britishers'"  was  aroused.  As 
Garrison  was  regarded  as  the  embodiment  of  the  principles  and  designs 
of  the  Anti-Slavery  Society,  there  was  a  general  feeling  that  the  aboli- 
tionists must  be  put  down.  When,  therefore,  in  the  fall  of  1833 
Garrison  returned,  and  a  notice  appeared  of  a  meeting  of  the  anti- 
slavery  champions  in  the  city  of  New  York  to  be  held  in  Clinton  Hall, 
some  of  the  most  respectable  men  in  the  city  resolved  to  attend  the 
meeting,  and  by  the  weight  of  numbers  and  character  crush  what  they 
deemed  the  head  of  the  dangerous  serpent  of  disunion.  A  more  excit- 
able, less  scrupulous,  and  more  disreputable  class  of  citizens  determined 
to  accomplish  that  object  in  another  way.  Accordingly  on  the  2d  of 
October  they  posted  a  placard,  in  large  letters,  all  over  the  city,  con- 
taining these  words  : 

"  NOTICE. 
"  To  all  Persons  from  the  South  .' 
"  All  persons  interested  in  the  subject  of  the  meeting  called  by 
J.  Leavitt,  W.  Goodell, 

V  Green,  J.  Kankin, 

Lewis  Tappan, 

at  Clinton  Hall  this  evening  at  7  o'clock,  are  requested  to  at- 
tend at  the  same  hour  and  place. 

' '  Many  Southerners. 

".Veio  York,  October  2d,  1833. 

"  N.B.  All  citizens  who  may  feel  disposed  to  manifest  the 
true  feeling  of  the  State  on  this  subject  are  requested  to  at- 
tend." 

This  deceptive  notice— this  false  assignment  of  the  authorship  of  it — 
was  calculated  to  enlist  the  sympathies  of  a  large  class  of  citizens,  arid 
the  wicked  hint  given  in  the  nota  bene  was  evidently  intended  to  mar- 
shal a  host  of  the  dangerous  class  in  the  city. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840.  329 

Soon  alter  six  o'clock  a  crowd  began  to  gather  in  front  of  Clinton 
Hall.  It  was  soon  ascertained  that  there  was  a  notice  on  the  door  that 
no  meeting  would  be  held.  Many  citizens  immediately  went  home, 
but  still  the  crowd  swelled  until  it  numbered  thousands  and  filled  the 
air  with  tumultuous  shouts  and  execrations.  Hundreds  rushed  into  the 
hall  until  the  audience-room  was  densely  packed.  A  meeting  was 
organized,  and  at  a  quarter  past  seven  o'clock  it  adjourned  to  Tam- 
many Hall,  where  it  was  reorganized.  A  man  was  about  to  address 
the  assembled  people  when  a  person  suddenly  entered  the  room,  and 
i>oiiu>-  to  the  chairman  informed  him  that  the  abolition  meeting-  an- 
nounced  to  be  held  at  Clinton  Hall  was  at  that  moment  in  progress  at 
the  Chatham  Street  Chapel. 

"  To  the  chapel  !  To  the  chapel  !  Let  us  go  and  disperse  them  !" 
shouted  several  voices,  and  the  crowd  surged  with  excitement.  The 
chairman,  Avho  was  an  order-loving  citizen,  told  them  they  had  met  to 
pass  certain  resolutions,  and  when  that  business  was  ended  they  might 
act  as  they  pleased.  The  resolutions  condemnatory  of  the  abolitionists 
and  containing  assurances  of  support  to  the  Constitution  and  laws  were 
passed,  when  a  large  proportion  of  the  meeting  rushed  for  the  Chatham 
Street  Chapel.  The  few  persons  gathered  there,  apprised  of  their 
danger,  had  left,  and  the  crowd  found  the  room  empty,  with  the  doors 
open  and  the  lights  all  burning. 

An  expected  tragedy  was  now  changed  into  a  farce.  The  passions 
of  the  crowd  had  subsided,  and  they  were  in  good  humor.  The}*  tool- 
possession  of  the  deserted  room  and  appointed  a  jolly  colored  man  who 
had  taken  part  with  them  chairman  of  the  meeting.  He  was  addressed 
by  the  name  of  one  of  the  leading  abolitionists.  After  passing  some 
absurd  resolutions  and  receiving  the  solemn  thanks  of  the  chairman  for 
the  honor  they  had  conferred  upon  him,  the  crowd  dispersed  with 
laughter,  songs,  and  hilarious  shouts  as  they  passed  into  the  street  and 
went  home.  The  champions  of  freedom  who  had  assembled  at  the 
chapel  had  stolen  a  march  on  the  crowd  at  Clinton  and  Tammany 
halls.  They  had  quietly  formed  the  "  New  York  City  Anti-Slavery 
Society." 

In  the  anti-slaver}-  movements  up  to  this  period  (and  afterward  to 
the  period  of  his  death)  one  of  the  most  zealous,  active,  and  judicious 
of  the  friends  of  the  slave  was  the  Hon.  William  Jay.  The  slaves  in 
the  State  of  New  York  were  emancipated  by  law  on  the  4th  of  July, 
1827.  In  September  following,  in  his  charge  to  the  grand  jury  of 
Westchester  County,  Judge  Jay  said,  in  allusion  to  the  great  act  : 

"  T  cannot  forbear  to  congratulate  you  on  that  event,  so  auspicious 


330 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


to  the  character  and  happiness  of  the  community.  .  .  .  Within  a 
few  months  more  than  ten  thousand  of  our  fellow-citizens  have  been 
restored  to  those  rights  which  our  fathers  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence pronounced  to  be  inalienable,  and  to  have  been  granted  to  all 
men  by  their  Creator.  As  yet  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
crimes  have  multiplied  or  the  public  peace  disturbed  by  the  emancipa- 
tion of  our  slaves  ;  nor  can  we  fear  that  He  who  commanded  us  to  do 
justice  and  love  mercy  will  permit  us  to  suffer  by  obeying  His  injunc- 
tions." 

The  city  of  New  York  became  the  headquarters  of  the  American 
Anti-Slavery  Society,  which  was  formed  at  Philadelphia  December  30, 
1833.  At  the  suggestion  of  Judge  Jay,  they  explicitly  defined  their 
political  principles  in  the  constitution  of  the  society  by  declaring  : 
1.  That  each  State  in  w  hich  slavery  exists  has,  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  the  exclusive  right  to  legislate  in  regard  to  abolition 
in  that  State  ;  2.  That  they  would  endeavor,  in  a  constitutional  way, 
to  influence  Congress  to  put  an  end  to  the  domestic  slave  trade  and  to 
abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  likewise  to  prevent  the 
extension  of  slavery  to  any  State  that  might  thereafter  be  admitted  to 
the  Union  ;  3.  That  the  society  and  its  auxiliaries  will  never,  in  any 
way,  countenance  the  oppressed  in  vindicating  their  rights  by  resorting 
to  physical  force. 

These  declarations  formed  an  essential  part  of  the  work  of  Judge 
Jay  *  in  the  fashioning  of  the  constitution  of  the  society,  for  it  was  at 

*  William  Jay,  LL.D.,  second  son  of  Chief  Justice  Jay,  was  born  at  Bedford,  West- 
chester County,  X.  Y.,  June  16,  1798.  He  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1808,  and  entered 
upon  the  duties  of  the  legal  profession.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three  he  married  Hiss 
Augusta  McViokar,  of  New  York  City.  During  his  mature  life  he  was  continually  engaged 
in  philanthropic  efforts  for  the  elevation,  well-being,  and  happiness  of  mankind, 
earnestly  advocating  temperance,  peace,  and  freedom  from  slavery  of  every  kind.  So 
early  as  1815  he  founded  a  temperance  society. 

Mr.  Jay  was  one  of  the  founders  and  able  defenders  of  the  American  Bible  Society. 
In  1818  Governor  Tompkins  appointed  him  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of 
Westchester  County.  He  continued  on  the  bench  until  1842,  when  he  was  relieved  of 
the  office  by  Governor  Bouck,  at  the  demand  of  the  Southern  wing  of  the  Democratic 
party,  on  account  of  his  anti-slavery  opinions. 

In  1826  a  free  colored  man  named  Horton,  living  in  Westchester  County,  went  to 
Washington,  where  he  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  as  a  fugitive  slave.  The  sheriff 
advertised  in  the  National  Intelligencer  that  unless  his  owner  called  for  him  he  would  be 
sold  to  "  pay  jail  fees  and  other  expenses.'  A  copy  of  the  paper  containing  this  adver- 
tisement accidentally  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  resident  of  Westchester,  who  laid  the  mat- 
ter before  Judge  Jay.  The  latter  at  once  asked  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton  to  demand 
from  the  authorities  at  Washington  the  instant  release  of  the  victim  as  a  "  free  citizen  of 
the  State  of  New  York."    It  was  done,  and  Horton  was  released.    This  prompt  action 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


331 


once  a  declaration  of  its  objects  and  an  explanation  of  its  designs. 
They  were  so  judicious  and  sound  in  principle  that  auxiliary  societies 
rapidly  increased.  So  early  as  1839,  sixteen  hundred  aud  fifty  auxil- 
iary societies  had  adopted  the  political  principles  of  this  constitution, 
which  in  1S55  were  made  the  basis  of  the  Republican  party. 

The  winter  of  1S33-34  passed  without  any  occasion  for  public  dis- 
turbance. In  the  spring  of  183-1  occurred  the  fearful  election  riot, 
already  described,  which  aroused  the  passions  of  the  lower  orders  of 
society.  This  riot  was  followed  by  seizures  and  carrying  away  to  the 
South  of  several  colored  people  in  the  city  on  the  pretence  that  they 
were  fugitive  slaves. 

These  outrages  excited  the  indignation  and  stimulated  the  zeal  of  the 
members  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Society.  They  became  more  vigilant, 
active,  and  determined  than  ever,  and  there  were  accessions  of  good 
and  brave  men  to  their  ranks.  But  the  tide  of  opposition  to  their 
cause  rose  rapidly  as  their  zeal  bore  fruit.    Some  of  the  newspapers  of 

on  the  part  of  Judge  Jay  and  its  results  initiated  movements  from  time  to  time  for  the 
repeal  of  the  laws  authorizing  such  arrests  and  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District 
of  Columbia. 

When,  in  1835,  President  Jackson  in  his  annual  message  to  Congress  called  the  atten- 
tion of  that  body  to  the  doings  of  the  anti-slavery  societies  as  "  repugnant  to  the  jsrinci- 
ples  of  our  national  compact  and  to  the  dictates  of  humanity  and  religion,"  and  sug- 
gested to  Congress  the  passage  of  a  law  to  prohibit  "  the  circulation  in  the  Southern 
States  through  the  mails  of  incendiary  publications  intended  to  instigate  the  slaves  to 
insurrection"— denouncing  the  sending  of  these  publications  as  "  unconstitutional  and 
wicked  attempts"  to  do  mischief— the  executive  committee  of  the  American  Anti-Slavery 
Society  at  New  York,  to  whose  members  and  auxiliaries  the  President's  language  was 
intended  to  apply,  promptly  met  this  attack  by  an  elaborate,  dignified,  and  powerful 
protest  against  the  accusation.    It  was  written  by  Judge  Jay. 

That  protest  suggested  to  the  President  the  propriety  of  ascertaining  the  real  designs 
of  the  abolitionists  before  his  misapprehension  should  lead  him  to  sanction  any  more 
trilling  with  the  liberties  of  the  press  (which  postmasters  had  already  done  by  refusing 
to  send  anti-slavery  publications  through  the  mails).  He  was  reminded  that  there  were 
then  (1835)  350  anti-slavery  societies,  with  thousands  of  members  ,  and  the  executive 
committee  invited  Congress  to  appoint  a  committee  of  investigation  to  visit  their  office 
at  New  York,  pledging  themselves  to  put  in  possession  of  such  committee  their  publica- 
tions and  correspondence,  and  to  answer,  under  oath,  all  interrogations. 

"  To  repel  your  charges  and  to  disabuse  the  public,"  said  the  protest,  "  was  a  duty  we 
owed  to  ourselves,  our  children,  and  above  all  to  the  great  and  holy  cause  in  which  we 
are  engaged.  That  cause  is,  we  believe,  approved  by  our  Maker  :  and  while  we  retain 
this  belief  it  is  our  intention,  trusting  to  his  direction  and  protection,  to  persevere  in 
our  endeavors  to  impress  upon  the  minds  and  hearts  of  our  countrymen  the  sinfulness  of 
claiming  property  in  human  beings,  and  the  duty  and  wisdom  of  immediately  relinquish- 
ing it.  When  convinced  that  our  endeavors  are  wrong,  we  shall  abandon  them,  but  such 
convictions  must  be  produced  by  other  arguments  than  vituperation,  popular  violence, 
or  penal  enactments." 


332 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


the  city  pandered  to  the  evil  passions  of  the  lower  and  the  dangerous 
classes.  They  even  suggested  a  course  of  open  hostility  to  the  aboli- 
tionists, and  acts  of  violence,  with  a  view  to  crush  the  "  pestilent  fac- 
tion.'' This  reprehensible  cultivation  of  a  mob  spirit  soon  produced 
bitter  fruit. 

On  the  evening  of  July  Oth  quite  a  large  assembly  of  colored  persons 
of  both  sexes  occupied  the  Chatham  Street  Chapel  for  the  purpose  of 
listening  to  a  sermon  by  a  negro  preacher.  The  New  York  Sacred 
Music  Society  had  leased  the  building  for  use  on  certain  evenings  each 
week.  They  claimed  that  the  evening  of  the  Oth  was  one  of  them. 
At  that  time  Police-Justice  Lowndes  was  president  of  the  society,  and 
Dr.  Eockwell  was  vice-president.  They  repaired  to  the  chapel  during 
the  evening  with  some  of  the  members  of  the  society,  and  insisted  that 
the  colored  people  should  immediately  leave  the  building.  The  latter, 
having  hired  and  paid  for  it,  refused  to  leave.  High  words  ensued, 
which  were  speedily  exchanged  for  blows.  In  the  fracas  loaded  canes 
were  freely  used,  lamps  and  chairs  were  broken,  and  two  or  three  per- 

The  previous  year  (1834)  Judge  Jay  hail  completed  and  published  the  life  and  corre- 
spondence of  his  father,  in  two  volumes,  also  "  An  Inquiry  into  the  Character  of  the 
American  Colonization  and  Anti-Slavery  Societies."  The  next  year,  when  the  Legisla- 
ture of  the  State  of  New  York  had  under  consideration  a  law  restricting  the  freedom  of 
speech,  he  said  to  the  grand  jury  of  Westchester  County  :  "  Any  law  that  may  be  passed 
to  abridge  in  the  slightest  degree  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press,  or  to  shield  any 
one  subject  for  discussion,  will  be  utterly  null  and  void,  and  it  will  be  the  duty  of  every 
good  citizen  to  resist,  with  energy  and  decision,  so  palpable  a  violation  of  the  Constitu 
tion." 

In  1835  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society  issued  an  official  manifesto  of  their  princi- 
ples, to  remove  false  impressions  as  to  their  views  and  methods,  addressed  '  To  the 
Public."  It  was  written  by  Judge  Jay,  and  signed  by  Arthur  Tappan,  as  president,  and 
John  Rankin,  William  Jay,  Elizur  Wright,  Abraham  L.  Cox,  Lewis  Tappan,  S.  S.  Cornish, 
S.  S.  Jocelyn,  and  Theodore  S.  Dwight.  It  denounced  the  unconstitutional  usurpation 
of  the  government  to  protect  slavery,  and  to  prevent  free  discussion  and  the  freedom  of 
the  mails,  and  closed  with  these  words  of  warning  :  "  Surely  we  need  not  remind  you 
that  if  you  submit  to  such  an  encroachment  on  your  liberties  the  days  of  our  Republic 
are  numbered,  and  that  alth  ugh  abolitionists  may  be  the  first,  they  will  not  be  the  last 
victims  offered  at  the  shrine  of  arbitrary  power."  This  manifesto  attracted  great  atten- 
tion at  home  and  abroad,  being  widely  translated  and  commented  upon  in  Europe. 

After  1835  Judge  Jay  published  many  papers  on  the  snbjects  largely  filling  his  mind 
and  heart — the  condition  of  the  slaves,  the  relations  of  the  National  Government  to 
slavery,  the  violation  by  Congress  of  the  right  of  petition,  an  address  to  the  non-slave- 
holders in  the  slave-labor  States,  etc. 

Soon  after  leaving  the  bench  Judge  Jay  visited  Europe  and  extended  his  tour  to  Egypt, 
where,  with  Sir  Gardiner  Wilkinson,  he  investigated  the  subject  of  slavery  in  Egypt. 
He  was  for  many  years  president  of  the  American  Peace  Society.  In  1848  he  was  visited 
by  an  earnest  champion  of  peace,  Joseph  Sturge,  an  English  Friend  or  Quaker,  and 
showed  his  guest  some  pages  of  a  work  which  was  printed  soon  afterward,  entitled  "  War 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


333 


sons  were  quite  seriously  injured.  A  large  crowd  gathered  around  the 
door  and  a  serious  riot  was  threatened,  but  the  police  in  strong  num- 
bers soon  appeared  and  drove  the  whole  crowd,  white  and  black,  from 
the  building.  But  the  fracas  continued  for  some  time  in  the  street. 
Lewis  Tappan,  being  recognized  as  one  of  the  listeners  to  the  colored 
preacher,  was  followed  to  his  house  in  Rose  Street  by  a  portion  of  the 
crowd,  who  greeted  him  with  yells  and  execrations,  and  pelted  his 
house  with  stones  after  he  entered  it. 

A  crowd  gathered  in  front  of  the  chapel  the  next  evening  (July  10). 
They  found  it  closed  and  its  portals  locked.  They  were  burst  open, 
the  crowd  rushed  in,  and  an  anti-abolition  meeting  was  organized, 
with  W.  ~W.  Wilder  in  the  chair.  In  a  speech  he  denounced  the  aboli- 
tion movement  as  dangerous,  and  proposed  to  adjourn  until  the  next 
meeting  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Society.  It  was  agreed  to,  but  the  more 
excitable  and  evil-disposed  portion  of  the  crowd  were  not  satisfied.  A 
voice  cried  out  : 

"  To  the  Bowery  Theatre  !" 

and  Peace  :  the  Evils  of  the  First,  with  a  Plan  for  Preserving  the  Last. ' '  It  advocated 
international  treaties  stipulating  to  refer  future  international  differences  to  arbitration, 
as  was  done  in  1871-72  m  the  Alabama  cases.  Mr.  Sturge  published  it  in  England,  and  it 
was  received  with  great  favor.  This  plan,  after  being  indorsed  by  peace  conventions 
at  Brussels,  Paris,  and  London,  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  famous  protocol  by  the  con- 
gress at  Paris,  after  the  Crimean  war  in  1854,  by  seven  European  states,  including  Pius 
sia,  which  declared  their  wish  to  resort  to  arbitration  before  appealing  to  arms.  "  It  is 
an  act  important  to  civilization, "  said  Lord  Malniesbury  ;  and  "  worthy  of  immortal  re- 
nown, '  said  Lord  Derby. 

Judge  Jay's  publications  on  all  subjects  were  forty-three  in  number.  Many  of  them 
were  widely  circulated  and  exercised  much  influence  on  public  opinion.  He  left  in 
manuscript  an  elaborate  commentary  on  the  Bible.  By  his  will  he  left  a  bequest  of  $1000 
for  "  promoting  the  safety  and  comfort  of  fugitive  slaves."  He  did  not  live  to  see  the 
great  desire  of  his  heart  realized  in  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  which  occurred  within 
five  years  after  his  death.  He  died  in  the  city  of  New  York,  with  the  interests  of  which 
he  was  long  identified,  on  October  1-1,  1858. 

On  the  death  of  Judge  Jay  appropriate  proceedings  were  held  by  the  New  York  His- 
torical Society,  the  American  Peace  Society,  the  bar  of  Westchester  County,  and  other 
bodies.  On  the  invitation  of  the  colored  citizens  of  New  York  a  eulogy  on  the  deceased 
was  delivered  by  Frederick  Douglass,  and  Mr.  Greeley  said  in  the  Tribune  :  "  As  to  Chief- 
Justice  Jay,  the  father,  may  be  attributed  more  than  to  any  other  one  man  the  abolition 
of  negro  bondage  in  (his  State,  so  to  Judge  William  Jay,  the  son,  the  future  will  give  the 
credit  of  having  been  one  of  the  earliest  advocates  of  the  anti-slavery  movement  which  at 
this  moment  [October,  1858]  influences  so  radically  the  politics  and  the  philanthropy  of 
this  country,  and  having  guided  by  his  writings  in  a  large  measure  the  direction  which 
a  cause  so  important  and  so  conservative  of  the  best  and  most  precious  rights  of  the 
people  should  take." 

The  portrait  from  which  our  engraving  was  made  is  from  a  painting  by  Wenzler  for 
the  court-house  at  White  Plains. 


334 


HIST0R1"  OF  NEW  YORE  CITY. 


The  stage  manager  of  that  theatre  was  an  Englishman  who  had 
made  himself  obnoxious  by  speaking  disparagingly  of  Americans.  That 
evening  had  been  appointed  for  his  benefit.  During  the  day  placards 
had  been  posted  over  the  city,  calling  attention  to  the  manager's  hos- 
tilitv  to  the  Americans.  Bv  a  strange  syllogism  in  the  minds  of  the 
mob  this  manager's  sin  was  interwoven  into  a  web  of  offence  with  the 
dangerous  teachings  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Society.  Garrison,  one  of  its 
founders,  has  coalesced  with  Englishmen  in  denouncing  his  countrymen 

'  o  o  IT 

as  sinners,  even  criminals  ;  therefore  the  slanderous  manager  was  an 
ally  of  the  abolitionists.  So  the  mob  seemed  to  reason,  and  acting 
upon  the  idea  they  rushed  up  Chatham  Street  to  the  Bowery,  in  a  wild, 
excited  mass,  gathering  with  tumultuous  shouts  in  front  of  the  theatre. 

Apprised  of  the  approach  of  the  mischievous  multitude,  the  doors 
were  closed  against  them.  The  huge  mass  burst  them  open,  and 
rushed  up  the  aisles  toward  the  footlights,  spreading  consternation  over 
the  audience.  The  pla\  was  going  on.  It  was  Jfrfa/ztoni,  and  Forrest 
was  performing  in  the  principal  character.  The  actors  were  alarmed 
by  the  appalling  scene  not  announced  in  the  playbills.  Hamblin  and 
Forrest  tried  to  address  the  rioters  ;  their  voices  were  drowned  by 
yells  and  other  noises  from  the  throats  of  the  intruders. 

While  the  mob  had  full  ]>ossession  of  the  house,  a  large  body  of 
police  suddenly  appeared  and  drove  the  rioters  from  the  building.  Ex- 
asperated by  this  treatment,  and  more  excited,  a  cry  was  raised  : 

"  To  Arthur  Tappan's  house  !" 

The  crv  was  echoed  bv  the  multitude,  and  a  racing  crowd  started 
down  the  street.  They  were  diverted  from  Arthur's  house  to  that  of 
his  brother  Lewis,  in  Bose  Street,  a  more  obnoxious  abolitionist  than 
the  other,  who  Avas  an  extensive  dealer  in  silks.  They  demolished  the 
front  windows  of  the  house,  burst  in  the  doors,  and  soon  filled  the 
rooms  from  which  the  family  had  fled  in  terror.  They  began  to  smash 
the  furniture  or  cast  it  into  the  street.  Chairs,  sofas,  tables,  pictures, 
mirrors,  bedding,  ornaments  were  thrown  out  into  a  promiscuous  mass, 
preparatory  to  the  application  of  the  torch. 

It  is  related  (with  how  much  truth  I  know  not)  that  during  this  wdd 
scene  of  devastation  a  pleasing  incident  occurred.  A  portrait  of 
Washington  was  about  to  be  thrown  out  of  a  window,  when  suddenly 
some  one  shouted  : 

"  It  is  "Washington  !    For  God's  sake,  don't  bum  Washington  !" 

The  roar  of  the  mob  instantly  ceased.  The  picture  was  tenderly 
handed  out  of  the  window,  passed  over  the  heads  of  the  crowd  from 
man  to  man.  and  left  for  safety  in  a  neighboring  dwelling. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840 


335 


Just  as  the  work  of  destruction  was  resumed,  the  police  came  swoop- 
ing down  the  street,  when  the  mob  broke  and  fled  ;  but  finding  a  pile 
of  bricks  they  armed  themselves  with  them,  rallied,  and  returned. 
They  assailed  the  watchmen  or  the  police  so  fiercely  that  they  in  turn 
were  compelled  to  fly.  Then  the  mass  of  furniture  and  bedding  on  the 
sidewalk  was  set  on  fire,  illuminating  the  whole  street.  The  fire-bells 
were  rung,  the  fire-engines  were  soon  at  the  place  of  danger,  the  mob 
was  dispersed,  and  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  street  was  quiet, 
and  Lewis  Tappan's  sacked  dwelling  was  in  the  hands  of  the  civil 
guardians  of  the  peace. 

For  these  fierce  demonstrations  of  mob  violence  the  abolitionists 
themselves  were  not  altogether  blameless.  During1  the  excitement  on 
the  day  following  the  demonstration  at  Chatham  Street  Chapel,  some 
injudicious  member  or  members  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Society  caused  an 
incendiary  placard  to  be  posted  over  the  city.  It  was  headed  with  the 
words,  in  large  letters  : 

"Look  out  for  Kidnapping  !  !" 

Then  followed  a  wood-cut  representing  a  slave-driver  mounted  on  a 
horse  brandishing  a  triple-thonged  whip,  driving  before  him  a  colored 
man,  whose  wife  and  children  were  clinging  to  him  to  prevent  the 
dreadful  family  separation.  This,  as  a  thoughtful  man  might  have 
foreseen,  inflamed  the  mob  spirit  which  burned  so  fiercely  in  the  attack 
on  Mr.  Tappan's  house. 

Among  other  good  men  in  the  city  who  had  espoused  the  abolition 
cause  and  were  active  members  of  the  city  Anti-Slavery  Society  were 
Samuel  Hanson  Cox,  D.D.,  his  brother,  Abraham  Cox,  M.D.,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Ludlow,  Isaac  T.  Hopper,  a  Quaker  merchant,  and  most  of  his  co- 
religionists, and  other  worthy  and  highly  respected  citizens.  The  Rev. 
Dr.  Cox,  though  opposed  by  most  of  his  congregation,  who  were 
Presbyterians,  was  already  known  as  an  outspoken  advocate  of  freedom 
for  the  slave.  He  was  an  eloquent  preacher  and  much  beloved  by  his 
congregation,  who  composed  the  Laight  Street  Church.  Mr.  Ludlow 
was  also  a  fervent  Presbyterian  preacher,  father  of  the  well-known 
writer,  Fitzhngh  Ludlow,  and  was  pastor  of  a  church  in  Spring  Street. 
He  was  also  a  bold,  outspoken  opposer  of  the  system  of  slavery  in  our 
country. 

Society  in  the  city  was  quiet  on  the  surface  on  the  day  after  the 
attack  upon  Lewis  Tappan's  house,  but  in  its  lower  depths  —  the 
groggeries  and  other  realms  of  vice — there  was  a  slumbering  volcano, 
liable  to  be  uncapped  at  any  moment  by  the  least  disturbing  cause. 


336 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Throughout  the  city  the  riot  was  almost  the  only  topic  of  conversation, 
and  the  citizens  felt  an  indefinable  dread  of  more  trouhle. 

On  the  morning  of  the  11th  Mayor  Lawrence  ordered  some  of  the 
city  troops  to  be  in  readiness  to  assist  in  preserving  the  peace,  if  called 
upon  to  do  so.  In  the  evening  their  services  were  needed.  At 
twilight  a  crowd  hegan  to  assemble  in  front  of  the  battered  dwelling  of 
Lewis  Tappan,  and  another  attack  seemed  imminent  when  the  police 
suddenly  appeared  and  dispersed  them.  They  rallied  elsewhere  in  con- 
tinually increasing  volume,  preparing  for  destructive  work  later  in  the 
evening. 

The  Twenty-seventh  National  Guard  had  been  called  upon  by  the 
mayor  to  assist  in  the  preservation  of  the  peace.  He  also  issued  a 
proclamation  calling  upon  the  citizens  to  do  what  they  could  to  main- 
tain order.  The  National  Guard  assembled  at  the  arsenal  to  the 
number  of  four  hundred,  and  there  awaited  orders.  At  twilight  the 
mayor  directed  them  to  march  to  the  City  Hall,  to  be  held  in  readiness 
to  act.  Colonel  Stevens  asked  for  ammunition.  It  was  refused,  when 
he  declared  he  would  not  move  a  step  until  furnished  with  ball  cart- 
ridges. The  mayor  then  complied,  and  six  rounds  each  were  given  to 
his  men. 

The  churches  seemed  to  be  special  objects  of  dislike  to  the  rioters. 
They  attacked  five  of  the  temples  of  worship — namely,  that  of  Dr. 
Cox's  church  in  Laight  Street,  Mr.  Ludlow's  church  in  Spring  Street, 
the  African  Chapel  on  the  corner  of  Church  and  Leonard  streets, 
St.  Philip's  Church  (colored)  in  Centre  Street,  and  a  church  on  the 
corner  of  Dey  and  Washington  streets. 

The  mob  dispersed  at  Kose  Street  rallied,  rushed  across  the  town  to 
Laight  Street,  and  made  a  sudden  and  furious  attack  upon  Dr.  Cox's 
church  edifice.  They  smashed  the  windows  with  stones  and  bricks, 
and  rent  the  air  with  yells  and  with  horrid  imprecations  on  the  aboli- 
tionists. They  seemed  determined  to  lay  the  building  in  ruins,  but 
were  suddenly  interrupted  in  their  destructive  work  by  the  appearance 
of  the  mayor,  police  justice,  district  attorney,  and  a  body  of  police. 
Fearing  arrest,  the  cowards  ran  in  all  directions,  but  were  soon  re- 
united, evidently  by  previous  concert,  in  front  of  Dr.  Cox's  dwelling  in 
Charlton  Street. 

Warnings,  threats,  and  the  fate  of  Mr.  Tappan's  house  had  induced 
Dr.  Cox  to  remove  his  furniture  and  his  family  to  a  place  of  safety. 
The  mob  found  his  front  door  barricaded.  They  broke  it  open,  and 
had  begun  to  destroy  the  windows  and  the  blinds  of  the  lower  story 
when  detachments  of  cavalry  dislodged  them.    They  fell  back,  but  ral- 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1S40. 


337 


lied,  and  seizing  some  carts  made  a  barricade  across  the  street.  They 
finally  retired  without  being  attacked  by  the  military. 

Meanwhile  a  large  crowd  had  gathered  in  front  of  Arthur  Tappan's 
store  on  Hanover  Square,  and  began  to  assail  it  with  stones.  Fifteen 
or  twenty  watchmen  had  been  stationed  there,  but  were  overpowered 
by  the  rioters  and  compelled  to  fly  for  their  lives.  Alderman  Lalagh 
bravely  stood  his  ground  in  defence  of  law  and  order.  lie  defied  the 
fierce  men  who  threatened  to  kill  him. 

"Break  open  the  doors  if  you  dare!"  he  shouted.  "The  store  is 
filled  with  armed  men,  who  will  blow  your  brains  out  the  moment  the 
door  gives  way. ' ' 

The  frightened  cowards  only  pelted  the  building  with  stones  and 
cursed  the  abolitionists,  and  when  Folic: -Justice  Lowndes  appeared 
with  a  strong  force  they  fled. 

The  Twenty-seventh  Regiment  had  marched  and  countermarched  in 
front  of  the  City  Hall,  before  a  turbulent  crowd.  About  ten  o'clock 
Colonel  Stevens  received  orders  to  march  immediately  to  the  defence 
of  Mr.  Ludlow's  church  edifice  in  Spring  Street,  between  Varick  and 
Macdougal  streets.  It  was  a  very  obnox;  ms  place  to  the  anti-aboli- 
tionists, for  several  anti-slavery  meetings  had  been  held  there,  and  the 
pastor  was  one  of  the  most  zealous  abolitionists  in  the  city. 

Before  moving,  Colonel  Stevens  ordered  his  men  to  load  with  ball 
cartridges.  His  troops  first  met  the  rioters  in  large  force  in  Thompson 
Street,  above  Prince  Street,  where  they  were  preparing  to  sack  Mr. 
Ludlow's  house.  Pressing  forward  with  fixed  bayonets,  the  mob  were 
pushed  back,  but  as  the  soldiers  wheeled  from  Macdougal  into  Spring 
Street  they  were  fiercely  assailed  with  stones  and  other  missiles  thrown 
by  the  rioters  and  from  the  windows.  Many  of  the  Xational  Guard 
were  hit,  and  some  were  felled  to  the  ground.  It  was  with  difficulty 
that  the  exasperated  men  were  restrained  from  opening  fire  on  their 
assailants. 

Near  the  church  the  mob  had  constructed  a  barricade  of  carts, 
barrels,  and  ladders  chained  together,  across  the  street.  On  the  top  of 
this  was  a  politician  haranguing  the  mob  and  encouraging  them  to 
commit  deeds  of  violence.  He  was  seized,  and  with  a  dozen  others 
was  sent  to  the  rear.  Already  the  rioters  had  pulled  down  the  fence 
that  surrounded  the  church,  had  broken  some  of  the  windows,  entered 
the  sanctuary,  tore  down  the  pulpit,  and  demolished  everything  inside, 
and  the  broken  fragments  were  carried  into  the  street  and  used  in  con- 
structing barricades.  ( )ne  of  the  mob  was  in  the  steeple  ringing  the  bell 
to  attract  rioters  from  elsewhere  when  the  National  Guard  arrived. 


338 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY 


He  too  was  seized  and  placed  in  custody,  and  the  church  cleared  of  its 
savage  invaders. 

Aldermen  who  had  been  sent  by  the  mayor  to  act  as  magistrates  and 
direct  the  military  became  greatly  alarmed.  They  actually  entered 
into  an  agreement  with  the  mob  to  let  them  leave  unmolested  if  they 
would  disperse.  They  tried  to  persuade  Colonel  Stevens  to  retreat  to 
the  City  Hall,  declaring  the  rioters  were  too  many  and  too  strong  for 
his  little  force  to  hope  to  contend  with  successfully. 

"  There  is  no  retreat  in  the  case,"  said  Colonel  Stevens  indignantly. 
"  I  am  here  with  my  regiment  for  the  purpose  of  dispersing  this  mob 
and  quelling  the  riot.  Until  that  is  done  I  shall  not  return.  I  shall 
proceed  to  the  City  Hall  only  through  that  crowd." 

And  he  did  so.  In  defiance  of  the  aldermen  he  marched  two  com- 
panies up  to  the  barricade  in  the  face  of  a  shower  of  stones,  broke  it 
up,  went  through  the  scattered  fragments,  wheeled  into  Varick  Street, 
and  drove  the  mob  before  him  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  Then  he 
met  a  police  force,  and  with  these  allies  he  marched  the  two  companies 
back  again,  charged  through  the  remains  of  the  barricade,  and  pushed 
the  rioters  rapidly  back  to  Sullivan  Street.  He  severed  the  mob  into 
four  pieces,  and  restored  order  in  that  part  of  the  city.  The  conduct 
of  these  troops  was  admirable,  and  they  rejoiced  that  they  won  a 
victory  without  firing  a  shot  ! 

Meanwhile  a  portion  of  the  mob  had  assailed  the  house  of  the  Rev. 
Air.  Ludlow  in  Thompson  Street,  broken  the  windows,  and  had  burst  in 
the  door  when,  fearing  the  military,  which  they  knew  were  near,  they 
suddenly  ran  away,  leaving  the  pastor's  family  more  frightened  than 
hurt. 

On  the  way  back  to  the  City  Hall  the  National  Guard  marched 
through  Centre  Street,  and  in  the  region  of  the  Five  Points — then  the 
most  dreadful  sink  of  vice  in  the  city — they  encountered  a  large  mob 
which  had  broken  into  St.  Philip's  Church  edifice,  occupied  by  a  con- 
gregation of  colored  people.  They  had  wrecked  the  whole  interior  and 
destroyed  five  miserable  houses  near,  that  were  filled  with  disreputable 
persons.    The  troops  quickly  put  these  rioters  to  flight. 

The  danger  seemed  imminent  yet,  for  the  mob  had  arranged  for 
detachments  to  operate  in  various  parts  of  the  city,  and  so  divide  the 
duties  of  the  military  and  police  forces.  The  mayor  remained  at  the 
City  Hall  all  night,  and  the  next  morning  issued  another  proclamation 
calling  upon  the  citizens  to  report  to  him  and  be  organized  into  com- 
panies to  aid  the  police.  The  Twenty-seventh  Regiment  was  put  on 
duty  again  the  next  afternoon.    A  large  number  of  other  troops  and 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


339 


the  fire  companies  were  ready  to  act  if  necessary  to  preserve  the  peace. 
But  the  rioters,  exhausted  and  disheartened,  attempted  no  further  mis- 
chief at  that  time.  The  National  Guard  were  dismissed  on  Sunday, 
the  13th,  with  the  thanks  and  commendations  of  the  mayor  for  their 
efficient  services.  At  that  time  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  rioters 
were  in  prison  awaiting-  their  trial. 

The  municipal  authorities  and  the  citizens  were  deeply  impressed 
with  the  value  of  the  services  which  had  heen  rendered  by  the  Twenty- 
seventh  (now  Seventh)  Regiment  on  the  occasion  of  the  two  fearful 
riots  which  had  afflicted  the  city  within  the  space  of  a  few  weeks. 
The  common  council  unanimously  voted  the  regiment  a  stand  of  colors. 
These  were  presented  on  the  4th  of  June  the  next  year  by  Governor 
William  L.  Marcy,  in  behalf  of  the  corporation  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  with  appropriate  ceremonies,  in  the  presence  of  a  large  number  of 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  officers  of  the  city  corps  under  General  Morton, 
and  many  officers  of  the  army  and  navy.  On  that  occasion  the  regi  - 
ment  performed  many  skilful  manoeuvres.  Morgan  L.  Smith  was  its 
colonel.  A  piece  of  music  composed  for  the  occasion,  entitled  "The 
Consecration  of  the  Banner,"  was  played,  when  the  governor  addressed 
them  in  a  most  complimentary  manner. 

On  the  evening  of  the  13th  (July)  a  fearful  anti-abolition  riot  oc- 
curred in  Philadelphia.  The  wrath  of  the  mob  seemed  to  be  specially 
directed  against  the  innocent  colored  people.  Forty  houses  occupied 
by  them  were  assailed,  and  some  of  them  destroyed.  The  blacks  were 
beaten,  one  of  them  was  killed  outright,  and  another  was  drowned 
while  trying  to  swim  across  the  Schuylkill. 

Among  the  bold  and  uncompromising  adherents  of  the  anti-slavery 
cause  in  New  York  was  Isaac  T.  Hopper,*  a  Quaker  bookseller  in 

*  Isaac  T.  Hopper  was  a  distinguished  philanthropist  and  a  member  of  the  Unitarian 
branch  of  the  Society  of  Friends  or  Quakers.  He  was  born  in  Deptford,  N.  J.,  Decem- 
ber 3,  1771,  and  was  a  birthright  member  of  the  society.  He  learned  the  trade  of  a  tailor 
with  an  uncle  in  Philadelphia.  In  his  childhood  and  youth  his  exuberance  of  Spirit  was 
manifested  in  all  sorts  of  practical  jokes,  sometimes  very  provoking,  but  were  always 
accompanied  by  the  kindliest  spirit.  His  love  of  fun  remained  with  him  in  his  old  age. 
Strong  in  his  convictions  of  right  and  duty,  he  had  courage  to  defend  and  maintain 
them.  He  early  espoused  the  cause  of  the  slave  and  the  down-trodden,  and  his  career  in 
New  York  as  (in  "  abolitionist,''  as  related  by  Mrs.  Child,  is  full  of  stirring  incidents. 
His  sympathies  were  also  with  discharged  convicts,  and  he  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  first  prison  association  in  New  York  and  the  founder  of  the  Women's  Prison  Associ- 
ation, organized  at  his  home.  For  some  years  Mr.  Hopper  was  a  bookseller  in  New 
York,  but  his  life  was  largely  devoted  to  works  of  benevolence  and  charity.  Mr.  Hopper 
died  in  New  York  May  7,  1852.  The  Home  of  the  Women's  Prison  Association  in  New 
York  is  called  the  "  Isaac  T.  Hopper  Home"  in  his  honor. 


340 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Pearl  Street.  In  his  windows  he  displayed  for  sale  all  the  pamphlets 
and  pictures  in  condemnation  of  slavery  published  by  the  Anti-Slavery 
Societ}"  and  others.  While  the  "  abolition  riot"  was  at  its  height  he 
was  informed  by  a  friend  that  a  mob  was  coming  to  attack  his  store, 
and  advised  him  to  remove  the  pamphlets  and  pictures  from  sight. 

"  Dost  thou  think  I  am  such  a  coward,"  said  Hopper,  "  as  to  for- 
sake my  principles  or  to  conceal  them  at  the  bidding  of  a  mob  ?" 

Presently  another  friend  came  in  haste  to  tell  him  the  mob  were 
near,  and  advised  him  to  put  up  his  shutters. 

"  I  will  do  no  such  thing,"  he  said,  firmly. 

When  the  rioters  came,  yelling  and  cursing  in  an  excited  throng, 
Mr.  Hopper  walked  out  and  stood  on  his  doorstep.  The  tumultuous 
throng  halted  in  front  of  his  store.  He  looked  calmly  on  them,  and 
they  looked  on  him  with  irresolution,  seeming  to  quail  before  his  glance 
like  a  brute  spell-bound  before  the  gaze  of  the  human  eye.  After 
pausing  a  moment,  some  of  them  cried  out,  "  Go  on  to  Rose  Street  !" 
and  they  rushed  forward  and  joined  in  the  attack  on  the  house  of  Lewis 
Tappan. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


THE  citizens  of  New  York  had  scarcely  settled  into  a  feeling  of 
comparative  security  when  in  August  they  were  again  disturbed 
and  alarmed  by  the  sudden  outbreak  of  lawless  violence  among  some  of 
the  mechanics  of  the  city.  For  some  time  there  had  been  growing  a 
bitter  feeling  among  mechanics  because  the  authorities  at  the  State 
Prison  in  Sing  Sing  had  introduced  mechanical  labor  among  the  con- 
victs, and  employed  them  in  producing  articles  at  cheaper  rates  than 
the  market  prices.  This  feeling  had  not  yet  been  demonstrated  to  the 
public  eye,  when  in  August,  1834:,  it  was  suddenly  aroused  into  violent 
action.  At  that  time  the  edifice  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Washington  Parade-Ground,  was  in 
course  of  erection.  The  contractors  for  the  stone-work  found  they 
could  have  the  Westchester  marble  which  they  were  using  dressed  at  a 
cheaper  rate  by  the  prisoners  at  Sing  Sing  than  by  the  stonecutters  in 
the  city,  and  they  chose  to  have  their  work  done  by  the  convicts. 

No  sooner  was  the  fact  known  than  the  indignant  city  stonecutters 
resolved  to  resent  this  i;  taking  the  bread  out  of  their  mouths,"  as  they 
said.  Pohtical  demagogues,  always  ready  to  seize  upon  any  excitement 
of  feeling  and  use  it  for  their  own  base  purposes,  stimulated  the  irrita- 
tion among  the  stonecutters.  They  held  meetings,  were  addressed  by 
these  incendiary  demagogues,  and  at  length  paraded  the  streets  in  pro- 
cession with  banners  and  placards,  on  which  were  inscriptions  which 
asserted  their  rights  and  denounced  the  contractors  alluded  to.  Incited 
by  base  fellows,  they  even  went  so  far  as  to  assail  the  residences  of 
several  worthy  citizens.  Their  wrath  arose  to  fever  heat,  and  appre- 
hending a  riot  and  an  attack  upon  the  workmen  at  the  University 
building,  Mayor  Lawrence  called  upon  the  Twenty-seventh  Regiment 
National  Guard  to  turn  out  and  preserve  order.  When  these  marched 
against  the  procession  the  latter  quietly  dispersed  to  their  homes.  An- 
ticipating further  trouble,  the  regiment  was  retained  in  camp  on  the 
"Washington  Parade-Ground,  in  sight  of  the  University  structure,  for 
four  days  and  four  nights. 

In  the  space  of  little  more  than  three  months  the  city  of  New  York 


3i2 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


had  been  afflicted  with  three  riots,  two  of  them  very  serious.  The 
third  and  last  was  promptly  suppressed  before  it  inflicted  much  mis- 
chief. The  remainder  of  the  year  lS3i  was  passed  without  any  serious 
public  disturbance  in  the  city,  but  it  was  destined  to  suffer  from  an- 
other riot  the  following  year,  and  still  another  in  1S37,  known  as  the 
Flour  Riot. 

New  York  was  then  rapidly  becoming  a  cosmopolitan  city.  Immi- 
grants were  flocking  to  its  borders  from  many  lands,  and  the  easy  nat- 
uralization laws  were  transforming  them  into  American  citizens  in 
rapidly  increasing  numbers.  The  native-born  citizens,  perceiving  the 
extending  influence  exercised  by  these  newly  fledged  voters  in  munici- 
pal affairs,  were  alarmed  and  uneasy,  while  unscrupulous  demagogues 
used  this  material  freely  for  base  partisan  purposes.  The  events  of  the 
election  riots  in  the  spring  of  1S34  had  intensified  the  distrust  of  the 
native  Americana  of  their  foreign-born  co-citizens,  and  there  was  an 
earnest  and  almost  universal  desire  felt  for  the  adoption  of  some  meas- 
ure to  check  the  growth  of  foreign  influence  in  our  country. 

Another  important  consideration  in  the  minds  of  thoughtful  Ameri- 
cans increased  their  anxiety.  A  larger  proportion  of  the  emigrants  and 
naturalized  citizens  were  adherents  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
whose  supreme  head  at  that  time  was  a  temporal  prince — the  monarch 
of  the  Papal  States  in  Italy.  To  this  prince,  as  the  spiritual  head  of 
his  Church,  every  Roman  Catholic  owed  and  acknowledged  his  supreme 
allegiance.    In  this  divided  allegiance — that  acknowledged  in  his  oath 

o  o  o 

at  naturalization,  and  that  imposed  by  his  Church  to  the  sovereign  of 
the  Papal  States — he  would  naturally,  if  occasion  required  him  to 
choose,  adhere  to  the  Pope  of  Rome  rather  than  to  the  government  of 
the  United  States.  This  position  of  the  naturalized  citizen  suggested 
imminent  danger  to  the  municipality  in  time  of  peril. 

All  through  the  winter  and  spring  of  1834-35  the  breach  of  good 
feeling,  especially  in  political  circles,  between  native  Americans  and 
foreign-born  citizens  had  continually  widened.  Demagogues  had  as 
sisted  in  widening  and  deepening  the  gulf,  and  antagonisms  caused 
the  American  or  Know-Nothing  political  party  to  be  formed.  At 
length  a  crisis  arrived,  when  pent-up  fires  burst  into  a  flame. 

In  June,  1835,  it  was  reported  that  a  military  regiment  under  the 
name  of  the  O'Connell  Guard  was  about  to  be  organized  in  the  city  of 
New  York.  Inflammable  Americans  instantly  took  fire,  and  in  certain 
circles  indignation  rose  to  fever  heat.  The  movement  was  denounced 
as  a  process  of  "  making  an  Irish  regiment  out  of  American  citizens," 
and  it  was  resolved  to  resent  it  at  all  hazards.    Matters  were  brought 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


343 


to  a  head  when  an  advertisement  appeared  calling  a  meeting  of  the 
O'Connell  Guard  at  the  Bleecker  Street  House.  The  excitahle  Ameri- 
cans made  free  comments  on  this,  and  uttered  threats.  Between 
them  and  the  Irish  there  were  recriminations  and  angry  disputes  which 
sometimes  ended  in  fist-fights. 

Finally,  on  Sunday,  June  21st,  the  peace  of  the  city  was  disturbed 
by  such  a  fight,  begun  in  Grand  Street,  near  ( 'rosin-,  between  an 
American  and  an  Irishman.  The  duel  soon  grew  into  a  sort  of  field 
fight  between  a  score  of  men,  in  which  women  joined.  It  was  increas- 
ing in  violence  and  numbers,  and  was  promising  to  assume  the  dignity 
of  a  riot,  when  the  police  interfered  and  restored  order.  On  the  same 
day  a  quarrel  arose  in  Chatham  Street  between  a  negro  and  a  white 
man.  The}'  came  to  blows  ;  other  negroes  and  white  men  joined  in 
the  affray,  and  there  was  a  fierce  battle,  which  was  ended  bv  the  police 
with  much  difficulty. 

There  was  a  more  serious  affair  early  in  the  evening  of  that  hot  June 
Sunday,  in  Pearl  Street,  near  Chatham  Street.  It  was  begun  by  a  duel 
with  fists  between  two  Irishmen.  This  example  was  contagious,  and 
very  soon  many  of  their  nationality  were  engaged  in  a  regular  pitched 
battle.  A  number  of  respectable  citizens  endeavored  to  suppress  the 
tumult,  but  the  uproar  continually  increased  in  violence  until  the  affair 
became  a  serious  riot.  At  length  Mayor  Lawrence,  accompanied  by 
a  large  police  force,  made  his  appearance,  arrested  the  ringleaders,  and 
dispersed  the  mob  for  the  time.  During  the  fight,  in  which  missiles  of 
every  available  kind  were  used,  Dr.  William  McCafferty,  a  well-known 
physician,  passing  by  on  his  way  to  visit  a  patient,  was  hit  in  the  face 
by  a  brick,  which  broke  his  jaw.  He  was  then  knocked  down  by  one 
of  the  ruffians  and  terribly  beaten.  His  ribs  were  broken,  and  he 
soon  died. 

On  the  following  day  the  mob  spirit  broke  out  with  fresh  vigor.  In 
the  Bowery,  near  Broome  Street,  was  a  tavern  called  the  Green 
Dragon,  a  favorite  resort  of  the  Irish.  A  mob  of  the  baser  sort  of 
Americans  attacked  it,  broke  in  the  doors  and  windows,  and  sacked  the 
house.  The  mayor,  Police- Just  ice  Lowndes,  and  a  strong  force  of 
police  hastened  to  the  scene.  Several  prominent  citizens  also  interfered 
in  trying  to  quell  the  riot.  Several  of  these  were  wounded  (Justice 
Lowndes  severely  so)  by  missiles  hurled  by  the  mob.  Such  scenes 
occurred  the  next  day,  when  public  notice  was  given  by  the  proprietors 
of  the  Bleecker  Street  House  that  a  meeting  of  the  O'Connell  Guard 
would  not  be  held  there.  Peace  and  order  soon  succeeded  this  an- 
nouncement. 


344 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


In  the  year  1834  a  change  was  made  in  the  aspect  of  a  portion  of 
the  City  Hall  Park.  On  its  eastern  border  stood  a  building  of  rough 
stone,  comely  in  its  style  of  architecture,  three  stories  in  height,  with 
dormer  windows  and  a  cupola.  It  was  the  Debtors'  Prison.  The 
building  had  been  erected  for  a  prison  before  the  Revolution,  and  was 
known  as  the  New  Jail.  During  the  occupation  of  the  city  by  the 
British  (1770-83)  it  was  used  as  a  pri son  for  notable  American  captives, 
and  was  called  the  Provost.  It  was  in  charge  of  thp  notorious  William 
Cunningham,  the  British  provost-marshal,  who  made  it  famous  by  his 
crimes. 

After  the  Revolution  the  Provost  was  used  as  a  debtors'  prison, 
common  felons  being  confined  in  the  Bridewell,  which  stood  in  the 
Park  between  the  City  Hall  and  Broadway.  In  1830  this  old  prison 
was  converted  into  a  building  for  the  safe  keeping  of  the  county 
records.  All  above;  the  second  story  was  demolished  ;  a  roof  with  very 
little  pitch  and  covered  with  copper  was  substituted  for  the  old  one  ;  a 
Grecian  portico  was  added  to  the  northern  and  southern  ends,  giving 
it,  with  other  modifications,  an  imitation  of  the  temple  of  Diana  at 
Ephesus,  and  was  stuccoed  in  imitation  of  blocks  of  marble. 

"While  yet  in  an  unfinished  state,  this  Hall  of  Records,  as  it  was 
named,  was  used  as  a  hospital  while  the  city  was  afflicted  with  the 
cholera  scourge;  in  1S32.  When  it  was  completed  in  1834  the  offices  of 
the  register,  comptroller,  street  commissioner,  and  surrogate  were  estab- 
lished in  it.  Gradually  the  various  kinds  of  public  business  so  increased 
that  in  1809  the  whole  building  was  given  up  to  the  use  of  the  register. 
It  has  been  repaired  at  heavy  expense  from  time  to  time. 

The  year  1835  was  made  memorable  by  the  most  disastrous  confla- 
gration that  ever  afflicted  the  city.  There  had  been  some  famous  fires 
before,  which  had  figured  in  the  history  of  the  town. 

The  first  of  these  notable  conflagrations  was  a  series  of  fires  that 
occurred  almost  simultaneously  in  different  parts  of  the  little  city  in 
the  spring  of  1741,  the  time  of  the  so-called  Negro  Plot,  already  de- 
scribed on  page  2 1 . 

The  next  most  notable  fire  occurred  on  the  21st  of  September,  177G, 
just  after  the  British  army  had  invaded  Manhattan  Island  and  were 
about  to  enter  the  city  from  the  north,  mentioned  on  page  41.  Dur- 
ing the  British  occupation  of  the  city  a  destructive  fire  occurred,  laying 
sixty-four  houses,  besides  stores,  in  ashes.    See  page  43. 

The  famous  "  Coffee-House  Slip  fire"  broke  out  at  Murray's  Wharf, 
foot  of  Wall  Street,  between  one  and  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
December  9,  1796,  and  before  it  was  arrested  laid  in  ashes  about  fifty 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


345 


buildings  well  stocked  with  merchandise.  The  destruction  was  com- 
plete in  the  space  of  about  four  hours.  The  lire  extended  from  Wall 
Street  to  Maiden  Lane. 

Coffee-House  Slip  was  the  scene  of  the  beginning  of  another  destruc- 
tive conflagration,  which  was  kindled  in  a  grocery -store  in  Front  Street 
on  the  night  of  December  IS,  L804.  The  air  was  keenly  cold,  the 
wind  high,  and  the  flames  spread  so  rapidly  that  before  they  were 
checked  forty  buildings  had  been  consumed,  with  most  of  their  con- 
tents, the  whole  valued  at  nearly  82,000,000.  Among  the  buildings 
destroyed  was  the  famous  old  Coffee-House.  At  that  time  the  popula- 
tion of  the  city  was  about  seventy  thousand.  It  possessed  twenty- 
seven  fire-engine  companies  and  four  hook-and-ladder  companies. 

On  the  morning  of  May  1'.',  1811,  a  very  destructive  fire  began  in  a 
coach  maker's  shop  in  Chatham  Street,  corner  of  Duane  Street.  The 
now  venerable  merchant,  John  Degrauw,  a  boy  at  the  time,  was  pass- 
ing, when,  discovering  the  fire,  he  ran  down  Chatham  Street  crying 
Fire  !  and  soon  had  the  bell  of  the  Debtors'  Jail  a-ringing.  It  was 
Sunday  morning,  and  the  church-bells  were  ringing,  calling  the  people 
to  worship.  Many,  supposing  the  fire-alarm  to  be  a  part  of  the  tintin- 
nabulation, were  tardy  in  appearing  on  the  scene  of  the  conflagration. 
The  wind  was  high,  and  a  drought  was  prevailing.  Cinders  were  car- 
ried to  the  steeple  of  the  Brick  Church  in  Beekman  Street,  which  was 
set  on  fire,  but  was  soon  extinguished.  Before  the  flames  were  sub- 
dued, at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  more  than  one  hundred  build- 
ings of  various  kinds  were  consumed.  Flakes  of  tire  had  ignited  forty- 
three  different  buildings  at  some  distance  from  the  conflagration,  but 
the  flames  did  not  spread.* 

From  1S1 1  until  the  great  fire  in  New  York  in  1S35,  there  were  sev- 
eral pretty  severe  conflagrations,  but  none  very  extensive.  The  most 
notable  was  the  burning  of  the  widely  known  City  Hotel  in  April, 
1S33,  which  had  so  long  been  the  leading  inn  of  the  city. 

The  justly  called  great  fire  of  1835  was  kindled  in  the  store  of  Corn- 
stock  &  Andrews,  fancy  dry -goods  jobbers  at  No.  25  Merchant  Street, 
corner  of  Pearl  Street.  The  latter  was  a  very  narrow  street,  then 
recently  opened,  in  the  rear  of  the  Exchange.  The  fire  broke  out 
about  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  December  1G,  1835.  The  weather 
was  intensely  cold — so  cold  that  water  sent  up  from  the  fire  engines  fell 
in  hail.    The  mercury  marked  several  degrees  below  zero. 

The  conflagration  seems  to  have  been  started  by  an  overheated 

*  See  Sheldon's  "  Story  of  the  Volunteer  Firemen  of  New  York,"  pp.  174-194. 


346 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


stove-pipe  in  the  counting-room,  where  the  flumes  Avere  first  discov- 
ered. The  contents  of  the  store  were  very  combustible,  and  soon  the 
interior  of  the  building  was  a  mass  of  flame. 

The  fire  streamed  out  of  the  doors  and  windows,  and  the  heat  and 
burning  cinders  were  carried  by  a  strong  wind  against  the  stores  on  the 
opposite  side  of  Pearl  Street. 

The  fire  department  had  labored  nearly  all  the  previous  night  in 
fighting  a  large  conflagration  at  Hurling  Slip,  where  several  stores 
were  burned,  and  were  less  prompt  in  their  arrival  upon  the  scene  of 
duty  than  usual,  and  it  was  more  than  half  an  hour  before  a  stream  of 
water  was  poured  on  the  menaced  buildings  in  Pearl  Street.  The 
hydrants,  too,  were  mostly  frozen,  and  the  water  in  the  slips  was  so 
low,  owing  to  a  long-continued  north-west  wind,  that  the  firemen  were 
unable,  from  the  docks,  to  reach  the  water  with  their  suction-pipes. 
The  engines  froze  tight  if  not  continually  kept  at  work,  and  many  of 
them  were  rendered  useless  from  this  cause.  Under  these  circum- 
stances the  fire  rapidly  gained  headway,  and  narrow  Merchant  Street 
soon  presented  an  impassable  wall  of  fire.  The  only  way  to  reach  the 
focus  of  the  conflagration  was  through  William  and  Water  streets  and 
Old  Slip. 

With  the  engines  bound  by  the  frost  and  an  inadequate  supply  of 
"water,  the  firemen  had  nothing  better  offered  them  to  do  than  to 
endeavor  to  save  property  by  removal.  To  this  task  they  actively  and 
effectively  devoted  their  strength.  They  were  joined  by  merchants 
and  citizens.  Goods  in  immense  quantities  were  carried  out  of  igniting 
stores  and  piled  in  the  Merchants'  Exchange  in  "Wall  Street,  in  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Church  m  Garden  Street,  in  Old  Slip,  and  in  Hanover 
Square.  But  the  fierce  dragon  of  flame  soon  overtook  them  in  these 
places  of  fancied  security,  and  devoured  the  edifices  with  their  precious 
contents.  The  splendid  Exchange,  with  its  beautiful  interior  arrange 
ments  and  decorations,  its  grand  colonnade,  its  lofty  dome,  and 
the  fine  marble  statue  of  Alexander  Hamilton  by  Ball  Hughes,  was 
soon  reduced  to  a  ghastly  skeleton,  blackened  and  broken.  In  the  space 
of  a  few  hours  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  property  which  had  been 
removed  from  stores,  from  place  to  place,  for  safety,  had  been  destroyed 
in  the  places  of  refuge. 

Many  of  the  stores  were  new,  supplied  with  strong  iron  shutters, 
their  roofs  covered  with  copper  and  supplied  with  copper  gutters,  and 
were  considered  absolutely  fire-proof.  But  the  fervid  heat  crept  from 
building:  to  building:  under  the  roofs,  and  shot  down  with  fury  to  the 
lower  floors,  setting  everything  ablaze  within.    When  the  shutters, 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


347 


warped  with  heat,  were  unfastened  and  flew  open,  the  interior  of  these 
great  stores  appeared  like  huge  glowing  furnaces.  The  copper  on 
their  roofs  was  melted  and  fell  like  drops  of  burning  sweat  to  the  pave- 
ment. 

The  large  East  India  warehouse  of  Peter  Remsen  &  Co.,  standing  on 
the  northerly  side  of  Hanover  Square,  was  for  a  time  an  object  of 
absorbing  interest.  It  was  lilled  with  a  full  stock  of  valuable  goods. 
Before  the  fire  reached  it,  goods  were  cast  out  of  the  windows  in  the 
upper  stories  into  the  street,  and  with  merchandise  from  the  lower 
floors  were  piled  in  a  huge  mass  in  the  square,  which  was  thought  to 
be  a  place  of  absolute  safety.  The  roaring  flames  came  swiftly  on; 
Pearl  Street  on  both  sides  was  a  sheet  of  fire,  and  a  shower  of  living 
cinders  rained  upon  the  pyramid  of  India  goods  in  Hanover  Square, 
and  they  disappeared  like  the  figures  in  a  dissolving  view. 

"  Suddenly  a  terrible  explosion  occurred  near  by,  with  the  noise  of  a 
cannon,"  wrote  an  eye-witness  of  the  appalling  scene.  "  The  earth 
shook.  We  ran  for  safety,  not  knowing  what  might  follow,  and  took 
refuge  on  the  corner  of  Gouverneur  Lane.  "Waiting  for  a  few  minutes, 
a  second  explosion  took  place,  then  another  and  another.  During  the 
space  perhaps  of  half  an  hour  shock  after  shock  followed  in  rapid  suc- 
cession, accompanied  with  the  darkest,  thickest  clouds  of  smoke  imagi- 
nable. The  explosions  came  from  a  store  in  Front  Street,  near  Old  Slip, 
where  large  quantities  of  saltpetre  in  large  bags  had  been  stored. 
Suddenly  the  whole  ignited,  and  out  leaped  the  flaming  streams  of 
these  neutral  salts  in  their  own  peculiar  colors,  from  every  door  and 
window.  *' 

At  midnight  the  spreading  of  the  fire  was  checked  in  one  direction 
by  the  impassable  barrier  of  the  East  River,  across  which  a  firebrand 
was  carried  by  the  wind  and  set  fire  to  a  house  in  Brooklyn !  It  was 
soon  extinguished.  The  fire  meanwhile  spread  toward  Broadway.  It 
was  soon  evident  that  the  marble  Exchange  building  was  in  great  jeop- 
ardy. The  Post-Office  occupied  a  portion  of  it.  Alter  a  consultation 
between  the  mayor,  the  postmaster,  and  others,  its  contents  were 
removed  to  a  place  of  safety  just  in  time  to  avoid  destruction.  Scores 
of  men  tried  to  save  the  fine  statue  of  Hamilton,  but  did  not  succeed, 
and  that  portrait  of  the  great  statesman  soon  became  a  part  of  the 
common  ruin  of  the  edifice  which  the  merchants  of  New  York  were  so 
proud  of. 

*  Gabrie]  P.  Di  SOS  way,  in  the  "  History  of  the  City  of  New  York  from  the  Discovery  to 
the  Present  Day,"  by  William  L.  Stone,  p,  473. 


348 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  Garden  Street  Church  and  its  adjoining  burving-ground  were 
piled  with  millions  of  dollars1  worth  of  merchandise.  The  flames 
approached  it,  and  the  old  fane  with  its  precious  contents  and  those  on 
the  surface  of  the  graveyard  melted  before  them  like  wax.  There, 
too,  was  lost  the  venerable  bell  which  called  the  people  of  New 
Amsterdam  to  worship  within  the  fort  during  the  Dutch  rule  on  Man- 
hattan Island.  It  is  related  by  Mr.  Disosway  that  when  the  church 
had  taken  fire  some  person  began  to  play  upon  the  organ  which  had 
given  out  solemn  peals  of  music  at  the  burial  of  many  citizens,  lie 
played  the  funeral  dirge  of  the  old  organ,  and  only  ceased  when  the 
lofty  ceiling  began  to  blaze  and  danger  admonished  him  to  fly  for 
safety. 

The  fire  spread  rapidly  in  the  direction  of  Coenties  Slip  and  "Wall 
Street.  The  firemen  were  powerless  to  save  any  building.  At  about 
two  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  mayor  (Lawrence)  summoned  a  council 
of  aldermen  and  others  in  the  street.  The  late  General  Joseph  G. 
Swift,  an  eminent  engineer  in  the  public  service,  had  suggested  the 
necessity  of  blowing  up  some  buildings  not  yet  ignited  to  arrest  the 
flames.  The  mayor  hesitated  to  take  the  responsibility,  hence  the 
council  of  aldermen.  Among  the  latter  was  Morgan  L.  Smith,  alder- 
man of  the  Fourth'  Ward,  who  was  also  colonel  of  the  Twenty-seventh 
(now  Seventh)  Regiment  National  Guard.  It  was  determined  to  try 
the  experiment.  Ruf us  Lord's  store  in  Garden  Street  (now  Exchange 
Place)  was  the  first  building  ordered  to  be  blown  up. 

The  mayor  sent  an  order  to  General  Arculan'us,  in  charge  of  the 
arsenal,  for  gunpowder.    The  general  responded  : 

"  I  send  you  one  barrel  of  gunpowder,  all  there  is  in  the  arsenal." 

In  the  mean  time  no  one  could  be  found  who  had  experience  or  was 
willing  to  undertake  the  hazardous  work  of  blowing  up.  It  was  finally 
assigned  to  Colonel  Smith,*  of  the  National  Guard.     The  cartman 

*  Morgan  L.  Smith  was  horn  in  Duchess  County,  N.  Y.,  in  1801.  His  father  possessed 
an  ample  fortune  for  the  time,  and  the  son  was  not  bred  to  any  special  calling.  He 
finished  his  education  at  an  academy  in  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  in  1820.  He  had  desired  a 
cadetship  at  West  Point,  hut  his  father  preferred  to  have  him  engage  in  some  husiness. 
After  he  left  school  he  travelled  extensively  in  the  south-western  portion  of  our  country. 
In  1821  he  was  in  New  Orleans,  then  a  small  town.    He  returned  home  by  sea. 

Mr.  Smith  established  a  leather  commercial  house  in  New  York  in  1825  with  hit 
nephew,  Jackson  Schnltz,  now  one  of  the  most  enterprising  merchants  and  public- 
spirited  citizens.  For  twelve  years  he  pursued  business  earnestly  and  successfully.  He 
was  an  officer  in  banks  and  other  institutions,  was  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Com. 
merce,  and  an  active  and  efficient  officer  of  the  National  Guard,  as  we  have  observed 
in  the  text.    He  was  alderman  ox  the  Fourth  Ward.    After  the  business  revulsion  of 


FIRST  DECADE.  1830-1840. 


349 


who  brought  the  barrel  of  powder  was  so  frightened  by  the  shower  of 
1  aiming-  fragments  that  he  refused  to  go  nearer  the  conflagration  than 
the  corner  of  Pine  and  Xassau  streets,  when  the  colonel  called  on 
some  one  to  aid  him  in  carrying  the  powder  to  Garden  Street.  The 
late  James  A.  Hamilton  immediately  stepped  forward  and  said,  "  I 
will." 

They  covered  the  barrel  with  Avoollen  blankets,  and  these  two  brave 
men  carried  it  to  the  centre  of  the  basement  of  Lord's  warehouse. 
They  made  a  fuse  of  calico,  slightly  twisted  so  as  to  burn  briskly,  about 
twenty  feet  in  length,  fastened  one  end  in  the  powder,  set  it  on  fire  at 
the  other  end,  and  retreated,  closing  the  cellar  door  tightly  after  them. 
In  a  few  minutes  the  explosion  demolished  the  warehouse  and  made 
such  a  chasm  that  with  little  exertion  the  firemen  stayed  the  progress 
of  the  flames  in  that  direction.  "When  the  powder  was  ignited," 
wrote  the  venerable  John  W\  Degrauw  (an  old  fireman)  to  the  author 
early  in  18S3,  "  when  the  powder  was  ignited,  marvellous  to  relate,  I 
saw  the  building  lifted  several  feet  above  its  foundations  and  fall  in 
ruins." 

"When  the  mayor  learned  that  there  was  no  more  powder  at  the 
arsenal,  the  late  Charles  King  (afterward  president  of  Columbia 
College)  volunteered  to  go  to  the  Brooklyn  Navy- Yard  for  aid.  lie 
crossed  the  East  River  among  the  floating  ice  in  an  open  boat,  an  1 
returned  with  Captain  Mix  of  the  navy  and  some  seamen,  with  powder, 
who  immediately  took  charge  of  the  work  of  blowing  up  other  build- 

1837  he  went  to  Texas  and  opened  a  commercial  house  at  Columbia,  on  the  Brazos. 
President  Van  Buren  appointed  him  United  States  consul,  which  position  he  held  until 
annexation  abolished  the  office  in  1845. 

When  Governor  Marey  was  Polk's  Secretary  of  War  he  requested  Colonel  Smith,  then  in 
Washington,  to  visit  the  camp  of  General  Taylor  (who  had  been  sent  to  Texas  with  a  few 
troops)  at  Corpus  Christi,  and  furnish  him  with  detailed  information  about  the  aspect  of 
affairs  in  that  region,  for  he  could  get  but  little  from  the  general.  On  his  return  Mr. 
Smith  made  many  inquiries,  and  wrote  to  the  secretary  what  he  had  said  to  him  orally, 
"  There  will  be  no  war."  Very  soon  afterward  the  Mexicans  crossed  the  Rio  Grande,  and 
war  was  actually  begun.  At  its  close  Colonel  Smith  was  actively  in  favor  of  annexa- 
tion, and  was  one  of  a  committee  of  five  to  hold  mass  meetings  of  citizens  and  learn  the 
mind  of  the  people.  A  vast  majority  were  in  favor  of  annexation,  and  it  was  accom- 
plished. 

From  that  period  until  the  Civil  War  Colonel  Smith  was  engaged  in  business  in  Texas, 
but  at  its  close  he  retired,  and  has  since  made  his  abode  at  the  North.  He  occupies  a 
fine  residence  in  Newark,  New  Jersey.  He  is  a  devoted  member  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
and  has  generously  endowed  twenty  theological  scholarships  in  Madison  University,  of 
which  he  is  a  trustee.  He  is  also  a  trustee  of  Vassar  College  at  Poughkeepsie,  of  which 
he  was  one  of  the  corporators  chosen  by  the  founder. 


350 


HISTOHY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


ings.  The  brave  and  generous  act  of  Colonel  Smith  was  universally 
applauded.* 

Meanwhile  the  greatest  exertions  had  been  made  to  prevent  the 
destroyer  crossing  Wall  Street.  At  one  time  such  disaster  seemed 
inevitable.  Tbe  famous  Tontine  Coffee- House,  on  the  corner  of  "Wall 
and  "Water  streets,  roofed  with  shingles,  took  fire.  Only  two  fire- 
engines  were  near,  and  these  were  almost  powerless  from  want  of 
water.  Seeing  the  danger  impending  over  a  large  portion  of  the  city 
if  the  great  building-  should  be  consumed,  Oliver  Hull,  a  well-known 
citizen,  standing  by,  offered  to  give  $100  to  the  firemen's  fund  if  they 
would  put  out  the  flames  on  the  roof  and  save  the  building.  The  fire- 
men immediately  made  a  pile  of  boxes  which  had  been  removed  from 
adjacent  stores,  placed  upon  it  a  brandy-puncheon,  on  which  one  of 
the  men  mounted,  and  so  directed  the  nozzle  of  the  hose  that  the  water 
played  on  the  shingles  and  extinguished  the  flames.  So,  the  upper  part 
of  the  city  was  saved. 

Farther  up  Wall  Street  much  property  was  saved  by  the  sagacity  of 
Downing,  the  "  oyster  king,"  as  he  was  called,  at  the  corner  of  Broad 
and  Wall  streets.  Water  could  not  be  had.  He  had  a  large  quantity 
of  vinegar  in  his  cellar.  This  he  brought  out.  and  bv  throwing  it  on 
the  flames  carefully  with  pails,  much  property  was  saved. 

It  was  estimated  that  an  area  of  nearly  fifty  acres  was  strewn  with  the 
ruins  of  almost  seven  hundred  buildings  and  their  contents,  prostrated 
and  consumed  by  the  dreadful  conflagration.  In  all  that  area,  wherein 
no  one  might  penetrate  until  late  the  next  day,  on  account  of  the  fierce 
heat,  only  one  building  was  left  entire.  It  was  the  store  of  John  A. 
Moore,  an  iron  merchant,  on  "Water  Street,  near  Old  Slip.  Strange  to 
relate,  during  the  awful  ravages  of  the  flames  not  a  single  human  life 
was  lost,  nor  was  there  a  serious  accident  of  any  kind.  The  extent  of 
the  fire  was  given  as  follows  in  the  Courier  and  Enquirer: 

"  South  Street  is  burned  down  from  "Wall  Street  to  Coenties  Slip. 
Front  Street  is  burned  down  from  "Wall  Street  to  Coenties  Slip.  Pearl 
Street  is  burned  down  from  Wall  Street  to  Coenties  Alley,  and  the  fire 

*  On  the  following  day  Mr.  Hamilton  (a  son  of  General  Alexander  Hamilton),  who 
assisted  Colonel  Smith  in  carrying  the  barrel  of  powder,  sent  him  the  following  note  : 

"New  York,  December  IT.  1835. 
"Sir:  As  an  eye-witness  to  your  conduct  during  the  fire  of  last  night,  I  congratulate  you  upon  the  suc- 
cess of  your  exertions  in  arresting  its  destructive  course.    Your  decision  and  feurlessiuss  of  consequences 
while  in  the  discharge  of  your  duly  are  deserving  ot  the  highest  praie. 

'■  With  sincere  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

"James  A.  Hamilton. 

'Morgan  L.  Smith,  Esq.,  Alderman  of  the  4th  Ward." 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


351 


was  there  stopped  by  blowing  up  a  building.  Stone  Street  *  is  burned 
down  from  William  Street  to  Xo.  32  on  one  side,  and  No.  39  on  the 
other.  Beaver  Street  is  burned  down  half  way  to  Broad  Street. 
Exchange  Place  is  burned  down  from  Hanover  Street  to  within  three 
doors  of  Broad  Street  ;  here  the  flames  were  stopped  by  blowing  up  a 
house.  William  Street  is  burned  down  from  "Wall  Street  to  South 
Street,  both  sides  of  the  way  ;  Market  House  down.  Wall  Street  is 
burned  down  on  the  south  side  from  William  Street  to  South  Street, 
with  the  exception  of  Xos.  51,  53,  55,  57,  59,  and  Gl,  opposite  this 
office.    All  the  streets  and  alleys  within  the  above  limits  are  destroyed. 

"  The  following  will  be  found  a  tolerably  accurate  statement  of  the 
number  of  houses  and  stores  now  levelled  with  the  ground  :  26  on  Wall 
Street  ;  37  on  South  Street  ;  SO  on  Front  Street  ;  (!2  on  Exchange 
Place  ;  -44  on  William  Street  ;  16  on  Coenties  Slip  ;  3  on  Hanover 
Square  ;  20  on  Gouverneur's  Lane  ;  20  on  Cuyler's  Alley  ;  79  on  Pearl 
Street  ;  76  on  Water  Street  ;  16  on  Hanover  Street  ;  31  on  Exchange 
Street  ;  33  on  Old  Slip  ;  40  on  Stone  Sti'eet  ;  23  on  Beaver  Street  ; 
10  on  Janes's  Lane,  and  38  on  Mill  Street.  Total,  674.  Six  hundred 
and  seventy-four  tenements — by  far  the  greater  part  in  the  occupancy 
of  our  largest  shipping  and  wholesale  dry -goods  and  grocery  merchants, 
and  filled  with  the  richest  products  of  every  portion  of  the  globe." 

The  estimated  value  of  the  property  destroyed  by  the  terrible  confla- 
gration was  $1S,000,000  to  820,000,000.  The  portion  of  the  city 
burned  over  was  quite  extensively  populated.  Hundreds  of  families 
Were  turned  into  the  streets  that  bitter  night,  homeless  and  houseless, 
and  many  wealthy  or  prosperous  merchants  were  reduced  to  compara- 
tive poverty  in  a  few  hours.  A  greater  poition  of  the  fire-insurance 
companies  were  ruined,  and  therefore  much  merchandise  nominally 
insured  was  a  total  loss  to  its  owners. 

The  atmosphere  on  that  night  was  very  clear.  The  light  of  the  great 
fire  was  seen  at  Saratoga,  nearly  two  hundred  miles  distant.  The 
writer  of  these  pages,  tnen  living  at  Poughkeepsie,  seventy-five  miles 
distant,  saw  its  reflection  like  an  auroi'a  glowing  dimly  above  the 
crests  of  the  Hudson  Highlands.  The  fire  raffed  all  that  night  and 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  next  day. 

It  was  early  perceived  that  an  immense  amount  of  property  among 
and  near  the  ruins  not  consumed  was  exposed  to  the  depredations  of 
thieves.    There  was  not  then,  as  now,  an  insurance  patrol,  so  the 


*  Stone  Street  was  the  first  street  in  the  city  that  was  paved  (with  cobble-stones),  and 
hence  its  name. 


352 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


National  Guard  was  railed  out  by  the  mayor  for  the  protection  of  the 
exposed  property.  Faithfully,  as  usual,  they  stood  guard  all  the 
remainder  of  that  fearful  night,  suffering  much  in  the  intense  cold. 
During  their  night  vigils  refreshments  were  furnished  them  from  the 
Auction  Hotel,  near  by,  and  on  the  18th,  after  arduous  duties  for  about 
thirty  hours,  these  ever-ready  and  faithful  guardians  of  the  city  were 
dismissed.* 

As  soon  as  possible  after  the  news  of  the  fire  reached  Philadelphia, 
fire  companies  came  on  from  there  to  the  help  of  their  brethren  in  Xe\\r 
York.  Firemen  also  came  from  Newark  and  Brooklyn,  and  all 
remained  until  the  danger  of  a  renewed  conflagration  was  overpast. 
Expressions  of  the  deepest  sympathy  for  the  sufferers  also  came  from 
Philadelphia  and  neighboring  towns  and  cities.  The  conflagration  was 
considered  by  many  as  a  national  calamity. 

This  dreadful  blow  seemed  to  paralyze  the  business  community  of 
New  York  with  its  benumbing  shock.  The  check  to  its  bounding 
enterprise  was  temporary.  At  noon  on  the  19th  of  December,  while 
the  ruins  were  yet  smoking,  a  meeting  was  held  at  the  City  Hall. 
.Judge  Irving  called  the  assembly  to  order,  when  Mayor  Lawrence  was 
chosen  to  preside.  The  following  eminent  citizens  were  appointed  vice- 
presidents  :  Albert  Gallatin,  Preserved  Fish,  Louis  McLane,  George 
Newbold,  Isaac  Bronson,  Enos  T.  Throop,  Campbell  P.  "White,  John 
T.  Irving,  Samuel  Hicks,  George  Griswold,  James  G.  Iving,f  Benja- 

*  It  was  during  this  year  (1835)  that  the  Order  of  Merit,  which  originated  with  Colonel 
Morgan  L.  Smith,  was  established  in  the  National  Guard,  its  object  being  to  increase  the 
efficiency  of  the  regiment  by  cultivating  a  desire  to  excel  in  drill.  The  badge  of  the 
order  was  a  silver  cross  worn  on  a  red  ribbon.  This  cross  might  be  conferred  on  twelve 
members  of  the  regiment  in  each  year.  The  first  drill  for  the  order  took  place  at  the 
arsenal  yard.  The  Seventh  Company  won  the  honor.  The  contest  was  renewed  the 
following  year  ;  dissatisfaction  arose,  much  bitterness  of  feeling  was  engendered,  and 
finally  the  Order  of  Merit  was  abandoned. 

f  James  Gore  King  was  an  eminent  banker  and  merchant.  While  his  father,  Rufus 
King,  was  United  States  minister  at  the  British  Court,  he  had  his  two  sons,  Charles  and 
James,  educated  at  the  best  schools  in  England.  James  was  born  in  New  York  City 
May  8,  1791.  On  his  return  from  England  in  1805  he  entered  Harvard  University,  and 
graduated  in  1810.  He  studied  at  the  famous  Litchfield  Law  School.  In  1812  he  mar- 
ried a  daughter  of  Archibald  Grade,  a  sister  of  the  wife  of  his  brother  Charles,  and  was 
afterward  established  as  a  merchant  in  Liverpool,  with  his  brother-in-law,  Archibald 
Gracie,  Jr.  In  1824  he  returned  to  New  York  and  became  one  of  the  firm  of  Prime, 
Ward  &■  King,  bankers.  When  that  firm  dissolved  Mr.  King  formed  a  similar  banking 
house  under  the  name  of  James  G.  King  &  Sons.  Mr.  King  performed  service  as  adjutant 
in  the  war  of  1812-15.  In  184!)  he  took  n  seat  in  Congress,  serving  one  term.  He  was 
for  many  years  an  active  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  was  its  president  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  at  his  residence  at  Highwood.  N.  J.,  October  3,  18"3. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


353 


min  L.  Swan,  Jacob  Lorillard,  and  Stephen  Allen.  The  following 
equally  eminent  citizens  were  appointed  secretaries  :  Jonathan  Good- 
hue, Prosper  M.  Wetmore,  John  S.  Crary,  John  A.  Stevens,  Jacob 
Harvey,  Ileuben  Withers,  Dudley  Selden,  Samuel  B.  Ruggles,  George 
Wilson,  Samuel  Cowdrey,  James  Lee,  and  John  L.  Graham.  The 
meeting,  on  motion  of  James  G.  King,  the  banker, 

''Resolved,  That  while  the  citizens  of  New  York  lament  over  the  ruin  which  has  left 
desolate  the  most  valuable  part  of  the  city,  and  deeply  sympathize  with  the  numerous 
sufferers,  it  becomes  them  not  to  repine,  but  to  unite  in  a  vigorous  exertion  to  repair  the 
loss  ;  that  the  extent  of  her  commerce,  the  number,  wealth,  and  enterprise  of  her  citizens, 
justify,  under  the  blessings  of  Divine  Providence,  a  primary  reliance  upon  her  own 
resources  ,  that  we  consider  it  the  duty  of  our  citizens  and  moneyed  institutions  who 
stand  in  the  relation  of  creditors  to  those  who  have  directly  or  indirectly  suffered  by  the 
late  fire,  to  extend  to  them  the  utmost  forbearance  and  lenity." 

The  meeting,  on  motion  of  Dudley  Selden,  appointed  a  committee  of 
one  hundred  to  ascertain  the  extent  of  the  loss  and  probable  value  of 
the  pi-operty  destroyed,  also  how  far  the  sufferers  were  protected  by 
insurance.  They  were  also  authorized  to  apply  to  Congress  for  relief, 
by  extending  credit  for  debts  due  to  the  United  States,  and  for  a  return 
or  remission  of  duties  on  goods  destroyed  by  the  fire  ;  also  to  solicit 
the  general,  State,  and  city  governments  to  extend  their  aid  if  deemed 
expedient.  They  wei'e  also  empowered  to  institute  an  investigation 
with  a  view  to  the  adoption  of  measures  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of 
such  a  calamity,  and  to  take  measures  for  the  immediate  relief  of  those 
who  wei'e  reduced  to  want  by  the  conflagration.  The  then  Leading 
men  of  the  city  engaged  in  the  various  fields  of  business  activity  were 
placed  on  this  important  committee.*    Only  two  of  the  members  of 

*  The  following  named  gentlemen  constituted  that  committee  :  Cornelius  W.  Lawrence, 
Albert  Gallatin,  Preserved  Fish,  Samuel  Hicks,  Benjamin  L.  Swan,  Dudley  Selden, 
Jonathan  Goodhue,  Saul  Alley,  Prosper  M.  Wetmore,  John  T.  Irving,  John  Pintard, 
George  Newbold,  Samuel  B.  Ruggles.  James  G  King,  William  B.  Astor.  George  Gns- 
wold,  Enos  T.  Throop,  Samuel  Cowdrey,  Thomas  J.  Oakley.  George  Wilson.  William  T. 
McCoun,  John  G.  Coster,  Walter  Bowne,  James  F.  Bowman,  Louis  McLane,  Jacob 
Lorillard,  John  S.  Crary,  Jacob  Harvey,  Reuben  Withers,  Ogden  Hoffman,  Charles 
King,  Edward  Sanford,  John  W  Leavitt,  Adam  Treadwell,  John  Leonard,  George  S. 
Robbins,  William  Neilson.  Stephen  Whitney.  Joseph  Burchard,  Jacob  Morton,  Joha 
Wilson,  Mordecai  M.  Noah,  Philip  Hone.  William  L.  Stone,  Rensselaer  Havens,  Charles 
W.  Sanford,  William  Van  Wyck,  D.  F.  Manice,  John  Kelley,  H.  C.  De  Rham,  Isaac 
Bronson,  Campbell  P.  White,  John  A.  Stevens,  James  Lee,  George  Douglass.  Stephen 
Allen,  John  Fleming,  John  B.  Lawrence,  William  B.  Townsend,  Charles  H.  Russell, 
James  Heard,  Charles  Graham,  George  Ireland,  John  Y.  Cebra,  Samuel  Jones,  Charles 
Augustus  Davis,  Robert  C.  Wetmore,  James  D.  P.  Ogden.  Andrew  Warner,  David  Hall. 
James  Conner,  Robert  White. Richard  Powncll.  Joseph  Blunt,  Samuel  Ward,  F.  B.  Cutting, 


354 


HISTORY  OF  MEW  YORK  CITY. 


that  committee  of  one  hundred  citizens  appointed  forty  years  ago  now 
(1883)  survive.  These  are  General  James  Watson  Webb  and  Colonel 
Andrew  Warner. 

The  recuperative  energy  displayed  by  the  business  men  at  this  time 
was  marvellous  to  behold.  They  seemed  to  rebound  from  sudden 
depression  with  wonderful  elasticity.  The  newspapers  at  home  and 
abroad  greeted  them  with  words  of  sympathy  and  encouragement. 
The  business  ramifications  with  almost  every  city  and  village  in  the 
country  made  that  sympathy  assume  the  feature  of  a  personal  emotion. 
After  the  first  shock  was  over  no  gloom  pervaded  the  community, 
though  almost  every  family  was  more  or  less  affected  by  the  disaster. 

"  That  portion  of  the  city  which  has  been  destroyed,"  said  the  New 
York  Mirror,  a  fortnight  after  the  fire,  "  contained  more  of  talent, 
respectability,  generosity,  industry,  enterprise,  and  all  the  qualities  that 
ennoble  and  dignify  our  race,  than  the  same  space,  perhaps,  in  any 
other  city  in  the  world.  The  former  occupants  of  that  spot  gave 
employment  and  subsistence  to  more  of  their  fellow-creatures,  and  were 
the  dispensers  of  more  good,  more  liberal  benefactions  to  their  kind, 
more  useful  citizens  of  the  community  of  which  they  were  among  the 
leading  members,  than  probably  any  other  class  of  men.  They  were 
liberal  encouragcrs  of  the  arts,  the  supporters  of  literature,  the  fosterers 
of  native  talent  in  every  branch  of  science.  .  .  .  In  a  short  time, 
we  trust,  by  the  goodness  of  that  Providence  which  produceth  benefit 
out  of  evil,  that  this  dispensation  will  be  recounted  as  a  curious  event 
and  as  an  historical  fact,  whose  effects  are  unfelt,  and  whose  results 
have  terminated  in  improvement  and  beauty." 

John  H.  How-land,  John  Lang,  Daniel  Jackson,  J.  Palmer,  Richard  Riker,  James  Roose- 
velt, Jr.,  James  Monroe,  Richard  McCarthy,  Isaac  S.  Hone,  Peter  A.  Jay,  Amos  Butler, 
Joseph  D.  Beers,  David  Bryson,  Samuel  Swartwout,  Walter  R.  Jones,  Philo  L.  Mills, 
Morris  Robinson,  Benjamin  McVickar,  John  Haggerty,  Charles  Dennison,  George  W.  Lee, 
William  Churchill,  George  Lovett,  G.  A.  Worth,  Edwin  Lord,  B.  L.  Woolley,  William 
Mitchill,  Burr  Wakeman.  William  Leggett,  James  B.  Murray,  Peter  A.  Cowdrey,  John  L. 
Graham,  George  D.  Strong,  Jonathan  Lawrence,  Cornelius  Heyer,  James  Lawson,  Samuel 
S.  Howland,  James  Watson  Webb,  William  M.  Price,  John  Delafield,  James  McCride, 
M  M.  Quackenboss,  B.  M.  Brown,  William  B.  Crosby,  GnlianC.  Verplanck.  William  Beach 
Lawrence,  Joseph  L.  Josephs,  S.  H.  Foster,  T.  T.  Kissam,  Robert  Bogardus,  William 
Howard,  Luman  Reed,  Robert  Smith,  M.  Ulshoefer,  Samuel  Thompson,  Robert  C. 
Cornell,  Peter  G.  Stuyvesant,  David  Hadden,  Benjamin  Strong,  William  P.  Hall,  Isaac 
Townsend,  Charles  P.  Clinch,  Rufus  L.  Lord,  J.  R.  Satterlee,  David  S.  James,  David 
Austen,  Seth  Geer,  Robert  Lenox,  Perez  Jones,  William  Turner. 

To  this  committee  was  added  the  following  committee,  appointed  by  the  Board  of 
Trade,  to  co-operate  with  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred  :  Gabriel  P.  Disosway,  Robert 
Jaffray,  Silas  Brown,  N.  H.  Weed,  George  Underhill,  D.  A.  Cushman,  Meigs  D.  Benjamin, 
Marcus  Wilbur,  and  Thomas  Denny. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


355 


It  was  even  so.  As  has  been  remarked,  the  rebound  was  marvellous. 
Before  many  months  had  passed  away  this  portion  of  the  city- — the 
"  burnt  district'' — literally  arose  from  its  ashes.  "  Improvement  and 
beauty"  had  done  their  perfect  work.  "  Business,  trade,  and  com- 
merce revived  more  rapidly  than  before,"  said  Mr.  Disosway.  "  In 
vain  do  we  search  for  a  chapter  in  ancient  or  modern  history  of  such  a 
conflagration  and  its  losses,  and  of  rapid  recovery  from  all  its  evils, 
with  increasing  prosperity,  as  we  find  in  the  great  fire  of  "New  York  in 
December,  1835." 

The  spirit  of  the  business  men  of  the  city  which  prompted  immediate 
reaction  was  well  illustrated  by  a  circumstance  related  by  the  late 
"William  E.  Dodge  concerning  the  conduct  of  James  E.  Lee,  who  was  a' 
dry-goods  importer,  and  was  subsequently  chiefly  instrumental  in  pro- 
curing the  erection  of  Brown's  fine  equestrian  statue  of  Washington  in 
Union  Square. 

"  As  I  saw  him,  covered  with  dirt,"  said  Mr.  Dodge,  "  the  day  after 
the  fire,  trying  with  a  gang  of  men  to  dig  out  his  iron  safe,  I  said  : 
"  '  Well,  this  is  very  hard.' 

"  '  Yes,"  said  Lee,  straightening  himself  up,  '  but.  Dodge,  thank 
God,  he  has  left  me  my  wife  and  children,  and  these  hands  can  support 
them.'    And  he  lived  and  died  one  of  the  time-honored  merchants." 

That  fire  began  the  exodus  of  the  dry-goods  business  from  Pearl 
Street,  and  it  has  never  returned.  It  has  gradually  gone  up  town,  and 
the  finest  stores  may  now  be  found  miles  north  of  the  Battery. 


CHAPTER  XTX. 


THE  great  fire  in  the  early  winter  of  1835  was  a  strong  confirma- 
tion of  the  popular  wisdom  evinced  at  the  spring  election  that 
year,  by  casting  an  overwhelming  majority  of  votes  in  favor  of  a  pro- 
ject for  securing  an  abundant  supply  of  water  for  domestic  and  public 
use  in  the  city.  Let  us  take  a  brief  glance  at  methods  which  had  been 
employed  for  furnishing  water  for  the  city  before  that  period. 

Tlic  firsl  public  well  constructed  in  New  York  (then  New  Amster- 
dam) was  in  front  of  the  fort  at  the  foot  of  Broadway.  It  was  put  in 
operation  about  lii.">"\  and  was  the  resort  of  the  inhabitants,  not  other- 
wise supplied,  during  the  remainder  of  the  Dutch  rule. 

This  seems  to  have  been  the  only  public  well  in  the  city  until  1077, 
after  the  final  occupation  of  the  town  by  the  English,  when  it  wis 
ordered  by  the  municipal  authorities  that  "  wells  be  made  in  the 
following  places,  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  streets  where  they  are  sever- 
ally made,  namely  :  One  opposite  Roelf  Jansen,  the  butcher  ;  one  in 
Broadway,  opposite  Van  Dyck's  ;  one  in  the  street  opposite  Derick 
Smith's  ;  one  in  the  street  opposite  John  Cavalier's  ;  one  in  the  yard 
of  the  City  Hall,  and  one  in  the  street  opposite  Cornelius  van  Bor- 
sum's." 

In  1<!S7  seven  other  public  wells  were  constructed,  and  for  the  pur- 
pose of  defraying  the  expense,  assessments  of  designated  property- 
owners  were  made,  the  city  government  paying  one  half  the  expense. 

During  the  earlier  part  of  the  last  century  the  city  government  con- 
tributed annually  about  s^i)  for  the  construction  of  new  wells,  while 
the  inhabitants  living  in  the  neighborhoods  of  the  wells  paid  the 
remainder  of  the  expense.  None  of  them  were  allowed  the  use  of  the 
well  until  they  had  contributed  a  fair  proportion  of  the  expense. 

In  the  year  17.">o  pumps  first  came  into  use  in  the  public  wells,  and 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  province  passed  an  act  to  enable  the  city 
to  raise  a  tax  for  the  construction  and  keeping  in  repair  of  the  pumps 
in  public  wells. 

So  early  as  177-1,  when  the  population  was  but  twenty-two  thousand, 
an  attempt  was  made  to  establish  a  uniform  water-supply,  under  the 


t 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1810.  3")  7 

direction  of  Christopher  Codes.  He  suggested  to  the  city  authorities 
the  construction  of  water- works  on  the  easterly  side  of  Broadway, 
north  of  (present)  Pearl  Street.  They  were  to  consist  of  a  large  well, 
pumping  machinery,  and  a  reservoir,  the  well  to  he  near  the  edge  of 
the  Collect  Pond,  and  the  site  of  the  city  prison  called  the  Tombs. 
The  reservoir  was  to  he  upon  the  high  ground  opposite  (present)  Worth 
Street.  City  bonds  were  issued  to  the  amount  of  §12,500.  This 
amount  was  increased  the  next  year  to  $13,000.  The  land  was  pur- 
chased for  a  little  more  than  $5000,  but  the  breaking  out  of  the  old 
war  for  independence  put  an  end  to  the  project. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  war  the  subject  engaged  the 
public  attention,  and  from  that  time  until  1832  various  measures  for 
supplying  the  city  with  an  abundance  of  pure  water  were  proposed. 
Only  two  were  tried,  and  these  proved  inadequate.  These  were  the 
Manhattan  Water  "Works  in  Chambers  Street,  and  a  reservoir  near 
Union  Square.  In  each  case  the  source  of  the  water  supply  was  an 
immense  well. 

In  1832  Colonel  De  Witt  Clinton,  in  response  to  a  resolution  of  the 
common  council,  reported  that  in  his  judgment  the  city  of  New  York 
should  rely  upon  the  Croton  River  for  its  supply  of  wholesome  water 
for  all  purposes.  He  set  forth  very  fully  all  the  advantages  of  the 
Croton — its  purity  and  unfailing  abundance,  its  superior  elevation,  and 
the  ease  with  which  it  might  be  introduced.  Not  having  made  sur- 
veys of  the  route,  Colonel  Clinton's  estimates,  summarized  below,  Were 
very  inadequate.    They  were  as  follows  : 

"  From  the  best  opinion  I  can  form,  I  am  satisfied  that  the  waters  of 
the  Croton  Piver  may  be  taken  at  Pine's  Bridge  and  delivered  on  the 
island  for  a  sum  not  exceeding  $750,000,  in  an  open  canal  and  with 
stone  linings,  ditchings,  and  walls,  and  including  drainages  and  other 
contingencies  it  may  swell  the  cost  to  $S50,000.  The  expense  of  dis- 
tribution and  reservoirs  on  the  island  may  amount  to  §1,650,000  more, 
which  would  make  the  whole  cost  of  the  work  X2, 5oo,<mm>." 

In  January,  1833,  the  Legislature,  at  the  request  of  the  com- 
mon council,  passed  an  act  authorizing  the  governor  to  appoint 
five  water  commissioners  for  the  city  of  New  York  to  examine  and 
consider  all  matters  in  relation  to  supplying  the  city  with  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  pure  and  wholesome  water,  the  commissioners  to  employ 
the  necessary  engineers,  surveyors,  etc.  Under  this  act  the  governor 
appointed  as  commissioners  Stephen  Allen,  B.  M.  Brown,  S.  Dusen- 
bury,  Saul  Alley,  and  W.  W.  Fox.  The  common  council  appropriated 
$5000  for  their  use.    They  employed  Canvas  White  and  Major  D.  B. 


358 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Douglass,  formerly  professor  of  engineering  at  West  Point,  to  make 
surveys,  plans,  and  estimates,  and  instructed  them  to  make  examina- 
tion of  the  Croton,  Sawmill,  and  Bronx  rivers  in  the  counties  of  West- 
chester and  Putnam,  together  with  their  several  tributaries,  and  to 
furnish  the  commissioners  with  a  map  and  profile  of  the  country,  and 
their  opinion  of  the  quality  of  the  water,  the  supply  that  might  be 
depended  upon  in  all  seasons,  and  the  practicability  of  conveying  it  to 
the  city  at  sufficient  elevation  to  preclude  the  use  of  machinery,  and 
answer  all  the  purposes  contemplated.  Also  to  designate  the  most 
feasible  route  and  the  best  manner  of  conducting  the  conduits  and 
reservoirs,  the  probable  amount  required  to  pay  for  lands,  water- 
rights,  damages,  and  cost  of  construction. 

In  his  report  to  the  common  council,  in  October,  1834,  Major  Doug- 
lass (who  alone  was  able  to  make  this  survey)  recommended  the  Croton 
River  as  the  source,  a  masonry  aqueduct  for  the  conduit,  and  described 
two  routes — the  "  inland  route'"  and  the  "  Hudson  River  route" — the 
former  being  forty-three  miles  and  the  latter  forty-seven  miles  long 
from  the  proposed  dam  on  the  Croton  to  the  distributing  reservoir  on 
Murray  Hill.  He  estimated  that  a  minimum  supply  of  twenty-seven 
million  gallons  a  day  might  be  delivered  into  the  reservoir  by  either 
route,  at  an  elevation  of  one  hundred  and  seventeen  feet  above  tide- 
water. The  cost  of  the  inland  route  he  estimated  at  $4,500,000,  and 
of  the  Hudson  River  route  at  K4,7<>8,197. 

The  water  commissioners,  indorsing  the  views  and  conclusions  of 
Major  Douglass,  submitted  a  report  accordingly  to  the  common  council 
and  the  Legislature.  The  water  commissioners  were  reappointed,  and 
the  Legislature  by  act  made  provision  for  submitting  the  question  of 
"  water"  or  "  no  water"  to  the  electors  of  the  city  at  the  charter  elec- 
tion in  is:').").  The  common  council  were  authorized,  in  the  event  of 
the  vote  being  in  favor  of  water,  to  issue  water  stock  to  the  amount  of 
$2,500,01111,  and  to  instruct  the  commissioners  to  proceed  with  the  work 
r — to  purchase  lands,  water  rights,  etc. — and  to  have  the  work  done  by 
contract. 

On  the  2d  of  March,  1835,  the  common  council 

"  Resolved,  That  a  poll  be  and  hereby  is  appointed  to  be  opened  on  the  days  upon 
which  the  next  annual  election  for  charter  officers  of  this  city  is  by  law  appointed  to  be 
held,  to  the  end  that  the  electors  may  express  their  assent  or  refusal  to  allow  the  com- 
mon council  to  proceed  in  raising  the  money  necessary  to  construct  the  work  aforesaid 
[the  Croton  Aqueduct,  etc.],  by  depositing  their  ballots  in  a  box  to  be  provided  for  that 
purpose  in  their  respective  wards,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  act  '  To  provide 
for  supplying  the  city  of  New  York  with  pure  and  wholesome  water.'  " 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


359 


The  election  occurred  on  the  11-th,  15th,  and  16th  of  Aprd  following. 
There  had  been  much  opposition  to  the  measure  among  tax-payers  on 
account  of  the  expense,  and  so  clamorous  had  been  the  opposition  that 
friends  of  the  measure  were  most  agreeably  surprised  at  the  result. 
There  were  17,330  votes  in  favor  of  providing  for  pure  water,  and 
only  5963  against  it.  Had  a  vote  on  the  same  question  been  taken 
immediately  after  the  great  fire  it  would  probably  have  been  almost  or 
quite  unanimous  in  favor  of  water. 

The  great  work  was  almost  immediately  begun.  On  the  7th  of  May 
the  common  council  instructed  the  water  commissioners  to  proceed 
with  the  work,  and  authorized  a  loan  of  $2,500,000,  at  five  per  cent 
interest,  to  provide  for  the  current  expenses.  The  commissioners 
appointed  Major  Douglass  their  chief  engineer,  and  directed  him  to 
organize  a  corps  of  engineers  as  soon  as  practicable.  An  engineering 
party  took  the  field  on  the  6th  of  July  and  proceeded  to  stake  out  the 
land  required  for  the  lake  formed  by  the  Croton  Dam  and  for  the  line 
of  the  aqueduct. 

The  surveys  and  resurveys  for  the  above-named  purposes  were  not 
completed  until  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  of  1836.  During  the 
progress  of  these  surveys  the  route  was  in  several  places  amended  and 
shortened,  making  the  distance  finally  from  the  Croton  Dam  to  the 
distributing  reservoir  on  Murray  Hill  about  forty  and  one  half  miles. 

In  October,  1836,  John  B.  Jervis  succeeded  Major  Douglass  as  chief 
engineer,  and  continued  in  that  position  until  the  great  work  was  com- 
pleted. Under  Mr.  Jervis's  direction,  the  map,  drawings,  and  working- 
plans  were  completed  during  the  winter  of  1836-37,  and  in  the  spring 
of  1837  the  work  of  construction  was  fairly  begun  by  placing  a  portion 
of  it  under  contract. 

It  was  originally  intended  to  have  the  water  cross  the  Harlem  River 
on  a  low  bridge  through  an  inveited  siphon,  but  in  1839  the  Legisla- 
ture passed  an  act  requiring  the  Harlem  River  to  be  passed  on  a  high 
bridge.  The  contract  for  the  bridge  was  made  in  August  of  that  year. 
It  was  constructed  of  stone,  and  supported  by  thirteen  arches  resting 
on  solid  granite  piers.  The  crown  of  the  highest  arch  is  one  hundred 
and  sixteen  feet  above  the  river  surface  at  high  tide.  It  is  fourteen 
hundred  and  sixty  feet  in  length,  and  crosses  the  Harlem  Valley  at 
One  Hundred  and  Seventy-fifth  Street.  The  water  is  carried  over  the 
bridge  in  a  conduit  of  iron  pipes  protected  by  brick  masonry.  There 
is  a  wide  footpath  across  the  bridge,  to  enable  visitors  to  have  a  view 
of  the  fine  scenery  from  the  lofty  position.  When  the  High  Bridge 
was  completed  the  water  commissioners  appointed  by  the  governor 


360 


HISTORY  OB1  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


finished  their  labors,  and  the  whole  water  system  came  under  the 
charge  of  the  Croton  Aqueduct  Board. 

On  the  27th  of  June,  1842,  with  appropriate  ceremonies,  the  water 
was  first  conveyed  through  the  aqueduct  into  the  receiving  reservoir  at 
Eighty-sixth  Street,  and  on  the  4th  of  July  following  it  was  received 
into  the  distributing  reservoir  on  Murray  Hill,  between  Fortieth  and 
Forty-second  streets  and  Fifth  Avenue. 

The  celebration  of  the  completion  of  the  Croton  Aqueduct  occurred 
on  the  14th  of  October,  1842.  That  memorable  event  will  be  noticed 
hereafter. 

The  year  1835  is  conspicuous  in  the  annals  of  New  York  for  the  per- 
fection of  an  ingenious  literary  hoax  which  puzzled  the  scientific  world 
for  a  moment,  and  set  journalistic  pens  in  motion  in  both  hemispheres. 
The  chief  perpetrator  was  a  modest,  genial,  unpretentious  young  Eng- 
lishman named  Richard  Adams  Locke,  who  had  been  employed  as  a 
reporter  oil  the  Courier  anil  Enquirer,  and  was  then  the  editor  of  the 
Sun  newspaper,  in  the  columns  of  which  it  appeared,  credited  to  a 
supplement  of  the  Edinburgh  Philosophical  Journal. 

It  was  a  pretended  account  of  wonderful  discoveries  on  the  surface 
of  the  earth's  satellite  made  by  Sir  John  F.  W.  Herschel  at  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  by  means  of  a  newly 'Constructed  telescope.  It  stated  that 
by  means  of  this  telescope  the  moon's  surface  was  brought  within  the 
apparent  distance  of  eight  miles  of  the  earth,  as  seen  by  the  naked 
eye.  The  topography,  vegetable  productions,  and  animal  life  were  all 
perceived  quite  clearly.  The  chief  inhabitants— the  family  of  the  "  man 
in  the  moon" — were  described  as  being  something  of  the  form  of  bats; 
in  a  word,  Herschel  had  given  to  the  world  a  revelation  of  a  hitherto 
unknown  inhabited  sphere,  the  nearest  neighbor  to  our  earth.  The 
construction  of  the  telescope  was  so  ingeniously  described,  and  every- 
thing said  to  have  been  seen  with  it  was  given  with  such  graphic  pOWeT 
and  minuteness,  and  with  such  a  show  of  probability,  that  it  deceived 
scientific  men.  It  played  upon  their  credulity  and  stimulated  their 
speculations  ;  and  the  public  journals,  regarding  it  as  a  grave  historical 
fact,  felt  piqued  by  the  circumstance  that  an  obscure  and  despised 
"  penny  sheet1'  should  have  been  the  first  vehicle  for  announcing  the 
great  event  to  the  American  people.  One  journal  gravely  assured  its 
readers  that  it  received  the  "  supplement"  by  the  same  mail,  but  was 
prevented  from  publishing  the  article  on  the  day  when  it  appeared  in 
the  Sun  only  because  of  a  want  of  room  ! 

The  newspapers  throughout  the  country  copied  the  article  and  com- 
mented on  it.    Some  dishonestly  withheld  credit  to  the  Sun,  leaving 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


361 


the  inference  that  they  had  taken  it  from  the  famous  "  supplement." 
The  more  stately  newspapers  —  the  "respectable  weeklies"- — were 
thoroughly  hoaxed.  The  New  York  Daily  Advertiser,  one  of  the 
"respectable  sixpennys,"  said  that  "Sir  John  had  added  a  stock  of 
knowledge  to  the  present  age  that  will  immortalize  his  name  and  place 
it  high  on  the  page  of  science."  The  Albany  Dally  Advertiser  read 
"  with  unspeakable  emotions  of  pleasure  and  astonishment  an  article 
from  the  last  Edinburgh  Philosophical  Journal  containing  an  account 
of  the  recent  discoveries  of  Sir  John  Herschel  at  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope."  Some  of  the  grave  religious  journals  made  the  great  discovery 
a  subject  for  pointed  homilies  on  the  "  wonders  of  God's  works  more 
and  more  revealed  to  man." 

Scientific  men  were  equally  deceived  at  first.  On  the  morning  of 
the  appearance  of  the  article  in  the  San  the  late  Professor  J.  J.  Mapes 
had  occasion  to  start  for  Washington  on  business.  He  believed  the 
story,  took  a  copy  with  him,  and  handed  it  to  Professor  Jones,  of  the 
Georgetown  College.  The  learned  professor  read  it  with  most  absorb- 
ing interest,  with  a  profound  belief  in  its  truth,  until  he  came  to  some 
statements  about  the  telescope,  which  presented  an  impossibility  in 
science,  when  he  dropped  the  paper  and  said,  with  tears  starting  from 
his  eyes,  "  Oh,  Professor  Mapes,  it's  all  a  hoax  !  it's  all  a  hoax  !" 

It  is  said  that  M.  Arago,  the  great  French  savant,  proposed  in  the 
French  Institute  the  sending  of  a  deputation  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
to  confer  with  Herschel,  and  other  scientific  bodies  in  Europe  were 
deeply  stirred  by  the  idea  of  the  "  marvellous  discovery." 

But  it  was  not  even  a  "nine  days1  wonder."  In  a  few  days  the 
story  was  discovered  to  he  a  pure  fiction.  Locke  had  discerned  the 
readiness  of  belief  in  theories  put  forth  by  men  like  Dr.  Dick  and 
others,  who  framed  them  to  suit  their  own  religious  speculations,  and 
he  readily  engaged  in  preparing  the  "  Moon  Hoax,"  as  it  is  known  in 
the  realm  of  literature,  for  the  purpose  of  testing  the  extent  of  public 
credulity.  It  was  a  successful  experiment,  but  the  editors  of  journals 
and  scientific  men  who  had  readily  swallowed  the  bait  never  forgave 
Locke  for  this  cruel  infliction.  They  were  the  butt  of  universal  merri- 
ment for  a  long  time. 

The  secret  history  of  the  "  Moon  Hoax"  is  this  :  Mr.  Moses  Y. 
Beach  had  recently  become  sole  proprietor  of  the  Sun,  and  Richard 
Adams  Locke  was  the  editor.  It  was  desirable  to  have  some  new  and 
startling  features  to  increase  its  popularity,  and  Locke,  for  a  considera- 
tion, proposed  to  prepare  for  it  a  work  of  fiction.  To  this  proposal 
Mr.  Beach  agreed.    Locke  consulted  Lewis  Gay  lord  Clark,  the  editor 


362 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CUT. 


of  the  Knickerbocker  Magazine,  as  to  the  subject.  The  Edinburgh 
Scientific  Journal  was  then  busied  with  Herschel's  astronomical  explora- 
tions at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  Clark  proposed  to  make  these 
the  basis  of  the  story.  It  was  done.  Clark  was  the  real  inventor  of 
the  incidents,  the  imaginative  part,  while  to  Locke  was  intrusted  the 
ingenious  task  of  unfolding  the  discoveries.  Messrs.  Beach,  Clark,  and 
Locke  were  in  daily  consultation  while  the  hoax  was  in  preparation. 
It  was  thus  a  joint  product.* 

Taking  advantage  of  the  public  excitement  caused  by  the  publication 
of  the  Moon  Hoax,  Mr.  Harrington,  then  exhibiting  "  moving  dio- 
ramas" in  New  York,  produced  one  which  exhibited  scones  in  the  lunar 
sphere  as  described  by  Locke.    It  was  painted  by  John  Evers,  the 

*  Moses  Yale  Beach,  one  of  the  most  enterprising  men  in  the  business  of  journalism  in 
New  York  forty  years  ago,  was  a  native  of  Wallingford,  Connecticut,  where  he  was  born 
on  January  1,  1800.  He  was  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Stratford,  Conn., 
of  that  name.  On  his  maternal  side  he  was  a  descendant  of  a  member  of  the  family  of 
the  founder  of  Yale  College.  He  was  apprenticed  to  a  cabinet-maker  at  Hartford.  Ener- 
getic and  ambitious,  he  purchased  the  remainder  of  the  term  of  his  indentures  when  he 
was  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  entered  the  business  world  on  his  own  account  at  North- 
ampton, Mass.  There,  with  a  partner,  he  opened  a  cabinet-making  establishment,  and 
soon  afterward  received  the  first  premium  of  the  Franklin  Institute  for  the  best  cabinet- 
ware  on  exhibition. 

Mr  Beach  married  Nancy  Day,  a  sister  of  the  founder  of  the  Sun  newspaper,  and  in 
1821  established  himself  in  business  in  Springfield,  Mass.  Possessed  of  genius  for  in- 
vention, several  projects  claimed  his  attention.  A  favorite  one  was  aerial  navigation. 
One  of  his  daily  associates  was  Thomas  Blanchard,  inventor  of  the  stern-wheel  steamboat 
and  the  lathe  for  turning  irregular  forms,  such  as  lasts,  gun-stocks,  etc.  The  two  neigh- 
bors were  so  intimate  that  Mr.  Beach's  friends  regarded  them  as  joint  inventors  of  the 
stern-wheel. 

Mr.  Beach  was  also  intimate  with  the  paper-makers  in  his  neighborhood,  and  ho  de- 
vised the  simple  machine  now  in  universal  use  to  obviate  the  necessity  of  a  large  amount 
of  hand  labor  in  cutting  the  rags.  This  led  to  his  obtaining  an  interest  in  a  paper- 
mill  at  Saugerties,  on  the  Hudson,  and  to  that  place  he  removed  with  his  family  in  1827. 

In  1835  Mr.  Beach  purchased  an  interest  in  the  •Sun  newspaper,  and  finally  he  becamo 
the  sole  proprietor  of  it.  His  management  of  the  business  from  the  beginning  was 
marked  by  great  enterprise  in  the  adoption  of  new  methods  for  obtaining  the  earliest 
intelligence  of  current  events  for  his  paper.  On  special  occasions  he  established  daily 
expresses.  For  example  :  During  the  trial  at  Utica  of  Alexander  McLeod,  a  British  sub- 
ject, for  complicity  in  the  burning  of  the  steamboat  Caroline  in  the  Niagara  River,  an 
express  was  run  between  that  city  and  the  Sun  office  in  New  York.  Another  was  run 
from  Halifax  to  New  York,  carrying  European  news  brought  by  the  Cunard  steamships, 
then  the  only  regular  line  of  vessels  carrying  the  mails  between  Europe  and  America. 
Frequently  expresses  were  run  from  Boston  and  from  Albany  to  New  York  at  the  expense 
of  Mr.  Beach.  Those  from  Boston  were  usually  confided  to  Alvin  Adams  and  his  associ- 
ates. In  this  service  Mr.  Dinsmore,  the  (present)  president  of  the  Adams  Express  Com- 
pany, distinguished  himself  by  celerity  of  movement  with  a  single  horse  between  Spring- 
field and  Hartford,  in  forwarding  Mr.  Beach's  news  budget. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


303 


scene-painter  at  the  Park  Theatre,  who  is  still  living  (1883),  one  of  the 
three  survivors  of  the  founders  of  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of 
Design.  It  was  very  popular  for  a  while.  The  Hoax  gave  the  Sun  a 
great  business  impetus. 

This  was  the  era  of  the  advent  of  two  mighty  powers  which  have 
played  a  most  important  part  in  the  growth,  prosperity,  and  marvellous 
expansion  in  the  wealth  and  population  of  the  city  of  New  York. 
These  were  railways  and  ocean  steam  navigation. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  decade,  steamboats,  which  had  been  in 
operation  only  about  twenty  years,  were  comparatively  few  in  num- 
ber ;  and  the  first  charter  given  to  a  railway  company  in  the  United 
States  was  granted  by  the  Legislature  of  New  York  to  the  Mohawk 

To-day,  on  the  roof  of  the  Commercial  Advertiser  (the  old  Sun)  building,  corner  of 
Nassau  and  Fulton  streets,  may  be  seen  a  structure  erected  by  Mr.  Beach  as  the  abode 
of  numerous  carrier-pigeons,  the  services  of  which  were  often  used  in  the  swift  trans- 
mission of  news  to  the  Sun  from  many  directions.  Sometimes  a  pigeon  was  set  free  on 
the  deck  of  a  just-arrived  steamship  from  Liverpool  in  Boston  harbor,  with  European 
news  wrapped  about  its  legs  ;  others  would  come  from  political  nominating  conventions, 
from  race-courses,  and  from  other  public  gatherings,  with  news  of  the  results.  But  with 
the  advent  of  the  electro-magnetic  telegraph  these  enterprises  were  superseded  :  Mr. 
Beach  found  his  "  occupation  gone." 

When  the  war  with  Mexico  was  agitating  the  country  the  telegraph  wires  were  not 
extended  farther  southward  than  Kichmond,  Va.  The  11  fast  mail  "  then  occupied  seven 
days  and  nights  in  the  transit  between  New  Orleans  and  New  York.  It  was  the  quickest 
method  for  communication  between  the  two  cities,  and  consequently  from  the  seat  of 
war.  Mr.  Beach  was  satisfied  that  the  time  might  be  much  shortened  by  running  an 
express  somewhere.  He  sent  his  son  to  investigate  the  matter,  and  it  was  found  that  the 
route  between  the  cities  of  Mobile  and  Montgomery,  Alabama,  which  occupied  the  "  fast 
mail  "  thirty-six  hours,  might  be  traversed  in  twelve  hours  by  a  horse  and  his  rider.  Mr. 
Beach  established  an  express  with  this  result,  and  it  was  continued  several  months.  He 
asked  his  fellow-publishers  to  join  in  the  expense  of  this  important  enterprise.  They 
did  so,  and  this  was  the.  origin  of  the  alliance  of  the  leading  newspapers  of  the  country 
known  as  the  "  Associated  Press. " 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  not  generally  known  that  Mr.  Beach  was  instrumental  in 
obtaining  the  basis  of  the  treaty  of  peace  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico  at 
Guadaloupe  Hidalgo,  in  1848.  Impressed  with  the  disastrous  effects  of  war  upon  any 
country,  he  conceived  a  project  of  ending  this  one  through  the  indirect  intervention  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  clergy.  His  acquaintance  with  Bishop  Hughes  and  with  President 
Tolk  and  his  cabinet  opened  the  door  for  proceedings  in  that  direction.  With  simple 
letters  of  introduction  and  commendation  he  went  to  Mexico,  obtained  important  inter- 
views, and  secured  the  points  of  agreement  on  which  peace  was  afterward  ratified. 

While  in  Mexico  Mr.  Beach  felt  the  first  symptoms  of  the  disease  (paralysis)  which 
finally  terminated  his  life.  After  struggling  against  it  for  some  time  he  retired  from 
business  late  in  1819,  and  took  up  his  residence  among  his  native  hills,  where  he  lived 
quietly  twenty  years  longer,  dying  January  10,  1868. 

Mr.  Beach  was  a  warm  friend  of  popular  education,  and  in  all  matters  of  public  need 
he  was  ever  an  active  worker. 


364 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


and  Hudson  Railroad  Company  in  1825.  This  railroad,  which  ex- 
tended from  Albany  on  the  Hudson  to  Schenectady  on  the  Mohawk 
River,  a  distance  of  about  sixteen  miles,  was  completed  in  the  summer 
of  1831.  It  was  opened  for  passenger  traffic  on  the  9th  of  August. 
The  first  passenger  train  went  over  the  road  from  Albany  to  Schenec- 
tady and  back  on  that  day,  carrying  twelve  citizens  of  Albany.  One 
of  these  was  the  late  Thurlow  Weed,  who  was  the  representative  of  the 
press.  On  the  crown  of  each  of  the  two  steep  slopes  leading  to  the 
Hudson  and  the  Mohawk  there  was  a  stationary  engine  to  place  the 
train  on  the  summit  of  the  high  plateau,  an  extensive  pine-barren. 
The  cars  were  ordinary  stage-coach  bodies  on  four-wheeled  trucks,  and 
were  drawn  by  a  very  small  engine  constructed  by  the  Ivembles  at  the 
West  Point  foundry,  Cold  Spring,  and  named  De  Witt  Clinton.  The 
cars  were  connected  by  a  three-link  chain.  There  were  seats  on  the 
tops  of  the  coaches,  where  the  passengers  screened  themselves  with 
umbrellas  from  flying  sparks  from  the  locomotive,  that  was  fed  with 
pine  wood.  These  umbrellas  were  sometimes  made  skeletons  by  fire 
when  the  end  of  a  journey  was  reached.  Passengers  frequently  had 
holes  burned  in  their  clothes.  Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  magnifi- 
cent railway  system  which  now  radiates  from  Xew  York  City  and 
transports  annually  to  and  from  the  metropolis  merchandise  valued  at 
billions  of  dollars,  as  well  as  millions  of  human  beings.  This  is  the 
marvellous  growth  of  that  single  promoter  of  business  in  the  city  of 
Xew  York  within  the  space  of  fifty  years. 

The  first  instance  of  ocean  steam  navigation  originated  in  the  harbor 
of  Xew  York.  In  the  year  1808  the  steamboat  Phoenix,  built  at 
Hoboken,  opposite  Xew  York,  by  John  C.  Stevens,  was  sent  round  to 
the  Delaware  River.  She  had  been  intended  for  navigating  the 
Hudson  River,  but  Livingston  and  Fulton  had  procured  an  act  from 
the  Legislature  giving  them  a  monopoly  of  navigation  by  steam  on  that 
stream. 

This  bold  experiment  was  followed  by  one  still  bolder  in  1819.  In 
that  year  the  steamship  Savannah,  built  in  Xew  York  by  Fitchett  & 
Crocket  for  Daniel  Dodd,  of  Savannah,  Georgia,  crossed  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  from  that  port  to  Liverpool,  and  after  tarrying  there  some  days 
went  on  to  the  Baltic  Sea  and  reached  St.  Petersburg,  her  destina- 
tion. Her  whole  sailing  time  from  Savannah  to  St.  Petersburg  was 
only  twenty-six  days.    Her  commander  was  Captain  Moses  Rogers. 

The  Savannah  was  a  vessel  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  tons  burden, 
and  her  engine,  constructed  by  Stephen  Vail  and  Daniel  Dodd,  of 
Morristown,  X.  J. ,  was  ninety-horse  power.    She  carried  only  seventy- 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-18JO. 


365 


five  tons  of  coal  (the  amount  consumed  each  day  by  one  of  our  large 
ocean  steamers  now)  and  twenty-five  cords  of  wood.  She  was  also 
furnished  with  sails. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  Savannah  in  the  Mersey  she  attracted  much 
attention.  Compelled  to  lie  outside  the  bar  until  the  tide  should  serve, 
hundreds  of  people  went  off  in  boats  to  see  her. 

"  During-  this  time  she  had  all  her  colors  flying-,'"  narrates  the  cap- 
tain's log-book,  "  when  a  boat  from  a  British  man-of-war  came  along- 
side and  hailed.  The  sailing-master  was  on  deck  at  the  time.  The 
officer  of  the  boat  asked  him  : 

"  '  Where  is  your  master  ? ' 

"  '  I  have  no  master,'  was  the  laconic  reply. 

"  '  Where's  your  captain,  then  i  ' 

"  '  He's  below.    Do  you  want  to  see  him  ? ' 

"  'I  do,  sir.' 

"  The  captain,  who  was  then  below,  on  being  called,  asked  what  he 
wanted,  to  which  the  officer  answered  : 
"  '  Why  do  you  wear  that  pennant,  sir  ? ' 
"  '  Because  my  country  allows  me  to,  sir.1 

"  '  My  commander  thinks  it  was  done  to  insult  him,  and  if  you  don't 
take  it  down  he  will  send  a  force  that  will  do  it. 1 
"  Captain  Rogers  then  exclaimed  to  the  engineer  : 
"  '  Get  the  hot- water  engine  ready!  ' 

"  Although  there  was  no  such  machine  on  board  the  vessel,  the 
order  had  the  desired  effect,  and  J ohn  Bull  was  glad  to  paddle  off  as 
fast  as  possible. "  * 

As  the  Sa rann  ah  entered  the  harbor,  the  shipping,  piers,  and  roofs 
of  houses  were  thronged  with  wondering  spectators,  and  naval  officers, 
noblemen,  and  merchants  visited  her,  and  were  very  curious  to  ascer- 
tain her  speed,  destination,  and  other  particulars. 

The  Savannah  remained  at  Liverpool  twenty-five  days,  and  became 
an  object  of  suspicion.  The  journals  suggested  that  she  might  "  in 
some  manner  be  connected  with  the  ambitious  views  of  the  United 
States."  It  was  known  that  Jerome  Bonaparte,  of  Baltimore,  had 
offered  a  large  reward  to  any  one  who  should  succeed  in  releasing  his 
brother  Xapoleon  from  St.  Helena,  and  some  surmised  that  the  Savan- 
nah had  this  undertaking  in  new. 

Sailing  from  Liverpool  late  in  July,  the  Savannah  touched  at  Copen- 

*  "  The  Log-Book  of  the  Savannah,"  by  Dr.  H.  C.  Bolton,  in  ITurper's  Magazine,  vol. 
liv.  p.  345. 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


ha  gen  and  at  Stockholm,  where  she  excited  great  curiosity.  At  the 
latter  place  she  was  visited  by  the  royal  family,  and  on  the  invitation 
of  Christopher  Hughes,  the  American  minister  at  Stockholm,  she  made 
an  excursion  among  the  neighboring  islands.  Arriving  at  St.  Peters- 
burg early  in  September,  she  remained  there  a  month,  and  then  "  set 
sail  on  her  homeward  voyage  with  about  eighty  sail  of  shipping." 

This  achievement  of  the  Sa ranaa/i.  a  New  York  built  vessel,  seems 
to  have  been  forgotten  when,  nearly  twenty  years  afterward,  on  the 
arrival  in  Xew  York  harbor  of  the  steamships  Sirius  and  Great  Western, 
the  Xew  York  Express  said  that  it  produced  "  unusual  joy  and  excite- 
ment in  the  city,  it  being  almost  universally  considered  as  a  new  era  in 
the  history  of  Atlantic  navigation." 

It  seems  to  have  been  forgotten  then — indeed  it  is  hardly  known  now 
— that  Xew  York  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  a  pioneer  in  ocean  steam 
navigation.  Nevertheless  it  is  so.  In  the  year  1821  or  1822  the  emi- 
nent shipbuilder,  Henry  Eckfoid,  completed  a  steamship  (which  was 
also  fitted  for  sails)  for  David  Dunham,  an  old  and  prominent  auction- 
eer, which  was  named  Rnhert  Fulton.  She  was  fitted  out  for  carrying 
on  freight  and  passenger  business  between  Xew  York,  Xew  Orleans, 
and  Havana.  After  making  a  number  of  successful  voyages  on  that 
route  she  was  sold  to  the  Brazilian  Government  on  account  of  the  pecu- 
niary embarrassments  of  her  owner.  Mr.  Dunham  afterward  lost  his 
life  by  being  knocked  overboard  from  a  sloop  while  on  a  passage  be- 
tween Albany  and  Xew  York.  The  Fulton  was  converted  into  a  war- 
vessel,  carrying  sixteen  guns,  and  was  the  fastest  sailer  in  the  Brazilian 
navy. 

The  beginning  of  regular  ocean  steam  navigation  between  Europe 
and  America  was  postponed  until  1838.  The  unwisdom  of  the  Ameri- 
can Government  and  the  jealousy  of  the  British  public  of  everything 
originating  in  America  were  the  principal  causes  which  effected  this 
postponement.  Even  with  the  practical  proof  of  the  feasibility  of 
ocean  steam  navigation  offered  by  the  Savannah  in  the  harbor  of  Liver- 
pool, England,  the  great  philosopher,  Dionysius  Lardner,  proved  to  his 
own  satisfaction  and  to  that  of  the  average  Englishman  that  it  could 
not  be  done  ! 

Enterprising  and  thoughtful  Americans  had  for  some  time  cherished 
a  project  for  the  establishment  of  lines  of  ocean  steamships,  and  early 
in  1835  Nathaniel  Cobb,  of  the  old  Black  Ball  line  of  sailing  packets, 
proposed  a  line  of  steamships  to  run  between  Xew  York  and  Liverpool, 
and  application  was  made  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Xew  York 
for  an  act  of  incorporation.    But  nothing  came  of  it.    Almost  simulta- 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


867 


neously  enterprising  citizens  of  Bristol,  England,  with  others,  projected 
a  line  of  ocean  steamships  between  that  port  and  New  York,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1838  the  Sir  his  sailed  from  that  port  for  New  York — the  port 
in  western  England  out  of  which  sailed  Sebastian  Cabot  three  hundred 
and  forty  years  before,  on  the  voyage  during  which  he  discovered  the 
continent  of  North  America.  The  London  Times,  which  had  spoken 
disparagingly  of  the  project,  said,  a  few  days  before  the  Sirius  sailed  : 

"  There  is  really  no  mistake  in  the  long-talkeil-of  project  of  navigating  the  Atlantic  by- 
steam.  There  is  no  doubt  of  an  intention  to  make  the  attempt,  and  to  give  the  experi- 
ment, as  such,  a  fair  trial.    The  Sirius  is  absolutely  getting  under  weigh  for  America." 

Meanwhile  an  association  had  been  formed  in  London  called  the 
British  and  American  Steamship  Company.  They  built  the  Great 
Western,  which  was  launched  on  the  19th  of  July,  1837.  She  sailed 
for  New  York  early  in  April,  and  on  a  beautiful  morning  (the  23d)  of 
that  month  the  Grmt  Wrxtern  and  the  Sirius  both  entered  the  harbor 
of  New  York.  The  Sirius  arrived  very  early  in  the  morning,  the 
Great  Western  a  few  hours  later.  Their  arrival  created  intense  excite- 
ment, not  only  in  the  city  but  throughout  the  country.  The  New 
York  newspapers  were  full  of  glowing  notices  of  the  event.  One  of 
them  said  :  "  Myriads  of  persons  crowded  the  Battery  to  have  a 
glance  at  the  first  steam  vessel  which  has  crossed  the  Atlantic  from  the 
British  Isles  and  arrived  safely  in  port." 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  permanent  ocean  steam  navigation.  The 
voyage  had  been  made  by  the  Great  Western  in  eighteen  days.  Other 
vessels  soon  followed.  In  less  than  twenty  years  there  were  fifteen 
lines  of  steamships  running  between  Europe  and  America,  numbering 
forty-six  ships  in  all,  of  which  thirty-seven  ran  out  of  New  York, 
making  the  trips  each  way  on  an  average  of  from  nine  to  twelve  days. 
At  that  time  fully  half  a  million  of  passengers  had  been  carried  across  the 
Atlantic  in  steamships,  of  whom  only  twelve  hundred  had  been  lost. 

The  most  successful  of  the  lines  then,  as  now,  was  that  established 
by  Samuel  Cunard  in  1840,  to  run  between  Liverpool  and  Boston  and 
New  York.  The  first  Cunard  steamship  (the  Britannic)  arrived  in 
Boston  on  July  18,  1810.  In  the  year  ending  June  30,  1S82,  1027 
ocean  steam  vessels  entered  the  ports  of  the  United  States,  having  an 
aggregate  tonnage  of  8,520,027.  Of  these  vessels  1903,  with  a  ton- 
nage of  5,099,185,  entered  the  port  of  New  York. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


THE  beginning  of  permanent  ocean  steam  navigation  was  the 
dawning  of  a  new  era  in  journalism  in  New  York — namely,  the 
employment  of  regular  foreign  correspondents.  This  had  been  done  to 
some  extent  before,  but  only  in  a  limited  and  desultory  manner. 
Robert  "Walsh  had  written  letters  for  the  National  Gazette  from 
Europe,  Nathaniel  Carter  for  the  Statesman,  N.  P.  Willis  for  the  New 
York  Mirror,  James  Brooks  (who  established  the  New  York  Express 
newspaper  in  1836)  for  the  Portland  Advertiser,  in  which  he  gave 
sketches  and  incidents  of  travel  of  a  young  American  on  foot  in 
Europe  ;  the  late  R.  Shelton  Mackenzie  (long  connected  with  the 
Philadelphia  /V<".v.v)  with  gossipy  letters  from  London  for  Noah's 
Er<)iia(j  Star  and  Sunday  Tina*;  but  no  organized  European  corre- 
spondence like  that  of  the  leading  journals  of  to-day  was  then  known. 

This  new  feature  in  journalism  was  introduced  in  1838  by  Mr. 
Bennett,  of  the  New  York  Herald.  He  took  passage  in  the  Sirlus,  on 
her  return  trip  in  May,  to  make  extensive  arrangements  for  correspond- 
ence with  the  principal  political  and  commercial  centres  of  Eui'ope. 
These,  and  indeed  Europe  itself,  were  not  then  known  in  detail  in 
America. 

With  the  advent  of  the  ocean  steamers  came  also  a  change,  as  we 
have  observed,  in  the  methods  of  obtaining  news  for  the  morning 
journals  of  New  York.  News-schooners,  that  put  out  to  sea  to  meet 
incoming  ships,  were  now  made  obsolete.  These  were  superseded  by 
swift  row-boats  and  light  sail-boats.  These  would  meet  the  steamship 
below  Quarantine,  and  while  the  inspection  of  the  health  officer  was 
going  on  they  would  hurry  up  to  the  city  with  the  news,  and  have  it 
published  before  the  passengers  arrived.  On  these  occasions  the 
excitement  among  the  aquatic  news-gatherers  was  intense. 

About  the  middle  of  this  decade  an  abnormal  expansion  of  the  credit 
system  occurred,  which  speedily  bore  its  legitimate  fruit.  In  1833 
President  Jackson  began  a  deadly  warfare  against  the  United  States 
Bank,  because  he  knew  it  to  be  a  moneyed  institution  of  great  power, 
socially  and  politically,  and  therefore  possibly  dangerous  to  the  perma- 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


369 


nent  prosperity  of  the  country.  In  his  annual  message  to  Congress  in 
December",  1832,  he  recommended  that  body  to  authorize  the  removal 
from  that  institution  of  the  government  moneys  deposited  in  it,  and  to 
sell  the  stock  of  the  bank  owned  by  the  United  States  ;  in  a  word,  to 
decree  an  absolute  divorce  of  the  government  from  the  Bank.  Con- 
gress refused  to  do  so.  After  the  adjournment  of  that  body  the  Presi- 
dent took  the  responsibility  of  ordering  Mr.  Duane,  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  to  withdraw  the  public  funds  from  the  bank,  then 
amounting  to  about  $10,000,000,  and  deposit  them  in  certain  State 
banks.  The  Secretary  refused  to  do  so,  and  he  was  dismissed  from 
office.  lie  was  succeeded  by  Roger  B.  Taney,  who  was  afterward 
chief-justice  of  the  United  States.  lie  was  then  attorney-generai. 
Taney  was  ordered  to  remove  the  deposits,  and  he  obeyed  his 
superior. 

The  process  of  removal  began  in  October,  1833,  and  the  task  was 
completed  in  the  space  of  nine  months.  This  act  produced  great 
excitement  all  over  the  country,  and  much  commercial  distress.  The 
loans  of  the  bank  were  over  $60,000,000  when  the  work  of  removal 
began.  So  intricate  were  the  financial  relations  of  the  institution  with 
the  business  of  the  country,  that  when  the  funds  of  the  bank  were  thus 
paralyzed  all  commercial  operations  felt  a  deadly  shock.  This  fact 
confirmed  the  President  in  his  suspicions  and  opinions  of  the  dangerous 
character  of  the  institution,  and  he  persistently  refused  to  listen  favor- 
ably to  all  prayers  for  a  modification  of  his  measures,  or  for  relief, 
made  by  numerous  deputations  of  manufacturers,  mechanics,  and  mer- 
chants who  waited  upon  him.  He  said  to  all  of  them,  in  substance  : 
"  The  government  can  give  no  relief  or  provide  a  remedy  ;  the  banks 
are  the  occasion  of  the  evils  which  exist,  and  those  who  have  suffered 
by  trading  largely  on  borrowed  capital  ought  to  break  ;  you  have  no 
one  to  blame  but  yourselves." 

The  State  banks  in  which  the  government  funds  had  been  deposited 
came  to  the  relief  of  the  business  community.  That  relief  was 
spasmodic,  and  resulted  in  more  serious  commercial  embarrassments. 
They  loaned  the  money  freely  ;  the  panic  subsided  ;  confidence  was 
gradually  restored,  and  there  was  an  appearance  of  general  prosperity. 
Speculation  was  r,ti undated  by  the  freedom  with  which  the  State 
banks  loaned  the  public  funds,  and  the  credit  system  was  enormously 
expanded.  It  was  upon  this  insecure  basis  that  New  York  merchants 
largely  resumed  active  business  after  the  great  fire  in  December,  1835. 
Trade  was  brisk  ;  the  shipping  interest  was  prosperous  ;  prices  ruled 
high  ;  luxury  abounded,  and  nobody  seemed  to  perceive  the  dangerous 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


undercurrent  that  Was  surely  wasting  the  foundations  of  the  absurd 
credit  system  and  the  real  prosperity  of  the  city  and  nation. 

Suddenly  the  Ithuriel  spear  of  Necessity  pierced  the  great  bubble. 
A  failure  of  the  grain  crop  of  England  caused  a  large  demand  for  coin 
to  pay  for  food  products  abroad.  The  Bank  of  England,  seeing  ex- 
changes running  higher  and  higher  against  that  country,  contracted  its 
loans  and  admonished  houses  who  were  giving  long  and  extensive 
credits  to  the  Americans  by  the  use  of  money  loaned  from  the  bank,  to 
curtail  that  hazardous  business. 

It  was  about  that  time  that  the  famous  Specie  Circular  was  issued 
from  the  Treasury  Department  of  the  United  States  Government.  It 
was  put  forth  in  July,  1836.  It  directed  all  collectors  of  the  public 
revenue  to  receive  nothing  but  com.  Thus  it  was  that  from  the  parlor 
of  the  Bank  of  England  and  from  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States 
went  out  almost  simultaneously  the  significant  fiat,  "  Pay  up  !" 
American  houses  in  London  failed  for  many  millions  of  dollars,  and  in 
1837  every  bank'  in  the  United  States  suspended  specie  payments,  but 
resumed  again  within  two  years  afterward.  The  United  States  Bank 
had  been  rechartered  by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  ;  it  soon  fell 
into  hopeless  ruin,  and  with  it  went  a  very  large  number  of  the  State 
banks  of  the  country.  A  general  bankrupt  law  passed  in  1S41  relieved 
of  debt  about  forty  thousand  persons,  whose  liabilities  amounted  in  the 
aggregate  to  almost  $44i,000,000. 

The  city  of  New  York  suffered  severely  from  the  terrible  business 
revulsion  of  1830-37.  Martin  Van  Buren  succeeded  Jackson  as  Presi 
dent  in  March,  1837.  During  the  two  months  succeeding  his  inaugu 
ration  there  were  mercantile  failures  in  the  city  of  New  York  to  the 
amount  of  more  than  $100,000,000.  The  panic  there  was  fearful. 
Two  hundred  and  fifty  mercantile  houses  had  been  compelled  to  suc- 
cumb in  the  month  of  April.  Every  business  man  and  every  moneyed 
institution  seemed  to  be  standing  on  an  insecure  foundation.  At  this 
crisis  a  deputation  from  the  merchants  and  bankers  of  New  York 
waited  on  the  President  and  petitioned  him  to  defer  the  collection  of 
duties  on  imported  goods,  suspend  the  operations  of  the  Specie  Circu- 
lar, and  call  an  extraordinary  session  of  Congress.  Their  prayer  was 
rejected.  When  this  fact  became  known  all  the  banks  in  New  York 
City  suspended  specie  payment.  That  event  occurred  on  the  10th  of 
May.  This  act  embarrassed  the  government,  for  it  could  not  get  coin 
wherewith  to  discharge  its  own  obligations.  In  this  dilemma  the 
President  was  induced  to  call  an  extraordinary  session  of  Congress, 
which  met  in  September.    It  did  very  little  toward  adopting  measures 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


371 


of  relief  except  to  authorize  the  issue  of  treasury  notes  to  an  amount 
not  exceeding  $10,000,000. 

The  hanks  had  resolved  to  resume  specie  payments  within  one  year. 
On  the  day  of  the  suspension  there  was  a  large  meeting  of  business 
men  at  the  Exchange,  when  James  G.  King,  the  junior  partner  of  the 
banking-house  of  Prime,  Ward  &  King,  addressed  them,  and  offered 
resolutions  to  the  effect  that  the  paper  currency  should  be  recognized 
as  money  and  pass  as  usual  among  business  men  until  the  banks  should 
rind  it  practicable  to  resume  specie  payments.  These  resolutions  were 
seconded  by  Mr.  Prime,  the  senior  of  that  banking-house,  and  they 
Avere  adopted  by  unanimous  vote.  This  measure  produced  a  feeling  of 
relief,  and  the  panic  gradually  subsided. 

In  October  Mr.  King  went  to  London  to  confer  with  the  officers  of 
the  Bank  of  England.  To  these  gentlemen  he  made  the  startling 
proposition  that  the  bank  and  the  great  capitalists  should  cease  embar- 
rassing American  merchants  by  discounting  paper  connected  with  the 
American  trade,  and  send  over  to  JSew  York  at  once  a  large  amount  of 
coin.  The  officers  of  the  bank  hesitated.  Such  a  transaction  would 
be  wholly  foreign  to  the  business  policy  of  the  institution.  Put  they 
finally  consented  to  send  several  million  dollars  in  coin,  on  the  sole 
responsibility  of  the  house  of  Prime,  Ward  &  King  and  the  guaranty  of 
Baring  Brothers,  of  Liverpool.  The  first  consignment  of  85,000,000 
was  forwarded  in  March,  1838.  This  coin  was  sold  on  easy  terms  to 
the  banks,  and  confidence  being  revived,  business  resumed  its  usual 
activity.  Another  large  meeting  of  merchants  and  others  had  been 
held,  which  pledged  the  business  community  to  stand  by  the  banks. 

During  the  winter  of  1836-37  there  were  abundant  signs  of  distress 
and  discontent  among  the  so-called  laboring  classes.  The  cereal  crops 
of  the  preceding  season  throughout  the  country  did  not  amount  to 
much  more  than  half  the  usual  yield,  and  flour  during  that  winter, 
which  was  one  of  unusual  severity,  was  from  812  to  815  a  barrel. 

The  poor  suffered  much.  The  demagogues  of  the  political  factions 
improved  the  occasion  to  inflame  the  popular  mind,  one  party  trying 
to  increase  their  following  by  impressing  the  sufferers  with  the  idea 
that  the  rich  were  oppressing  the  poor  ;  that  the  high  price  of  food 
was  owing  to  the  greed  of  wealthy  monopolists.  At  a  meeting  held  in 
the  Broadway  Tabernacle  to  consider  and  act  upon  the  causes  of  the 
high  and  increasing  prices,  such  views  were  set  forth  by  some  of  the 
speakers,  though  these  harangues  were  not  absolutely  incendiary  in 
substance.  Nothing  of  importance  was  done.  Resolutions  were 
adopted,  but  nothing  practical  was  offered. 


372 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


There  was  another  class  of  men  at  that  time  who  attempted  to  make 
capital  for  the  cause  in  winch  they  were  laboring.  These  were  the 
radical  temperance  advocates.  With  profound  ignorance,  apparently, 
of  the  fact  that  there  had  been  a  failure  of  the  cereal  crops,  they 
endeavored  to  impress  the  public  mind  with  a  belief  that  the  distillers 
were  making  grain  scarce  by  converting  the  rye  crop  into  whiskey  ! 

The  popular  discontent  reached  a  crisis  in  February,  1837.  On  the 
10th  of  that  month  a  notice  was  published  in  some  of  the  city  news- 
papers, and  in  placards  of  large  letters  and  conspicuously  posted 
throughout  the  city,  of  a  meeting  to  be  held  in  the  Park  on  the  after- 
noon of  February  13th.    The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  notice  : 


"  BREAD,  MEAT,  RENT,  FUEL  !  ! 

"their  prices  must  come  down! 

The  voire  of  the  People  trill  be  heard,  and  must  prevail. 

The  People  will  meet  in  the  Park,  rain  or  shine,  at 
4  o'clock  Monday  afternoon,  ^££2 

To  inquire  into  the  cause  of  the  present  unexampled  distress, 
and  to  devise  a  suitable  remedy.  All  friends  of  humanity, 
determined  to  resist  monopolists  and  extortionists,  are  invited 
to  attend. 

"  Moses  Jacques,  Daniel  Gorham, 

Paulus  Heddle,  John  Windt, 

Daniel  A.  Robertson,       Alexander  Ming,  Jr., 
Warden  Hayward,  Elijah  F.  Crane. 

"Xew  York,  Feb.  10,  1837." 


Obedient  to  this  significant  call,  fully  six  thousand  persons  assembled 
in  front  of  the  City  Hall  at  the  appointed  hour.  It  was  a  cold  and 
bleak  winter  day.  The  great  mass  of  human  beings  presented  repre- 
sentatives of  almost  every  class  and  nationality  in  the  city — very 
largely  of  the  classes  which  are  readily  converted  into  a  mob  when 
their  passions  are  excited.  Moses  Jacques  was  chosen  chairman. 
They  did  not  lack  appeals  to  their  passions  on  this  occasion,  for  the 
multitude  were  soon  gathered  in  different  groups  listening  to  numerous 
speakers,  the  most  distinguished  of  whom  was  Alexander  Ming,  Jr.,  a 
well-known  and  active  politician  of  the  Loco-Foco  school  in  New  York 
City  for  several  years. 

The  burden  of  each  orator's  discourse  consisted  chiefly  of  denuncia- 
tion of  the  rich,  especially  of  landlords  and  the  holders  of  large  quanti- 
ties of  provisions,  particularly  of  flour. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


373 


The  popular  indignation  was  chiefly  directed  against  the  Ann.  of  Eli 
Hart  &  Co.,  extensive  commission  merchants,  whose  store  was  a  large 
brick  building  on  Washington  Street,  between  Dey  and  Cortlandt 
streets.  It  had  three  wide  and  strong  iron  doors  upon  the  street. 
This  store  was  full  of  flour  and  wheat,  and  knots  of  men  were  seen  to 
stop  opposite  and  gaze  at  it  with  furtive  glances,  and  sometimes  utter- 
ing angry  words.  Sometimes  men  would  be  heard  muttering  curses  as 
they  passed.  The  friends  of  Mr.  Hart  tried  to  persuade  him  to  take 
precautionary  measures  for  protection,  but  be  could  not  listen  to  them 
with  patience.  He  saw  these  signs  of  a  gathering  storm,  but  believed, 
or  professed  to  believe,  they  indicated  nothing  very  serious,  and  he 
and  his  partners  remained  tranquil  while  their  friends  were  alarmed. 

One  day  an  anonymous  letter  addressed  to  a  well-known  citizen  was 
picked  up  in  the  Park,  in  which  the  writer  said  a  conspiracy  was 
matured  for  sacking  the  store  of  Hart  &  Co.  on  some  dark  night.  The 
plan,  he  said,  was  to  start  two  alarms  of  fire  simultaneously,  one  at  the 
Battery  and  the  other  in  Bleecker  Street,  and  while  the  watchmen  and 
firemen  would  be  attracted  to  these  distant  points,  a  large  body  of  men 
with  sledges  and  crowbars  would  rush  upon  the  store,  break  in  the 
doors,  and  rifle  it  before  the  guardians  of  the  peace  could  arrive.  Tins 
letter  was  handed  to  the  famous  high  constable,  Jacob  Hays,  who 
showed  it  to  Hart  &  Co. ;  but  they  regarded  it  as  an  attempt  to 
frighten  them. 

The  gathering  in  the  Park  on  the  10th  of  February  was  not  an 
anonymous  warning.  It  was  an  ominous  notice  of  danger,  not  only  to 
Hart  &  Co.,  but  to  the  peace  of  the  city.  Mr.  Hart  attended  the 
meeting.  The  utterances  of  the  several  speakers  on  that  occasion  were 
inflammatory  in  the  extreme,  excepting  that  of  Ming,  who  was  then  a 
candidate  for  the  office  of  city  register.  He  seemed  to  think  it  was  a 
rare  chance  to  win  votes,  and  he  devoted  his  soul  and  body  on  that 
occasion  to  the  subject  of  the  currency.  He  was  a  radical  hard-money 
Democrat -Loco- Foco  pure  and  spotless.  He  harangued  the  illiterate 
and  half-brutish  mob  before  him  on  the  evils  produced  by  paper  cur- 
rency. Indeed  it  was  recognized  as  the  chief  cause  of  all  the  distress 
that  was  prevailing  among  his  hearers.  With  grim  satire  he  advised 
the  shivering  sans-culottes  to  refuse  any  paper  dollar  that  might  be 
offered  them,  and  to  receive  nothing  but  gold  and  silver,  well  knowing 
the  hopelessness  of  a  large  part  of  his  audience  receiving  the  offer  of  a 
dollar  of  any  kind.  The  motley  multitude  were  so  charmed  with  his 
disquisition  on  the  currency  that  they  seemed  to  forget  all  about 
"  Bread,  meat,  rent,  and  fuel,"  which  they  had  been  called  together  to 


374 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


consider,  and  when  be  offered  a  resolution  proposing  a  memorial  to  the 
Legislature  to  forbid  any  bank  issuing  a  note  for  any  sum  under  £100, 
it  "was  eai'ried  by  a  wild  shout  of  affirmation  that  shook  the  windows  of 
the  City  Hall.  To  show  their  appreciation  of  Ming's  logic,  the  "  sov- 
ereign people"  whom  lie  had  eulogized  seized  the  orator,  hoisted  him 
upon  their  shoulders,  and  bore  him  in  triumph  across  the  wide  way  to 
Tammany  Hall,  where  they  were  undoubtedly  rewarded  with  the 
enjoyment  of  spirituous  blessings  poured  out  in  abundance. 

The  speeches  of  others  were  more  to  the  point  at  issue.  One  of 
them,  who  had  worked  up  the  feelings  of  his  hearers  to  the  highest 
pitch,  exclaimed  : 

"  Kellow-citizens,  Eli  Hart  &  Co.  have  now  fifty-three  thousand 
barrels  of  flour  in  their  store  ;  let  us  go  and  offer  them  £S  a  barrel  for 
it,  and  if  they  do  not  accept  it — " 

Here  some  more  judicious  or  more  cautious  person,  seeing  the  mayor 
and  many  policemen  near,  touched  the  speaker  on  the  shoulder,  and 
whispered  in  his  ear.  He  at  once  concluded  his  harangue,  saying,  in  a 
lower  tone  of  voice,  "  If  they  will  not  accept  it — we  will  depart  in 
peace. " 

The  hint  he  had  given  produced  the  desired  effect.  The  great  crowd 
at  once  began  to  dissolve,  when  those  who  had  heard  the  speech  alluded 
to  started  off  in  a  body  in  the  direction  of  the  store  of  Eli  Hart  &  Co. 
They  rushed  down  Broadway  to  Dey  Street,  increasing  in  number  and 
excitement  every  moment,  so  that  when  they  reached  Washington 
Street  they  had  become  a  roaring  mob. 

Hearing  the  tumult  of  the  on-coming  multitude,  the  clerks  in  the 
store  hastened  to  close  and  bar  the  doors  and  windows.  I>ut  the  van 
of  the  mob  was  upon  them  before  they  could  sufficiently  secure  one  of 
the  heavy  iron  front  doors,  and  the  mob  rushed  in  and  began  roll- 
in<r  barrels  of  flour  into  the  street  and  staving  in  the  heads.  "When 
they  had  thus  destroyed  about  thirty  barrels,  some  police  officers 
arrived  and  drove  out  the  plunderers. 

Mr.  Hart,  who  was  at  the  meeting,  as  has  been  observed,  when  he 
saw  the  crowd  rushing  in  the  direction  of  his  store,  hastily  gathered 
some  policemen  and  started  for  his  menaced  castle.  In  Dey  Street  the 
mob  fiercely  attacked  the  guardians  of  the  law  and  disarmed  them  of 
their  clubs.  The  policemen,  however,  made  their  way  into  Washing- 
ton Street  before  the  great  mass  of  the  rioters  had  arrived  there,  and 
entered  the  besieged  store  and  drove  out  the  marauders. 

Mayor  Lawrence,  informed  of  the  mob  at  Hart  &  Co. 's  store, 
hastened  to  the  scene.    He  mounted  a  flight  of  steps  opposite  and 


FIRST  DECADE,  18:30-1840. 


375 


began  to  remonstrate  with  the  rioters  on  the  crime  and  folly  and  the 
consequences  of  their  acts.  His  words  were  in  vain.  Every  moment 
the  numbers  of  the  mob  increased  by  accessions  from  the  dissolving 
crowd  in  the  Park,  and  the  mayor  was  answered  by  a  shower  of  mis- 
siles— bricks,  stones,  sticks,  and  pieces  of  ice — so  copious  that  he  was 
compelled  to  retire  to  a  place  of  safety.  The  mob  was  now  unre- 
strained by  law  or  reason.  They  made  a  rush  for  one  of  the  ponderous 
iron  doors,  which  was  speedily  wrenched  from  its  hinges.  Using  it  as 
a  battering  power,  they  soon  beat  down  the  other  doors,  when  the 
rioters  rushed  in  in  great  numbers.  The  clerks  fled,  and  violence 
reigned  supreme.  The  doors  in  the  upper  lofts  were  torn  down,  the 
windows  were  broken  in,  and  when  hundreds  of  barrels  of  flour  had 
been  rolled  into  the  street  from  the  lower  floor  and  destroyed,  they 
were  hoisted  upon  the  window-sills  above  and  dashed  to  pieces  on  the 
ground.  Sack  after  sack  of  wheat  was  also  destroyed.  At  one  of  the 
windows  a  half-grown  boy  was  seen,  exclaiming,  as  each  barrel  was 
tumbled  into  the  street,  "  Here  goes  flour  at  eight  dollars  a  barrel  !" 
For  this  crime  he  suffered  several  years'  hard  labor  m  the  State  Prison 
at  Sin£-  Sin"-. 

A  larger  portion  of  the  mob  were  of  foreign  birth,  yet  there  were 
hundreds  of  spectators  who  were  native-born  citizens  that  gave  the 
rioters  encouragement  and  aid.  When  the  disturbance  was  at  its 
height,  at  twilight,  there  was  observed  a  strange  feature  in  the  scene. 
Scores  of  women  were  perceived,  many  of  them  bareheaded  and  in 
tattered  garments,  rushing  here  and  there  with  eager  zeal,  like  camp- 
followers  after  a  battle,  to  secure  a  share  of  the  plunder  so  prodigally 
presented  to  them.  They  appeared  with  boxes,  pails,  sacks,  baskets, 
and  everything  that  would  carry  flour,  and  with  their  aprons  full  of 
the  same  bore  away  large  quantities  to  their  squalid  homes.  It  was 
the  only  bright  picture  in  the  terrible  scene — these  mothers  gathering 
food  for  their  starving  children,  notwithstanding  it  had  been  furnished 
them  by  the  hand  of  violence. 

When  night  had  fairly  set  in,  the  rioters,  who  were  yet  in  full  force, 
were  suddenly  alarmed  and  scattered  by  the  appearance  of  the 
National  Guard,  under  Colonel  Morgan  L.  Smith,  and  other  military 
forces  which  the  mayor  had  summoned  to  the  aid  of  the  police.  Then- 
services,  however,  were  needed  only  as  a  restraining  power.  The  mob 
quickly  dispersed  on  their  appearance,  after  having  destroyed  all  the 
books  and  papers  in  Hart  &  Co.  's  counting-room.  The  police,  so  sus- 
tained, arrested  a  number  of  the  rioters  and  took  them  to  the  Bridewell, 
in  the  Park,  but  were  assailed  on  the  Avay  by  some  of  the  mob.  The 


376 


HISTORY"  OF  NEW  FORK  CITY. 


chief  of  police  had  his  coat  torn  off  by  the  mob,  who  rescued  several 
of  the  prisoners.  The  store  was  closed,  and  order  again  reigned  in 
that  neighborhood. 

As  the  cowardly  mob  at  Hart  &  Co.'s  store  were  about  to  fly,  some 
one  cried  out  "  Meech's  !"  when  a  body  of  the  rioters  rushed  across 
the  town  to  assail  the  large  flour  establishment  of  Meech  &  Co. .  at 
Coenties  Slip.  On  the  way  they  began  an  attack  upon  the  flour  store 
of  S.  II.  Herrick  &  Co.  They  had  broken  in  the  windows  with  mis- 
siles, forced  open  the  doors,  and  had  rolled  about  thirty  barrels  of  flour 
into  the  street  and  destroyed  it,  when  a  body  of  police  and  a  large 
number  of  citizens  who  had  volunteered  their  services  dispersed  the 
rioters  and  arrested  some  of  the  mob.  The  ringleaders,  as  usual, 
taking  precious  care  of  their  own  persons,  escaped. 

About  one  thousand  bushels  of  wheat  and  six  hundred  barrels  of 
flour  were  wantonly  destroyed  by  this  senseless  mob.  The  scarcity  of 
flour  was,  of  course,  made  scarcer  by  this  destruction,  and  the  distress 
of  the  poor  was  thus  aggravated.  The  stock  of  flour  being  thus 
reduced,  the  price  naturally  advanced,  and  fifty  cents  a  barrel  more 
was  asked  than  before  the  not.  Hart  &  Co.  estimated  the  value  of 
their  property  destroyed  by  the  mob  at  $10,000,  which,  of  course,  the 
city  was  compelled  to  pay  them. 

About  forty  of  the  rioters  were  captured,  afterward  indicted,  and 
sent  to  the  State  Prison  at  Sing  Sing,  but  not  one  of  the  ringleaders 
was  punished.  It  is  said  that  so  strong  was  the  influence  of  politicians 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  ministers  of  the  law  that  not  one  of  the 
persons  who  signed  the  significant  call  for  the  meeting  in  the  Park, 
or  of  the  several  orators  who  incited  the  mob,  was  arrested  ! 

Another  meeting  of  citizens  was  held  in  the  Park  on  the  6th  of 
March  following.  Apprehending  a  repetition  of  the  disturbances  in 
February,  the  city  authorities  directed  some  of  the  city  military  to  be 
m  readiness  to  suppress  any  outbreak.  The  National  Guard  were 
under  arms  during  the  afternoon,  but  the  meeting  in  the  Park  passing 
off  quietly  their  services  were  not  needed. 

This  Avas  the  last  exciting  scene  in  the  way  of  real  and  anticipated 
disturbances  of  the  public  peace  which  had  made  the  administration  of 
Mayor  Lawrence  a  troublous  one,  beginning  with  the  Abolition  Riot  in 
July,  1835,  and  ending  with  the  Flour  Riot  in  1S37.  A  few  weeks 
after  the  latter  event  he  was  succeeded  in  office  by  Aaron  Clarke. 

In  May  following  the  National  Guard  was  again  called  out  for  the 
suppression  of  a  possible  riot.  On  the  9th  of  that  month  the  banks  of 
the  city  resolved  to  suspend  specie  payments.    For  some  weeks  the  air 


FIRST  DECADE,  18:50-1840. 


377 


had  been  filled  with  flying  rumors  of  a  conspiracy  brewing  for  a  con- 
certed attack  upon  the  banks  for  the  purpose  of  robbing  them.  How 
far  the  incendiary  harangues  of  political  demagogues  at  meetings  had 
incited  hostility  to  the  moneyed  institutions  of  the  city  nobody  knew. 
Precautionary  measures  w  ere  thought  necessary,  for  the  public  an- 
nouncement of  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  by  the  banks  in  the 
newspapers  the  next  morning  might  produce  an  exasperation  among 
the  ignorant  classes  which  might  lead  to  deeds  of  violence.  So  the 
National  Guard  were  requested  to  assemble  in  the  Park  at  seven 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  10th. 

The  announcement  of  the  action  of  the  banks  did  produce  much 
excitement.  Ignorant  or  timid  depositors  rushed  to  these  institutions 
to  withdraw  their  funds.  At  ten  o'clock  Wall  Street  was  thronged 
with  an  excited  multitude,  but  there  were  no  symptoms  of  any  violent 
or  riotous  spirit  on  the  part  of  the  populace  The  National  Guard  had 
paraded  in  the  Park  at  the  appointed  hour.  The  day  wore  away  with- 
out any  signs  of  impending  disturbance.  The  crowds  m  Wall  Street 
gradually  dispersed,  and  the  military  retired  to  their  homes. 

The  Twenty -seventh  Regiment  (National  Guard)  now  felt  that  they 
were  entitled  to  some  special  consideration  at  the  hands  of  the  city 
authorities  on  account  of  their  frequently  rendered  services  at  the  call 
of  the  mayor  as  conservators  of  the  peace  and  order  and  for  the 
security  of  property  in  the  city.  The  Second  Company,  the  feeblest  in 
numbers,  first  moved  in  the  matter.  They  thought  the  city  ought  to 
furnish  the  National  Guard  with  drill-rooms,  and  so  relieve  the  iatter 
of  considerable  expense.  Accordingly  at  a  meeting  of  the  company  in 
August,  1837,  a  committee  were  appointed  to  petition  the  common 
council  on  the  subject.  They  asked  for  a  suitable  hall.  The  petition 
was  favorably  received,  and  the  apartments  in  the  second  story  of 
Centre  Market  were  assigned  as  drill-rooms.  This  furnished  a  pre- 
cedent for  the  future,  and  to  this  movement  of  the  Second  Company  is 
due  the  honor  of  providing  for  the  use  of  the  militia  of  New  York 
City  such  elegant  accommodations  as  they  now  enjoy.  It  was  the 
initial  step  toward  securing  for  the  Seventh  Regiment  National  Guard 
(the  old  Twenty-seventh)  the  magnificent  armory  situated  on  Fifth 
Avenue,  the  most  expensive,  luxurious,  and  elegant  military  quarters 
in  the  world. 

The  express  business,  now  so  extensive,  profitable,  and  useful,  had 
its  origin  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1837.  In  that  year  James  "W. 
Hale,  yet  (18S3)  living,  one  of  the  most  active  men  of  his  day,  was 
conducting  an  admirable  news-room — a  sort  of  Lloyds  for  the  shipping 


378 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


interest  of  New  York — in  the  old  Tontine  Coffee-House,  at  the  corner 
of  Wall  and  Water  streets.  Hale  was  a  genial,  talkative,  sensible, 
and  kind-hearted  man,  ready  to  help  those  who  needed  help,  and 
was  popular  with  everybody,  especially  all  business  men,  who  were 
attracted  to  his  news-room  in  great  numbers  for  general  information 
about  commerce,  trade,  stocks,  etc.  That  was  before  the  telegraph 
was  known,  and  before  railways  were  much  used  in  conveying  letters 
and  newspapers. 

Up  to  nearly  that  time  the  newspapers  had  to  rely  chiefly  upon  the 
old  stages  or  post-riders  for  transportation,  and  the  transmission  of 
news  from  point  to  point  was  tardily  performed  in  comparison  with 
the  swift  passages  made  by  them  now.  So  late  as  1834,  when  trains 
were  run  by  steam  on  a  railway  between  Charleston  and  Hamburg,  on 
the  Savannah  River,  the  directors  of  the  road  advertised  that  the  com- 
pany then  sent  one  train  daily  between  these  two  points,  one  hundred 
and  thirty-six  miles,  in  twelve  hours,  and  v*  that  in  the  daytime."  They 
added  :  "  The  daily  papers  of  this  city  [Charleston]  are  sent  by  this 
conveyance,  but  merchants'1  letters,  of  the  utmost  importance  to  them 
in  business,  are  not  less  than  two  days  going  ;  under  contract.*'  The 
government  was  slow  in  recognizing  the  importance  of  rapid  transit  in 
those  days  ;  and,  though  quite  rapid  communication  between  Xew 
York  and  Boston  by  steamboat  and  railway  had  been  opened  in 
1835-30,  business  men  lacked  public  facilities  in  transmitting  letters 
and  packages  between  the  two  cities.    This  want  was  soon  supplied* 

One  pleasant  morning  early  in  the  summer  of  1837,  a  young  man 
about  twenty-five  years  of  age  entered  the  office  of  Mr.  Hale  in  rather 
a  dejected  mood.  He  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  was  seeking  em- 
ployment, and  had  called  on  Mr.  Hale  for  advice  how  to  obtain  work. 
It  was  a  season  of  great  depression  in  all  kinds  of  business.  The  young 
man  was  rather  delicate,  even  fragile  in  physical  composition,  yet  he 
seemed  to  possess  ambition  and  an  energy  of  character  that  interested 
Mr.  Hale.  He  inquired  his  name  and  his  antecedents.  His  name  was 
William  F.  Harnden,  and  his  antecedents  were  satisfactory. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  days,  when  young  Harnden  made  his  usual 
morning  call  and  anxious  inquiries,  Hale  suggested  to  him  a  new  busi- 
ness, fitted,  he  supposed,  to  his  physical  strength.  Nearly  every  day 
Hale  was  asked  by  bankers,  brokers,  and  merchants  if  he  knew  of  aiv)r 
one  going  to  Boston  from  Xew  York  in  whose  hands  they  might  in- 
trust small  packages.  This  want  of  a  messenger  was  continually  grow- 
ing. The  postage  on  letters  was  then  very  heavy,  and  packages,  even 
small  ones,  could  only  be  sent  as  freight  —  a  slow  process.  Hale 


FIRST  DECADE.  1830-1840. 


379 


thought  the  matter  over  carefully,  and  one  moaning  when  young 
Ilarnden  came  in  with  anxious  looks,  he  said  to  the  youth  in  his  pleas- 
ant manner  : 

"  Ilarnden.  I  think  I  can  put  you  in  the  way  of  employing  yourself 
in  business.  If  you  will  travel  between  Xew  York  and  Boston  on  the 
steamboat,  and  do  errands  for  business  men  in  both  places,  charging  a 
fair  remuneration  for  your  services,  it  will  pay." 

"  I  will  try  it,"  said  Harnden  cheerily.  **  How  shall  I  get  the  busi- 
ness to  do  ?" 

"  I'll  help  you,''  said  Hale. 

And  so  he  did,  most  effectually.  To  all  inquirers  about  carriers,  he 
directed  merchants,  bankers,  and  brokers  to  young  Ilarnden,  who  hung- 
up a  slate  in  Hale's  news-room  for  orders.  In  the  course  of  a  week  he 
started  on  his  new  business,  which,  at  the  suggestion  of  his  good  friend 
and  adviser,  he  called  "  The  Express,"  the  term  used  for  the  fastest 
railway  trains,  and  which  had  been  in  use  scores  of  years  to  designate 
the  character  of  a  special  messenger. 

Harnden  started  in  his  new  business  with  a  single  carpet-bag.  The 
older  business  men  were  at  first  slow  to  perceive  the  advantages  they 
might  derive  from  his  services,  and  discouragement  met  him  at  the 
outset.  His  steamboat  expenses  for  passage  and  meals  were  consider- 
able, and  at  the  end  of  two  months  his  little  store  of  money  was  ex- 
hausted, for  his  expenses  had  exceeded  his  receipts.  He  was  about  to 
abandon  the  enterprise  Avhen  some  friends  procured  for  him  free  pas- 
sage on  the  steamboat. 

This  "  subsidy"  was  the  important  point  on  which  his  fortune 
turned,  nis  business  became  more  and  more  popular  and  profitable, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  his  single  carpet-bag  became  too  small  for 
his  rapidly  increasing  business.  Two,  three,  and  four  bags  were  added 
to  his  means  of  transportation,  and  finally  he  bought  and  used  a  large 
hair-covered  trunk,  which  bore  on  each  end,  in  strong  brass-headed 
nails,  the  words,  "  Haenden's  Expeess." 

As  the  labor  of  the  business  increased,  Harnden  disposed  of  a  part  of 
his  business  to  an  assistant  in  Boston,  and  a  small  office  was  opened  in 
both  cities.  Very  soon  they  were  enabled  to  employ  a  man  as  express 
messenger  on  both  the  morning  and  evening  steamboats,  to  take  charge 
of  articles  sent  in  hand-crates. 

When  poor  overworked  Harnden  saw  twenty  dollars  saved  in  one 
day,  bright  visions  of  a  speedily  won  fortune  stimulated  his  ambition  to 
do  more.  He  began  to  consider  the  advantages  and  profits  of  land 
routes,  and  very  soon  he  established  a  line  between  Boston  and  Albany, 


380 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


and  met  with  success.  The  Cunard  steamships  gave  him  much  busi- 
ness between  Boston  and  New  York,  and  he  conceived  a  project  for 
organizing  a  system  of  emigration.  There  was  no  established  means 
to  enable  emigrants  who  had  settled  in  the  United  States  to  remit 
money  to  their  brood  "  at  home,"  or  prepay  the  passage  of  those  who 
wished  to  come  to  America.  Harnden  attempted  to  supply  this  want. 
In  the  year  1841  he  established  a  system  of  communication  which  he 
called  "  The  English  and  Continental  Express,''  with  offices  in  Liver- 
pool, London,  and  Paris,  and  branches  in  other  parts  of  the  continent 
and  (ireat  Britain.  lie  also  made  arrangements  for  the  cheap  convey- 
ance of  emigrants  from  Liverpool  in  sailing  vessels,  and  chartered  a 
considerable  fleet  of  Erie  canal-boats  to  carry  them  and  their  effects  to 
"the  West,"  which  then  meant  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  and 
Wisci  >nsin. 

At  the  end  of  about  three  years  from  the  establishment  of  this  emi- 
gration system,  this  small,  fragile,  energetic  man  had  been  instrumental 
in  bringing  to  the  United  States  more  than  one  hundred  thousand 
laborers,  and  so  adding  many  millions  of  dollars  to  the  national  wealth. 
But  he  had  impoverished  himself,  and  was  dying  with  consumption. 
In  1S4.">  lie  died,  comparatively  a  poor  man,  only  thirty-three  years  of 
age.  But  his  name  is  immortal  as  the  founder  of  the  great  express 
business,  in  which  his  successors  have  accumulated  immense  fortunes. 

When  it  was  perceived  that  Ilarnden's  express  business  was  success- 
ful, Alvin  Adams,  a  native  of  Windsor,  Vermont,  then  a  man  between 
thirty-five  and  forty  years  of  age,  entered  into  the  business.  He  had 
been  engaged  in  business  in  Boston  and  St.  Louis,  and  finallv  in  1840 
he  began  an  opposition  to  Ilarnden's  Express  between  New  York  and 
Boston.  For  a  long  time  he  struggled  against  great  discouragements. 
His  pockets  would  almost  hold  the  packages  daily  intrusted  to  his  care, 
and  a  dollar  carpet-bag  was  his  chief  vehicle  for  transportation  for  a 
long  time.  Harnden  became  so  engrossed  in  his  emigration  scheme 
that  he  lost  much  of  his  express  business,  which  Adams,  with  great 
sagacity,  found  and  profited  by.  Prosperity  followed.  He  first  asso- 
ciated with  himself  in  the  business  E.  Farnsworth,  and  afterward 
William  B.  Dinsmore,  who  took  charge  of  the  New  York  office.  In 
ten  years  the  business  had  so  increased  that  Adams  *fe  Co.  paid  $17<»»  a 
month  for  a  small  space  in  a  car  of  a  fast  railway  train  running  be- 
tween New  York  and  New  Haven,  for  the  conveyance  of  money  and 
small  packages.  Mr.  Adam  died  in  1ST",  when  Mr.  Dinsmore  became 
president  of  the  company,  and  now  (1883)  occupies  that  position. 

The  Adams  Express  Company  is  a  very  wealthy  corporation,  and  is 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


381 


a  leader  in  the  express  business  in  this  country.  In  1849  Mr.  Adams 
established  an  overland  express  to  California,  to  meet  the  wants  of  the 
great  army  of  gold-seekers  who  had  flocked  into  that  region  in  search 
of  the  newly  discovered  precious  metals  there.  In  time  he  opened  a 
banking-house  in  connection  with  the  express  business  at  all  the  princi- 
pal poiuts  in  that  State,  thus  enabling  miners  and  others  to  send  home 
to  the  East  their  gold  and  letters.  After  that  he  started  an  express  for 
Australia.    It  was  unprofitable,  and  was  soon  abandoned. 

The  company  rendered  great  assistance  to  the  government  during 
the  late  Civil  War,  quickly  transporting  war  munitions  to  different 
exposed  points.  Their  agents  often  received  money  from  the  soldiers 
when  paid  off  in  the  field  and  on  the  eve  of  battle,  and  delivered  it  to 
their  families  or  friends  at  home.  These  agents  were  always  furnished 
with  a  competent  escort,  with  three  safes,  to  points  of  general  distribu- 
tion of  their  contents.  As  the  national  armies  closed  in  upon  the  terri- 
tories wherein  insurrection  and  rebellion  existed,  these  agents  followed 
closely,  and  reopened  their  express  offices  in  the  Southern  States.* 

Meanwhile  Livingston,  "Wells  &  Co.  's  express  had  been  established. 
They  carried  letters  in  opposition  to  the  government.  Wells  had  been 
Harnden's  agent  at  Albany.  He  first  extended  the  business  to  Buffalo, 
and  thence  westward.  The  first  fine  extended  beyond  that  city  was 
that  of  Wells,  Fargo  &  Dunning.  In  1S-AS  John  Butterfield  established 
an  express,  and  was  soon  joined  by  Mr.  Wasson.  In  1850  the  compa- 
nies of  Wells,  Fargo  &  Dunning  and  Butterfield  &  Wasson  were  con- 

*  Alvin  Adams  was  born  at  Windsor,  Vermont,  on  June  1804.  His  parpnts  both 
died  when  he  was  about  eight  years  of  age,  and  Alvin  lived  with  his  oldest  brother  on 
the  farm  which  was  their  patrimony  until  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age.  Then  he  began 
to  desire  a  broader  sight  of  the  social  world,  and  went  to  Woodstock,  the  capital  of 
Windsor  County.  Here  he  engaged  himself  to  tbe  principal  tavern-keeper  in  the  town, 
who  owned  a  line  of  stages  that  ran  between  that  place  and  Concord,  N.  H.  With  this 
publican  Alvin  stayed  about  five  years,  and  then  went  to  Boston,  where,  after  trying 
several  employments,  he  started  in  business  for  himself  as  a  produce  commission  mer- 
chant. In  1837  he  discontinued  that  business,  went  to  New  York  and  thence  to 
St.  Louis,  but  soon  returned  from  the  latter  place.  In  May,  1840,  he  started  in  the 
express  business,  as  mentioned  in  the  text,  and  was  wonderfully  successful.  His  chief 
characteristics  were  energy  and  a  preference  for  things  of  magnitude.  His  moral  charac- 
ter was  unblemished,  and  his  honor  and  probity  were  proverbial,  Mr.  Adauis  died  at  his 
home  in  Watertown,  Mass.,  September  1,  1877,  at  the  age  of  about  seventy-three  years. 
He  married  Miss  Anne  It.  Bridge,  of  Boston,  and  left  a  widow,  two  sons,  and  a  daughter. 

In  addition  to  his  rich  moral  qualities,  Mr.  Adams  was  endowed  with  a  genial  disjiosi- 
tion  and  a  capacity  of  pleasing  all  with  whom  he  became  acquainted. 

One  of  the  earliest  and  most  efficient  pioneers  in  the  express  business  was  Edward  S. 
Sanford,  who  died  in  1882.  He  was  for  over  forty  years  prominently  identified  with  the 
management  of  the  Adams  Express  Company. 


382 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


solidated.  By  the  union  of  the  three  companies  ahove  named  the 
American  Express  Company  was  formed,  which  soon  became  a  power- 
ful rival  of  the  Adams  Express  Company.  These  two  associations  are 
now  the  leading  express  companies  in  the  world. 

It  was  estimated  at  the  time  of  the  establishment  of  the  American 
Express  Company  (about  1850)  that  the  aggregate  express  agents  trav- 
elled in  the  discharge  of  their  duties  30,000  miles  a  day.  In  1SS2  they 
travelled  about  405,000  miles  a  day,  over  nearly  80,000  miles  of  road. 
The  aggregate  companies  then  employed  about  22,000  men  and  over 
4000  horses,  and  had  fully  10,000  business  offices.  They  employ  in  the 
business  nearly  $30,000,000. 

This  is  the  product  in  less  than  fifty  years  of  the  small  seed,  "  like  a 
grain  of  mustard  seed,"  planted  in  James  W.  Hale's  news-room  in 
Wall  Street  by  William  E.  Harnden,  in  the  form  of  a  small  carpet-bag 
and  a  capital  of  $10.  The  city  of  New  York,  where  the  express 
business  originated,  has  continued  to  be  the  focal  point  of  the  business. 
From  it  nearly  or  quite  all  the  express  lines  radiate  as  from  a  common 
centre  of  impulse.  There  are  eleven  foreign  expresses  emanating  from 
New  York.  There  are  also  two  domestic  expresses  in  the  city,  that 
of  Dodd  (N.  Y.  Transfer  Co.)  and  Westcott's  Express  Company.  The 
value  of  the  express  system  to  the  city  is  simply  incalculable. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


SIMULTANEOUSLY  with  the  beginning  of  the  express  system, 
which  so  greatly  increased  the  facilities  for  exchanges  of  every 
kind,  appeared  the  dawn  of  the  era  of  the  electro-magnetic  telegraph 
system,  which  has  superseded  and  far  outstripped  the  steamboat,  the 
railway,  and  the  express  systems  in  the  interchange  of  thought  and  the 
diffusion  of  knowledge  throughout  the  civilized  world. 

Although  for  nearly  forty  years  men  have  been  so  familiar  with  the 
operations  of  this  mighty  motor  that  it  is  commonplace  to  the  common 
mind,  yet  to-day,  to  the  apprehension  of  profound  thinkers  and  skilled 
scientists,  this  invisible  agent,  in  its  essence  and  origin,  is  an  undiscov- 
ered and  apparently  undiscoverable  mystery  which  human  ken  may  not 
fathom,  nor  of  which  human  imagination  may  conceive  a  theory. 

In  our  profound  ignorance  we  may  with  reverence  regard  it  as  did 
Pope,  who,  in  speaking  of  the  universe,  said  of  creation  : 

"  Whose  body  Nature  is,  and  God  the  son]  "  ; 

and  then,  with  dim  discernment  of  the  truth,  thus  spoke  of  its  manifes- 
tation to  man  : 

a  Warms  in  the  sun,  refreshes  in  the  breeze  ; 
Glows  in  the  stars,  and  blossoms  in  the  trees  ; 
It  lives  through  all  life,  extends  through  all  extent  ; 
Spreads  undivided,  operates  unspent." 

It  was  early  in  the  year  1838  that  Samuel  Finley  Breese  Morse,*  a 

*  Samuel  Finley  Breese  Morse,  LL.D.,  was  a  son  of  the  Rev.  Jedediah  Morse,  and  was 
born  in  Charlestown,  Mass.,  April  27,  1791.  He  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1810,  and 
went  to  England  the  next  year,  where  he  studied  the  art  of  painting  under  Benjamin 
West.  On  his  return  in  1815  he  practised  the  art,  chiefly  in  the  line  of  portrait  painting, 
in  Boston,  Charlestown,  and  New  York.  In  the  latter  city  he  became  the  chief  founder 
of  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design,  in  1826.  He  went  to  Europe  in  1829,  and 
remained  until  1832.  While  abroad  he  was  elected  professor  of  the  literature  of  the  arts 
of  design  in  the  new  University  of  the  City  of  New  York.  He  had  been  a  close  student 
of  chemical  science,  and  had  been  interested  in  electrical  experiments  in  France.  While 
voyaging  home  in  1832  he  conceived  the  idea  of  an  electro-magnetic  recording  telegraph, 
which,  as  is  seen  in  the  text,  he  afterward  perfected.  This  subject  absorbed  his  atten- 
tion largely  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.    Yet  from  1832  until  about  1838  he  was 


384 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


portrait  and  historical  painter  of  rare  merit,  and  then  professor  of  the 
literature  of  the  arts  of  design  in  the  University  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  first  made  a  partially  public  exhibition  of  his  invention  of  an 
electro-magnetic  recording  telegraph.  He  did  not  pretend  to  be  the 
discoverer  of  electro-magnetism,  nor  the  first  inventor  of  an  electro- 
magnetic machine  with  dynamic  power.  These  had  been  known  long- 
before.  So  early  as  the  middle  of  the  last  century  Dr.  Franklin  had 
produced  a  mechanical  effect  at  a  distance  of  half  a  mile  from  his  elec- 
trical machine,  by  means  of  a  wire  stretched  along  the  bank  of  the 
Schuylkill  ;  and  other  philosophers,  from  Franklin  to  Professors  Henry 
and  Whcatstoms  had  from  time  to  time  been  approaching  the  solution 
of  the  great  problem  which  Morse  triumphantly  solved — the  problem 
of  giving  intelligence  to  the  subtle  power  of  electro-magnetism  in  its 
operations.  Nay,  more  :  the  power  of  giving  to  it  an  audible  language, 
as  perfect  and  comprehensive  to  the  skilful  operator  as  the  spoken 
English  lan<nia<re. 

While  on  a  professional  visit  to  Europe  as  an  artist  in  1832,  Mr. 
Morse,  who  had  enjoyed  many  conversations  with  his  friend.  Processor 
J.  Freeman  Dana,  and  heard  his  lectures  on  electro-magnetism  at  the 

much  engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  his  profession.  He  possessed  the  elements  of  a  superior 
artist,  and  was  rapidly  gaining  in  popularity  as  an  historical  painter  when  his  mind  and 
efforts  were  directed  to  the  consideration  of  the  telegraph,  which  gave  him  terrestrial 
immortality,  world-wide  fame,  and  a  competent  fortune.  The  consequence  is,  his  biogra- 
phers have  passed  over  his  most  interesting  career  as  an  artist  with  slight  mention.  His 
journals  and  note-books  on  art,  in  the  possession  of  his  family,  denote  his  great  devo- 
tion to  his  favorite  pursuit,  and  reveal  his  character  in  its  really  most  interesting  aspect. 

Monarchs  of  Europe  testified  their  appreciation  of  Professor  Morse's  beneficent  ser- 
vices in  producing  a  recording  telegraph  by  gifts  of  money  and  "orders."  In  many 
ways,  at  home  and  abroad,  he  was  the  recipient  of  honors  from  his  countrymen.  In  185G 
a  banquet  was  given  him  in  London  by  British  telegraph  companies,  and  in  1858  he  par- 
ticipated in  a  banquet  given  in  his  honor  in  Paris  by  about  one  hundred  Americans,  rep- 
resenting nearly  every  State  in  the  Republic. 

In  IKON  a  bronze  statue  of  Professor  Morse  was  erected  in  Central  Park,  New  York,  and 
paid  for  by  the  voluntary  contributions  of  telegraph  employes.  It  was  unveiled  by 
Bryant,  the  poet,  in  June,  1871,  and  that  evening,  at  a  public  reception  given  him  at  the 
Academy  of  Music,  Professor  Morse,  with  one  of  the  instruments  first  employed  on  the 
Baltimore  and  Washington  line,  sent  a  message  of  greeting  to  all  the  principal  cities  on 
the  continent,  and  to  several  on  the  transatlantic  hemisphere.  His  last  public  act  was 
the  unveiling  of  the  statue  of  Franklin  in  Printing-House  Square,  New  York,  January  17, 
1872.    He  died  on  the  2d  of  April  following,  at  his  home  in  New  York. 

Professor  Morse  was  the  originator  of  the  idea  of  submarine  telegraphy,  as  the  narration 
in  the  text  certifies.  He  lived  to  see  it  in  successful  operation*.  He  also  lived  to  see 
performed,  what  he  had  long  believed  to  be  a  possibility — namely,  the  transmission  of 
despatches  over  the  same  wire  each  way  at  the  same  moment.  The  philosophy  of  this 
feat  is  yet  an  unsolved  riddle  to  electricians. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


385 


Athenaeum,  made  it  a  special  study  to  ascertain  what  scientific  men 
abroad  had  discovered  in  that  special  field  of  investigation,  lie  was 
fainiliar  with  the  fable-prophecy  of  Strada,  a  Jesuit  priest,  in  1649,  con- 
cerning- an  electric  telegraph,  and  was  very  earnest  in  his  pursuit  of  in- 
formation. He  was  satisfied  that  no  telegraph  proper — no  instrument 
for  writing  at  a  distance — had  yet  been  invented. 

Morse  became  much  interested  in  a  recent  discovery  in  France  of  the 
means  for  obtaining  an  electric  spark  from  a  magnet,  and  in  his  home- 
ward-bound voyage  in  the  ship  Sully,  from  Havre,  in  the  autumn  of 
1832,  that  discovery  was  the  principal  topic  of  conversation  among  his 
cultivated  fellow-passengers.  After  much  deep  thought  a  sudden 
mental  illumination  enabled  Mr.  Morse  to  conceive  not  only  the  idea  of 
an  electro-magnetic  and  chemical  recording  telegraph,  but  the  plan  of 
an  instrument  for  effecting  such  a  result.  Before  the  Stilly  reached 
New  York  he  had  made  drawings  and  specifications  of  such  an  instru- 
ment, which  he  exhibited  to  his  fellow-passengers. 

Other  occupations  absorbed  Mr.  Morse's  attention  for  two  or  three 
years  afterward,  and  the  grand  idea  was  allowed  to  slumber  in  his 
mind.  He  was  appointed  to  the  professorship  already  mentioned,  in 
the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York.  Finally  he  again  turned  his 
thoughts  toward  the  production  of  a  recording  electro-magnetic  tele- 
graph, and  in  November,  183."),  he  had  completed  the  rude  instrument 
which  his  family  preserve  at  their  house  near  Poughkeepsie.  It  em- 
bodied the  general  mechanical  principles  of  the  machines  now  in  use. 

Pursuing  his  experiments,  in  July,  1837,  Professor  Morse  was  ena- 
bled, by  means  of  two  instruments,  to  communicate  from  as  well  as  to 
distant  points.  Scores  of  persons  saw  the  telegraph  in  operation  at  the 
university  in  the  late  summer  and  early  autumn  of  1837,  and  pitied 
the  dreamer  because  he  was  foolishly  wasting  his  time  and  high  genius 
as  an  artist  in  playing  with  what  seemed  to  be  a  useless  scientific  toy. 

The  great  city — then  containing  a  population  of  about  three  hundred 
thousand — full  of  intellectual,  moral,  and  material  activities  of  every 
kind  ;  rapidly  extending  in  commerce,  manufactures,  the  mechanical 
arts,  architectural  beauty,  wealth,  and  moral,  religious,  social,  and 
benevolent  institutions  ;  in  a  word,  endowed  with  everything  which 
constitutes  a  prosperous  and  enlightened  community — the  great  city 
did  not  dream  of  the  effulgence  which  was  about  to  overspread  it,  and 
make  it  conspicuous  for  all  time,  by  a  discovery  unparalleled  in  impor- 
tance in  the  history  of  civilization.  And  yet  that  effulgence  at  first 
seemed  like  a  waxing  aurora.  It  appeared  dimly  when,  in  response  to 
invitations  like  the  following,  quite  a  large  number  of  intelligent  and 


386 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


influential  citizens  assembled  in  Professor  Morse's  room  in  the  uni- 
versity : 

"  Professor  Morse  requests  the  honor  of  Thomas  S.  Cummings,  Esq.,  and  family's 
company  in  the  Geological  Cahinet  of  the  University,  "Washington  Square,  to  witness  the 
operation  of  the  electro-magnetic  telegraph,  at  a  private  exhibition  of  it  to  a  few  friends, 
previous  to  its  leaving  the  city  for  Washington. 

"  The  apparatus  will  be  prepared  at  precisely  twelve  o'clock,  on  Wednesday,  24th  in- 
stant.   The  time  being  limited,  punctuality  is  specially  requested. 

"  New  York  University,  January  22,  1838." 

A  goodly  company  of  believers,  doubters,  and  critics  were  assem- 
bled. There  stood  the  instrument,  with  copper  wire  coiled  around  the 
room  attached  to  it.  Professor  Morse  requested  his  visitors  to  give 
him  brief  messages  for  transmission.  These  were  sent  around  the 
circuit  and  read  by  one  who  had  no  knowledge  of  the  words  that  had 
been  given  to  the  operator.  In  compliment  to  Mr.  Cummings,  who 
was  present,  and  who  had  recently  been  promoted  to  the  military  rank 
of  general,  one  of  the  gentlemen  present  handed  to  Professor  Morse  the 
following  message  : 

"ATTENTION    THE  UNIVERSE! 
BY  KINGDOMS,  RIGHT  WHEEL  !" 

This  was  distinctly  written,  letter  by  letter,  in  the  newly  invented 
telegraphic  alphabet,  on  a  strip  of  paper  moved  by  clock-work.  As- 
tonishment filled  the  minds  of  the  company,  as  they  with  grave  pon- 
derings  witnessed  the  seeming  miracle  that  had  been  wrought.  The 
sentence  was  prophetic.  It  was  a  call  to  attention  by  the  mundane 
universe  to  which  it  was  about  to  speak,  and  has  been  speaking  ever 
since.  Five  days  afterward  the  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce  con- 
tained the  following  sentence  : 

"  The  Telegkaph. — We  did  not  witness  the  operations  of  Professor  Morse's  electro- 
magnetic telegraph  on  Wednesday  last,  but  we  learn  that  the  numerous  company  of  sci- 
entific persons  who  were  present  pronounced  it  entirely  successful.  Intelligence  was 
instantly  transmitted  through  a  circuit  of  ten  miles,  and  legibly  written  on  a  cylinder  at 
the  extremity  of  the  circuit." 

Professor  Morse  now  started  for  Washington  to  seek  government  aid 
in  perfecting  and  testing  his  invention.  He  accepted  an  invitation  to 
stop  in  Philadelphia  and  exhibit  his  discovery  to  the  committee  on  the 
arts  and  sciences,  of  the  Franklin  Institute.  Their  verdict  was 
highly  commendatory,  and  on  repeating  this  fact  to  his  brother,  the 
late  Sidney  E.  Morse,*  that  gentleman  responded  in  words  that  exhib- 
ited great  prophetic  prescience.    He  said  : 

*  Sidney  Edwards  Morse  was  born  in  Charlestown,  Mass.,  February  7,  1794.  He  grad- 
uated at  Yale  College  in  1811  ;  entered  the  famous  law  school  at  Litchfield,  Conn.,  but 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


387 


"  Your  invention,  measuring  it  by  the  power  which  it  will  give  man  to  accomplish 
Lis  plans,  is  not  only  the  greatest  invention  of  the  age,  but  the  greatest  invention  of  any 
age.  I  see,  as  an  almost  immediate  effect,  that  the  surface  of  the  earth  will  be  net- 
worked with  wire,  and  every  wire  will  be  a  nerve,  conveying  to  ever}'  part  intelligence  of 
what  is  doing  in  every  other  part.  The  earth  will  become  a  huge  animal  with  ten  million 
hands,  and  in  every  hand  a  pen  to  record  whatever  the  directing  soul  may  dictate.  No 
limit  can  be  assigned  to  the  value  of  the  invention." 

Sidney  E.  Morse  was  then  the  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  New 
York  Observe/-,  now  (1SS3)  the  oldest  weekly  newspaper  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  having-  been  published  sixty  consecutive  years.  It  is  ably 
edited  by  the  Rev.  S.  I.  Prime,  D.  D.,  who  has  been  connected  with  it 
as  editor  and  proprietor  since  1840.* 

preferring  literature  to  the  legal  profession,  he  established  the  Boston  Recorder,  the  first 
so-called  religious  newspaper  issued  in  America.  That  was  in  1815,  when  he  was  twenty- 
one  years  of  age.  In  1823,  in  connection  with  his  younger  brother,  Richard  C,  he 
founded  the  New  York  Observer,  also  a  "  religious  newspaper,"  which  he,  as  senior 
editor,  conducted  with  great  ability  and  success  until  1858,  when  he  disposed  of  his 
interest  in  the  paper.  Like  his  brother  the  professor,  Mr.  Sidney  Morse  was  possessed  of 
an  inventive  genius.  In  connection  with  that  brother  he  invented  a  fire-engine,  in  1817. 
In  1820  he  published  a  small  geography  for  schools,  and  in  1839,  in  connection  with  an- 
other, he  invented  a  process  for  producing  maps  and  other  outline  pictures  to  be  printed 
typographically.  This  process  was  first  practically  applied  to  the  production  of  maps  for 
a  new  edition  of  his  geography,  of  which  100,000  copies  were  sold  the  first  year.  He 
called  the  process  Cerography.  Its  product  was  a  crude  prototype  of  the  plates  of  what 
is  now  known  as  the  Moss  photographic  process.  During  the  latter  years  of  his  life  Mr. 
Morse  devoted  much  time  and  study  to  an  invention  for  making  rapid  deep-sea  sound 
ings.    He  died  December  23,  1871. 

*  Samuel  Irenanis  Prime,  D.D.,  is  a  leader  of  the  conservative  religious  press  of  our 
country.  He  is  of  clerical  ancestry.  His  great-grandfather,  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Prime, 
was  a  graduate  of  Yale  and  a  distinguished  scholar  and  divine  before  the  period  of  the 
Revolution.  His  grandfather,  Dr.  Benjamin  Young  Prime,  was  a  graduate  of  Princeton 
College,  and  was  an  accomplished  physician.  He  was  a  man  of  varied  learning,  writing 
both  poetry  and  prose  freely  in  Greek,  Latin,  French,  and  English.  He  wrote  many 
popular  songs  and  ballads  during  the  Revolution.  The  father  of  S.  Irenauis  Prime  was 
the  Rev.  Nathaniel  S.  Prime,  D.D.,  who  died  in  1855.  He,  too,  was  a  graduate  of  Prince- 
ton, and  was  distinguished  for  his  scholarly  attainments  and  fervid  eloquence  as  a  Pres- 
byterian preacher. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Ballston,  X.  Y.,  on  November  4,  1812.  While 
lie  was  yet  an  infant  his  parents  removed  to  Cambridge,  Washington  County,  X.  Y..  and 
there  his  boyhood  was  spent.  Bright  and  studioiis,  he  was  fitted  for  college  at  the  age  of 
eleven  years.  But  he  was  nearly  fourteen  years  of  age  before  he  was  permitted  to  enter 
Williams  College.  He  was  graduated  with  one  of  the  highest  honors  of  his  class  before 
he  was  seventeen  years  old.  Studying  theology  at  Princeton,  he  entered  upon  the  duties 
of  the  Christian  ministry  before  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age,  at  Ballston  Spa,  near  his 
birthplace.  He  labored  with  great  earnestness  and  zeal  ;  and,  overworked  at  the  end  of 
a  year,  he  was  compelled  by  failing  health  to  leave  the  pulpit  for  a  while. 

Mr.  Prime  resumed  clerical  duties  in  Matteawan,  Duchess  County,  where  for  about  three 
years  he  labored  most  earnestly  and  acceptably,  when  again  his  health  gave  way.  It 


388 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Professor  Morse  exhibited  his  wonderful  invention  to  government 
officials  and  members  of  Congress,  but  met  with  little  encouragement  ; 
so  he  filed  a  caveat  in  the  Patent  Office  and  went  to  Europe  to  seek 

now  became  evident  to  him  that  his  physical  strength  was  not  adequate  to  the  sustention 
of  continuous  labor  in  the  vineyard  which  he  had  chosen  for  his  life-task,  and  he  turned 
his  attention  to  literature  and  the  held  of  journalism.  In  1810  he  became  assistant  editor 
of  the  New  York  Observer.  With  only  one  slight  interval,  he  has  been  editorially  con- 
nected with  the  Observer  until  now,  a  period  of  forty-three  years.  That  interval  was  in 
1840  when  he  was  appointed  secretary  of  the  American  Bible  Society.  He  soon  found 
that  the  much  public  speaking  which  the  duties  of  that  office  required  was  too  much  for 
him  to  endure,  when  he  resigned  and  resumed  his  connection  with  the  Observer. 

In  1853  Dr.  Prime  tried  the  advantages  of  foreign  travel,  on  account  of  frequent  failing 
health,  when  his  brother,  the  Rev.  E.  D.  G.  Prime,  became  associate  editor  of  the 
Observer.  He  spent  some  time  in  Europe  and  extended  his  travels  to  Egypt  and  Pales- 
tine. During  that  time  he  enriched  the  columns  of  the  Observer  with  a  most  valuable 
series  of  letters  over  the  signature  ot  "  Irenams,  '  which  were  afterward  published  in 
book  form.  In  1858  Mr.  Morse  sold  his  interest  in  the  Observer  property  to  Mr.  Prime, 
since  which  time  the  latter  has  been  the  chief  editor  and  proprietor  of  this  venerable  but 
vigorous  and  progressive  newspaper. 

Dr.  Prime  has  been  all  through  life  a  most  industrious  laborer,  especially  in  the  field 
of  literature,  and  a  most  earnest  and  taithful  worker  in  various  societies  for  the  promo- 
tion of  Christianity  and  good  living.  He  is  the  author  of  more  than  forty  volumes,  many 
ot  them  not  bearing  his  name.  They  have  been  issued  by  excellent  publishers— Harpers, 
Appletons,  Randolph,  and  Carter.  Among  them,  as  most  prominent,  may  be  mentioned 
"  The  Old  White  Meeting-House,  or  Reminiscences  of  a  Country  Congregation,"  1845  ; 
"  Travels  in  Europe  and  the  East,"  two  volumes,  1855  ;  '"Letters  from  Switzerland," 
1860  ;  "  The  Alhambra  and  the  Kremlin, "  1873  ;  "  The  Life  of  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse," 
1874  ;  "  Under  the  Trees,"  1874  ;  "  Songs  of  the  Soul"  (selections),  1874  ;  four  vol- 
umes on  "  Prayer  and  its  Answers. ": 

Dr.  Prime  is  as  "  busy  as  a  bee"  in  social  and  teligious  work.  He  is  president  of  the 
New  York  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  and  Art,  vice-president  and 
director  of  the  American  Tract  Society,  ex-corresponding  secretary  and  director  of  the 
American  Bible  Society,  vice  president  and  director  of  the  American  and  Foreign  Chris- 
tian Union,  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  of  the  United  States, 
director  of  the  American  Colonization  Society,  director  and  member  of  the  executive 
committee  of  the  New  York  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Crime,  member  of  the  Inter- 
national Code  Committee,  trustee  of  Williams  College,  and  ex-president  and  a  trustee  ot 
Wells  College  for  Women.  Besides  these  offices  and  trusts,  he  is  identified  with  many 
institutions  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which  he  is  a  member.  None  of  these  offices 
does  Dr.  Prime  hold  as  sinecures,  but  he  is  a  working  member— generally  a  "  wheel- 
horse"  bearing  the  brunt — attending  all  meetings,  and  giving  his  time  gratuitously  to 
every  cause  which  he  undertakes  to  promote. 

Dr.  Prime  is  eminently  conservative  in  all  things.  He  is  earnest  in  controversy. 
Right  or  wrong,  he  deals  telling  blows.  In  the  social  circle  he  is  one  of  the  most  genial 
of  men,  full  of  wit  and  humor  and  pleasant  repartee.  In  the  pulpit  he  is  always  im- 
pressive, and  his  arguments  are  convincing.  As  a  speaker  he  is  easy,  graceful,  impas- 
sioned, and  marked  by  simplicity.  He  bears  the  burden  of  more  than  threescore  and 
ten  years  with  ease.  Dr.  Prime  received  his  honorary  degree  from  Hampden-Sidney  Col- 
lege, Virginia. 


FIRST  DECADE.  1830-1840. 


3S9 


the  countenance  of  some  foreign  government.  lie  was  unsuccessful. 
England  would  not  grant  him  a  patent,  and  from  France  lie  received 
only  a  brevet  <P in  coition ,  a  worthless  piece  of  paper  that  did  not  secure 
to  him  any  special  privilege.  Yet  among-  scientific  men  like  Arago 
and  Humholdt  the  invention  excited  wonder,  admiration,  and  great 
expectations. 

Professor  Morse  returned  to  New  York  in  the  steamship  Great  West- 
er»j  in  April,  1839,  disappointed  but  not  disheartened.  lie  waited 
nearly  four  years  before  Congress  did  anything  for  him.  Meanwhile 
he  had  demonstrated  the  feasibility  of  marine  telegraphy  by  laying  a 
submarine  cable  across  the  harbor  of  Xew  York,  and  working  it  per- 
fectly. This  achievement  won  for  Morse  the  gold  medal  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute. 

Soon  after  that  Professor  Morse  suggested  the  feasibility  of  an  ocean 
telegraph  to  connect  Europe  and  America.  In  a  letter  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  John  C.  Spencer,  in  August,  1S43,  Morse  said,  after 
referring  to  certain  scientific  principles  : 

"  The  practical  inference  from  this  law  is  that  telegraphic  communication  on  the 
electro-magnetic  plan  may  with  certainty  be  established  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 
Startling  as  this  may  now  seem,  I  am  confident  the  time  will  come  when  this  project  will 
be  realized. " 

Iii  February,  1843,  the  late  John  P.  Kennedy,  of  Baltimore,  then  in 
Congress,  moved  an  appropriation  of  §30,000,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  for  testing  the  merits  of  the  telegraph. 
Cave  Johnson,  of  Tennessee,  proposed  one  half  that  sum  to  be  used  in 
testing  the  merits  of  mesmerism,  while  Houston,  from  the  same  State, 
thought  Millerism  ought  to  be  included  in  the  benefits  of  the  appropri- 
ation. In  this  cheap  wit  and  displays  of  ignorance  the  Speaker  of  the 
House  (John  White,  of  Kentucky)  indulged  ;  but  there  were  wiser 
men  enough  in  the  House  to  pass  a  bill  making  the  desired  appropria- 
tion on  February  23d.  When  it  went  to  the  Senate  it  did  not  meet 
with  sneers  nor  opposition,  but  at  twilight  on  the  last  day  of  the 
session  there  were  one  hundred  and  nineteen  bills  before  Morse's,  and 
he  retired  to  his  lod^in^s  with  a  heavy  heart,  satisfied  he  would  have 
to  wait  another  year.  lie  paid  his  hotel  bill,  procured  his  railway 
ticket  for  home  the  next  morning,  and  had  just  seventy-five  cents  left 
— (t  all  the  money  I  had  in  the  world  that  I  could  call  my  own,"  said 
the  professor  in  relating  the  circumstance  to  the  writer. 

While  taking  his  breakfast,  before  it  was  fairly  light,  the  next  morn- 
ing, a  waiter  told  him  there  was  a  young  lady  in  the  parlor  who  de- 
sired to  see  him.    There  he  met  Miss  Anna  Ellsworth,  a  daughter  of 


390 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


his  good  friend  Henry  L.  Ellsworth,  the  Commissioner  of  Patents. 
She  extended  her  hand,  and  said  : 

"  I  have  come  to  congratulate  you  !" 

"  Upon  what  ?"  inquired  the  professor. 

"  Upon  the  passage  of  your  bill."' 

"  Impossible  !  its  fate  was  sealed  at  dusk  last  evening.  You  must 
be  mistaken.'" 

"  I  am  not  mistaken,"  responded  the  earnest  young  girl  ;  "  father 
sent  me  to  tell  you  that  your  bill  Avas  passed.  He  remained  until  the 
session  closed,  and  yours  was  the  last  bill  acted  upon.  It  was  passed 
just  five  minutes  before  twelve  o'clock,  the  hour  of  final  adjournment, 
and  I  am  so  glad  to  be  the  first  one  to  tell  you.  Mother  says,  too,  you 
must  come  home  with  me  to  breakfast.'1 

Grasping  the  hand  of  his  young  friend,  the  grateful  professor 
thanked  her  again  and  again  for  bringing  him  such  pleasant  tidings. 
He  assured  her  that  the  only  reward  he  could  offer  her  was  a  promise 
that  she  should  select  the  first  message  to  be  sent  over  the  telegraph. 

A  little  more  than  a  year  after  this  interview  a  line  of  telegraph  was 
constructed  between  Washington  and  Baltimore.  The  instruments 
were  ready  at  each  end;  the  one  at  Washington,  managed  by  Professor 
Morse,  \v;is  in  the  Supreme  Court  room  ;  the  one  at  Baltimore,  man- 
aged by  Mr.  Alfred  Vail,  was  in  the  Montclair  depot.  Morse  sent  for 
Miss  Ellsworth  to  bring  her  message.  She  gave  him  words  from  the 
hps  of  Balaam  :  "  What  hath  God  wrought  !" 

And  this  was  the  first  and  appropriate  message  ever  transmitted  by 
a  recording  telegraph.  The  first  public  message  was  the  announcement 
from  the  Democratic  National  Convention  sitting  in  Baltimore,  to  Silas 
"Wright,  in  Washington,  that  James  K.  Polk  was  nominated  for  the 
Presidency  of  the  United  States.  The  Johnsons,  the  Iloustons,  and 
the  sneering  Speaker  were  astounded.  Doubters  were  soon  ready  to 
bring  garlanded  bulls  to  sacrifice  to  it  as  a  god,  and  a  poet  wrote  : 

"  What  more,  presumptuous  mortals,  will  you  dare? 
See  Franklin  seize  the  Clouds,  their  holts  to  bury  ; 
The  Sun  assigns  his  pencil  to  Daguerre, 

And  Morse  the  Lightning  makes  his  secretary." 

The  regular  business  of  the  Morse  electro-magnetic  telegraph  was 
begun  in  a  small  basement  room,  No.  46  Wall  Street,  New  York,  in 
1844,  for  which  a  rent  of  8500  a  year  was  paid.  There  was  a  single 
telegraphic  instrument  in  the  room  and  a  solitarv  operator,  who  was 
idle  most  of  the  time  for  want  of  business.*    But  the  invention  was 

*  The  only  survivor  of  the  first  operators  of  the  Morse  telegraph  is  Captain  Louis  M. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


391 


soon  appreciated  by  thoughtful  and  enterprising  men.  Several  tele- 
graph companies  were  organized  to  use  it.  So  early  as  1846  Henry 
O'Reilly,  one  of  the  energetic  citizens  of  New  York,  formed  a  project 
for  using  all  the  companies  for  a  general  system  of  telegraphic  opera- 
tions, and  he  actually  established  a  system  extending  over  a  line  eight 
thousand  miles  in  length.*  Within  seven  years  from  the  time  when 
the  first  message  passed  over  the  wires  between  Washington  and  Balti- 
more, there  were  more  than  fifty  separate  telegraph  organizations 
within  the  limits  of  the  United  States.  The  most  important  of  these 
companies  were  consolidated  in  1S51,  the  year  in  which  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company  was  formed.  That  is  the  leading  company 
in  this  country.  It  occupies  the  greater  portion  of  an  immense  building 
which  was  erected  about  ten  years  ago  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and 
Dey  Street,  New  York,  at  a  cost  of  over  $2,000,000.  In  that  building 
about  six  hundred  operators  and  clerks  are  employed.  They  are 
divided  into  relief  gangs,  so  that  work  never  ceases.  A  large  portion 
of  this  force  is  composed  of  young  women.  They  all  work  entirely  by 
the  ear,  for  the  telegraph  has,  for  them,  a  distinct  language  of  its  own. 

In  the  summer  of  18-44,  less  than  forty  years  ago,  three  men  per- 
formed the  entire  telegraph  service  in  the  United  States.    In  1882  the 

Chastean,  who  was  living  in  Philadelphia  in  August,  1883,  the  commander  of  the  Park 
Guard,  and  an  old  journalist.  At  the  beginning  of  operations,  after  the  line  between 
Washington  and  Baltimore  was  completed.  Professor  Morse  was  the  superintendent  at 
Washington,  with  Alfred  Vail  as  his  efficient  assistant  superintendent  there.  Henry  J. 
Rogers  was  the  assistant  superintendent  at  Baltimore.  Lewis  Zantzinger  was  the  opera 
tor  at  Washington,  and  Mr.  C'hasteau  at  Baltimore.  Of  the  persons  here  mentioned,  only 
Mr.  Cbasteau,  as  wo  have  observed,  now  Jives  on  the  earth. 

The  telegraphic  line  between  Washington  and  Baltimore  was  then  a  copper  wire 
wrapped  in  cotton.  The  instruments  were  all  very  large  :  the  relay  magnet  was  kept  in  a 
box  three  feet  long,  locked,  and  the  key  in  Superintendent  Vail  s  pocket.  No  insulators 
were  then  known,  but  sealing-wax,  glass,  oiled  silk,  and  an  imperfect  preparation  of 
asphaltum  were  used.  All  connections  were  made  with  glass  tubes  filled  with  mercury, 
and  all  operators  during  thunder-storms  held  in  their  hands  large  pieces  of  oiled  siik. 

*  Mr.  O'Reilly  yet  lives  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven  years 
possesses  remarkable  vigor  of  mind  and  body.  He  is  a  native  of  Ireland,  where  he  was 
born  in  1806.  He  came  with  his  parents  to  America  in  1816,  was  apprenticed  to  a 
printer  in  New  York,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years  became  assistant  editor  of  a  lead- 
ing New  York  newspaper.  Before  he  was  twenty-one  he  was  chosen  editor  of  a  daily 
paper  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  the  first  established  between  the  Hudson  River  and  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  During  a  long  life  he  has  ever  been  an  advocate  and  promoter  of  the  most 
important  measures  tending  to  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  whether  State  or  national, 
and  was  a  pioneer  m  many  movements  to  that  end.  He  has  deposited  in  the  New  York 
Historical  Society  about  two  hundred  manuscript  volumes,  which  comprise  valuable 
authentic  materials  for  a  history  of  the  public  improvements  in  the  State  of  New  York. 
For  a  biography  of  Mr.  O'Reilly,  see  Lossing's  "  Cyclopaedia  of  United  States  History.*' 


392 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  alone,*  which  has  a  capital  stock 
of  $80,000,000,  had  131,060  miles  of  poles  and  374,368  miles  of  wire 
employed  ;  had  12,068  offices  ;  had  sent  out  during  the  year  38,842,- 
217  messages  ;  received  as  revenue  $17,114,165  ;  expended  $9,996,095, 
and  secured  a  profit  of  $7,118,070.  This  is  the  substance  of  a  report 
from  only  one  of  the  telegraph  companies  now  (1883)  existing  in  our 
country.    Over  this  great  corporation  Dr.  Norvin  Green  presides,  f 

*  The  officers  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  in  1882-83  are  :  Norvin 
Green,  president  :  Thomas  T.  Eckert,  vice-president  and  general  manager  ;  Augustus 
Schell,  Harrison  Durkee,  and  John  Van  Home,  vice-presidents  ;  D.  H.  Bates,  acting 
vice-president  and  assistant  general  manager  ;  J.  B.  Van  Every,  acting  vice-president 
and  auditor  ;  A.  R.  Brewer,  secretary  ;  R.  H.  Rochester,  treasurer  ;  Clarkson  Carey,  at- 
torney. 

■(■Norvin  Green,  M.D.,  the  president  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  is  a 
native  of  Kentucky,  where  he  was  born  in  1818.  In  1840  he  graduated  in  the  medical 
department  of  the  University  of  Louisville.  Active  and  energetic,  he  early  took  part  in 
political  movements,  and  was  several  times  elected  to  a  seat  in  the  Kentucky  Legislature, 
in  which  he  served  with  distinction.  Dr.  Green  was  appointed,  in  1853,  a  commissioner 
in  charge  of  the  building  of  a  new  custom-house  and  post-office  at  Louisville.  The  next 
year  he  became  interested  in  telegraphy,  and  showed  such  administrative  ability  that  he 
was  soon  chosen  president  of  the  South- Western  Telegraph  Company.  Dr.  Green  was 
not  only  held  in  highest  esteem  by  business  men,  but  he  was  exceedingly  popular  with 
all  classes,  and  is  especially  noted  for  his  kindness  of  heart.  He  won  great  success  for 
his  telegraph  company,  which  was  finally  merged  into  the  American  Telegraph  Company, 
organized  some  twenty-five  years  ago  by  Peter  Cooper,  Cyrus  W.  Field,  Wilson  G.  Hunt, 
and  others,  of  which  Peter  Cooper,  Abrain  S.  Hewitt,  and  Edwards  S.  Sanford  were  succes- 
sive presidents.  It  became  a  constituent  part  of  the  Western  Union  system  in  18GG,  and 
in  recognition  of  his  services  and  ability  Dr.  Green  was  made  vice-president  of  the  latter 
company,  which  position  he  filled  with  great  ability  until  the  death  of  the  president, 
William  Orton,  in  1878. 

Dr.  Green  was  chosen  to  succeed  Mr.  Orton  in  the  presidency  of  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company,  and  has  performed  the  functions  of  that  important  position  with 
rare  ability  ever  since.  He  combines  two  essential  qualifications  for  that  office,  namely, 
a  thorough  practical  knowledge  of  the  telegraph  system,  and  experience  in  public  life  and 
a  knowledge  of  public  men.  While  he  was  vice-president  of  the  company  he  was  one  of 
three  candidates  for  a  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  was  only  defeated  by 
a  blunder  in  counting  the  votes. 

In  the  summer  of  1883  Dr.  Green  visited  England,  and  on  August  3d,  just  before  his 
departure  for  home,  a  dinner  was  given  in  his  honor  in  London  by  the  directors  of  tho 
Eastern  Telegraph  and  Eastern  Telegraph  Extension  companies,  at  which  John  Pender, 
a  member  of  Parliament,  presided. 

Thomas  Thompson  Eckert,  who  is  virtually  the  managing  head  of  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  system,  was  born  at  St.  Clairsville,  Ohio,  April  23,  1825.  He  learned  teleg- 
raphy in  1849,  beginning  at  the  bottom  of  the  ladder,  and  had  made  such  a  reputation 
for  ability  in  that  field  that  at  tho  breaking  out  of  the  war  he  was  summoned  to  Wash- 
ington and  placed  in  charge  of  the  military  telegraphs  of  the  Department  of  the  Potomac, 
with  the  rank  of  captain.  In  18f>2  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major,  and  given 
charge  of  the  military  telegraph  department  at  Washington.    In  18G4  he  had  successfully 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


393 


It  was  at  about  this  period,  when  the  three  great  elements  which 
have  contributed  so  largely  to  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  ]N"ew  York 
City — the  railway,  the  express,  and  the  telegraph  systems — were  in  the 

organized  the  entire  military  telegraph  system,  and  had  in  so  many  ways  shown 
his  ability  that  he  was  chosen  for  Assistant  Secretary  of  War,  with  the  rank  of  lieuten- 
ant-colonel. In  18G5  he  was  selected  tor  the  duty  of  conferring  with  the  commissioners 
of  the  Southern  Confederacy  at  City  Point,  and  for  his  services  was  breveted  brigadier- 
general.  He  resigned  the  secretaryship  to  accept  the  responsible  post  of  general  super- 
intendent of  the  eastern  division  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company.  In  this 
position  he  organized  all  the  connecting  lines  for  the  new  cables  and  the  supervision  of  the 
transatlantic  correspondence,  which  began  with  the  successful  laying  of  the  first  cable. 

In  1875  he  accepted  the  presidency  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Telegraph  Company,  and 
made  it  so  prominent  a  factor  in  the  telegraph  business  of  the  country  that  the  Western 
Union  Company  made  overtures  for  a  pooling  arrangement  between  the  companies, 
which  resulted  in  an  arrangement  satisfactory  to  both.  After  a  year  or  two  of  inactive 
work  as  president  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Company,  General  Eckert  withdrew  from 
its  service,  and  in  1879,  in  conjunction  with  Jay  Gould  and  others,  organized  the 
American  Union  Telegraph  Company.  In  1881,  when  Mr.  Gould  became  one  of  the 
largest  owners  of  the  Western  Union  Company,  it  and  the  American  Union  Company 
were  merged,  and  General  Eckert  was  unanimously  chosen  for  the  position  of  general 
manager  of  the  consolidated  companies,  in  which  position  he  has  added  largely  to  the 
reputation  of  the  company  for  prompt  and  efficient  service,  and,  if  jiossible,  to  his  own 
reputation  of  being  the  most  vigorous,  straightforward,  and  able  practical  telegraph  man 
of  the  day.  In  Dr.  Green's  absence  in  Europe,  during  the  great  strike  of  telegraph 
operators  and  linemen,  ih  July  and  August,  1883,  the  general  was  in  full  command  of 
the  company,  and  while  he  was  uncompromising  in  yielding  anything  to  the  strikers 
during  its  progress,  he  acted  with  great  magnanimity  toward  them  as  soon  as  it  was 
over. 

William  Orton,  the  predecessor  of  Dr.  Green  in  the  presidency  of  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company,  was  a  man  of  rare  gifts.  He  was  a  native  of  Allegany  County,  N.  Y., 
where  he  was  born  in  June,  1826.  He  died  at  his  residence  in  New  York  City,  April  22, 
1878.  Receiving  a  meagre  common-school  education,  young  Orton  entered  the  Normal 
School  at  Albany,  graduated  with  honor,  and  began  school-teaching  in  Geneva,  N.  Y. 
He  became  a  bookseller,  first  in  Geneva,  then  in  Auburn,  and  finally  in  New  York.  Ho 
was  a  warm  Republican  in  politics  and  a  thorough  patriot,  and  in  18G2  he  was  appointed 
a  collector  of  internal  revenue  in  New  York  City.  In  this  position  he  showed  his  great 
executive  ability,  and,  without  being  a  lawyer,  he  displayed  such  legal  skill  that  he  was 
strongly  commended  to  the  favor  of  Secretary  Chase.  He  was  called  to  Washington  as 
commissioner  of  internal  revenue  at  the  seat  of  government  because  of  his  "  administrative 
ability  and  his  power  of  grasping  details."  His  health  giving  way,  he  resigned.  Almost 
immediately  he  was  offered  the  presidency  of  the  United  States  Telegraph  Company,  at  a 
salary  of  $10,000  a  year.  He  accepted  it.  In  this  position  he  showed  such  remarkable 
ability  that  when  his  company  united  with  the  Western  Union  Company  in  18GG,  Mr.  Orton 
was  made  vice-president  of  the  new  organization.  On  the  retirement  of  its  president  on 
account  of  failing  health,  in  18G7,  Mr.  Orton  was  chosen  his  successor,  and  he  immediately 
brought  to  bear  upon  its  business  his  wonderful  organizing  powers  and  administrative 
ability  with  what  success  its  history  full}'  attests.  He  was  at  once  its  president,  its  cham- 
pion on  all  occasions,  and  its  vigilant  and  untiring  servant.  Overwork  broke  him  down.  At 


394 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK.  CITY. 


first  stages  of  their  development,  between  1835  and  1840,  that  Samuel 
"Wood worth,  a  printer  by  profession  and  a  poet  of  much  excellence, 
wrote  a  remarkable  poem.* 

the  time  of  his  death  Mr.  Orton  was  president  of  the  International  Ocean  Telegraph 
Company  (the  Cuban  line),  the  Gold  and  Stock  Telegraph  Company,  and  the  Pacific  and 
Southern  Atlantic  Telegraph  companies.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Union  League  Club, 
of  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

*  This  poem,  which  is  inserted  below,  seems  to  have  been  designed  to  call  the  atten- 
tion of  the  citizens  of  New  York,  who  were  then  witnesses  of  the  amazing  growth  of  the 
metropolis— its  marvellous  transformations,  its  inventions,  and  Us  wonderful  promises 
for  the  future  -  to  the  contrast  of  the  then  aspect  of  the  city  and  that  of  the  more  feeble 
town,  when  the  poet's  "old  house  was  new."  The  poem,  written  when  the  author  was 
partially  paralyzed,  lay  hidden  in  manuscript  until  brought  to  public  notice  in  the  New 
York  Evening  Post,  by  Mr.  J.  Barnitz  Bacon,  a  zealous  antiquarian.  Woodworth  died  in 
1842. 

"  THE  HOUSE  I  LIVE  IN. 

'•  Yi-a,  1  think  it  meet,  as  long  as  I  am  in  this  tabernacle,  lo  stir  yon  up  by  putting  you  in  remem- 
brnnce,  knowing  that  shortly  I  must  put  off  this  my  tabernacle.'"— 2  Peter  1  :  13. 


"  When  this  old  house  was  young  and  new, 

Some  fifty  years  ago, 
Before  this  thriving  city  grew 

In  population  so  ; 
The  Revolution  was  just  past, 

Our  States  were  weak  and  few, 
And  many  thought  they  could  not  last. 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"Then  Chatham  Street  was  Boston  Road, 

Queen  Street  was  changed  to  Pearl — 
For  we  with  love  no  longer  glowed 

For  king  and  queen  and  earl. 
The  British  troops  had  gone  away, 

And  every  patriot  true 
Then  kept  Evacuation  Day, 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"  Our  country,  then  in  infancy, 

Had  just  begun  to  grow, 
Oppressed  by  debt  and  poverty, 

Some  fifty  years  ago. 
But  Washington,  the  first  of  men, 

To  God  and  virtue  true. 
Presided  o'er  the  nation  then, 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"  We'd  thirteen  feeble  States  in  all, 

And  Congress  met,  we  know, 
In  the  old  Wall  Street  City  Hall 

Some  fifty  years  ago. 
There  did  our  chief,  as  President, 

His  godlike  course  pursue. 
We  were  not  into  parties  rent, 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

'  Louisiana  was  not  ours, 

We  merely  lined  the  coast ; 
While  colonies  of  foreign  powers 
Encircled  us  almost. 


We  had  not  then  the  Floridas, 
Our  coasting  ships  were  few, 

Though  some  from  China  brought,  us  teas, 
When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"Commerce  and  agriculture  drooped, 

The  arts  we  scarcely  met, 
Nor  had  a  native  pencil  grouped 

Our  deathless  patriots  yet. 
Genius  of  literature,  'twas  thought, 

Would  never  rise  to  view, 
And  native  poetry  was  short, 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"  Our  city  then  did  not  extend 

Beyond  the  Collect  Brook, 
And  one  might  from  its  northern  end 

Upon  the  Battery  look. 
Broad  Street  was  but  a  muddy  creek, 

And  banks  were  very  few  ; 
The  Greenwich  stage  ran  twice  a  week. 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"  We  once  a  week  from  Boston  heard, 

From  Philadelphia  twice, 
And  oft  in  summer  we  got  word 

Of  Southern  corn  and  rice, 
Tobacco,  cotton,  indigo, 

Whate'er  the  planters  grew  : 
The  mails  all  travelled  very  slow, 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"  To  visit  Albany  or  Troy 

Was  quite  an  enterprise  : 
In  Tappan  Zee  the  wind  was  flawy, 

And  billows  oft  would  rise  ; 
And  then  the  Overslaugh  alone 

For  weeks  detained  a  few  : 
Steamboats  and  railroads  were  unknown 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


395 


The  allusion  in  the  poem  to  the  Halls  of  Justice  or  the  Tombs, 
as  the  city  prison  is  called,  brings  us  to  a  consideration  of  the  places 
in  the  city  provided  for  the  restraint  of  criminals  and  debtors  at  that 
time. 


"  Our  trade  with  the  West  India  Isles 

Was  not  extremely  good, 
But  we  got  French  and  English  files 

Of  papers  when  we  could. 
News-boats  were  then  not  known  at  all, 

And  bulletins  were  few  ; 
But  there  were  boatmen  at  Whitehall 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"  An  octagon  pagoda  rose 

Upon  the  Battery  green, 
Which  we  ascended  when  we  chose, 

If  ships  were  to  be  seen. 
'Twas  built  some  fifty  years  ago  ; 

There  Freedom's  banner  flew, 
And  there  small  beer  and  ale  would  flow, 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"  No  towers  with  dark  Egyptian  frown* 

Graced  Centre  Street,  we  know, 
Bridewell  and  Jail  were  far  up  town, 

The  courts  were  far  below. 
Nor  did  we  have  such  vice  and  guilt 

As  now  disgust  the  view  ; 
State  prisons  had  not  yet  been  built 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"  'Tis  true  our  streets  were  somewhat  dark, 

No  gas  its  lustre  shed, 
There  was  no  playhouse  near  the  Park, 

Nor  near  the  Old  Bull's  Head. 
And  as  our  journalist  records, 

E'en  churches  were  but  few  ; 
Our  city  had  but  seven  small  wards 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"  Oswego  Market,  from  Broadway 
Ban  down  in  Maiden  Lane, 
And  Barley  Street  has  since  that  day 

Been  altered  to  Duane. 
Duke  Street  has  since  been  changed  to 
Stone, 

And  Cedar  Street,  'tis  true, 
As  Little  Queen  Street  then  was  known, 
When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"  Crown  Street  is  now  called  Liberty, 

Prince  Street  was  changed  to  Kose, 
Princess  to  Beaver  — thus  the  free 

New  appellations  chose. 
The  celebrated  Doctors'  mob, 

From  which  some  mischief  grew, 
Had  nearly  proved  a  serious  job, 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 


"  Old  Trinity  was  just  rebuilt — 

'Twas  burnt  by  British  men  ; 
Modern  improvement  bears  the  guilt 

Of  razing  it  again. 
We  sighed  for  water  pure  and  sweet, 

As  now  we  daily  do, 
And  saw  them  bore  for 't  near  Wall  Street 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"  The  Federal  Constitution  brought 

About  a  great  parade — 
A  grand  procession,  where  they  wrought 

At  every  art  and  trade. 
The  Almshouse,  fronting  Chambers  Street, 

Had  not  then  risen  to  view, 
Nor  Broadway  did  the  Bowery  meet, 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"  Dire  Pestilence,  the  fiend  of  wrath, 

With  yellow,  withering  frown, 
Scattering  destruction  in  its  path, 

Oft  sadly  thinned  the  town. 
Terror,  dismay,  and  death  prevailed, 

With  mourners  not  a  few, 
Who  friends  and  relatives  bewailed 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"  The  smallpox,  too,  would  oft  assail  ; 

The  kinepox  was  not  known  ; 
Societies  did  not  prevail, 

Though  since  so  numerous  grown. 
We'd  no  Academy  of  Arts, 

And  schools  were  very  few, 
With  drawings,  pictures,  maps,  and  charts, 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"  We  had  no  licensed  coaches  then, 

Arranged  on  public  stands  ; 
We'd  not  two  boards  of  aldermen 

To  vote  away  our  lands. 
On  beef  and  venison  to  regale, 

With  turtle  at  Bellevue  ; 
They'd  take  their  crackers,  cheese,  and  ale 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"  No  Navy  Yard  and  no  Dry  Dock, 

No  City  Hall  in  Park, 
And  no  illuminated  clock 

To  light  us  after  dark. 
No  omnibuses  thronged  Broadway, 

And  ran  with  furious  heat 
Over  the  people,  night  and  day, 

Who  tried  to  cross  the  street. 


*  An  allusion  to  the  City  Prison  or  "Tombs,"  which  was  completed  in  18-58. 


396 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOKK  CITY. 


The  construction  of  the  Halls  of  Justice  was  completed  in  the  year 
1S3S.  The  building  occupies  a  portion  of  the  site  of  the  old  Collect 
Pond,  a  sheet  of  fresh  water  lying  m  a  hollow  between  the  Bowery  and 
Broadway,  and  receiving  the  drainage  of  the  surrounding  hills.  Its 
outlet  was  a  rivulet  that  flowed  through  oozy  land  (Lispenard's 
Meadow)  into  the  Hudson  River  along  the  route  of  the  present  Canal 
Street,  which  derives  its  name  from  that  circumstance. 

This  pond  was  filled  up  in  183G,  and  the  present  building  of  the  Halls 
of  Justice  was  erected  upon  the  site  in  the  course  of  two  years  after- 
ward. The  pond  for  a  time  seemed  to  be  bottomless.  An  immense 
quantity  of  stones  and  earth  was  thrown  into  it,  and  when  it  appeared 
filled,  and  the  solid  matter  was  above  the  surface  of  the  water  at  even- 
ing, it  would  be  unseen  in  the  morning.  And  when  the  builders  of  the 
structure,  who  laid  the  foundations  much  deeper  than  usual,  began  to 
pile  up  the  blocks  of  granite,  there  was  at  one  time  such  evident  set- 
tling at  the  foundation  that  the  safety  of  the  building  seemed  in  peril. 
But  it  has  stood  well-nigh  half  a  century,  and  seems  to  rest  upon  a 
solid  foundation. 

Externally  the  Halls  of  Justice  building  is  entirely  of  granite,  and 
appears  as  one  lofty  story,  the  windows  being  carried  above  the  ground 
up  to  beneath  the  cornice.  It  is  thought  to  be  the  best  specimen  of 
Egyptian  architecture  out  of  Egypt.  The  main  entrance  is  in  Centre 
Street,  ami  is  reached  by  a  flight  of  wide,  dark  stone  steps,  then 
through  a  spacious  but  dark  and  gloomy  portico,  calculated  to  impress 


"The  wheels  of  State  had  fewer  cranks, 

All  turned  by  honest  men  ; 
And  we'd  no  crusade  'gainst  the  banks 

And  no  defaulters  then. 
Virtue  and  honesty  survived, 

Our  offices  were  few  ; 
Sub-treasuries  were  not  contrived 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 

"  We  had  no  lingering  Indian  wars 

To  drain  the  public  purse. 
And  Revolutionary  scars 

Were  healed  by  careful  nurse. 
We  had  no  quacks,  nor  hygeian  pills, 

Nor  steam  physician  then  ; 
No  gambling-shops,  nor  stepping-mills, 

Nor  Graham  regimen. 

"No  tinkers  of  the  currency 

Had  altered  bad  to  worse, 
For  healthy  infants  then,  you  see, 

Were  not  put  out  to  nurse. 
We  quarrelled  not  'bout  public  lands, 

For  they  were  wild  and  new, 
As  everybody  understands, 

When  this  old  house  was  new. 


;  The  evil  days  have  come  at  last, 

In  which  few  joys  I  find  ; 
The  morning  of  my  lite  is  past-- 

I'm  lame,  and  almost  blind. 
The  keepers  of  the  house  now  shake 

As  palsied  porters  do, 
And  my  strong  limbs  obeisance  make 

Where  it  was  never  due. 

:  The  smallest  weight  a  burden  seems, 

The  curbstone  is  too  high  ; 
How  different  from  my  former  dreams, 

When  I  could  almost  fly  ! 
My  sight  is  dim,  my  hearing  dull, 

For  music's  tones  decay  ; 
And  ah  !  this  dome— I  mean  my  skull — 

Is  thatched  with  silver  gray. 

;  But  though  my  sight  be  dull  and  dim, 

My  Saviour's  love  was  prized  ; 
In  youth  I  placed  my  hopes  in  Him, 

And  now  they're  realized. 
Yea,  though  He  slay  me,  still  I'll  trust  ; 

His  promises  are  true  ; 
Though  this  old  house  decay,  He  must 

Rebuild  it  good  as  new." 


FIKST  DECADE.  1830-1840. 


the  mind  of  the  unfortunate  prisoner  with  the  idea  that  "  who  enters 
here  leaves  hope  behind  " — a  sort  of  "  Bridge  of  Sighs."  It  was  this 
gloomy  aspect  of  the  building  that  gave  it  the  name  of  "  the  Egyptian 
Tombs" — the  Tombs— where  the  worst  felons  and  murderers  are  con- 
fined, and  where  the  death -sentences  of  criminals  are  executed  in  the 
presence  of  the  limited  number  of  persons  required  by  law. 

Before  the  erection  of  the  Halls  of  Justice  there  were  five  public 
prisons  in  the  city,  one  of  which  belonged  to  the  State.  These  were 
the  Debtors'  Prison  (now  the  Hall  of  Records),  east  of  the  City  Hall  ; 
the  Bridewell,  the  Penitentiary,  the  State  Prison,  and  the  House  of 
Refuge.* 

The  Bridewell  or  old  City  Prison  was  devoted  to  the  temporary 
incarceration  of  prisoners,  where  they  were  held  until  discharged  as 
innocent  or  convicted  as  guilty  of  charges  preferred  against  them. 
The  building  was  constructed  of  stone,  and  consisted  of  a  central  edifice 
and  wings,  three  stories  in  height,  and  stood  between  the  west  end  of 
the  City  Hall  and  Broadway.  Its  affairs  were  directed  by  five  citi- 
zens, appointed  by  the  common  council,  with  the  title  of  Commission- 
ers of  the  Almshouse,  Bridewell,  and  the  Penitentiary  of  the  City  of 
New  York. 

The  Penitentiary  was  a  stone  building  at  Bellevue,  on  the  East 
River,  adjoining  the  almshouse.    It  has  already  been  described  in  a 

*  The  first  na?ned  was  exclusively  devoted  to  the  confinement  of  prisoners  for  debt, 
whom  barbarous  laws  illogically  and  cruelly  incarcerated.  Well  did  Red  Jacket,  the 
great  Seneca  chief,  illustrate  the  folly  and  injustice  of  the  imprisonment  of  a  debtor, 
when,  on  seeing  a  man  taken  to  prison  in  Batavia,  N.  Y.,  he  inquired  what  his  crime  was. 

"He  is  in  debt  and  cannot  pay,"  answered  his  companion  in  the  street,  the  late  vener- 
able Mr.  Hosmer,  of  Avon,  who  was  the  first  lawyer  settled  west  of  Utica. 

"  Why,  he  no  catch  beaver  there  !"  said  the  chief — he  could  not  work  in  jail  to  earn 
money  to  pay  his  debt.  So  this  "  son  of  the  forest"  illustrated  the  unwisdom  of  the 
law. 

Happily  such  a  law  no  longer  prevails  in  any  part  of  our  Republic.  The  State  of  Xew 
York  was  the  leader  in  adopting  measures  for  its  abolition  so  early  as  1831.  It  is  be- 
lieved that  one  of  the  most  powerful  instrumentalities  in  bringing  about  the  repeal  of 
laws  which  sent  debtors  to  prison  was  a  stirring  poem  written  by  the  gentle  Quaker  poet. 
John  G.  Whittier.  called  "  The  Prisoner  for  Debt,"  in  which  he  said  : 

"  Down  with  the  law  that  binds  him  thus  ! 

Unworthy  freemen,  let  it  find 
No  refuge  from  the  withering  curse 

Of  God  and  human  kind  ! 
Open  the  prisoner's  living  tomb, 
And  usher  from  its  brooding  gloom 
The  victims  of  your  savage  code 
To  the  free  sun  and  air  of  God  ; 
No  longer  dare  as  crime  to  brand 
The  chastening  of  th'  Almighty's  hand  !" 


398 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  FORE  CITY 


notice  of  Bellevue  Hospital.  It  was  opened  in  May,  1810,  and  was 
devoted  exclusively  to  the  confinement  of  such  persons  at  hard  labor  as 
should  he  convicted  at  the  Court  of  Sessions  of  petit  larceny  and  other 
offences,  and  of  vagrants.  Some  of  the  prisoners  were  employed  on  the 
roads  on  the  island,  or  in  garden  work  ;  others  in  house-work,  shoe- 
making,  tailoring,  and  whatever  other  employment  they  were  efficient 
in.  while  the  women  were  employed  in  the  kitchen,  or  in  making  ami 
mending  the  clothes  of  their  fellow-prisoners. 

The  House  of  Refuge  for  the  Reformation  of  Juvenile  Delinquents 
had  its  origin  in  a  henevolent  movement  in  1817,  in  which  John  Griscom, 
LL.  D.,  a  niemher  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  was  the  chief  leader.  He 
was  the  pioneer  in  the  founding  of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of 
Pauperism.  In  this  society  his  most  earnest  coadjutors  were  Thomas 
Eddy  and  John  Pintard.  The  society  investigated  the  causes  of  pau- 
perism, studied  the  statistics  of  prisons  in  England  and  the  United 
States,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  most  efficient  work  in  the 
enterprise  must  he  among  the  young  of  both  sexes. 

Late  in  1828  some  benevolent  persons  formed  an  association  entitled 
The  Society  for  the  Reformation  of  Juvenile  Delinquents.  Into  this 
society  the  former  association  was  merged.  Measures  were  then  taken 
for  the  establishment  of  a  house  of  refuge  for  erring  or  criminal  youth, 
the  first  institution  of  the  kind  ever  founded.  A  charter  was  obtained 
in  1824,  and  in  the  old  arsenal  grounds,  on  the  site  of  Madison  Square, 
near  the  junction  of  Broadway  (then  known  as  the  Bloomingdale  Road 
at  that  point)  and  Fifth  Avenue,  two  stone  buildings,  two  stories  in 
height,  were  erected,  one  for  bovs,  the  other  for  girls.  The  grounds 
were  surrounded  by  a  strong  stone  wall  inclosing  an  area  three  hundred 
by  three  hundred  and  twenty  feet  in  size,  and  seventeen  feet  in  height. 

The  House  of  Refuge  was  opened  on  the  first  of  January,  1825.  On 
that  occasion  there  appeared  before  a  large  and  respectable  audience, 
gathered  at  that  dreary  out-of-town  spot,  nine  wretched  "juvenile 
delinquents"' — three  boys  and  six  girls — in  tattered  garments,  as  candi- 
dates for  the  reformatory.  They  were  the  first  of  nearly  one  hundred 
who  were  found  within  its  walls  during  the  first  year.  The  first  super- 
intendent was  the  late  Joseph  Curtis,  a  philanthropist  of  purest  mould, 
and  for  many  years  before  his  death  an  indefatigable  worker  in  the 
cause  of  free  schools  in  the  city  of  Xew  York. 

The  Refuge  remained  there  until  the  buildings  were  destroyed  by 
fire  in  1838,  soon  after  which  time  it  was  removed  to  Bellevue.  There 
it  continued  until  November,  1854,  when  it  was  removed  to  Randall's 
Island,  its  present  location. 


FIRST  DECADE,  18:30-1840. 


399 


According  to  the  fifty-eighth  annual  report  of  the  Society  for  the 
Reformation  of  Juvenile  Delinquents  (1882),  there  had  been  received 
into  the  House  of  Refuge,  since  its  opening  in  1825,  20,(524  juvenile 
delinquents,  and  that  the  weekly  average  number  of  inmates  during 
the  year  was  771.  Careful  inquiries  reveal  the  fact  that  intemperance 
is  not  a  prevailing  vice  of  the  parents  of  these  delinquents,  nor  that 
their  delinquency  is  chargeable  to  their  being  orphans,  for  about  86  per 
cent  of  the  fathers  and  94  per  cent  of  the  mothers  were  temperate  peo- 
ple, and  correspondingly  few  of  the  children  had  lost  their  parents.* 

Randall's  Island  is  one  of  a  group  of  beautiful  and  picturesque  islands 
in  the  East  River  belonging  to  the  city  of  New  York.  It  contains 
about  one  hundred  acres  of  land. 

The  other  islands  of  the  group  alluded  to  are  Blackwell's  and  Ward's. 
Blackwell's  contains  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  and  was 
purchased  by  the  city  in  1S28  for  $50,000.  It  has  a  heavy  granite  sea- 
wall, built  by  the  convicts.  Its  public  edifices  are  large  and  substan- 
tial, built  in  mediaeval  style  of  architecture,  with  turrets  and  battle- 
ments. The  buildings  are  of  stone  quarried  on  the  island  by  the  con- 
victs. Around  the  buildings  are  gardens  and  pleasant  shaded  grounds. 
On  this  island  are  a  penitentiary,  with  an  average  of  between  twelve 
hundred  and  thirteen  hundred  inmates  ;  a  correctional  workhouse,  a 
charity  hospital,  with  accommodations  for  eight  hundred  patients  ;  an 
almshouse,  a  lunatic  asylum  for  females,  an  asylum  for  the  blind,  a  hos- 
pital for  incurables,  and  a  convalescent  hospital.  The  houses  of  the  offi- 
cials are  pleasantly  situated  among  the  trees  on  the  island.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  the  entire  population  of  the  island  is  about  seven  thousand,  all 
under  the  care  of  the  commissioners  of  public  charities  and  correction. 

Randall's  Island,  as  we  have  observed,  contains  about  one  hundred 
acres  of  land.  It  is  divided  from  the  shore  of  Westchester  County  on 
the  north  by  a  narrow  channel  known  as  the  Harlem  Kills,  and  on  the 
south  from  Ward's  Island  by  Little  Hell  Gate.  It  contains,  besides 
the  House  of  Refuge,  an  idiot  asylum,  a  nursery,  children's  and  infants' 
hospital,  schools,  and  other  charities  provided  by  the  city  of  New  Fork 
for  destitute  children.  The  buildings  of  these  institutions  are  chiefly 
of  brick,  and  imposing  in  appearance.  The  island  is  pleasantly  shaded 
with  trees.  These  institutions  are  all  under  the  care  of  the  commis- 
sioners of  public  charities  and  correction. 

*  The  officers  of  the  society  for  1882-83  are  :  John  A.  Weeks,  president  ;  Benjamin  B. 
Atterbury,  James  M.  Halsted,  J.  W.  C.  Leveridge,  Edgar  S.  Van  Winkle,  John  J.  Town- 
send,  Alexander  McL.  Agnew,  vice-presidents  ;  Nathaniel  Jarvis,  Jr.,  treasurer  ;  Frederick 
W.  Downer,  secretary  ;  Israel  C.  Jones,  superintendent. 


400 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


On  the  southern  end  of  the  island  is  the  House  of  Refuge,  under  the 
care  of  the  Society  for  the  Reformation  of  Juvenile  Delinquents.  The 
two  principal  buildings  are  of  brick,  nearly  one  thousand  feet  in  length, 
in  the  Italian  style  of  architecture.  The  boys  and  girls  are  kept  sepa- 
rate, and  those  guilty  of  social  crime  apart  from  the  younger  inmates. 
Children  brought  before  magistrates  are  sentenced  by  them  to  this 
institution.  The  average  number  of  inmates  is  about  eight  hundred. 
They  are  all  taught  to  work,  and  are  educated  in  the  common  English 
branches.  The  total  population  of  the  island  is  about  twenty-live 
hundred. 

Ward's  Island  is  nearly  circular,  and  is  situated  near  the  junction  of 
the  East  and  Harlem  rivers.  It  is  the  largest  of  the  three  islands,  con- 
taining about  two  hundred  acres,  and  is  finely  wooded  in  some  parts. 
It  is  owned  partly  by  the  city  and  partly  by  individuals.  The  part 
belonging  to  the  city  is  apportioned  between  the  commissioners  of 
emigration  and  the  commissioners  of  public  charities  and  correction. 
Under  the  care  of  the  latter  is  an  insane  asylum  for  males  and  a 
homoeopathic  hospital  ;  under  the  charge  of  the  former  are  the  State 
Emigrant  Hospital,  a  lunatic  asylum,  houses  of  refuge,  and  a  nursery 
or  home  for  children.  In  these  institutions,  under  charge  of  the  com- 
missioners of  emigration,  sick  and  destitute  aliens  arriving  in  New 
Yoik  are  cared  for. 

The  buildings  on  Randall's  Island  are  generally  plain  but  substantial 
structures  of  brick.  Those  erected  by  the  commissioners  of  emigra- 
tion are  noticeable  for  their  spaciousness  and  heauty,  being  built  of 
brick  and  gray  stone.  They  are  much  hidden  from  spectators  on  the 
water  by  line  old  trees.  The  lunatic  asylum  contains  an  average  of 
over  one  thousand  patients.  The  convicts  from  Blackwell's  Island  are 
constantly  engaged  in  the  grading  and  beautifying  of  Ward's  Island, 
and  in  constructing  a  sea-wall  around  it. 

These  three  islands  in  the  East  River  display  the  richest  fruit  of  the 
magnificent  public  charities  of  New  York  City. 

The  State  Prison  stood  near  the  bank  of  the  Hudson  River,  at  what 
was  then  known  as  Greenwich  Village,  and  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
north-west  of  the  City  Hall.  It  was  one  of  two  public  prisons  author- 
ized by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York  in  the  closing  decade 
of  the  last  century.  One  was  to  be  erected  at  Albany,  and  one  at 
New  York. 

The  prison  at  Greenwich  Village  was  built  of  stone,  three  stories  in 
height,  and  surrounded  by  a  massive  stone  wall  fourteen  feet  high  in 
front  and  twenty  feet  high  in  the  rear,  where  the  workshops  were  sit- 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


401 


Bated:  The  prison  and  its  appendages  covered  about  four  acres  of 
ground.  It  was  called  Newgate,  and  w  as  opened  for  the  reception  of 
prisoners  in  1797.  It  soon  became  crowded,  and  another  prison  was 
erected  by  the  State  at  Auburn,  Cayuga  County.  Of  the  convicts  in 
this  prison,  the  average  was  always  about  seventy  per  cent  of  foreign 
birth. 

The  rooms  in  this  prison  were  large,  and  several  convicts  occupied 
the  same  sleeping  apartment.  This  was  found  to  be  a  very  unwise 
arrangement,  as  it  had  a  powerful  tendency  to  a  further  corruption  of 
the  morals  of  the  inmates.  It  was  finally  deemed  wise  to  abandon 
this  prison  in  the  city  and  erect  another  and  more  spacious  further 
up  the  Hudson  River.  In  1S25  the  Legislature  authorized  the  erection 
of  a  new  prison,  and  the  spot  selected  was  Mount  Pleasant  (Sing  Sing), 
on  the  Hudson,  in  Westchester  County.  The  foundations  of  this  new 
prison  were  laid  in  May,  182(5,  and  it  was  completed  in  1828.  The  site 
was  selected  largely  because  it  was  in  the  vicinity  of  extensive  beds  of 
white  marble,  the  quarrying  of  which  would  give  profitable  employ- 
ment to  the  prisoners. 

A  powerful  impetus  to  the  growth  of  a  city  consists  in  facilities  for 
transporting  persons  or  merchandise  within  its  borders  to  and  from 
distant  points.  New  Yorkers  perceived  this  when  the  steamboat  ap- 
peared, the  Erie  Canal  was  completed,  the  omnibus  was  introduced, 
and  the  railway  made  its  advent  into  this  country.  Such  facilities  on 
the  island  would  greatly  increase  the  migration  of  population  from  the 
dense  precincts  of  business,  and  increase  the  value  of  real  estate  at 
remote  points  from  the  centre  of  trade.  Alert  New  Yorkers  readily 
joined  in  a  scheme  for  so  benefiting  the  city  by  building  a  railway  that 
would  bisect  Manhattan  Island  longitudinally,  but  extend  finally  to 
Albany. 

New  York  City  has  the  honor  of  introducing  to  the  world  the  system 
of  horse  railroads  in  city  streets,  that  of  the  New  York  and  Harlem 
Railroad  (Fourth  Avenue)  having  been  the  first  constructed. 

The  New  York  and  Harlem  Railroad  Company  was  incorporated  on 
the  25th  of  April,  1831,  with  authority  to  construct  a  double-track  road 
to  any  point  on  the  Harlem  River,  between  the  east  bounds  of  Third 
Avenue  and  the  west  bounds  of  Eighth  Avenue  *    The  capital  stock 

*  The  following  persons  were  the  incorporators  of  the  New  York  and  Harlem  Railroad 
Company  in  the  spring  of  1831  •  Benjamin  Bailey,  Mordecai  M.  Noah,  Benson  MacGowan. 
James  B.  Murray,  Charles  Henry  Hall,  Moses  Henriques,  Isaac  Adriance.  Thomas  Addis 
Emmet,  Gideon  Lee,  Silas  E.  Burrows,  Samuel  F.  Halsey,  Cornelius  Harsen,  Robert 
Stewart.    At  the  first  election  of  directors,  in  July,  1831,  John  Mason  was  elected  president. 


102  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

was  $1,100,000.  An  act  was  passed  the  next  year  authorizing  the  com- 
pany to  extend  the  track  along  the  Bowery  (now  Fourth  Avenue)  to 
Fourteenth  Street,  and  such  other  streets  as  the  city  authorities  might 
from  time  to  time  permit.  The  use  of  steam  as  a  motor  was  first  in- 
troduced in  1834  on  this  road — TV.  T.  James,  the  machinist  of  the 
road,  being-  the  inventor  of  the  first  steam-motor  for  city  railways. 

In  1833  the  common  council  passed  an  ordinance  authorizing  the 
company  to  lay  a  track  in  Broadway.  Rails  were  actually  laid  the 
distance  of  two  blocks,  but  there  was  so  much  opposition  to  the  meas- 
ure that  they  were  taken  up,  and  a  track  was  laid  down  to  Prince 
Street  and  the  Bowery.  A  portion  of  the  road  was  open  to  travel  in 
I  B32.  The  conductors  were  boys,  and  they  were  required  to  report 
the  receipts  to  the  superintendent  once  a  week — every  Saturday  night. 
There  arose  a  suspicion  that  the  boys  were  "  taking  toll.'1  A  liberal 
reward  was  offered  to  the  boy  who  should  report  the  largest  amount  of 
receipts  at  the  end  of  the  week.  The  result  was  a  very  large  increase 
in  the  receipts  returned  by  each  boy. 

The  introduction  of  a  street  railway  into  New  York  City  in  1831-32 
created  a  new  mechanical  business  in  the  metropolis — the  manufacture 
of  tramcars,  as  the  English  call  them,  for  the  use  of  such  roads.  In 
that  business  John  Stephenson  was  the  pioneer.  He  had  recently 
finished  his  apprenticeship  to  a  coach-builder,  and  began  manufactur- 
ing omnibuses  for  Abraham  Brower  on  his  own  account,  when  he 
received  an  order  from  the  New  York  and  Harlem  Railroad  Company 
to  build  a  street-air  for  them.  Mr.  Stephenson  constructed  it  after  a 
design  of  his  own,  and  named  it  John  Muxon,  in  honor  of  the  first 
president  of  the  company  and  founder  of  the  Chemical  Bank. 

This  was  the  first  street-railway  car  ever  built.  It  was  made  to  hold 
thirty  passengers,  in  three  compartments.  The  driver's  seat  was  in 
the  roof,  and  it  had  passenger  seats  on  the  roof,  which  were  reached 
by  steps  at  each  end.  It  was  a  sort  of  cross  between  an  omnibus,  a 
rockaway,  and  an  English  railway  coach,  and  had  four  wheels.  This 
was  first  put  on  the  road  between  Prince  and  Fourteenth  streets,  on 
November  2fi,  1832,  carrying  the  president  of  the  road  and  the  mayor 
and  common  council  of  the  city  of  New  York.  For  this  car  Mr. 
Stephenson  received  a  patent  from  the  United  States  Government. 

Other  orders  from  the  same  company  soon  followed,  and  very  soon 
Mr.  Stephenson  was  employed  to  build  passenger-cars  for  railways  as 
they  rapidly  increased  in  numbers  and  extent  in  our  country.  These 
were,  at  first,  cars  with  four  wheels.  TVhen  eight-wheeled  cars  were 
introduced  by  Ross  TVinans,  of  Baltimore,  Mr.  Stephenson  found  it 


FIRST  DECADE.  1830-1840. 


103 


necessary  to  extend  his  premises.  In  183(1  he  built  a  spacious  factory 
at  Harlem,  and  in  1843  he  bought  the  land  on  Twenty-seventh  Street, 
near  Fourth  Avenue,  where  his  present  establishment  now  is,  and  built 
the  nucleus  of  the  factory  which,  with  its  lumber-yards,  covers  sixteen 
city  lots.  Mr.  Stephenson  has  continued  to  build  omnibuses  from  the 
beginning,  and  has  been  a  constructor  of  these  and  railway  cars  for  the 
space  of  fifty-three  years.  Now,  m  his  seventy-fifth  year,  he  is  vigorous 
in  mind  and  body. 

The  street-railway  car  is  a  purely  New  York  product.  It  was  in 
successful  operation  in  that  city  for  twenty-five  years  before  it  appeared 
in  any  other  city  of  the  Union  or  elsewhere.  George  Francis  Train 
introduced  a  street  railway  into  Birkenhead,  England,  in  1860,  and  also 
commenced  one  in  London.  It  bred  a  riot,  and  the  mob  tore  up  the 
rails.  Now  they  are  seen  in  all  civilized  countries,  and  the  John 
Stephenson  Company  manufacture  street-railway  cars  for  North  and 
South  America,  for  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  Australia,  and  isles  of  the 
sea. 

Mr.  Stephenson  (with  Mr.  Slawson)  is  the  inventor  of  the  "  bobtail  " 
or  one-horse  car,  now  so  popular.  They  were  first  introduced  into 
New  Orleans  just  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  "War,  but  only  since 
the  war  have  they  been  in  use  everywhere  in  the  United  States.* 

*  John  Stephenson  was  born  in  the  north  of  Ireland  on  July  4,  1809.  His  parents, 
James  Stephenson  and  Grace  Stuart,  of  English  and  Scotch  lineage,  had  settled  there. 
In  1811  they  came  to  New  York  with  John,  their  first-born,  who  received  an  academic 
education  at  the  Wesleyan  Seminary  in  New  York.  His  father  designed  him  for  mercan- 
tile life,  but  his  proclivities  for  mechanics  changed  his  destiny  and  caused  him  to  be 
apprenticed  to  a  coachmaker.  At  his  majority  (1831)  he  set  up  business  for  himself, 
chiefly  as  a  maker  of  omnibuses,  then  a  new  business  in  the  city.  His  shop  was  adjoin- 
ing the  rear  of  Brower's  stables,  No.  6G7  Broadway.  Here,  in  1831,  he  designed  and  con- 
structed the  first  omnibus  built  in  New  York.  In  less  than  a  year  he  lost  all  his  property 
by  fire.  He  then  planted  his  business  in  Elizabeth  Street,  and  there  he  built  the  first 
street-railway  car.  He  transferred  his  business  to  Harlem  (Fourth  Avenue  and  One 
Hundred  and  Twenty-ninth  Street)  in  1836,  and  to  its  present  site  in  1843,  then  a  rural 
district  of  the  city.  His  prosperous  course  in  railway-car  and  omnibus  building  has  been 
intimated  in  the  text  ;  and  now.  at  the  age  of  over  seventy-four  years,  he  is  actively 
engaged  at  the  head  of  the  most  extensive  establishment  of  the  kind  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Stephenson  is  an  earnest  working  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  as 
both  his  parents  were.  He  had  seven  sisters,  who  were  all  church  members.  About 
1816  he  entered  a  Sabbath-school,  then  just  organized  by  Mrs.  Divie  Bethune,  Mrs.  Mary 
Mason,  and  others  ;  and  from  that  time  to  this  he  has  been  active  in  Sabbath-schools  in 
various  capacities.  He  has  now  (1883)  under  his  teaching  a  Bible-class  of  forty  mem- 
bers. He  is  passionately  fond  of  music.  He  was  a  performing  member  of  the  Sacred 
Music  Society,  which  about  fifty  years  ago  met  in  the  Chatham  Theatre  (then  Chapel), 
and  he  was  subsequently  an  active  member  of  the  Harmonic  Society.  He  was  for  forty 
years  leader  of  a  church  choir  of  forty  volunteer  singers,  chiefly  from  Sunday-school 


404 


HISTORY  OF  HEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  New  York  and  Harlem  Bailroad  was  extended  to  Yorkville,  a 
suburban  village,  in  1837,  a  distance  of  about  five  miles.  Late  in  that 
year  it  had  a  double  track  from  Prince  Street  to  Yorkville.  Its 
coaches  ran  at  intervals  of  fifteen  minutes  every  day  in  the  week.  The 
fare  for  each  passenger  was  twenty-five  cents.  The  road  was  extended 
down  the  Bowery  to  Walker  Street,  and  afterward  through  Broome, 
Centre  and  Chatham  streets  and  Park  Row  to  the  southern  end  of  the 
City  Hall  Park,  where  the  Post-Office  now  stands. 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  genesis  of  the  first  horse- railroad  in  the  world. 
This  system  originated  in  the  city  of  New  York  about  fifty-two  years 
ago  ;  now  (1883)  there  are  twenty  lines  of  railway  traversing  the  city 
in  various  directions. 

As  the  New  York  and  Harlem  Railroad  was  the  first  of  the 
great  arteries  of  transportation  which  contributed  to  the  life,  vigor, 
and  growth  of  the  city,  the  history  of  its  extension  toward  the 
political  capital  of  the  State  may  be  appropriately  given  in  a  few 
sentences. 

In  1837  the  widening  of  Fourth  Avenue  from  Thirty-fourth  Street 
to  Harlem  River  was  authorized,  and  the  extension  of  the  New  York 
and  Harlem  Railroad  into  the  open  country  beyond  the  Harlem  River 
was  speedily  begun. 

In  1835  the  company  was  authorized  to  convert  into  capital  stock  the 
amount  of  money  which  it  had  borrowed.  The  amount  of  the  capital 
stock  was  increased  from  time  to  time,  and  in  1849  amounted  to 
$1,000,000.  That  year  the  company  was  authorized  to  extend  the 
road  in  the  county  of  Westchester  beyond  the  Harlem  River,  to  build 
a  bridge  across  the  same,  and  to  connect  with  the  New  York  and 
Albany  Railroad.  In  1846  it  was  authorized  to  extend  its  road  through 
the  counties  of  Putnam,  Duchess,  and  Columbia.  The  road  was  com- 
pleted to  Chatham,  its  northern  terminus,  in  1852. 

In  the  year  1859  the  company  was  authorized  to  run  horse-cars  to 
Forty-second  Street  and  up  Madison  Avenue  to  Seventy-ninth  Street  ; 
also  to  use  steam  on  Fourth  Avenue,  from  Forty -second  Street  to  the 
Harlem  River,  for  thirty  years. 

The  capital  stock  of  the  company  was  increased  to  $10,000,000  in 
1871,  and  in  1872  the  great  Fourth  Avenue  improvements,  between 
Forty -second  Street  and  Harlem,  were  authorized.  The  actual  cost  of 
those  improvements  was  about  $6,500,000.    The  Grand  Central  Depot 

classes  which  he  had  trained.  He  has  in  his  library  a  rare  collection  of  musical  litera- 
ture. Mr.  Stephenson  was  for  over  twenty  years  a  public  school  trustee  in  the  Twenty- 
first  Ward. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


405 


was  constructed  in  1870-71,  at  a  cost  of  about  $3,000,000,  including 
the  cost  of  the  land. 

A  greater  portion  of  the  stock  of  the  New  York  and  Harlem  Rail- 
road (as  well  as  the  New  York  Central  and  Hudson  River  Railroad,  to 
which  it  is  leased)  belongs  to  the  Yanderbilt  family.  Cornelius  Yan- 
derbilt,*  familiarly  known  as  "  the  Commodore,"  was  made  a  director 

*  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  a  native  of  Staten  Island,  N.  Y.,  was  the  most  eminent  and 
successful  organizer  of  methods  of  transportation  by  steam  on  land  and  water.  His 
ancestors  were  among  the  earlier  settlers  on  Staten  Island.  The  original  members  of  the 
family  settled  in  Flatbush,  Long  Island,  and  held  a  high  social  position  as  persons  of 
wealth  and  public  spirit.  They  were  members  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church.  The 
first  of  the  family  who  settled  on  Staten  Island  was  Jacob,  who  made  his  residence  there 
about  1715.  He  was  the  great-grandfather  of  Cornelius.  The  latter  was  born  May  27, 
1794,  and  died  January  4,  1877.  The  famous  "Rose  and  Crown"  tavern  on  Staten 
Island,  which  was  the  headquarters  of  General  Sir  William  Howe  in  the  summer  of  1776, 
belonged  to  the  Vanderbilt  family. 

The  place  of  Cornelius  Vanderbilt's  birth  is  claimed  by  several  places  on  Staten  Island 
— Port  Richmond,  various  houses  in  Stapleton,  and  two  or  three  in  the  interior  of  the 
island.  While  he  was  an  infant  his  parents  were  residents  of  Stapleton.  His  mother 
was  Phebe  Hand,  of  New  Jersey,  a  niece  of  Colonel  Hand  of  the  Revolution.  His  only 
inheritance  was  the  careful  training  of  his  mother,  a  vigorous  physical  constitution,  a 
clear  head,  sound  judgment,  and  indomitable  energy.  He  received  very  little  book 
learning  away  from  his  mother's  knee.  He  was  a  "  healthy,  harum-scarum  lad,"  a  good 
oarsman,  an  expert  swimmer,  and  a  perfect  rider.  He  rode  a  race-horse  against  a  colored 
boy  in  a  race  when  he  was  six  years  of  age.  He  worked  on  the  farm,  sailed  the  boats  of 
his  father  (who  was  a  ferryman),  and  when  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age  he  earned  money 
enough  to  purchase  a  sail-boat  and  began  business  on  his  own  account  in  the  transporta- 
tion of  passengers  and  garden  "  truck"  to  and  from  New  York  City,  then  containing 
between  70,000  and  80,000  inhabitants.  In  the  same  line  of  business  largely,  Cornelius 
Yanderbilt,  at  the  close  of  an  active  life  of  about  sixty-seven  years,  had  accumulated  a 
fortune  estimated  at  $100,000,000.  Honestly  recognizing  his  duty  to  his  parents,  he  gave 
to  them  a  larger  portion  of  the  receipts  from  his  business  until  he  was  twenty-one  years 
of  age. 

During  the  war  of  1812  young  Yanderbilt' s  boats  were  in  constant  demand  in  carrying 
soldiers  and  supplies  from  point  to  point  in  the  harbor.  In  this  public  service  his  per- 
sonal bravery  was  often  called  into  requisition.  The  business  was  very  remunerative. 
Meanwhile  he  had  married  his  cousin,  Sophia  Johnson,  in  1813,  a  sensible  and  practical 
young  woman.  He  hart  been  able  to  become  the  owner  of  several  boats  of  larger 
capacity,  and  he  was  soon  the  acknowledged  head  of  the  local  transportation  business  of 
the  harbor.  He  also  exteniled  his  voyages  up  the  North  and  East  rivers,  engaging  in 
traffic  of  every  kind,  and  so  combining  the  merchant  and  the  navigator. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-three  years  Yanderbilt  had  accumulated  nearly  $10,000  in  addi- 
tion to  his  property  in  vessels.  At  that  time  (1817)  he  became  captain  of  a  small  steam- 
boat called  the  .Vox.se,  owned  by  a  wealthy  New  Jerseyman.  The  next  year  he  was  put 
in  command  of  a  larger  steamboat,  which  remained  over  night  at  New  Prunswiek. 
Thither  he  removed  his  family,  and  became  the  successful  proprietor  of  a  hotel  there  for 
the  accommodation  of  travellers.  In  that  hotel  his  son  and  successor,  William  H. 
Yanderbilt,  was  born  in  1821.    Such  was  the  "  Commodore's"  introduction  to  the  steam- 


406 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


in  185S,  and  in  ls<!4  he  was  chosen  president  of  the  corporation.  After 
his  death,  in  1877,  his  son,  William  H.  Vanderbilt,  was  elected  presi- 
dent, and  his  son  Cornelius  was  chosen  vice-president.  J.  II.  Rutter 
was  chosen  president  in  1883. 

boat  business,  in  which  he  so  profitably  engaged.  Alter  serving  twelve  years  he  pur- 
chased the  vessel  he  commanded  ol  the  owner,  and  became  master  in  the  business  in  1820. 

During  the  next  twenty  years  Vanderbilt  built  steamboats,  established  opposition  lines 
to  various  monopolies,  and  drove  some  of  his  competitors  lroui  the  field.  It  was  during 
this  time  that  he  received  the  title  of  "  Commodore."  When  the  discoveries  ot  gold  in 
California  caused  a  line  of  steamships  to  be  established  between  New  York  and  Panama, 
Vanderbilt  proceeded  to  form  an  opposition  line  to  San  Francisco  by  way  of  Nicaragua, 
having  first  obtained  valuable  charter  privileges  from  that  government.  The  Transit 
Company  was  formed.  Vanderbilt  constructed  first  class  steamships  on  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  sides  of  the  isthmus,  and  a  semi-inonthly  line  between  New  York  and  San  Fran- 
cisco was  put  into  operation  in  1851.  In  1853  Vanderbilt  sold  his  vessels  to  the  Transit 
Company. 

Mr.  Vanderbilt  was  now  a  very  rich  man,  and  in  1853  he  made  a  tour  of  European  ports 
in  his  fine  steamship  Worth  Star,  with  his  family.  His  reception  everywhere  partook  of 
the  character  of  an  ovation.  His  voyage  occupied  about  four  months,  and  the  distance 
travelled  was  about  15,000  miles.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Choules,  a  Baptist  clergyman,  accom 
panied  them,  and  wrote  an  account  of  the  trip.  Mr.  Vanderbilt  afterward  established  a 
line  of  steamships  between  New  York  and  Havre,  building  a  number  of  superb  vessels 
for  the  purpose.  Among  them  was  the  Vanderbilt,  which  cost  $800,000.  When,  in  1862, 
his  »«nn try  was  in  peril  and  in  distress  for  want  ot  means  for  transportation,  he  gen- 
eronslv  presented  to  his  government  this  magnificent  vessel  of  5000  tons  burden,  for 
which  patriotic  and  munificent  gift  Congress  thanked  him  in  the  name  of  the  nation. 
Mr.  Vanderbilt  had  then  disposed  of  all  his  ships.  He  had  been  the  owner  of  more  than 
one  hundred  water  craft,  from  his  hundred  dollar  sail-boat  to  his  $800,000  steamship. 

Mr.  Vanderbilt  now  turned  his  attention  to  railroad  matters  almost  exclusively,  and 
became  the  controlling  owner  of  the  Harlem,  the  Hudson  River,  and  the  New  York  Cen 
tral  railroads.  In  this  species  ot  property  and  in  other  railroad  securities  he  chiefly 
"  operated.''  He  made  the  roads  which  he  managed  the  best  paying  and  the  best 
equipped  roads  in  the  country.  Under  his  direction  the  Grand  Central  Depot  at  Forty- 
second  Street,  and  the  vast  improvements  between  it  and  the  Harlem  River,  were  con- 
structed. His  financial  career  was  successful  until  the  last,  and  he  left,  as  we  have  said, 
property  valued  at  §100,000,000. 

In  August,  1868,  Mrs.  Vanderbilt,  one  of  the  noblest  of  women,  died.  Thirteen  chil- 
dren had  blessed  their  union.  In  August,  I860.  Mr.  Vanderbilt  married  Miss  Frances 
Crawford,  of  Mobile,  Alabama,  whose  devotion  to  and  religious  influence  over  her  hus- 
band was  most  salutary.  He  became  interested  in  the  ministrations  ot  Dr  Deems,  pastor 
of  the  Church  of  the  Strangers,  in  Mercer  Street,  and  when  the  church  edifice  was  sold  in 
1873  Mr.  Vanderbilt  bought  it  for  $50,000,  and  gave  it  to  the  minister  for  the  use  of  his 
congregation.  The  same  year  he  munificently  endowed  a  university  at  Nashville,  Ten- 
nessee, the  name  of  which  was  changed  to  Vanderbilt  University.  Subsequent  dona- 
tions by  him  made  his  aggregate  gifts  to  the  institution  $1,000,000. 

In  person  Mr.  Vanderbilt  was  erect  until  the  last.  In  his  diet  he  was  simple  and  even 
abstemious.  He  was  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  manly  vigor  until  past  fourscore  years 
of  age.  His  equanimity  of  temper  was  remarkable,  and  at  the  age  of  eighty  years  the 
wear  and  tear  of  an  exceedingly  active  and  excitable  life  seemed  not  to  have  affected  him. 


AND  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


ALMOST  simultaneously  with  the  invention  of  the  recording 
telegraph  in  the  city  of  New  York  was  the  discovery  of  the 
daguerreotype  process  of  producing  pictures,  which  began  a  wonderful 
revolution  in  the  arts  of  design  and  its  great  and  momentous  improve- 
ment by  citizens  of  Xew  York.  The  process  was  so  named  from  its 
discoverer,  L.  J.  M.  Daguerre,  a  French  scene  and  panorama  painter, 
born  in  1789,  and  who  died  in  1851.  He  was  the  inventor  of  the  dio- 
rama about  1822. 

Daguerre  made  improvements  in  the  effect  of  pictures  by  the  skilful 
use  of  sunlight,  and  for  several  years  he  experimented  in  efforts  to  pro- 
duce fac-similes  of  pictures  and  other  objects  by  means  of  the  chemical 
action  of  sunlight  and  the  scientific  toy  known  as  the  camera-obscura. 
At  the  same  time  another  Frenchman,  X.  Niepce*  was  making  similar 
experiments  for  the  same  purpose-  He  made  the  partial  discovery,  and 
late  in  182!)  Daguerre  and  Xiepce  united  to  develop  and  perfect  it. 

After  the  death  of  Xiepce,  in  1833,  Daguerre  prosecuted  his  experi- 
ments and  researches  alone,  and  made  such  great  improvements  in  the 
process  that  Xiepce's  son  consented  that  the  discovery  and  invention 
should  be  known  as  Daguerre's,  instead  of  the  n.mies  of  both,  as  had 
been  agreed. 

At  a  session  of  the  Academy  of  Science-;  in  .January,  1  >•'!'.»,  M.  Arago, 
the  eminent  French  philosopher,  announced  the  discovery.  Profound 
interest  was  at  once  excited.  This  was  intensified  by  the  exhibition, 
soon  afterward,  of  pictures  taken  from  statues  by  the  process.  In  the 
summer  of  the  same  year  Daguerre  offered  the  Frencli  Government  to 
make  the  invention  public  for  an  annuity  of  four  thousand  francs  for 
Xiepce's  son,  and  the  same  amount  for  himself.  Tim  offer  was 
accepted,  and  the  sum  to  be  paid  to  Daguerre  was  increased  to  six 
thousand  francs  on  condition  that  lie  should  also  make  public  the  secret 
method  of  producing  dioramas,  and  any  improvement  lie  might  make  in 
the  daguerreot vpe.  Daguerre  was  also  made  an  officer  of  the  Legion 
of  Honor. 

At  the  time  of  this  wonderful  revelation.  Professor  Morse  was  in 


408 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Paris  seeking  official  recognition  for  his  more  wonderful  invention. 
Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Walsh,  the  American  consul  at  Paris, 
Morse  and  Daguerre  had  a  personal  interview,  and  exhibited  their 
respective  inventions  to  each  other.  Daguerre  promised  to  send  to 
Morse  a  descriptive  publication  he  was  to  make  so  soon  as  his  pension 
should  be  secured. 

Daguerre  kept  his  promise.  By  the  hand  of  M.  Segur  he  sent  a 
copy  of  his  pamphlet  to  Morse,  who  was  undoubtedly  the  first  recipient 
of  the  work  in  this  country.  It  contained  illustrative  diagrams,,  and 
these  die  writer  of  these  pages  reproduced  for  Professor  Mapes's 
"American  Repository  of  Arts,  Sciences,  and  Manufactures/'  This 
was  in  the  autumn  of  1839.* 

Professor  Morse  took  the  description  and  drawings  to  George  W. 
Prosch,  an  instrument-maker  in  the  basement  of  No.  142  Nassau 
Street.  In  less  than  a  month  after  the  pamphlet  was  received,  or  in 
October,  183!),  the  instrument  was  finished,  and  the  first  daguerreotype 
ever  produced  in  the  United  States  was  by  Professor  Morse.  He 
placed  the  camera-obscura  on  the  steps  leading  down  to  Prosch 's  shop, 
and  the  picture  taken  was  that  of  the  Prick  Church  (Dr.  Spring's)  and 
the  City  Hall.  In  the  foreground  was  a  hackney-coach  and  horses,  and 
the  driver  asleep  on  the  seat.    This  picture  was  a  great  curiosity. 

The  process  was  very  slow.    Dr.  John  W.  Draper  f  took  great  in- 

*  James  J.  Mapes,  LL.D.,  a  practical  chemist,  was  horn  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  May, 
1808,  and  died  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  in  January,  1666.  He  was  a  man  of  varied  learning  and 
accomplishments,  with  a  genius  for  art,  a  love  for  science,  a  taste  for  mechanics,  and 
eminently  social  in  his  habits.  He  was  a  very  popular  and  highly  esteemed  citizen. 
He  was  a  professor  of  chemistry  and  natural  philosophy  in  the  National  Academy  of  the 
Arts  of  Design.  In  the  later  years  of  his  life  he  devoted  his  talents  to  the  pursuit  of 
agricultural  science,  with  great  success  as  a  farmer,  near  Newark.  Professor  Mapes 
edited  the  Working  Farmer.  He  manufactured  a  fertilizer  called  "  nitrogenized  super- 
phosphate." His  lectures  and  essays  on  agriculture  and  cognate  sciences  were  exceed- 
ingly useful,  and  his  "  American  Repository  of  Arts,  Sciences,  and  Manufactures,"  in 
four  volumes,  attest  his  industry  and  judgment. 

•(  John  William  Draper,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  was  born  near  Liverpool,  England,  in  May, 
1811  ;  was  educated  in  scientific  studies  in  the  University  of  London,  and  came  to 
America  in  1833.  At  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  he  continued  his  medical  and 
chemical  studies,  and  there  took  his  degree  of  M.D.  In  183fi-39  he  was  professor  of 
chemistry,  natural  philosophy,  and  physiology  in  Hampden-Sidney  College,  Virginia. 
Dr.  Draper  was  connected,  as  professor,  with  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York 
from  1839  until  his  death,  which  occurred  on  the  4th  of  January,  1882.  He  aided  in 
establishing  the  University  Medical  College,  of  which  he  was  appointed  professor  of 
chemistry  in  1841.  From  1850  he  was  president  of  the  medical  faculty  of  the  University 
until  his  death.  In  1874  he  was  chosen  president  of  the  scientific  department  of  the 
institution. 

Dr.  Draper  was  one  of  the  most  patient,  industrious   careful,  and  acute  scientific 


F1KST  DECADE.  1830-1840. 


409 


terest  in  the  discovery,  and  believed  in  its  great  possibilities.  He  and 
Morse  experimented  together.  There  seemed  hardly  a  possibility  of 
taking  a  picture  of  the  human  form  without  some  material  modifications 
of  the  process.  The  first  thing  of  importance  was  to  get  a  good  work- 
ing achromatic  lens,  and  the  second,  chemicals  more  sensitive  to  the 
action  of  light  than  iodine,  which  Daguerre  had  used  in  preparing  the 
plates.  To  this  end  Dr.  Draper  brought  his  knowledge  of  chemistry 
and  the  property  of  light  to  bear,  and  succeeded.  He  took  the  first 
portrait  from  the  living  human  face  with  the  eyes  open  by  the  daguer- 
rian  process. 

Meanwhile  Professor  Morse  had  been  experimenting.  From  a 
window  of  the  University  he  took  a  fair  picture  of  the  tower  of  the 
Church  of  the  Messiah,  on  Broadway,  and  surrounding  buildings,  on  a 
plate  the  size  of  a  playing-card.  Afterward,  in  a  studio  which  he  and 
Professor  Draper  had  erected  on  the  roof  of  the  University,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  taking  likenesses  from  the  human  figure.  The  process  was 
so  slow  it  took  nearly  fifteen  minutes  at  a  sitting,  and  the  subject  had 
to  have  the  eyes  closed.  In  this  way  he  took  the  likeness  of  his 
daughter  and  a  young  lady  (his  kinswoman,  whom  he  afterward  mar- 
ried, and  who  survives  him),  who  sat  with  their  bonnets  on  and  their 
eyes  closed.  This  picture  and  others  taken  at  the  time  are  in  the  pos- 
session of  Yassar  College,  at  Poughkeepsie.  The  discovery  of  Professor 
Draper,  in  the  autumn  of  1S39,  greatly  facilitating  the  process,  is  the 
real  beginning  of  the  wonderful  and  useful  art  now  known  as  photog- 
raphy, the  legitimate  offspring  of  the  daguerreotype  invention. 

Operators  immediately  appeared.  Prosch,  who  made  the  first 
daguerreotype  instrument,  opened  the  first  daguerrian  gallery  on 
the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Liberty  Street,  and  his  first  sitter  was 
Professor  Charles  E.  "West,  of  the  Rutgers  Female  Institute.  The 
sunlight  was  reflected  full  on  his  face  by  a  mirror  suspended  outside 

investigators.  His  industry  in  experimental  researches  was  marvellous,  and  his  publica- 
tions through  various  vehicles  on  scientific  subjects  are  very  voluminous.  To  him  is 
due  the  knowledge  of  many  fundamental  facts  concerning  the  phenomena  of  the  spec- 
trum, "of  light  and  heat.  His  researches  materially  aided  in  developing  the  great  dis- 
covery of  Daguerre.  In  187C>  the  Eumford  gold  medal  was  bestowed  upon  him  by  the 
American  Academy  of  Sciences  for  his  researches  in  radiant  energy. 

Dr.  Draper  was  equally  industrious  in  researches  and  expositions  in  other  departments 
of  learning.  His  "  History  of  the  Intellectual  Development  of  Europe,"  "  Thoughts  on 
the  Future  Policy  of  America,"  "  Philosophical  History  of  the  Civil  V.'ar  in  America," 
and  "History  of  the  Conflict  between  Science  and  Religion,"  are  all  works  which 
attest  his  profundity  of  knowledge,  philosophical  tone  of  mind,  and  grasp  of  intellect- 
ual forces. 


410 


HISTORY  OK  IS'EW  YORK  CITY. 


the  window.  One  of  the  most  successful  of  the  early  operators  was 
A.  S.  Wolcott,  who  had  his  establishment  on  the  corner  of  Broadway 
and  Chambers  Street. 

The  honor  given  Dr.  Draper  has  been  claimed  by  others,  but  with- 
out substantial  proof  of  correctness.  Dr.  Draper  first  gave  an  account 
of  his  improvement  in  a  note  to  the  editor  of  the  London  Philosophical 
Magazine,  in  March,  lS4o,  in  which  he  announced  that  he  had  proven 
jt  to  be  possible,  by  photogenic  process,  such  as  the  daguerreotype,  to 
obtain  likenesses  from  life. 

The  daguerreotype  process  was  soon  succeeded  by  the  photographic 
process  ;  indeed  the  latter  speedily  superseded  the  former  altogether  in 
the  production  of  sun-pictures,  because  the  images  made  by  it  were 
capable  of  indefinite  multiplication  from  the  original  or  "negative," 
as  it  is  termed,  which  is  on  glass. 

Wedgwood  and  Sir  Humphry  Davy,  in  experimenting,  had  been 
successful  in  making  "  negatives"  on  leather  imbued  with  a  solution  of 
nitrate  of  silver  and  exposing  it  under  the  images  of  a  magic-lantern 
slide.  But  these  images  were  evanescent,  and  their  experiments  were 
useless. 

So  early  as  1*35  Dr.  Draper  began  a  series  of  papers  in  the  Journal 
of  the  Franklin  Institute  on  the  subject  of  photogenic  methods.  In  his 
experiments  thus  reported  he  had  used  bromide  of  silver  and  other  com- 
pounds much  more  sensitive  to  light  than  any  that  had  hitherto  been 
used.  The  discoveries  of  Daguerre  and  Niepce,  publicly  announced  in 
1839,  aroused  the  attention  of  scientists  to  the  subject  of  photogeny, 
and  in  England  William  II.  Talbot,  who  had  made  the  discovery  of  a 
method  for  photographing  on  paper  in  L883  or  1834,  at  once  announced 
a  process  which  he  called  Calotype  or  photogenic  writing.  It  was  also 
called  Talbotvpe.  It  consisted  essentially  in  covering  a  sheet  of  paper 
with  a  changeable  salt  of  silver,  exposing  it  on  a  camera,  and  develop- 
ing the  latent  image  by  a  solution  of  gallic  acid.  The  result  was  a 
"negative" — that  is,  a  photograph  in  which  the  light  sand  shadows 
answer  respectively  to  the  shadows  and  lights  of  the  original.  These 
negatives  are  now  made  on  plate  glass.  It  had  the  advantage  over 
Daguerre's  process,  that  it  was  capable  of  multiplication  ;  yet  the 
daguerreotype  had  an  advantage,  which  it  has  to  the  present  day — 
namely,  its  images  were  exrjuisitely  defined  and  sharp,  and  given  with 
microscopic  mniuteness. 

Since  the  introduction  of  the  photograph,  vast  and  valuable  improve- 
ments have  been  made  in  its  methods  and  products,  not  only  in  beauty 
but  in  permanence  ;  and  to-day  it  is  playing  a  most  important  part  in 


FIfiST  DECADE,  1830-1810. 


411 


the  realm  of  the  hue  arts,  in  literature,  in  science,  the  useful  arts,  and 
in  common,  every-day  life.  Photography  is  now  followed  by  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands  as  an  industrial  pursuit,  and  enters  largely 
into  literary  productions  and  various  processes  of  the  graphic  art. 

Among  the  living  and  active  photographers  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
Mr.  C.  D.  Fredricks  and  Mr.  William  Kurt/  have  possibly  done  more 
to  develop  the  advantages  and  illustrate  the  true  character,  mission, 
and  influence  of  the  art  than  any  of  their  compeers.  Mr.  Fredricks 
may  properly  be  classed  as  a  veteran  and  a  benefactor  of  the  photo- 
graphic art.  His  earlier  life  was  an  eventful  one,  and  the  outline  of  it, 
which  is  given  below,  is  full  of  hints  for  a  romance.* 

*  Mr.  Fredricks  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1823.  When  he  was  a  lad  his 
father  sent  him  to  Havana,  where  he  remained  a  year  and  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the 
Spanish  language,  which  was  afterward  of  great  service  to  him.  On  his  return  he  in- 
tended to  complete  his  collegiate  studies,  but  the  financial  crash  of  1837  swept  away  his 
father's  fortune,  and  young  Fredricks  was  compelled  to  seek  some  occupation  for  a 
livelihood.  With  a  South  Street  mercantile  firm  he  was  engaged  about  two  years,  when 
he  entered  the  banking-honse  of  Cammann  &  Whitehouse,  in  Wall  Street. 

Fredricks  had  a  brother  in  Venezuela.  Having  received  from  him  glowing  accounts 
of  business  prospects  in  that  country,  and  stimulated  by  a  love  of  adventure  and  the 
expectation  of  speedily  winning  a  large  fortune  there,  he  purchased  an  assortment  of 
goods  suitable  to  that  market  and  with  $400  cash— his  whole  fortune  at  that  time — he 
sailed  for  Angostura  in  1843.  Ho  had  wisely  reflected  that  the  bright  dream  might  pos- 
sibly prove  delusive,  that  he  might  lose  his  venture,  and  before  he  started  he  received 
some  lessons  in  daguerreotyping  from  Mr.  J.  Gurney,  the  knowledge  of  which  miglit  be 
a  resource  to  fall  back  upon  in  case  of  a  failure  of  his  mercantile  operation.  He  took 
with  him  a  complete  daguerreotype  apparatus  and  a  small  stock  of  plates. 

At  Angostura  Fredricks  went  through  the  usual  process  of  paying  duties  on  his  goods, 
but  when  the  custom-house  officer  came  to  his  daguerreotype  instrument  he  was  puzzled. 
He  had  never  seen  nor  heard  of  such  a  thing  before,  and  he  refused  to  let  it  pass  unless 
Mr.  Fredricks  would  pay  a  heavy  duty  on  it.  This  he  would  not  do,  and  was  making 
arrangements  to  reship  it  to  New  York,  when  a  singular  circumstance  changed  his  plans, 
and  perchance  his  whole  subsequent  career. 

Mr.  Fredricks  was  the  guest  of  the  principal  merchant  of  Angostm-a.  While  he  was 
making  arrangements  for  sending  his  goods  up  the  river  to  San  Fernando,  where  his 
brother  resided,  a  child  of  his  hospitable  friend  died.  One  of  the  merchant's  clerks 
had  informed  his  employer  of  the  nature  of  Mr.  Fredricks's  daguerreotype  instrument, 
and  of  its  detention  at  the  custom-house.  The  merchant  went  immediately  to  the  latter, 
paid  the  duty  demanded,  and  had  the  apparatus  sent  to  the  room  of  his  guest.  He  then 
asked  Mr.  Fredricks  to  take  a  picture  of  his  dead  child.  Though  rather  doubting  his 
ability  to  make  a  satisfactory  likeness,  he  said,  "  I'll  try." 

Information  of  the  intended  operation  spread  over  the  town,  and  at  the  hour  appointed 
the  room  was  filled  with  the  principal  inhabitants  of  Angostura  to  witness  the  event. 
The  operation  was  perfectly  successful.  The  people  were  astonished.  Few  had  even 
heard  of  the  great  discovery,  and  none  had  seen  its  work.  The  operator  received  the 
most  tempting  offers  to  induce  him  to  stay  and  take  the  likenesses  of  everybody.  He  did 
so.    He  sent  his  goods  up  the  river  to  the  care  of  his  brother,  and  in  three  weeks  he 


412 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


After  long  and  varied  experience  in  the  business  of  photography,  as 
set  forth  in  the  subjoined  foot-note,  Mr.  Fredricks,  on  returning  to  the 
city  of  Xew  York  from  Paris  in  1S53,  formed  a  partnership  with  Mr. 

earned  $4001)  with  his  daguerreotype  instrument  Then  he  sent  to  New  York  for  a  large 
supply  of  materials.  While  waiting  for  their  arrival  he  went  up  to  San  Fernando,  ex- 
changed his  goods  for  hides,  which  he  shipped  to  Xew  York,  and  returning  to  Angostura 
he  proceeded  to  visit  the  islands  of  Tobago  and  St.  Vincent,  where  he  was  very  success- 
ful in  his  new  profession. 

Mr.  Fredricks  desired  to  go  to  Brazil,  hut  there  was  no  coastwise  conveyance  from 
Angostura,  to  which  place  he  had  returned  There  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  province  of  Rio  Negro  (a  wild  country  inhabited  by  many  Indian  tribes), 
who  suggested  a  plan  of  going  up  the  Orinoco  River  and  down  the  Amazon.  He  guaran- 
teed to  Fredricks  thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of  Indian  portraits.  He  also  agreed  to 
forward  Mr.  Fredricks  and  his  brother,  who  accompanied  him.  to  Brazil.  The  journey 
was  undertaken,  and  a  series  of  wild  and  daDgerous  adventures  was  experienced.  The 
journey  consumed  nine  months. 

Ascending  the  Orinoco  in  a  big  canoe,  with  Indian  attendants,  they  came  to  the  rapids 
of  Maypures,  where  the  Indians  unloaded  the  vessel  in  order  to  carry  it  and  its  contents 
to  still  water  above.  The  brothers  occupied  a  hut  that  night.  In  the  morning,  to  their 
dismay,  they  found  the  Indians  were  all  gone,  with  the  canoe  and  the  provisions  !  After 
suffering  twenty  days  from  hunger,  fever  and  ague,  swarms  of  biting  insects,  and  dangers 
from  alligators  and  venomous  snakes,  they  were  picked  up  by  some  government  officials 
and  soldiers  from  Caracas,  and  taken  to  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon,  where  they  embarked 
for  New  York,  to  recruit  their  strength 

Love  of  adventure  and  a  hope  of  gain  took  Fredricks  back  to  Para  the  next  year, 
where  he  established  a  gallery,  and  was  very  successful.  He  visited  other  places  with 
equal  success.  After  a  flying  visit  to  New  York  he  went  back,  visited  Bahia,  Rio  do 
Janeiro,  and  other  places.  He  crossed  the  province  of  Rio  Grande  in  company  witli 
Edward  Hopkins  and  George  A.  Brandreth  (a  son  of  Dr.  Brandreth).  of  New  Y'ork,  who 
were  on  their  way  to  Paraguay.  They  transported  their  baggage  in  an  ox-cart,  stopping 
long  enough  at  each  village  to  take  the  likenesses  of  the  principal  inhabitants.  Coin 
being  scarce,  a  horse  was  generally  given  in  exchange  for  each  picture,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  journey  our  photographer  appeared  in  patriarchal  style,  surrounded  by  an  immense 
drove  of  horses,  which  he  sold  for  $3  each. 

At  San  Borja  Fredricks  met  Bonpland,  the  celebrated  naturalist  and  the  companion 
of  Humboldt.  With  this  traveller  he  embarked  in  a  small  boat  to  descend  the  river  to 
Montevideo  and  Buenos  Ayres.  On  the  way  Bonpland  paid  a  visit  to  the  governors  of 
Corrientes  and  Entre  Rios  One  of  them  desired  Fredricks  to  take  his  likeness.  He 
asked  Bonpland  what  remuneration  he  should  make  the  artist 

"'  None  whatever,"  said  the  traveller  ;  "  it  is  a  compliment  to  your  Excellency." 

This  did  not  satisfy  the  governor,  and  as  the  travellers  were  about  to  leave  the  shore, 
some  Indians  came,  leading  a  large  tiger,  which  they  chained  securely  in  the  bow  ot  the 
boat,  saying,  "A  present  trom  the  governor  to  the  young  American."  This  was  to  pay 
for  the  daguerreotype  of  the  governor  What  to  do  with  the  animal  was  a  serious  ques- 
tion ;  it  would  not  do  to  decline  to  receive  it  Bonpland  was  in  mortal  fear  of  the  animal. 
It  was  harmless,  however,  and  died  at  Buenos  Ayres. 

Fredricks  returned  to  New  Y'ork  in  1853  and  proceeded  to  Paris,  where  the  photographic 
art  was  much  inferior  in  its  development  to  the  art  in  New  York.  There  he  made  a 
great  advance  in  the  art.  taking  portraits  life  size  and  finishing  them  with  crayons  He 


FIRST  DECADE.  1830-1840. 


413 


Gurney,  a  skilful  operator.  They  were  together  about  ten  years, 
when,  in  1855,  Mr.  Fredricks  opened  a  large  photographic  gallery  on 
Broadway,  opposite  the  Metropolitan  Hotel,  with  a  corps  of  French 
artists  whom  he  had  brought  from  Paris,  and  introduced  photography 
on  a  grand  scale,  making  life-size  portraits.  There  he  remained  twenty 
years,  until  burned  out  in  1870,  when  he  removed  to  his  present  quar- 
ters, No.  "To  Broadway.  In  1S57  Mr.  Fredricks  married  Miss  Marie 
Laura  Barron,  and  has  five  children. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  only  a  fixed  proportion  of  the  population 
has  an  inborn  taste  for  the  fine  arts,  and  that  the  widespread  demand 
for  art  productions  now  observed  in  the  city  of  New  York,  as  else- 
where, indicates  only  the  increase  in  the  numbers  of  the  population. 
This  theory  does  not  seem  to  be  sustained  by  facts.  Fine-art  produc- 
tions placed  before  the  public  have  certainly  multiplied  the  lovers  of 
art  in  much  greater  proportion  than  the  increase  of  population,  in  a 
given  time,  than  ever  before,  either  by  creating  a  taste  or  developing  a 
taste  for  the  fine  arts  in  individuals.  In  this  good  work  Mr.  Kurtz, 
one  of  the  leading  photographers  of  New  York  City,  has  borne  and  is 
bearing  a  conspicuous  part. 

Mr.  Kurtz  is  a  German  by  birth,  having  been  born  in  a  village  in 
the  Grand  Duchy  of  Darmstadt,  in  May,  1834,  where  he  received  a 
common-school  education.  He  was  the  eldest  of  seven  children.  His 
father  dying  when  he  was  fourteen  years  of  age,  his  mother  placed 
him  as  a  clerk  with  a  merchant  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main.  The  busi- 
ness was  distasteful  to  him,  for  he  had  a  taste  and  talent  for  art,  and 
he  was  a  failure  as  a  merchant's  clerk.  At  the  end  of  two  years  he 
was  apprenticed  to  a  lithographer  at  Offenbach  for  four  years.  The 
story  of  his  subsequent  career  is  interesting.* 

was  the  first  who  made  photographs  of  this  kind.  He  remained  in  Paris  about 
six  months,  when,  believing  that  the  novelty  of  life-size  portraits  painted  by  French 
artists  would  be  very  popular  and  become  a  profitable  business  in  New  York,  he  deter- 
mined to  establish  himself  permanently  in  that  city. 

*  At  twenty  years  of  age  young  Kurtz  was  drafted  into  the  infantry  service  at  Worms, 
and  leaving  Germany  joined  the  British-German  Legion  and  engaged  in  the  Crimean 
war.  At  the  conclusion  of  peace  he  went  to  London  and  unsuccessfully  sought  employ- 
ment as  a  lithographer.  He  became  a  teacher  of  drawing  and  foreman  in  a  carmine 
factory  The  financial  revulsion  in  1857  deprived  him  of  employment,  and  he  went  to 
sea  as  a  green  sailor  before  the  mast,  making  several  voyages.  Finally,  while  on  a  voyage 
from  England  to  California  with  a  cargo  of  coal,  his  vessel  was  wrecked  below  the  equa- 
tor. The  crew  were  picked  up  by  an  English  ship  bound  for  Calcutta.  They  were 
speedily  transferred  to  an  American  ship  bound  for  Hampton  Roads.  Virginia.  From 
that  port  he.  with  other  seamen,  went  to  the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor  in  New  York,  in 
Christmas  week,  1859.    When  he  arrived  there  he  had  just  ten  cents  in  his  monkey- 


414 


HISTORY  OF  NEW   YORK  CITY 


Great  changes  in  the  localities  of  business  centres  were  begun  in  this 
decade.  We  have  already  noticed  the  localities  of  groups  of  various 
kinds  of  business  previous  to  the  year  183Q,  and  the  first  migrations 
from  these  groups. 

The  great  fire  m  December,  1S35,  caused  a  much  greater  migration, 
especially  in  one  branch  of  business,  than  had  yet  been  seen.  The 
locality  of  that  fire,  as  we  have  observed,  was  the  chief  centre  of  the 
wholesale  dry -goods  business.  The  smitten  district  was  soon  rebuilt 
with  far  superior  structures,  but  the  inordinate  demands  of  the  owners 
for  rent  caused  the  former  occupants  to  push  across  Wall  Street. 

jacket.  While  tarrying  there  he  saw  in  a  New  York  paper  an  advertisement  for  an  artist 
to  retouch  photographs  at  an  establishment  in  the  Bowery.  He  went  to  the  city,  and 
was  employed  there. 

When  the  Civil  War  broke  out  in  1861.  Mr.  Kurtz  took  the  preliminary  steps  toward 
becoming  a  naturalized  citizen.  He  left  the  city  with  the  Seventh  Regiment  National 
Guard,  for  Washington,  and  remained  with  it  in  the  capacity  of  sergeant  until  the  expira- 
tion of  its  term  of  enlistment— three  months.  In  18G3  he  took  charge  of  the  artistic 
department  of  a  Broadway  gallery,  and  the  next  year  he  married  Miss  Clotilde  Raefle. 
In  18G5  he  started  a  photographic  gallery  of  his  own  far  up  Broadway,  where  Lord  & 
Taylor's  store  now  is,  and  in  the  same  year  he  introduced  the  carbon  process,  which 
renders  photographs  altogether  unalterable  in  the  air.  He  also  introduced  porcelain 
miniatures  At  the  annual  fair  of  the  American  Institute,  held  in  the  autumn  of  1805, 
he  received  the  first  medal  of  that  institution  lor  superior  photographs. 

In  1866  Mr.  Kurtz  made  a  revolution  in  photography  by  introducing  the  "  Rembrandt 
effect, "  which  method  has  been  adopted  at  all  the  chief  photographic  galleries  of  the 
world.  In  1870  he  received  at  the  Paris  Exposition  the  first  premium  tor  superior 
photographs.  It  was  the  first  medal  that  ever  came  to  the  United  States  as  a  premium 
for  photographs.  Ac  the  Vienna  Exhibition  in  1873  he  received  the  first  and  greatest 
awards  for  portraits  the  Medal  of  Progress  and  the  Medal  of  Art  (medal  for  good  taste) 
combined. 

In  1874  Mr.  Kurtz  opened  the  Kurtz  Gallery,  on  Madison  Square,  a  model  building  for 
the  exhibition  of  photographs  and  productions  in  every  other  department  ol  art.  Ho 
invested  $130,000  in  that  building  and  its  equipment.  The  next  year  he  introduced  the 
"  transfer  crayon"  portraits,  which  abolish  crayon  drawings  on  photographic  bases. 
The  process  he  kept  secret.  In  1876  his  name  was  first  mentioned  by  the  jurors  at  the 
Centennial  Exhibition  at  Philadelphia,  in  their  report.  "  for  general  artistic  excellence 
in  all  styles  of  portrait  photography,  plain,  crayon,  oil.  and  pastel,  and  for  a  new  process 
of  making  durable  crayons."  He  was  the  only  artist  whose  crayon  drawings  were 
admitted  as  "works  of  art"  to  Memorial  Hall  (where  photographs  were  excluded)  by  a 
committee  of  eminent  artists.  Orders  for  his  crayon  drawings  have  been  received  from 
Paris  and  other  cities  of  Europe. 

In  1880  Mr.  Kurtz  had  received  letters-patent  for  the  "  vibrotype, "  an  improvement  of 
the  old  way  of  taking  photographic  pictures  ;  also  for  the  f  conigraph,*'  an  invention  for 
a  variety  of  uses  for  artists  who  work  on  paper.    The  latter  was  patented  in  France. 

Mr.  Kurtz  has  filled  the  offices  of  president  of  the  German  Photographic  Society,  vice- 
president  of  the  American  Photographic  Society,  and  president  o£  the  Palette  Art  Associ- 
ation. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840 


415 


They  made  Pine,  Cedar,  and  Liberty  streets  the  great  centre  of  the 
wholesale  dry-goods  trade.  Gradually  firm  after  firm  ventured  upon 
Broadway  in  the  lower  part.  In  1840  a  wholesale  store  on  Broadway, 
half  a  mile  from  the  Battery,  was  unknown.  The  centre  of  business 
was  then  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  Battery.  When  a  venture- 
some merchant  opened  a  wholesale  store  on  the  site  of  old  Grace 
Church,  on  the  corner  of  Rector  Street  and  Broadway,  conservative  and 
cautious  men  said,  "  Too  high  up!" 

But  the  omnibuses  and  the  citv  railroads  soon  wrought  a  change  in 
business  and  domestic  arrangements.  These  made  transportation  to  a 
distance  of  two  or  three  miles  easier  than  foot  travel  a  distance  of  half 
a  mile,  and  enabled  the  merchant  and  professional  man,  the  mechanic 
and  the  common  laborer,  to  have  their  homes  more  remote  from  their 
respective  places  of  employment.  The  families  of  merchants  left  the 
often  inconvenient  and  undesirable  quarters  over  the  stores  for  more 
spacious  and  comfortable  dwellings,  where  they  could  enjoy  more  light 
and  air.  The  city,  containing  in  1840  nearly  313,000  inhabitants, 
rapidly  spread  out  in  fan-like  shape,  with  the  City  Hall  Park  as  the 
base,  at  which  point  several  of  the  railways  still  radiate.  At  that 
period  the  streets  above  Fourteenth  were  rapidly  filling  up  with  dwell- 
ings, and  very  small  stores  and  shops  for  the  supply  of  local  wants. 

From  that  period  extensive  retail  stores  rapidly  multiplied  on  Broad- 
way below  Canal  Street,  and  some  speedily  appeared  above  that  point. 
The  first  of  these  retail  stores  which  finally  expanded  its  enormous 
proportions  and  continued  to  our  day  was  that  of  Alexander  T.  Stewart, 
who,  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1ST(5,  was  the  most  extensive  and. 
probably  the  wealthiest  merchant  on  the  earth. 

Mr.  Stewart  was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent.  lie  was  born  in  1803,  at 
a  little  town  six  miles  from  Belfast,  Ireland.  Left  an  orphan  under 
the  care  of  his  grandfather,  who  was  a  Methodist,  at  the  age  of  eight 
veal's,  he  was  educated  with  a  view  to  the  ministry.  Before  he  had 
graduated  from  Trinity  College  his  grandfather  died,  ami  he  was  left 
without  a  known  relative  in  the  world.  He  left  the  college  with  hon- 
ors, and  at  the  age  of  twenty  years  came  to  America. 

Mr.  Stewart  landed  at  the  Battery  in  1823.  His  guardian  was  a 
Friend  or  Quaker,  and  he  gave  Stewart  letters  of  introduction  to  some 
of  his  coreligionists  in  New  York.  Being  a  fair  linguist  and  well  edu- 
cated, Stewart  obtained  a  situation  in  a  public  school.  He  was  also  a 
teacher  of  penmanship  for  a  while,  and  one  of  his  pupils  in  that  art  was 
the  late  Fletcher  Harper,  of  the  firm  of  Harper  <Sc  Brothers. 

A  seeminjr  trivial  circumstance  introduced  him  into  the  mercantile 


416 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOKK  CITY. 


world.  He  expected  to  receive  a  small  patrimony  when  he  should  be 
twenty-one  years  of  age.  He  brought  some  money  with  him.  A 
young  man  of  his  acquaintance  applied  to  him  for  some  funds  where- 
with to  stock  a  small  dry -goods  store.  Stewart  advanced  the  money, 
the  little  store  was  stocked,  but  his  friend  could  not  go  on  with  the 
business,  and  Stewart  concluded  to  undertake  it  himself. 

Stewart  went  to  Ireland  for  his  patrimony,  and  invested  $3000  of  it 
in  goods.  Soon  after  his  return  there  appeared  in  the  Daily  Advertiser 
(September  2,  1825)  a  modest  advertisement  announcing  that  A.  T. 
Stewart  offered  for  sale,  at  No.  283  Broadway,  "  a  general  assortment 
of  fresh  and  seasonable  dry  goods."  He  had  rented  one  half  of  a  store 
in  a  little  wooden  building  exactly  opposite  where  he  erected  his  great 
marble  building  afterward,  lie  had  a  sleeping- room  in  the  rear.  He 
moved  into  a  larger  store,  at  No.  2<!2  Broadway,  and  not  long  afterward 
to  No.  257,  where,  by  industry,  discretion,  sagacity,  vigilance,  and 
persistence,  he  laid  the  foundation  of  his  extensive  business  and  great 
fortune.  He  soon  rose  to  the  head  of  the  dry-goods  business  of  the 
country. 

On  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Chambers  Street  stood  quite  an 
imposing  building  known  as  "Washington  Hall.  It  was  completed  in 
1812,  and  was  the  finest  structure,  in  an  architectural  point  of  view,  in 
the  city  at  that  time.  It  was  erected  under  the  auspices  of  the  Wash- 
ington Benevolent  Society,  one  of  several  political  organizations  of  that 
name  which  originated  in  Philadelphia  at  about  the  beginning  of  the 
century,  but  was  not  thoroughly  organized  until  a  dozen  years  after- 
ward. In  politics  these  societies  were  opposed  to  the  Tammany  socie- 
ties. They  disappeared  with  the  demise  of  the  Federal  party,  during 
the  administration  of  President  Monroe. 

In  1848  Mr.  Stewart,  by  great  commercial  sagacity  and  operating 
upon  a  cash  basis,  had  accumulated  a  fortune  sufficient  to  enable  him 
to  purchase  Washington  Hall,  which  had  been  used  for  many  years  as 
a  hotel.  Upon  its  site,  the  front  of  which  extended  from  Chambers 
Street  to  Reade  Street,  he  erected  a  magnificent  marble  structure  for 
his  business,  five  stories  in  height,  on  Broadway.  That  store — the 
pioneer  of  marble,  freestone,  and  iron  stores  on  Broadway— attracted 
great  attention  at  home  and  abroad.  It  was  an  efficient  advertisement 
for  Stewart.  The  Astor  House,  grand  in  size  and  built  of  granite,  had 
been  until  then  one  of  the  architectural  wonders  of  the  city  ;  now 
Stewart's  store  was  a  prolific  topic  of  remark. 

Fourteen  veal's  later,  Stewart's  business  having  outgrown  his  great 
store,  he  resolved  to  anticipate  the  up-town  movement  of  population, 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840 


417 


the  unmistakable  symptoms  of  which  were  then  apparent.  He  pur- 
chased apart  of  the  Randall  estate  (the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor),  between 
Ninth  and  Tenth  streets  and  Broadway  and  Fourth  Avenue,  whereon 
he  built  an  extensive  iron  structure,  six  stories  in  height,  with  a  base- 
ment and  sub-basement.  It  was  not  unlike,  in  outward  appearance, 
the  great  down-town  store,  which  was  subsequently  devoted  to  the 
wholesale  dry -goods  business.  In  the  new  retail  store  about  two  thou- 
sand persons  were  employed,  and  the  running  expenses  of  the  estab- 
lishment were  estimated  at  over  $1,000,000  a  year.  The  sales  in  the 
two  establishments  are  said  to  have  amounted  to  $203, 000, 000  in  three 
years,  and  his  net  income  for  several  years  was  over  $1,000,000. 

The  business  of  the  house  of  A.  T.  Stewart  &  Co.  was  literally 
"  world-wide'"  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1876.  A  foreign  office  had 
been  established  at  Manchester,  England,  where  English  goods  were 
collected,  examined,  and  packed.  The  firm  had  a  factory  at  Belfast 
for  the  perfecting  of  Irish  linens.  At  Glasgow  they  had  a  house -for 
the  collection  and  forwarding  of  Scotch  goods.  They  also  had  a  store 
at  Paris,  where  were  gathered  goods  from  India,  France,  and  Ger- 
many. They  had  a  W(X)llen  house  at  Berlin,  and  a  silk  warehouse  at 
Lyons.  The)'  also  had  mills  in  Europe  and  America  for  the  manufact- 
ure of  goods  exclusively  for  their  house,  and  their  agents  and  buyers 
were  continually  "  travelling  between  Hong  Kong  and  Paris,  Thibet 
and  Peru." 

Mr.  Stewai't  had  no  taste  for  politics  as  such,  nor  aspirations  for 
official  position.  He  was  very  retiring  in  his  habits.  By  his  shrewd 
business  management  he  had  honestly  and  deservedly  acquired  the  title 
of  a  "  merchant  prince,"  and  he  wore  the  honor  with  modesty.  He 
was  chairman  of  the  honorary  commission  sent  by  the  United  States  to 
the  Paris  Exposition.  President  Grant  nominated  him  for  a  seat  in  his 
cabinet  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  but  an  existing  and  wise  law 
barred  his  entrance  upon  the  duties  of  the  office. 

It  is  said  that  Mr.  Stewart's  private  charities,  of  which  the  world 
knew  nothing,  were  extensive  and  generous.  He  designed  to  make 
provision  for  various  public  charities.  In  March,  1870,  he  had  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  his  wife  (they  had  no  children),  in  which  he  stated 
this  determination,  and  that  he  depended  upon  her  to  carry  out  his 
plans  in  case  he  should  fail  to  complete  them  himself. 

These  generous  plans  were  not  executed  by  those  who  had  the  man- 
agement of  Mr.  Stewart's  estate  after  his  death.  He  had  begun  the 
construction  of  a  town  on  Hempstead  Plains,  on  Long  Island,  called 
Garden  City,  designed  to  furnish  comfortable  homes  at  moderate 


418 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


prices.  He  also  had  in  progress  at  the  time  of  his  death  a  magnificent 
iron  building  on  Fourth  Avenue,  between  Thirty-second  and  Thirty- 
third  streets,  intended  to  furnish  comfortable  homes  to  respectable 
working-girls.  A  magnificent  cathedral  (which  also  serves  as  a  mauso- 
leum) has  been  erected  at  Garden  City,  at  a  cost  that  would  have  built 
scores  of  cottages.  And  the  Home  for  Working-Girls  was  dedicated, 
before  it  was  completed,  to  the  service  of  Mammon.  Its  ground  floor 
(as  was  originally  intended)  is  devoted  to  mercantile  pursuits,  but  the 
remainder  of  the  building,  designed  for  benevolent  uses,  was  made  a 
"  first-class"  hotel. 

The  Home  for  "Working- Girls  would  have  been  the  noblest  monument 
imaginable  to  the  memory  of  the  benevolent  and  generous  merchant 
prince.  Even  the  mercantile  house  of  A.  T.  Stewart  &  Co.,  which 
formed  a  magnificent  monument  to  his  memory  as  a  business  man  and 
a  citizen,  who,  by  his  genius  and  lofty  probity,  had  for  half  a  century 
contributed  immensely  to  the  prosperity  and  good  name  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  was  allowed  to  disappear  from  the  realm  of  commercial  life 
in  the  city  almost  immediately  after  his  death.  There  is  now,  seven 
years  after  his  departure,  on  April  10,  1876,  nothing  in  the  great 
metropolis  to  keep  alive  in  memory  a  knowledge  of  the  existence  there 
of  Alexander  T.  Stewart,  excepting  his  marble  mansion  on  Fifth 
Avenue,  the  rapidly  fading  recollections  in  fashionable  society  and  of 
mercantile  circles  of  "  Stewart's,"  and  the  fact  that  he  left  behind  him 
a  fortune  of  $50,000,000. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


URING  this  first  decade  places  of  amusement  and  associations  for 


-1—^  social  enjoyment  multiplied  and  were  modified  in  character  by 
the  prevailing  tone  of  society.  The  theatre  was  the  chief  source  of 
intellectual  amusement,  for  the  lyceum  lecturer  was  unknown.  The 
Park  Theatre  maintained  its  supremacy  as  a  dignified  and  well-con- 
ducted play-house.  It  was  the  usual  place  of  introduction  to  the 
American  public  of  the  best  foreign  actors,  dancers,  and  singers,  also 
of  the  best  native  talent.  _  It  was  at  that  house  that  Thomas  A. 
Cooper,*  Charles  Mathews,  the  Keans,  Charles  and  Fanny  Kemble, 
Malibran,  Celeste,  Fanny  Elisler,  Madame  Vestris,  and  others  first 
made  their  appearance  in  this  country,  at  about  the  period  under  con- 
sideration. 

Miss  Clara  Fisher  was  a  most  remarkable  young  woman,  and  fairly 
bewitched  JS'ew  York  society  at  the  beginning  of  this  decade.  She 
was  a  plump  English  girl  of  exquisite  form,  below  the  middle  height  in 
stature,  vivacious,  running  over  with  fun,  her  cheeks  continually  dim- 
pled with  smiles.  She  was  seventeen  years  of  age  when  she  Hist 
arrived  in  New  York.  She  first  appeared  at  the  Park  Theatre. 
The  town  seemed  crazed  by  her  presence.  Her  name  was  given  to 
hotels,  stages,  and  race-horses.  She  continually  performed  in  the 
character  of  boys  or  striplings.    Having  her  hair  cut  short  behind, 

*  Thomas  Aptkorpe  Cooper,  though  an  old  man.  was  a  favorite  actor  during  a  portion 
of  this  decade.  He  was  born  in  England  in  1770,  and  went  upon  the  stage  when  he  was 
seventeen  years  of  age.  under  Stephen  Kemble,  at  Edinburgh  At  the  age  of  twenty 
he  appeared  on  the  boards  in  Philadelphia  as  Hamlet.  He  was  at  one  time  the  manager 
of  a  theatre  in  New  York,  and  did  not  leave  the  stage  until  1836,  when  he  was  sixty  years 
of  age 

In  February,  1833,  Mr.  Cooper  took  a  benefit  at  the  Bowery,  on  which  occasion  he 
introduced  to  the  stage  his  beautiful  and  accomplished  daughter.  Priscilla  Elizabeth,  in 
the  character  of  Virginia.  She  entered  the  profession  reluctantly,  but  did  well.  In 
September,  1839,  she  married  Robert  Tyler,  son  of  (afterward)  President  John  Tyler,  and 
she  was  the  presiding  lady  at  the  White  House  while  her  father-in-law  was  President. 
Her  mother  was  i  daughter  of  Major  Fairlie  and  granddaughter  of  Robert  Yates,  of  New 
York  State.  In  1811  President  Tyler  appointed  Cooper  military  storekeeper  at  Frankford. 
Pennsylvania. 


420 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


fashionable  young-  ladies  under  twenty-five  years  of  age  adopted  the 
fashion,  and  also  her  slight  lisping  speech. 

Miss  Fisher  was  a  charming  singer,  and  at  the  Park  she  introduced 
to  the  Americans  the  stirring  soin>:  of  l<  Hurrah  for  the  Bonnets  of 
Blue."  It  electrified  audiences.  She  was  equally  at  home  m  tragedy 
or  comedy.  On  December  G,  1834,  she  married  James  G.  Maeder,  a 
distinguished  musician,  and  the  preceptor  in  vocal  music  of  Charlotte 
Cosh  man. 

Miss  Fisher  acquired  an  ample  fortune  in  her  earlier  years,  much  of 
which  was  lost  in  the  ruin  of  the  United  States  Bank.  Her  last  in- 
tended appearance  on  the  stage  was  in  1S44,  for  the  benefit  of  her  sister, 
Mrs.  Vernon,  but  in  1851  she  appeared  at  Brougham's  Lyceum,  and 
assisted  occasionally  at  Ni  bio's,    ller  character  was  almost  faultless. 

Miss  Alexina  Fisher,  a  juvenile  star,  appeared  on  the  boards  of  the 
Park  in  1831,  when  she  was  ten  years  of  age  ;  her  last  appearance  in 
]\Tew  York  was  in  1802,  when  she  supported  Edwin  Booth  at  the  Win- 
ter Garden  in  the  characters  of  Ophelia,  Desdemona,  and  Emilia: 

Miss  Julia  Wheat  ley,  daughter  of  the  excellent  Mrs.  (Ross)  Wheatley, 
made  her  first  appearance  as  an  actress  at  the  Park  in  1833,  when  she 
was  fourteen  years  of  age.  She  had  been  seen  on  its  boards  as  a  little 
dancer  when  she  was  live  years  of  age.  She  had  a  rich  and  highly 
cultivated  voice.  Miss  Wheatlev  was  a  great  favorite  for  several  years. 
In  1840  she  married  Mr.  E.  II.  Miller,  and  retired  from  the  stage. 

Miss  Emma  Wheatley,  the  younger  daughter  of  Mrs.  Wheatlev,  was 
also  a  charming  actress.  She  appeared  as  one  of  the  children  in  Romeo 
onil  -Jul a  t  with  Mrs.  Barnes  in  1.S28,  and  was  a  favorite  before  she  was 
thirteen  years  old  in  1834,  when  she  made  her  first  appearance  as  a 
regular  actress,  as  Julia  in  Sheridan  Knowles's  fftmeftback,  at  a 
benefit  of  her  mother.  She  played  the  same  character  in  company 
with  the  author  while  he  was  in  this  country,  until  1837,  when  she 
married  James  Mason.  His  father,  who  was  wealthy,  gave  them  the 
means  for  supporting  a  pleasant  home,  and  she  retired  from  the  stage. 
At  the  elder  Mason's  death  his  will  gave  them  little.  It  was  contested 
for  some  time.  Meanwhile  Mrs.  Mason  resumed  her  profession.  The 
courts  finally  awarded  her  husband  an  equal  share  in  his  father's 
estate.  It  was  an  ample  fortune,  but  she  did  not  hve  long  to  enjoy 
the  happiness  of  a  model  home  they  had  prepared.  She  died  in  1854, 
at  the  early  age  of  thirty-two  years. 

Mrs.  Wheatley,  the  mother  of  Miss  Julia  and  Miss  Emma  Wheatley, 
was  Miss  Ross,  a  daughter  of  Lieutenant  Ross  of  the  British  army,  and 
was  born  in  Nova  Scotia  in  1788.    She  came  to  New  York  with  her 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


mother  after  her  father's  death,  and  appeared  at  the  Park  Theatre, 
then  quite  new,  as  early  as  1805.  At  the  end  of  that  season  she  mar- 
ried Mr.  Wheatley.  Altered  circumstances  caused  her  to  resume  her 
profession  in  1811.  She  had  two  daughters  and  a  son,  all  of  whom 
gained  distinction  on  the  stage.  She  finally  retired  from  the  profession 
in  New  York  m  1843,  with  the  highest  character  in  every  part  of  the 
drama  of  life. 

About  1830  Charles  J.  Kean  (as  we  have  observed),  Mrs.  Barnes, 
and  Master  Burke,  the  latter  a  precocious  Irish  youth,  were  very  pop- 
ular at  the  Park.  Burke  appeared  as  Young  Nerval.  He  was  already 
a  skilful  violinist  and  also  an  accomplished  singer,  especially  of  humor- 
ous songs.  His  powers  of  mimicry  were  wonderful,  and  for  several 
seasons  he  was  a  most  attractive  star  at  the  Park.  Burke  became  one 
of  the  first  violinists  of  the  age,  and  assisted  Jenny  Lind,  Jullien, 
Thalberg,  and  others  in  their  concerts.  Mrs.  Barnes  took  the  part  of 
Pocahontas  in  the  play  of  Powhatan  at  the  Park,  a  drama  written  by 
George  Washington  Parke  Custis,  the  adopted  son  of  Washington. 

One  of  the  most  attractive  actresses  known  to  the  American  stage 
about  1S31  or  1S32  was  Miss  Emily  Mestayer,  doubtless  well  remem- 
bered by  the  older  theatre-going  readers.  She  is  described  as  "  lovely 
in  form,  complexion,  and  character."  She  Mas  skilled  in  vocalism,  and 
was  for  a  long  time  the  most  popular  of  the  dramatic  profession  in 
New  York.  At  an  early  age  she  married  Mr.  Iloupt,  but  retained  her 
maiden  name  professionally. 

Edwin  Forrest  made  his  first  appearance  in  New  York  City  in  1826, 
at  the  age  of  twenty.  He  was  a  native  of  Philadelphia.  Having 
performed  at  Albany,  he  came  to  Xew  York  and  played  the  part  of 
Othello  at  the  Bowery  Theatre.  He  very  soon  made  his  way  to  the 
position  of  a  great  American  tragedian.  John  Augustus  Stone's 
tragedy  of  Metamora  and  Dr.  Bird's  tragedy  of  The  Gladiator  were 
written  for  Forrest.  He  appeared  in  the  latter  at  the  Park  in  1831. 
In  1834  distinguished  citizens  of  Xew  York  honored  him  with  a  public 
banquet,  on  which  occasion  he  was  presented  with  a  massive  gold 
medal  designed  by  Ingham,  having  appropriate  devices  and  inscrip- 
tions. In  1837  he  married  a  daughter  of  John  Sinclair,  the  English 
vocalist.  The  marriage  was  infelicitous.  He  performed  both  in 
America  and  in  England.  He  cherished  a  feud  with  Macreadv,  and 
his  course  in  wantonly  persecuting  that  excellent  actor  led  to  the  sad 
Astor  Place  not  in  1840,  which  will  be  noticed  hereafter.  The  cele- 
brated Josephine  Clifton  first  appeared  on  the  stage  in  1831.  She  was 
a  native  of  Xew  York,  and  was  then  eighteen  years  old.    Miss  Clifton 


422 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOKK  CITY 


appeared  at  the  Bowery  Theatre  as  Belvidera.  Possessed  of  surpassing 
beauty  in  form  and  feature,  and  thoroughly  cultivated  for  the  purpose, 
she  was  successful  at  the  start,  and  at  once  became  a  star  of  the  first 
magnitude.  In  1835  she  appeared  at  the  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  London. 
She  brought  out  the  play  of  Bianco,  Visconti  in  1837,  which  was 
written  for  her  by  N.  P.  Willis.  Miss  Clifton  married  Mr.  Place, 
manager  of  a  New  Orleans  theatre,  in  184(5,  and  died  in  that  city  the 
next  year. 

The  Ravel  Family  introduced  a  most  charming  pantomime  perform- 
ance into  New  York  in  1832,  and  the  same  year  Charles  Kemble  *  and 
his  charming  daughter  of  twenty  appeared  at  the  Park  Theatre,  first  in 
Hamlet  and  then  in  The  Merchant  of  Venice,  he  as  Shylock  and  she  as 
Portia.  They  produced  a  great  sensation  in  the  theatrical  and  fash- 
ionable world.  She  was  immediately  the  acknowledged  Queen  of 
Tragedy. 

The  cholera  raged  in  New  York  in  1832,  and  was  injurious  to  the 
business  of  the  theatres  as  well  as  other  pursuits.  The  aggregate 
receipts  of  all  the  theatres  in  the  city  of  New  York  during  the 
44  cholera  season"  was  only  $50,000. 

The  Pavels  were  favorites  for  a  long  series  of  years,  and  are  yet 
remembered  with  pleasure,  not  only  by  the  older  residents  of  New  York, 
but  by  the  visitors  to  the  city  forty  or  fifty  years  ago.  After  playing 
at  the  Park  and  Bowery  they  went  to  Niblo's,  where  they  performed 
several  successive  seasons,  making  great  profits  for  themselves  and  the 
proprietor  of  the  theatre.  They  also  performed  at  Palmo's  Opera 
House,  in  Chambers  Street.    The  troupe  was  gradually  changed,  but 

*  Charles  Kemhl  •  was  fifty-seven  years  of  age  when  he  first  appeared  in  New  York. 
He  became  an  actor  when  he  was  only  a  lad.  He  married  a  distinguished  German  actress 
in  1800,  who  became  the  mother  of  Frances  Anne  and  Adelaide  Kemble.  The  former 
was  born  in  London  in  1811.  She  first  appeared  on  the  stage  at  Covent  Garden  in 
1829.  She  inherited  from  her  mother  much  of  the  extraordinary  talent  then  exhibited. 
She  was  a  lithe  and  slender  girl.  No  actress  in  America  ever  held  her  audience  under 
absolute  control  like  Fanny  Kemble.  Her  hand  was  sought,  with  off ers  of  great  wealth  ; 
she  gave  it  to  Pierce  Butler,  a  wealthy  slaveowner  then  living  near  Philadelphia.  Their 
dispositions  and  tastes  were  utterly  incompatible  :  their  affections  were  alienated  :  a  legal 
separation  took  place  after  she  had  borne  two  daughters,  and  she  assumed  her  maiden 
name.  The  stage  was  distasteful  to  her,  or  rather  its  associations,  and  she  soon  began 
dramatic  readings,  to  which  she  ever  afterward  adhered  as  a  profession. 

Fanny  Kemble  wrote  a  play  called  Fronds  First,  which  was  introduced  at  Covent 
Garden  before  she  was  twenty  years  of  age.  She  was  imperious  in  manner,  and  offended 
the  American  public  by  her  criticisms.  For  these  she  apologized.  A  drama  from  her 
pen — The  Duke's  Wager— was  performed  at  the  Astor  Place  Opera  House.  Her  "  Letters" 
to  Miss  Sedgwick,  at  the  breaking  out  of  our  Civil  War,  produced  a  sensalion,  as  they 
revealed  the  iniquities  of  the  slave  system  as  she  saw  it  on  her  husband's  plantation. 


FIRST  DECADE.  1830-1840. 


-123 


ever  kept  up  their  reputation.  In  1857-58  they  played  an  engagement 
of  three  hundred  nights  at  Niblo's,  giving  a  performance  four  times  a 
week.  Portions  of  the  old  troupe  won  triumphs  at  Xiblo's  so  late  as 
1865. 

Tyrone  Power,  the  great  Irish  comedian,  first  appeared  in  New  York 
at  the  Park  Theatre  in  1833,  in  the  character  of  the  Irish  Tutor.  He 
w  as  then  thirty-six  years  of  age,  and  had  been  engaged  in  dramatic 
performances  since  1815.  lie  was  unrivalled  in  his  personation  of 
Irish  character.  He  was  also  an  accomplished  writer.  His  "  Impres- 
sions of  America"  had  a  ready  and  targe  sale.  Power  was  about  five 
feet  eight  inches  in  height,  compactly  built,  with  light  hair  and  com- 
plexion, and  in  spirits  was  overflowing  with  geniality  and  good- 
humor.  He  was  also  a  fine  musician  and  dancer.  Tower  was  lost  in 
the  ill-fated  steamship  President,  which  foundered  at  sea  while  on  a 
voyage  from  New  York  to  Liverpool.    She  was  never  heard  of. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wood,  eminent  singers,  appeared  at  the  Park  in  1833, 
in  opera.  Mrs.  "Wood  was  an  extraordinary  vocalist.  She  sang  and 
played  the  piano  and  other  instruments  correctly  when  she  was  four 
years  of  age.  She  first  appeared  on  the  stage  in  London  at  twenty. 
Mrs.  Wood  was  a  Scotch  girl.  Won  by  a  title,  she  married  poor  Lord 
Lennox,  who  was  poor  in  purse  and  spirit,  and  they  were  soon 
divorced,  when  she  immediately  married  Joseph  Wood,  of  the  Covent 
Garden  Theatre  troupe.    She  died  in  England  in  1863. 

The  apparent  public  interest  in  the  Italian  opera  caused  the  forma- 
tion of  a  stock  company  in  New  York  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  it 
permanently  in  the  city.  They  built  an  elegant  opera-house  on  the 
corner  of  Church  and  Leonard  streets.  The  enterprise  was  a  total  fail- 
ure. In  the  fall  of  1836  the  house  was  opened  for  dramatic  perform- 
ances, and  it  was  called  the  National  Theatre.  It  afterward  passed 
into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Hackett,  and  at  length  into  those  of  James 
Wallack.  During  its  management  by  the  latter  the  building  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire  (September,  1830),  but  was  soon  rebuilt.  It  was  leased 
first  to  Alexander  Wilson,  and  then  to  William  E.  Burton.  During  the 
management  of  the  latter  it  was  again  (May,  1841)  consumed  by  fire. 

The  above  mentioned  New  York  Opera  Company  was  formed 
through  the  exertions  of  Siffnor  Rivafinoli,  and  the  house  was  first 
opened  to  the  public  in  November,  1833.  On  that  occasion  Signorina 
Clementine  Fanti,  a  large  and  beautiful  woman,  was  the  first  soprano. 

James  Sheridan  Knowles,  author  of  The  Hunchback,  William  Tell, 
and  other  plays,  first  appeared  on  the  stage  in  New  York  at  the  Park 
in  the  spring  of  1831.    He  had  been  performing  in  Philadelphia.  At 


424 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


the  close  of  the  season  he  returned  to  Europe  and  entered  the  pulpit  as 
a  Baptist  minister,  in  which  profession  he  was  very  popular. 

During-  this  decade  several  famous  singers  and  dancers  appeared  in  the 
New  York  theatres.  Mademoiselle  Celeste  took  the  town  by  storm,  as  it 
were,  by  her  dancing,  when  she  appeared  in  1834.  She  had  been 
married  in  1828,  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years,  to  an  American  gentleman, 
and  became  the  mother  of  an  only  daughter.  She  afterward  made  a 
successful  professional  tour  in  Europe,  when  she  returned  to  New 
York,  and  made  a  more  successful  tour  in  the  United  States  during 
three  years,  gaining  by  her  profession  the  net  sum  of  $200,000.  She 
returned  to  England.  She  came  back  in  1838,  and  played  a  farewell 
engagement  at  the  Park  in  1840.  She  came  again  in  1851,  and  per- 
formed at  the  Broadway  Theatre.  She  came  again  in  1805,  and,  as 
ever,  excited  great  interest.    She  was  then  fifty-one  years  of  age. 

Mine.  VestriSj  who  was  noted  for  the  elegance  and  symmetry  of  her 
figure,  beauty  of  face,  and  as  a  most  perfect  actress  in  pantomime,  de- 
lighted Xew  York  from  18:50  to  1838.  She  way  a  daughter  of  Bartolozzi, 
the  eminent  engraver  ;  married  Armand  Vesfcris  when  she  was  sixteen 
years  of  age,  and  became  the  most  popular  dancer  of  the  time.  She  did 
not  aspire  to  the  stage,  but  at  her  husband's  request  and  for  his  benefit 
she  appeared  at  the  King's  Theatre,  in  London,  in  the  summer  of  1815. 
From  that  time  for  many  years  she  was  the  leading  vocalist  and  dancer 
of  the  London  stage.  In  1830  she  became  connected  with  Charles 
Mathews,  Jr.,  professionally  and  otherwise,  and  in  the  same  year,  hav- 
ing long  been  separated  from  her  husband,  she  became  legally  married 
to  Mathews,  just  before  they  embarked  for  America,  and  bore  his  name 
while  they  were  here.  Her  American  engagement  ended  late  in  1838, 
when  they  returned  to  England,  and  she  became  the  lessee  of  a  theatre 
in  London.  She  died  there  in  1850,  at  the  age  of  sixty  years,  in  com- 
parative poverty,  having  squandered  her  immense  earnings  as  fast  as 
they  were  received. 

Mathews,  the  husband  of  Madame  Yestris,  was  the  son  of  the  more 
celebrated  comedian  of  that  name.  lie  revisited  New  York  in  1857, 
married  Mrs.  A.  II.  Davenport,  and  brought  1km-  out  at  Burton's 
Theatre  as  Mrs.  Mathews.  His  last  appearance  in  New  York  was  in 
May,  1858,  when  he  returned  to  England  with  his  new  wife. 

Miss  Charlotte  Watson,  a  beautiful  English  girl  of  seventeen 
summers,  bewitched  New  York  theatre-goers  by  her  marvellous  sing- 
ing. She  appeared  at  the  Park  in  1836.  She  was  of  a  celebrated 
musical  family,  and  had  recently  accompanied  the  great  violinist 
Paeanini  on  a  musical  tour  in  Great  Britain  and  on  the  continent. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


4->5 


She  so  charmed  the  Italian  that  he  offered  her  his  hand  in  marriage. 
There  were  impediments.  He  induced  her  to  elope  from  England  and 
join  him  at  Boulogne,  with  a  view  to  their  marriage  at  that  place.  His 
intentions  were  honorable.  Her  father,  informed  of  the  affair,  went 
in  pursuit,  and  reached  Boulogne  before  her  arrival.  He  brought  her 
to  America.  In  February.  1837,  she  married  Thomas  Bailey,  of  New 
York  City.  Mrs.  Bailey  continued  to  appear  in  public  occasionally. 
She  made  her  last  appearance  at  the  Park  in  the  fall  of  1857  as  second 
to  Madame  Anna  Bishop.  She  had  sung  a  ballad  for  Mr.  Brough's 
complimentary  benefit  at  Niblo's  in  January.  1S51. 

One  of  the  best  American  actresses,  and  one  of  the  best  of  women, 
was  Miss  Charlotte  Saunders  (  ashman,  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  Rev. 
Robert  Cushman,  who  preached  the  first  sermon  in  New  England. 
She  first  appeared  on  the  stage  at  the  Bowery  Theatre  in  September, 
1S35.  She  was  then  twenty  years  of  age.  Her  father,  a  Boston  mer- 
chant, had  left  her  mother  at  his  death  in  indigent  circumstances,  with 
five  children.  Charlotte  was  the  eldest.  She  laid  an  excellent  voice, 
and  sang  at  a  concert  when  she  was  fifteen  years  old.  Her  fine  con. 
tralto  voice  on  that  occasion  attracted  great  attention.  She  sang  at 
one  of  the  concerts  given  by  Mr.  and  Mis.  Wood,  who  encouraged  her 
to  cultivate  her  voice.  After  receiving  instruction  she  appeared  at  the 
Tremont  Theatre  as  the  Countess  in  the  Marriage  of  Figaro.  That 
was  in  1835.  She  was  immediately  engaged  as  a  prima  donna  for  the 
New  Orleans  theatre.  The  change  in  climate  caused  the  loss  of  the 
firmness  of  her  voice,  and  she  was  compelled  to  abandon  vocalism  and 
become  an  actress,  in  which  profession  she  was  finally  very  successful. 

Miss  Cushman  came  north,  unsuccessfully  sought  employment  at  the 
Bark,  and  accepted  an  engagement  at  the  Bowery  Theatre  with  a  iiope 
of  giving  support  to  her  mother  and  family.  But  she  was  prostrated 
by  illness,  and  her  acting  was  long  delayed.  She  recovered,  played  a 
few  nights,  was  again  taken  ill.  and  before  she  had  regained  her  health 
the  Bowery  Theatre  was  burned,  with  all  her  theatrical  wardrobe.  Mr. 
Hackett,  of  the  National  Theatre,  engaged  her,  and  she  first  appeared 
there  in  1831  in  Romeo  and  Jxdiet.  That  fall  she  became  the  leading- 
stock  actress  at  the  Park.  After  directing  the  "Walnut  Street  Theatre 
in  Philadelphia  for  a  while,  she  went  to  New  York  m  1844  to  play 
with  Macreadv.  Success  attended  her.  She  played  at  the  Princess's 
Theatre,  London,  in  1S45,  eighty-four  nights  in  succession.  She  alter- 
nated her  residence  and  professional  duties  between  America  and  Eng- 
land for  several  years.  She  finally  left  the  stage  in  1861,  but  after- 
ward gave  dramatic  readings  on  occ-.sion.    Miss  Cushman  was  tall  and 


426 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


commanding  in  appearance,  with  light  hair  and  complexion  and  refine- 
ment of  manner.  Miss  Cushman  died  in  her  native  city,  Boston,  on 
February  18,  L876. 

Miss  Ellen  Tree,  a  charming  English  actress,  first  appeared  in 
America  at  the  Park  at  the  close  of  1S36.  She  followed  and  rivalled 
Fanny  Kemble  in  popularity.  Her  acting  always  attracted  the  "  cream 
of  society."  The  bloom  of  youth  had  departed  from  her  cheek  when 
she  came  to  New  York,  but  being  a  most  consummate  actor  and 
charming  woman,  her  slight  personal  defects  were  unnoticed.  At  the 
end  of  two  years  Miss  Tree  returned  to  England,  and  in  1842  she  mar- 
ried Charles  Kean. 

In  lS:]ii  Mademoiselle  Augusta,  appeared  at  the  Park  as  a  famous 
ballet-dancer,  and  won  immense  popularity.  Lovely  in  form  and 
feature,  and  endowed  with  maidenly  reserve  of  manner,  she  attracted 
crowds  nightly,  and  won  every  heart.  She  was  called,  professionally, 
mademoiselle,  but  she  was  tin1  wife  of  a  venerable  French  nobleman, 
the  Count  Fitz-.Iames,  and  said  to  have  been  a  scion  of  the  roval  house 
of  Stuart.  He  died  in  1S.">1.  Augusta's  last  a ppea ranee  on  the  stage 
was  at  the  Metropolitan  Theatre  in  New  York  in  lx;>;>,  when  she  be- 
came a  teacher  of  dancing  in  that  city. 

In  the  spring  of  183!)  two  famous  dancers,  Monsieur  and  Madame 
Taglioni,  made  their  first  appearance  at  the  Park  in  the  ballet  of 
La  $>/Ij>/ii<I>'.  They  were  brilliant  performers.  Madame  Taglioni  was 
not  pretty  in  feature,  but  was  vivacious  and  faultless  in  form  and 
motion.  The  popularity  of  the  Park  was  then  waning,  and  the  Tagli- 
onis,  after  performing  one  season,  returned  to  Europe. 

We  have  observed  that  the  popularity  of  the  Park  was  waning.  It 
was  too  severely  strict  in  its  adherence  to  the  pure  drama  and  the 
highest  performances  in  the  histrionic  art.  Public  taste  about  1837 
and  1S3S  was  evidently  changing.  The  Bowery  Theatre  had  intro- 
duced "  sensational  11  acting,  and  was  attracting  the  multitude  of 
theatre-goers.  A  vulgar  taste  was  evidently  usurping  the  seat  of 
refined  taste.  The  pare  drama  no  longer  satisfied  the  cravings  of  the 
vitiated  appetite  newly  created,  and  the  better  actors  at  the  Park 
played  to  comparatively  empty  sents. 

Clara  Fisher  (then  Mrs.  Maeder),  who  a  short  time  before  com- 
manded overflowing  houses  at  the  Park,  was  now  straggling  in  vain  to 
attract  paying  audiences  at  the  little  Olympic  and  Vauxhall;  Cooper 
was  suing  for  an  engagement  ;  Junius  Brutus  Booth  was  playing  at 
the  Franklin  ;  Mrs.  Duff  and  Mrs.  Brown  were  unappreciated  at  the 
Richmond   Hill  ;  and  Forrest,  James  "VVallack,  and   Placide  were 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


starring  at  the  Chatham,  afterward  known  as  Purdy's  National 
Theatre. 

"  "What  is  the  cause  of  this  indifference  to  the  legitimate  drama  ?" 
asked  Clark,  of  the  Knickerbocker  Magazine.  "  "What  do  the  public 
want  ?  Novelty,  excitement,  dash,  show,  parade.  Spectacle  has  be- 
come the  order  of  the  day.  Impossible  circumstances  drawn  up  in  big, 
windy  words,  glowing  scenery,  pompous  processions,  discordant  noises, 
roaring  lions,  and  men  and  women  who  can  outroar  them — these,  with 
novelty  for  the  scene-shifter,  are  the  aliment  for  which  the  public  appe- 
tite is  set." 

The  last  and  most  famous  of  the  dancers  who  visited  America  at 
this  period  was  Mademoiselle  Fanny  Elssler,  a  German  woman,  who 
first  appeared  in  public  at  the  Park  Theatre  in  New  York  in  May, 
1841.  She  came  with  a  high  professional  name,  lor  she  had  charmed 
crowds  of  delighted  people  at  the  theatres  in  Berlin,  Vienna,  Paris,  and 
London.  She  was  tall,  and  of  exquisite  womanly  proportions.  Her 
complexion  was  of  delicate  whiteness,  which  contrasted  finely  with  her 
rich,  glossy,  and  profuse  chestnut  hair.  She  is  described  as  being 
exceedingly  fascinating  in  person  and  manner.  Mademoiselle  Elssler 
won  immense  popularity  at  once  by  her  execution  of  the  dainty  Pas 
Cracovienne. 

Mademoiselle  Elssler  was  a  native  of  Vienna,  and  was  about  thirty 
years  of  .age  when  she  came  to  New  York.  She  and  her  sister  Theresa 
had  been  educated  for  the  ballet  at  Naples,  and  they  first  appeared  on 
the  stage  at  Berlin  in  1830.  Fanny  left  the  stage  in  1851.  Theresa 
married  Prince  Adalbert  of  Prussia,  and  was  ennobled  by  the  king. 

There  were  several  meritorious  actors  and  stage  managers  who  first 
appeared  at  the  New  York  theatres  during  this  decade,  and  rose  to 
eminence  in  their  profession.  Among  the  most  notable  of  these  were 
Hackett,*  Danforth  Marble, f  and  Hill,  in  the  personification  of  the 

*  Mr.  Hackett,  whose  wife  was  an  actress,  bad  been  a  merchant,  hut  failing  in  business 
took  to  the  stage  as  a  profession.  He  first  appeared  on  the  hoards  in  182G  as  an  imper- 
sonator of  "  Yankee  character"  and  exponent  of  "  Yankee  humor."  In  this  line  he  was 
for  years  unrivalled,  was  very  popular,  amassed  a  fortune,  and  paid  every  mercantile 
creditor  his  just  dues.    In  private  life  Hackett  was  much  esteemed. 

■f  Danforth  Marble—"  Dan  Marble,"  as  he  was  familiarly  termed — was  another  success- 
ful impersonator  of  character.  He  was  a  native  of  Danbury,  Connecticut,  learned  the 
trade  of  a  silversmith  in  New  York,  became  a  member  of  a  Thespian  association,  was 
introduced  behind  the  scenes  at  the  Chatham  Theatre,  and  resolved  to  become  an  actor. 
In  April,  1831,  he  paid  the  manager  of  the  Richmond  Hill  Theatre  $20  for  the  privilege 
of  performing  the  part  of  Robin  Roughhead.  Again  he  paid  him  $10  for  a  similar  privilege. 
Then  he  took  a  position  among  the  lowest  grade  of  actors,  performing  chiefly  in 
"  Yankee"  and  "  Kentucky"  characters.    He  made  a  decided  "  hit"  in  the  play  of  Sam 


428 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


traditional  "  Yankee"  and  of  other  nationalities.  Mr.  Hill  *  was  known 
as  "  Yankee  Hill."  There  were  also  Hamblin.f  Mitchell,  Burton,  ami 
Flynn — "  Poor  Tom  Flynn,"  as  he  was  spoken  of  m  his  later  years. 

Edward  Simpson  was,  of  course,  chief  among  managers  at  that 
period,  and  was  a  veteran  at  the  beginning  of  tins  decade,  lor  he  and 
Stephen  Price  had  been  lessees  of  the  Park  many  years. 

"William  Niblo,  whose  place  of  amusement  was  very  popular  for  many 
years,  even  down  to  the  beginning:  of  the  present  decade  (1S70-SO)} 
began  business  life  as  the  keeper  of  the  famous  Bank  Coffee- 1  louse, 
corner  of  Pine  and  William  streets,  which  he  opened  in  1814.  He  had 
married  the  excellent  daughter  of  Daniel  King,  a  famous  innkeeper, 
first  in  Wall  Street,  and  then  on  the  site  of  "  Niblo's  Garden,"  near 
Spring  Street.  There  King  died  about  1S2S,  and  in  his  house  Niblo 
opened  a  branch  of  his  coffee-house  in  l*21>.  To  his  surprise  and  de- 
light, he  soon  found  it  tilled  with  the  families  of  eminent  merchants, 
who  preferred  boarding  for  a  while  to  housekeeping.  The  then  great 
merchant,  Archibald  Grade,  and  his  family  were  boarders  within  a 
week  after  it  was  opened.  The  omnibuses,  just  introduced,  made  a 
residence  that  distance  from  business  quite  feasible.  Xiblo's  was  the 
only  building  on  the  block  where  the  Metropolitan  Hotel  now  stands, 
and  there  were  no  houses  on  Broadway  opposite. 

At  the  suggestion  of  friends  Niblo  opened  a  "  garden"  for  the  pleas 
ure  of  the  higher  class  of  citizens,  where  ice-cream,  cake,  lemonade, 
and  other  refreshments  were  served  in  the  open  air.    It  was  very  suc- 

Fatch,  and  became  immensely  popular  in  the  West  and  Soutk-West.  Within  seven  years 
from  the  time  he  paid  $ 20  for  the  privilege  of  trying  his  powers,  he  was  one  of  the  most 
attractive  star  actors  at  the  Park.  He  went  to  London  in  1844,  where  he  was  very  popu- 
lar in  a  play  entitled  The  Vermont  Wool-Dealer,  and  his  welcome  on  his  return  was  an 
ovation.  His  last  performance  was  at  St.  Louis  in  May,  1849.  A  few  days  afterward  he 
died  there  of  Asiatic  cholera.  In  1830  Marble  married  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Warren,  of 
Philadelphia,  a  celebrated  comedian. 

*  "  Yankee  Hill  "  (George  H.)  was  a  native  of  Boston.  He  was  a  jeweller's  apprentice, 
working  near  the  theatre.  He  first  recited  "  Yankee  stories'  and  sang  "  Yankee  songs" 
at  the  Warren  Street  Theatre  in  that  city.  He  was  always  a  favorite  at  the  Park,  and 
was  very  popular  at  the  Adelphi,  in  London,  in  1838.  Hill  played  with  great  success  at 
other  theatres  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.  He  died  at  Saratoga  Springs,  in 
September,  1849. 

f  Thomas  S.  Hamblin  was  an  Englishman,  and  made  his  first  appearance  on  an 
American  stage  as  Hamlet,  when  he  was  about  twenty  four  years  of  age.  He  had  first 
appeared  as  a  ballet-dancer  at  the  Adelphi,  in  London,  with  a  salary  of  (1.50  a  week. 
In  1830  he  became  lessee  of  the  Bowery  Theatre  with  Hackett.  As  an  actor  he  was  rather 
a  failure,  but  was  an  energetic  manager.  In  that  capacity  he  served  until  his  death, 
from  brain  fever,  in  1853.  During  his  administration  of  the  Bow'ery,  that  theatre  was 
twice  burned,  the  first  time  in  1836,  and  the  second  time  in  1845. 


FIRST  DECADE,  18^0-1840 


cessful  from  the  beginning.  Vauxhall  Garden,  that  extended  from  the 
Bowery  nearly  to  Broadway  above  Fourth  Street,  was  then  too  far  up 
town.  In  a  short  time  Xiblo  altered  an  old  building'  on  the  premises 
into  an  open-air  theatre  for  summer  dramatic  and  musical  performances, 
and  it  became  very  famous,  and  remained  so  until  our  day.  The  thea- 
tre really  forms  a  part  of  the  Metropolitan  Hotel,  and  a  small  court- 
yard with  a  fountain  is  still  called  a  garden.  Upon  this  the  superb 
lobbies  of  the  theatre  open. 

This  theatre  was  the  scene  of  the  Bind*  Crook,  the  first  grand  ballet 
spectacle  ever  seen  in  this  country.  It  was  presented  in  18(>5,  and  ran 
for  several  years.  It  was  followed  by  similar  spectacles.  The  interior 
of  the  theatre  was  burned  in  1S72,  but  was  soon  restored.  Its  audito- 
rium will  seat  nearly  two  thousand  persons.  It  is  still  known  as  Xibkrs 
Garden  Theatre.  The  founder  lived  until  he  was  nearly  eighty  years 
of  age,  and  his  face  and  complexion  at  seventy-five  were  as  fair  as  that 
of  a  middle-aged  woman. 

"William  Mitchell  was  an  Englishman,  and  first  appeared  at  the  Na- 
tional Theatre  in  1836.  He  was  not  a  marked  favorite  until  he  opened 
the  Olympic,  on  Broadway,  late  in  1839,  with  amusing  travesties  and 
burlesques,  which  became  very  popular.  He  hit  the  humor  of  the 
time.  Burton  finally  rivalled  him,  and  Mitchell  retired  in  1850  with  a 
competence,  but  finally  became  poor.  "While  arrangements  were  in 
progress  to  give  him  a  benefit,  he  died,  May  12,  1856. 

We  have  observed  that  William  E.  Burton  rivalled  Mitchell  as  an 
actor  and  manager.  He,  too,  was  an  Englishman,  was  thoroughly 
educated,  and  was  designed  by  his  father,  the  eminent  scholar  and 
author  of  "  Biblical  Researches,"1  for  one  of  the  liberal  professions.  On 
the  death  of  his  father  he  became  connected  with  the  newspaper  press, 
and  an  intimacy  with  actors  led  him  to  adopt  the  profession  of  a  player. 
He  played  in  the  provinces  for  seven  years  in  an  extensive  range  of 
character,  and  made  his  first  appearance  on  the  London  stage  in  1831, 
where  he  was  very  successful.  He  came  to  America  in  1834,  and  first 
appeared  at  the  Arch  Street  Theatre  in  Philadelphia,  principally  in 
comedy.  Pie  played  his  first  engagement  in  New  York  as  a  star  at 
the  National  Theatre  in  1839.  He  was  afterward  manager  of  theatres 
in  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  and  finally  of  the  National  Theatre  in 
New  York  in  April,  1841.  It  was  burned  in  May.  In  1848  he  opened 
Burton's  Theatre,  in  Palmo's  Opera  House,  in  Chambers  Street. 
There  he  was  very  successful,  drawing  crowded  houses  by  lus  acting  in 
comedies.  His  impersonations  of  some  of  Dickens's  characters,  and 
especially  Toodles,  were  constant  delights  to  theatre-goers,  and  for  years 


430 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Burton's  Theatre  was  the  favorite  resort  of  the  most  intelligent  class  of 
pleasure-seekers,  where  fashionable  people  were  not  trammelled  by 
etiquette  as  at  the  stately  Park. 

Commerce  needed  Chambers  Street,  and  with  a  hope  of  conquering 
his  rivals,  Wallack  and  Laura  Keene,  Burton  opened  Burton's  New 
Theatre  m  1856,  far  up  Broadway.  He  was  unsuccessful,  and  aban- 
doned the  field.  Burton  was  an  unrivalled  comedian,  and  an  accom- 
plished writer.    He  died  in  New  York  February  9,  I860 

"  Poor  Tom  Flynn"  made  his  first  appearance  on  the  stage  at  the 
Chatham  Theatre.  He  was  stage  manager  of  the  Bowery  in  1833-34, 
and  afterward  of  the  Richmond  Hill  Theatre.  In  1836  he  opened  the 
National  Theatre,  where  he  brought  out  William  Mitchell.  With 
others  he  built  the  New  Chatham  Theatre,  first  opened  in  1839.  He 
had  now  become  intemperate  :  the  "  social  glass"  had  ruined  him.  He 
made  an  attempt  at  reform,  and  became  a  zealous  public  advocate  of 
the  temperance  cause.  This  was  a  hopeful  pause  in  his  life  career.  It 
Was  only  a  pause:  he  soon  relapsed,  and  he  died,  in  poverty  and  shame, 
of  cholera  in  1849.  Flynn  married  Miss  Matilda  Twibell,  the  "  belle  of 
the  stage,"  in  1828. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


IN  the  closing  years  of  this  decade  the  social  features  of  New  York 
had  lost  many  of  those  of  the  Knickerbocker  period  ;  indeed,  but 
tew  of  the  features  of  the  latter-named  period  were  distinctly  traceable 
in  their  purity.  Art,  literature,  science,  and  education  had  assumed 
new  habits,  new  aspirations,  and  a  more  vigorous  life.  The  pure 
drama  was  struggling  almost  hopelessly  for  existence  against  the  inva- 
sion of  a  vitiated  taste.  The  sensational  drama  had  greatly  increased 
the  number  of  theatre-goers.  There  were  then  four  or  five  theatres  in 
the  city.  Between  1S35  and  1S45  four  new  theatrical  edifices  were 
projected.  "  The  age  itself  is  dramatic,"  said  the  leading  literary 
paper  in  New  York  City.  "  The  dramatic  spirit  now,  more  than  ever, 
characterizes  the  people." 

Literature  was  cultivated  as  an  art  more  than  ever  before,  and  the 
number  of  its  devotees  in  New  York  was  surprising — poets  and  prose 
writers. 

During  this  decade  three  famous  clubs  were  formed  in  the  city  of 
New  York — namely,  the  Hone  Club  and  the  Union  Club  in  1836,  and 
the  Kent  Club  in  1838. 

The  Hone  Club  was  projected  by  the  accomplished  merchant  and  ex- 
mayor  of  the  city,  Philip  Hone.  Its  membership  was  designedly  few, 
not  exceeding  generally  twenty  in  number,  and  represented  the  wealth 
and  intellect  of  the  city.  One  of  its  active  and  honored  members,  the 
late  Dr.  John  W.  Francis,  wrote  of  this  club  :  * 

'•  It  abjured  discussions  on  theological  dogmas,  on  party  politics,  and  individual  per- 
sonalities. Its  themes  were  the  American  Revolution  and  its  heroes  ,  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution  ;  the  United  States  judiciary  .  New  York  and  its  improvements  ;  Clinton 
and  the  canal ;  the  mercantile  advancement  ot  the  city  ;  banks  ;  Washington,  Hamilton, 
Hancock,  and  Adams,  and  the  Union  and  its  powers.  It  justly  boasted  of  its  strong  disci- 
ples, and  gathered  at  its  festivals  the  leading  men  of  the  Republic.  Webster  was  cher- 
ished as  a  divinity  among  them,  and  in  this  circle  of  unalloyed  friendship  and  devotion 
his  absorbed  mind  often  expressed  relief  in  cheering  views  of  business  life  imparted  by 
his  associates,  and  oa  the  estimates  formed  of  national  measures.  ...  I  never  heard  a 
breath  in  this  club  of  South  or  North  ;  it  had  broader  views  and  more  congenial  topics. f 

*  "  Old  New  York,"  p.  294. 

}  This  was  written  in  1857,  four  years  before  the  great  Civil  War  began. 


432 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Webster  talked  of  the  whole  country— its  seas,  its  lakes,  its  rivers,  its  native  products, 
and  its  forests,  from  the  buffalo  of  the  prairie  to  the  fire-fly  in  the  garden.  I  have  seldom 
encountered  a  naturalist  who  had  so  perfect  a  knowledge  of  the  kingdom  of  nature. 

"  The  gatherings  of  the  Hone  Club  were  cordial  communions  of  a  most  attractive 
character  ;  they  were  held  at  intervals  of  a  fortnight,  and  they  ceased  only  upon  the 
demise  of  its  benevolent  founder.  Their  festivals  were  of  the  highest  order  of  gustatory 
enjoyment-  the  appetite  could  ask  no  more— and  a  Devonshire  duke  might  have  been 
astounded  at  the  amplitude  of  the  repast,  and  the  richness  and  style  of  the  entertain- 
ment. When  I  have  conned  over  the  unadorned  simplicity  of  our  ancestors,  and  had  au- 
thentic records  for  the  facts  that  at  their  more  sumptuous  demonstrations  of  hospitality, 
corned  beef  might  have  been  decorating  the  board  at  both  ends,  constituting  what  the 
host  called  tautology,  and  that  old  Schiedam  imported  by  Anthony  Deyer  made  up  the 
popular  exhilarating  beverage,  and  compared  what  I  now  witnessed  in  these,  my  own 
days,  the  canvasbacks  and  grouse  hardly  invoking  appetite;  that  'Nabob'  would  stand 
without  reproach,  and  Binghem  alone  receive  the  attention  due  its  merit,  I  am  irresisti- 
bly led  to  the  conclusion  arrived  at  on  a  different  occasion,  by  my  friend  Pintard,  that 
there  is  a  great  deal  of  good  picking  to  be  found  in  this  wicked  world,  but  the  chances  of 
possession  are  somewhat  rare. 

"  Philip  Hone  was  a  thorough  American  in  feeling,  and  a  genuine  Knickerbocker 
in  local  attachment  and  in  public  spirit.  He  watched  with  most  intelligent  zeal 
over  the  fortunes  of  this  growing  metropolis,  identified  himself  with  every  project 
for  its  advancement,  and  labored  with  filial  devotion  in  her  behalf.  Our  most  useful 
as  well  as  most  ornamental  changes  won  his  attention  and  enlisted  his  aid.  From  the 
laying  of  a  Russ  pavement  to  the  elaboration  of  a  church  portico,  from  the  widening  of  a 
street  or  avenue  to  the  magnificent  enteqirise  which  resulted  in  the  Croton  Acpueduct,  Mr. 
Hone  was  the  efficient  coadjutor  of  his  fellow-citizens.  Several  of  our  most  important 
and  useful  institutions  are  largely  indebted  to  him  for  their  successful  establishment. 
With  the  late  John  Pintard,  William  Bayard,  and  Theodore  Dwight,  he  devoted  his  best 
energies  in  rearing  the  savings  bank  ,  and  the  Clinton  Hall  Association,  with  its  impor 
tant  branch,  the  Mercantile  Library,  are  indebted  to  him  as  its  founder  and  benefactor. 
He  also,  with  others  of  the  Hone  family,  gave  support  to  the  canal  policy  of  his  per- 
secuted friend,  De  Witt  Clinton  I  believe  it  is  admitted,  without  a  dissentient  voice, 
that,  as  mayor  of  New  York,  he  is  to  be  classed  among  tbe  most  competent  and  able 
chief  magistrates  our  city  ever  possessed.  He  largely  contributed  to  works  of  benefi- 
cence and  knowledge  which  have  marked  the  career  of  our  metropolis."* 

*"01d  New  York,"  p.  297.  John  Wakefield  Francis,  the  author  of  this  interesting 
volume,  was  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  social  life  of  New  York  for  fully  fifty  years,  as 
an  eminent  physician,  a  man  of  letters,  and  one  of  the  most  genial  and  fascinating  of 
men,  in  whatever  sphere  he  might  be  met.  He  was  a  native  of  New  York  City,  where  he 
was  born  on  November  17,  1789.  His  father  was  a  German  grocer  from  Nuremberg, 
and  when  John,  his  eldest  son,  was  nearly  six  years  of  age,  he  died  of  yellow  fever,  leav- 
ing four  children  to  the  care  of  their  mother,  a  native  of  Philadelphia,  of  Swiss  descent 
She  was  a  woman  of  extraordinary  force  of  character,  of  decided  literary  tastes,  and 
being  left  with  a  competence,  she  indulged  and  fostered  in  her  son  an  innate  love  for 
books.  At  a  suitable  age  John,  from  choice,  was  apprenticed  to  a  printer  and  bookseller. 
Both  master  and  apprentice  soon  discovered  that  the  boy  had  mistaken  his  vocation. 
The  lad's  intense  thirst  for  knowledge  made  him  a  voracious  devourer  of  books.  His 
indentures  were  cancelled,  he  was  prepared  for  a  seat  in  a  high  seminary  of  learning  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Conroy.  and  entered  Columbia  College  so  well  advanced  that  he  was 
admitted  to  the  junior  class. 

The  amount  of  literary  labor  performed  by  young  Francis  at  this  period  was  marvel- 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840 


433 


One  of  the  original  members  and  choice  spirits  of  the  Hone  Club,  the 
veteran  journalist  and  successful  diplomatist,  General  James  Watson 
Webb,  survived  until  the  summer  of  1884. 

lous.  While  lie  was  an  undergraduate  lie  pursued  the  study  of  medicine  in  the  office  of 
Dr.  Hosack,  attended  medical  lectures,  made  elaborate  abstracts  of  them,  conducted,  in 
connection  with  his  preceptor,  a  medical  periodical.  The  Medical  and  Philosophical  Journal, 
and  composed  his  celebrated  medical  theses  on.'-  The  Use  of  Mercury."  To  his  ceaseless 
and  untiring  industry  at  that  period,  and  at  all  times  afterward,  may  be  accredited  his 
vast  achievements  in  his  profession  and  in  the  field  of  literature. 

Dr.  Francis  received  the  baccalaureate  from  Columbia  College  in  1809.  He  was  the 
first  graduate  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  1811.  When,  in  1813,  the 
medical  department  of  Columbia  College  was  united  with  that  of  the  College  of  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons,  he  was  appointed  professor  of  materia  medica  and  botany  in  the 
new  institution,  as  the  successor  of  Dr.  Hosack,  who  was  promoted  to  the  chair  of  theory 
and  practice. 

Soon  after  Francis  had  entered  upon  the  practice  of  uis  profession.  Dr.  Hosack  pro- 
posed to  him  a  business  copartnership.  It  was  accepted,  and  this  connection  continued 
until  1820.  Hosack  was  then  at  the  zenith  of  his  fame,  and  to  him  the  younger  partner 
was  largely  indebted  for  his  manner  of  literary  composition  and  power  of  expression. 

Soon  after  taking  his  professional  chair,  Dr.  Francis  went  to  England.  He  carried  to 
Dr.  Abernethy  the  first  copies  of  that  gentleman's  works  published  in  America.  He  was 
cordially  received  by  that  eccentric  physician,  and  mo  satisfied  was  Abernethy  of  the 
ability  of  the  young  American  physician,  that  he  cordially  invited  Francis  to  come  and 
settle  m  London.  In  London,  in  Edinburgh,  and  in  Paris,  Francis  became  acquainted 
with  the  leading  scientists  and  literary  men  of  that  period,  and  won  the  friendship  of 
tliem  all.  While  he  was  abroad  he  contributed  to  "  Bees' s  Cycloptedia"  the  articles 
"Dr.  Hush"  and  "New  York." 

On  his  return  from  Europe,  Francis  entered  with  vigor  upon  his  duties  as  a  professor 
and  as  a  practising  physician.  During  thirteen  years  he  continued  his  medical  lectures, 
and  found  time  to  write  and  publish  several  essays,  and  to  assist  Drs.  Beck  and  Dyckman 
in  editing  the  New  York  Medical  and  Physical  Journal.  In  1826  he,  with  others,  formed  the 
faculty  of  a  new  institution  called  "  Rutgers  Medical  College"  (already  noticed! 
chartered  by  New  Jersey,  but  located  in  New  York.  Its  career  was  short,  and  with  it 
ended  the  course  of  Dr.  Francis  as  a  public  medical  educator.  He  never  afterward 
held  a  professorship  in  any  of  the  colleges,  but  devoted  his  time  to  his  profession  and  to 
literature.  In  these  departments  of  human  activity  his  career  was  brilliant,  useful,  and 
every  way  successful.  As  a  lecturer  he  was  an  impressive,  animated,  and  often 
eloquent  speaker.  His  personal  appearance  was  prepossessing.  In  stature  he  was  about 
five  feet  ten  inches.  His  frame  was  strongly  built,  his  head  and  features  were  massive, 
there  was  a  play  of  humor  about  his  face,  and  his  head  was  adorned  with  a  profusion  of 
locks  which,  during  the  latter  years  of  his  lite,  were  of  snowy  whiteness.  His  nervous 
system  was  predominant,  and  hence  he  was  always  enthusiastic  in  manner  He  was  the 
life  of  every  social  gathering,  whether  in  a  family,  at  a  club,  or  a  public  festival,  or  cele- 
bration of  any  event.  He  was  intimate  with  all  the  theatrical  and  musical  celebrities  of 
his  time,  and  his  society  was  courted  by  cultivated  people,  whether  citizens  or  foreigners. 

Dr.  Francis  lived  a  bachelor  until  he  was  forty  years  of  age,  when  (1829)  lie  married 
Miss  Maria  Eliza  Cutler,  a  niece  of  General  Francis  Marion.  She  was  a  lady  of  refine- 
ment, high  social  position,  and  was  in  every  respect  a  helpmate  for  him  in  his  labors  or  in 
dispensing  with  grace  the  hospitalities  of  his  house.    His  home  on  Bond  Street  became 


434 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YCRK  CITY. 


The  Union  Club  was  also  organized  in  the  year  1836.  On  the  30th 
of  June  a  circular  letter  was  sent  out  to  a  number  of  gentlemen  of 
social  distinction,  inviting  them  to  become  members  of  the  then  in- 
choate club.  It  was  signed  by  the  following  eminent  citizens,  active 
in  the  various  concerns  of  life  at  that  day  :  Samuel  Jones,  Thomas 
J.  Oakley.  Philip  Hone,  Beverley  Robinson,  William  Beach  Lawrence, 
Charles  King,  Enos  T.  Throop,  B.  E.  Brenner,  G.  M.  Wilkms,  B.  C. 
Williams,  F.  Sheldon,  J.  Depeyster  Ogden,  and  Ogden  Hoffman.  It 
was  signed  by  John  II.  McCracken,  secretary. 

From  its  inception  this  club  was  the  representative  organization  of 
members  of  old  families,  such  as  the  Livingstons,  Clasons,  Van  Cort- 
landts,  Da  Peysters,  Van  der  Voorts,  Dunhams,  Van  Rensselaers, 
Paines,  Stuyvesants,  Irelands,  Gnswolds,  Centers,  Suvdams,  whose 
names  filled  tin;  list  of  membership.  These  were  the  remnants  of  the 
Knickerbocker  race,  who  clung  with  tenacity  to  the  idea  and  the  tradi- 
tions of  family  aristocracy  they  had  so  long  enjoyed.  "  Their  names 
appeared  in  the  list  of  membership,"  says  Fairfield,  "  with  a  sort  of 

the  centre  of  a  literary  as  well  as  a  scientific  circle.  There  might  be  seen  statesmen, 
poets,  novelists,  clergymen,  actors,  and  philosophers. 

In  1847  L)r.  Francis  was  elected  president  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine,  and  he  gave 
several  addresses  before  that  body.  He  also  addressed  the  New  York  Typographical 
Society  on  the  character  of  Franklin,  in  1850,  and  the  same  year  he  received  the 
honorary  degree  of  LL.D.  from  Trinity  College,  Hartford.  In  1854  he  was  smitten  a 
dreadful  blow  from  which  he  never  recovered,  in  the  death  of  his  eldest  son,  a  most 
promising  yoving  physician,  bearing  his  name,  and  destined,  as  he  hoped,  to  perpetuate 
bis  own  professional  and  literary  tame.  It  was  the  first  severe  trial  of  Dr  Francis's  life. 
"As  I  led  him  away  from  the  death-bed  when  all  was  over,"  said  Dr.  Valentine  Mott.  in 
a  warm  eulogy  of  Dr.  Francis,  delivered  before  the  Academy  of  Medicine,  "  he  uttered  a 
passionate  exclamation  of  grief,  that  he  who  had  saved  the  lives  of  so  many  less  worthy, 
should  lose  his  own  son.  .  .  .  He  was  never  afterward  quite  the  same  man." 

Two  or  three  years  later  Dr.  Francis  read  a  paper  09  Old  New  York  before  the  New 
York  Historical  Society,  which  he  elaborated  into  a  most  interesting  volume.  His  final 
literary  achievement  was  a  sketch  of  the  life  of  Gouverneur  Morris.  During  the  summer 
of  1860,  in  conjunction  with  Edward  Everett,  he  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the  Inebriate 
Asylum  at  Dinghamton.  He  was  always  actively  engaged  in  some  good  work—  in  public 
and  private  charities  of  every  kind.  He  was,  in  an  eminent  degree,  the  physician  of  the 
poor.  He  might  be  seen  walking  alone  by  the  side  of  a  poor  lather  carrying  his  child  to 
the  grave,  whose  coffin  was  probably  paid  for  by  the  good  doctor  himself. 

Dr.  Francis  died  at  his  home  in  Sixteenth  Street  on  February  8,  1801.  The  writer 
well  remembers  the  impressive  scene  at  his  funeral  in  St.  Thomas's  Church.  There  both 
extremes  of  society  met.  The  poor,  who  had  enjoyed  his  bounty  and  his  care,  crowded 
the  aisles  in  coarse  attire  to  take  a  last  sad  look  at  the  face  of  their  benefactor  and 
friend.  It  was  a  more  touching  eulogy  than  could  be  offered  in  the  pulpit  or  on  the 
rostrum.  His  widow  followed  him  a  few  years  afterward.  He  left  two  sons,  Samuel  W. 
Francis  and  Valentine  Mott  Francis,  who  are  medical  practitioners  at  Newport,  R.  I., 
"  worthy  sons  of  a  noble  sire." 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


435 


aristocratic  monotony,  of  that  Knickerbockerism  which  earned  for 
them  the  epithet  of  the  Bourbons  of  New  York.  Hence  sprang-  up 
that  contest  of  the  old  magnates  of  New  York  society  with  the  new 
Napoleons  of  wealth  and  trade,  which  lor  years  agitated  the  club,  and 
occasionally  threatened  to  rend  it  asunder."  * 

At  the  first  organization  of  the  Union  Club  its  home  was  at  the 
house  of  the  secretary,  Mr.  MeCracken,  whose  widow  became  the  wife 
of  Charles  CTConor.  It  was  not  permanently  organized  until  1837. 
In  that  year  apartments  were  secured  in  a  building  on  the  west  side  of 
Broadway,  near  Leonard  Street.  There  it  remained  three  years,  when 
it  occupied  a  building  on  the  east  side  of  Broadway,  near  White  Street, 
owned  by  John  Jacob  Astor.  Seven  years  later  it  migrated  to  a  build- 
ing on  Broadway,  above  Bleecker  Street.  There  the  club  grew  strong 
and  wealthy.  The  new  element  of  active  life  which  had  interpene- 
trated New  York  society  was  thoroughly  diffused  through  its  member- 
ship. The  aristocracy  of  family  was  no  longer  one  of  its  doctrines, 
but  worth,  in  its  broadest  sense,  was  recognized  as  the  highest  dignity. 

In  1S52  the  Union  Club  was  worth  half  a  million  dollars,  and  it  was 
resolved  to  provide  for  it  a  permanent  home.  In  1S55  a  beautiful 
structure  of  brown  stone  was  completed  for  it  on  the  corner  of  Twenty- 
first  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  at  a  cost  of  $250,000.  It  then  contained 
about  five  hundred  members.  The  membership  has  rapidly  increased 
since. 

It  is  said  the  Union  Club  approximates  more  nearly  in  organization 
to  the  European  club  than  any  other  in  this  country.  It  has  more 
social  coherence  than  any  other.  Literature  is  but  little  represented  in 
it.  and  journalism  seems  not  to  have  been  pressingly  invited  to  its 
society  in  past  times.  Some  years  ago  Mr.  Marble,  the  editor  of  the 
World  newspaper,  was  a  candidate  for  membership,  and  was  promptly 
blackballed.  This  incident  excited  the  indignation  of  one  of  the  lead- 
ing members  of  the  club.  One  blackball  was  sufficient  to  reject  a  can- 
didate. The  member  alluded  to  declared  that  no  candidate  should  ever 
thereafter  be  admitted  so  long  as  he  could  be  present  and  put  in  a 
blackball,  until  the  act  of  rejection  of  Mr.  Marble  should  be  rescinded. 
Mr.  Marble  was  admitted,  and  so  the  daily  press  first  obtained  a  repre- 
sentation in  the  oldest  existing;  club  in  the  citv  of  New  York.  Its  mem- 
bership  now  represents  nearly  all  the  professions  and  dignities  which 
mark  society,  and  the  fashionable  Union  Club  has  become  quite  cosmo- 
politan in  its  features.    The  army  and  navy  are  represented  by  mem- 

*  "  The  Clubs  of  New  York,"  by  Francis  Gprry  Fairfield. 


436 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


bers  who  are  not  required  to  pay  annual  dues.  The  initiation  fee  for 
a  paying  member  is  $200,  and  the  annual  dues  $75.  Its  membership 
consists  of  representatives  of  vast  wealth,  enterprise,  and  professional 
wisdom  ;  also  of  real  noble  lineage,  a  boon  for  which  any  man  may 
properly  be  grateful,  but  not  a  boon  to  be  relied  upon  almost  wholly  as 
a  passport  into  "  good  society" —  the  society  of  good  men.  The  wise 
couplet  has  it  : 

"  What  cun  ennoble  sots,  or  slaves,  or  cowards  ? 
Alas  !  not  all  the  blood  of  all  the  Howards." 

The  Kent  Club,  so  called  in  honor  of  the  Hon.  James  Kent,  the 
eminent  chancellor  and  commentator,  was  organized  in  1838,  and  was 
composed  of  the  leading  men  of  the  legal  profession  in  the  city  like 
Samuel  Jones,  Thomas  J.  Oakley,*  John  Duer,  John  Anthon,  Francis 
B.  Cutting,  Ogden  Hoffman,  Peter  A.  Jay,  Charles  O'Conor,  and 
other  lights  of  the  New  York  bar  at  that  day.  That  club  long  since 
passed  into  the  realm  of  history. 

There  were  rare  men  who  belonged  to  the  Kent  Club — men  of  great 
legal  ability,  profound  wisdom,  and  quick  wit.  The  annals  of  the  New 
York  bar  at  that  time,  if  faithfully  recorded,  would  furnish  a  vast 
repertory  of  genuine  humor. 

At  this  time  there  was  a  club  or  association  of  choice  spirits  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  modest  and  exclusive.  It  still  exists,  but  scarcely 
anybody  but  its  own  members  is  aware  of  the  fact.  It  is  called  the 
Column, f  and  was  founded  in  1825  by  a  class  or  portions  of  a  class  that 
graduated  at  Columbia  College  that  year. 

*  Thomas  Jackson  Oakley  was  a  native  of  Duchess  County,  New  York,  where  he  was 
born  in  1783  ;  studied  and  practised  law  in  Poughkeepsie.  He  had  graduated  at  Yale 
College  in  1801.  In  1810  he  was  appointed  surrogate  of  Duchess  County,  was  a  member 
of  Congress  in  1813-15,  was  a  member  of  Assembly  in  1815,  and  again  a  member  of 
Congress  in  1827-28.  He  succeeded  Van  Buren  as  Attorney-General  of  the  State  in  1810, 
and  served  again  in  the  Assembly  in  1820.  When  the  supreme  court  in  New  York  City 
was  organized  in  1828,  he  was  appointed  an  associate  judge,  and  upon  its  reorganization 
in  1840  he  was  made  chief  justice.  Judge  Oakley  died  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  May, 
1857. 

t  This  name  was  derived  from  the  circumstance  that  in  its  early  days,  before  the  club 
had  a  name,  the  members  were  permitted  by  Dr.  Lyell,  rector  of  Christ  Church,  in 
Anthony  (now  Worth)  Street,  to  assemble  in  a  room  at  the  back  of  his  church.  In  the 
centre  of  the  room  was  a  column  that  supported  the  roof.  Dr.  Lyell  suggested  that  they 
name  their  club  "  The  Column,"  which  was  done.  "  There  were,  I  think, "  wrote  one  of 
the  club  to  the  author,  "  twenty  or  twenty-five  members.  They  were  young  men  who 
desired  to  perpetuate  the  friendship  they  had  formed.  They  met  weekly  for  the  pur- 
pose of  literary  intercourse  and  cultivation.  There  were  many  bright  fellows  among 
them.  As  the  original  number  of  members  began  to  diminish  by  death  or  otherwise, 
new  men  were  introduced  into  the  society.    I  was  elected  in  1830,  and  as  we  held  our 


En^VGecE  Ferine. N.York 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


437 


In  the  earlier  period  of  the  history  of  the  Column,  a  monthly  paper 
was  read,  and  weekly  discussions  were  held  on  topics  which  were 
engaging  the  attention  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  Many  of 
the  public  questions  of  the  day  were  discussed  with  as  much  acumen 
and  sound  logic  as  in  the  upper  house  of  the  national  legislature. 
On  such  occasions  the  members  assumed  the  gravity  of  representa- 
tives of  a  republican  government.  The  presiding  officer  was  styled 
the  archon,  in  imitation  of  the  Greek  chief  magistrate.  There  was 
a  premier,  secretaries  of  departments,  a  chief  justice,  etc.  Many  of 
these  debaters  have  tilled  high  positions  in  the  State,  the  professions, 
and  in  business  circles.  The  following  is  believed  to  be  a  correct  list  of 
the  members  of  the  Column  at  the  time  of  the  last  anniversary  dinner 
at  Pinard's  :  Augustus  Schell,  archon  ;  William  M.  Evarts,*  premier  ; 
George  E.  Hoffman,  Charles  G.  Havens,  John  II.  Gourlie,  George  B. 
Butler,  John  Bigelow,  Hamilton  Fish,  William  M.  Pritchard,  Charles 
E.  Butler,  Edward  S.  Van  Winkle,  Parke  Godwin,  William  F.  Whitte- 
more,  and  Dr.  Alonzo  Clark. 

fifty-eighth  anniversary  in  February,  1883,  you  will  see  how  old  we  are.  Time  has  made 
great  changes  among  its  members.  I  think  our  membership  is  now  about  a  dozen. 
George  E.  Hoffman,  a  son  of  Judge  Hoffman,  and  a  brother  of  the  late  Hon.  Josiah 
Ogden  Hoffman,  is  the  senior  member." 

The  members  actively  engaged  in  the  affairs  of  life  abandoned  the  weekly  meetings  at 
about  the  beginning  of  the  late  Civil  War,  and  agreed  to  have  an  annual  reunion  only, 
and  a  banquet.    This  festival  has  been  held  every  year  since. 

*  William  M.  Evarts  is  a  native  of  Boston,  where  he  was  born  on  February  6,  1818. 
He  was  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1837,  and  finished  his  legal  education  at  the  Har- 
vard Law  School.  Mr.  Evarts  chose  the  city  of  New  York  as  tha  most  promising  field 
for  the  practice  of  the  legal  profession,  and  there  he  entered  upon  it,  there  he  has 
won  his  most  important  professional  triumphs,  and  there,  for  a  generation,  he  has  occu- 
pied a  foremost  rank  among  the  members  of  the  American  bar.  In  1851  Mr.  Evarts  was 
appointed  United  States  attorney  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York,  from  which 
office  he  retired  two  years  later.  He  was  appointed  one  of  the  almshouse  commissioners 
(now  known  as  Commissioners  of  Charities  and  Correction).  He  had  formed  a  law 
partnership  in  1853  under  the  firm  name  of  Butler.  Evarts  &  Southmayd  ;  subsequently 
it  became  Evarts,  Southmayd  &  Choate.  In  18(>1  Mr.  Evarts's  name  was  prominent 
before  the  Republican  legislative  caucus  for  United  States  Senator,  and  in  187C  he  was 
prominently  advocated  for  the  Republican  nomination  for  governor  of  New  York.  On 
both  occasions  a  "  compromise'  candidate  was  nominated. 

In  1868  Mr.  Evarts  was  the  legal  champion  of  President  Johnson  in  his  impeachment 
case,  and  that  functionary  called  the  great  lawyer  to  the  seat  of  the  attorney-generalship 
in  his  cabinet.  He  was  also  the  legal  champion  of  President-elect  Hayes  before  tbe  elec- 
toral tribunal,  and  was  called  to  President  Hayes's  cabinet  in  March,  1877,  as  the  chief 
minister  of  state.  This  position  he  held,  and  exercised  the  functions  with  great  dignity, 
ability,  and  success  during  the  administration  of  Mr.  Hayes. 

In  the  realm  of  his  profession  Mr.  Evarts  has  won  more  honor  and  distinction  than 
any  public  office  could  bestow.    Among  the  many  great  cases  in  which  he  has  success- 


438 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  society  possesses  a  silver  column,  about  three  feet  six  inches  in 
height,  including  its  base  and  pedestal  It  is  left  in  the  custody  of 
Messrs.  Tiffany  &  Co.,  and  is  brought  out  only  on  the  occasion  of  the 
annual  banquet.  At  that  time  it  is  surmounted  by  a  lighted  Etruscan 
lamp  while  they  are  dining,  as  an  emblem  of  the  inextinguishable  life  of 
the  society.  This  column  is  to  be  the  property  of  the  latest  survivor  of 
the  association. 

At  the  close  of  this  decade  the  features  of  New  York  society  pre- 
sented conspicuous  transformations.  Many  exotic  customs  prevailed, 
both  public  and  private,  and  the  expensive  pleasures  of  the  Eastern 
Hemisphere  had  been  transplanted  and  taken  firm  root.  Among  other 
imported  amusements  was  the  masked  ball,  the  first  of  which  occurred 
in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1840,  and  produced  a  profound  sensation, 
not  only  per  se,  but  because  of  an  attending  circumstance  which  stirred 
"  society"  to  its  foundation. 

The  masked  ball  was  given  by  Mrs.  Henry  Brevoort  in  the  spacious 
mansion  on  the  corner  of  Ninth  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  now  (1883) 
occupied  by  Charles  de  Rham.  It  was  then  on  the  northern  border  of 
the  city.  All  the  residences  of  fashionable  people  at  that  time  were 
south  of  Tenth  Street. 

This  ball  was  regarded  as  the  most  notable  affair  in  fashionable 
society  at  that  time.  It  was  attended  by  the  elite  of  the  city,  in  fancy 
dresses,  dominos,  and  masks.  Among  the  most  attractive  young 
women  of  the  city  who  were  present  was  Miss  Matilda  Barclay,  the 
beautiful  daughter  of  Anthony  Barclay,  the  British  consul,  who  lived 
in  College  Place,  and  who  was  dismissed  for  raising  recruits  in  this 
country  for  the  Crimean  war.  There  was  also  in  attendance  a  gay 
young  South  Carolinian  named  Burgwyne,  who  had  won  the  affections 
of  Miss  Barclay,  but  was  distasteful  to  her  parents.    At  the  ball  Miss 

fully  engaged  may  be  mentioned  the  proceedings  connected  with  the  famous  Cleopatra 
expedition  against  Cuba  in  1851  ;  the  celebrated  Lemmon  slave  case  in  1853,  in  which  he 
represented  the  State  of  New  York  ;  the  Parrish  and  the  Gardiner  will  cases,  and  the 
Beecher-Tilton  case.  Of  Mr.  Evarts's  personal  and  intellectual  characteristics,  a  late 
writer  observes  : 

"  In  person  he  is  tall  and  slender;  he  is  fragile  almost  to  attenuation,  and  so  far  from  suggesting  the 
idea  of  a  vehement  orator,  he  impresses  one  as  a  man  of  retired,  scholarly  tastes  Tall.  thin,  angular,  long- 
headed, with  a  square  and  prominent  forehead,  dark-haired  and  dark-skinned,  with  a  face  perfectly  smooth 
but  thin,  cadaverou-,  shrunken,  deep-sei  gray  eyes,  a  prominent  nose,  and  a  square,  decisive,  finely  chiselled 
chin.  He  has  a  clear,  sharp,  ringing  voice,  though  it  is  not  powerful  or  musical  In  making  his  points  he  is 
lucid,  precise,  and  cogent,  seldom  rhetorical  or  ornamental  .  .  .  His  sentences  are  long  and  faultless,  and 
freighted  with  words  which  show  that  profoiud  Untight  is  selecting  filicitous  vocabulary  as  it  goes 
alon^.  ne  has  a  fine  humor,  but  it  is  the  humor  of  cultivation  not  the  coar«e  fun  of  the  vulgar.  His  ap- 
pealB  to  the  intelligence  of  juries  arc  the  highest  in  their  tone,  the  broadest  in  their  scope,  and  the  deepest 
in  their  power  of  any  made  in  modern  times.  Webster  was  not  more  lotrical,  Story  was  not  a  mora 
thorough  lawyer,  Choate  not  a  more  brilliant  verbalist,  nor  Sumner  a  firmer  believer  in  moral  power  " 


FIRST  DECADE.  1880-1840. 


439 


Barclay  appeared  as  Laila  Rookh,  and  Burgwyne  as  Feramorz.  They 
left  the  festive  scene  together  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and, 
without  changing  their  costumes,  were  married  before  breakfast.  This 
elopement  was  a  topic  for  town  talk  lor  a  month,  and  it  cast  such  odium 
upon  masked  balls  that  no  other  was  attempted  by  reputable  families 
for  many  years  afterward.* 

Several  existing  social  and  benevolent  institutions  were  established 
during  this  decade  or  were  endued  with  renewed  vitality.  Among  these 
was  Tjik  New  England  Society  of  the  City  ov  Xew  York,  established 
nearly  fourscore  years  ago.  It  had  languished  for  several  years,  but 
when  New  Englanders  flocked  into  the  city  of  New  York  after  the 
completion  of  the  Erie  Canal,  and  infused  the  spirit  of  enterprise, 
business  energy,  and  thrift  of  their  section  into  the  social  and  commer- 
cial life  of  the  city,  the  society  felt  the  thrill  of  rejuvenescence  and  be- 
came wide  awake.  For  nearly  fifty  years  it  has  been  a  flourishing  and 
popular  social  institution. 

The  New  England  Society  of  the  Citv  of  New  York  was  organized 
on  May  G,  1805,  with  James  Watson  as  its  president,  Jonathan  BurreU 
as  its  treasurer,  and  Samuel  Hopkins  secretary.  It  was  organized  as  a 
charitable  and  literary  association.  It  was  specially  designed  to  com- 
memorate the  landing  of  the  "Pilgrim  Fathers,"  the  first  English 
emigrants  who  made  a  permanent  home  in  New  England.  It  was  also 
designed  to  promote  friendship,  charity,  and  mutual  assistance  among  its 
members,  for  the  creation  of  a  library,  and  for  other  literary  purposes. 

*  At  one  of  the  clubs  recently,  an  elderly  gentleman,  who  had  lived  about  forty  years  in 
Europe,  revived,  in  conversation,  some  interesting  recollections  of  Xew  York  about  1840. 
He  recalled  the  fancy  ball  (and  its  stirring  episode)  given  by  Mrs.  Brevoort,  and  spoke 
of  the  simplicity  of  social  life,  even  at  that  late  day,  compared  with  that  of  the  present 
time.    He  said  : 

"  We  thought  there  was  a  goodly  display  of  wealth  and  diamonds  in  those  d:iys.  but,  God  bless  my  soul, 
when  1  hear  of  the  millions  amassed  by  the  Vanderbilts.  Goulds.  Millses.  Viilards.  and  others  of  thai  sort,  1 
realize  what  a  poor  little  doughnut  of  a  place  New  Y"rk  was  at  that  early  period.  The  dinner  hour  was 
three  o'clock,  and  on  the  occasion  of  a  dinner  party  it  was  postponed  till  four.  Livened  servants  were  un- 
known, although  a  man-servant  (generally  of  the  colored  race)  was  a  matter  of  course  in  every  gentle- 
man's establishment.  Pretty  waiter  girls,  with  jaunty  caps  and  embroidered  aprons,  had  not  been  discovered. 
The  first  private  carriage,  with  coachman  and  footman  in  livery,  was  almost  mobbed  when  it  drove 
dow  n  Broadw  ay.  It  belonged  to  Andrew  Gord  >n  Hamersley,  who  died  the  other  day,  and  would  be  looked 
upon  in  these  days  as  an  exceptionally  quiet  turno.it.  but  it  ma ie  a  sensation  and  caused  many  ominous 
shakes  of  the  head  and  much  turning  up  of  the  eyes  among  the  older  people.  Mr*  Jacob  Little  afterward 
appeared  in  a  very  showy  carriage  lined  with  rose-co'.or.  and  a  darky  coachman  in  blue  livery  on  the  box 
but  nobody  looked  at  the  coachman  when  madam  was  inside,  for  Mrs.  Little  was  young  and  extremely 
pretty  when  she  mirried  old  Jacob..  Young  ladies  walked  out  on  summer  afiernoons  in  gingham 
dres-es.  with  straw  bonnets,  white  stockings,  and  low  ties  or  slippers  Co-education  had  not  been 
thought  of  then,  but  co-recreation  was  indulged  in  to  anj  extent,  and  boys  and  giri-  played  tag  together 
on  Columbia  College  green  and  on  the  wood  sidewalks  of  Park  Place  .vithotit  injury  to  their  morals  or  man- 
ners. They  were  real  boys  and  girls  in  those  days ,  they  worked  hard  and  they  played  hard.  I  don't  see 
any  like  them  in  the  streets  or  parks  just  now." 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  membership  consists  of  any  descendant  of  a  New  Englander  of 
good  moral  character,  of  the  age  of  eighteen  years  and  upward. 

The  by-laws  of  the  society  require  the  annual  festival  to  be  held  on 
the  22d  day  of  December  each  year — the  anniversary  of  the  landing  of 
the  Pilgrims  on  the  coast  of  Massachusetts  in  1620  from  the  Mayflower 
— unless  that  day  should  be  Sunday,  when  the  festival  must  be  held  the 
next  day.  That  occasion  is  always  most  attractive,  and  is  noted  for  the 
sumptuousness  of  the  material  banquet  and  the  exquisite  viands  of  the 
intellectual  feast. 

The  society  has  a  committee  on  charity,  to  distribute  and  expend  all 
moneys  appropriated  by  the  board  of  officers  for  charitable  purposes. 
The  beneficiaries  of  the  society  are  the  widows  and  children  of  deceased 
members  who  may  need  assistance.  These  are  entitled,  for  five  suc- 
cessive years,  to  an  annuity  from  the  funds  of  the  society  to  the  full 
amount  the  deceased  member  has  actually  paid  ;  but  the  annuity  is  in 
no  case  paid  to  a  widow  who  shall  marry  again  or  to  children  able  to 
support  themselves.* 

Tin-:  Saint  Nicholas  Society  or  the  City  of  Ni;w  Yohk,  composed 
of  old  residents  of  New  York  City  and  their  descendants,  was 
formed  early  in  1835.  Several  gentlemen,  residents  and  natives  of  the 
city,  held  a  meeting  at  Washington  Hall,  corner  of  Broadway  and 
Chambers  Street,  on  the  evening  of  February  14th,  when  Abraham 
Bloocigood,  an  old  currier  and  leather  merchant,  then  over  seventy 
years  of  age — a  remarkable  man — was  called  to  the  chair,  and  Wash- 
ington Irving  was  appointed  secretary.  Judge  Irving  briefly  stated 
the  object  of  the  meeting  to  be  the  consideration  of  the  expediency  of 
forming  an  association  for  the  purpose  above  mentioned.  Dr.  Mauley 
offered  a  resolution  that  it  was  expedient  to  do  so.  It  was  adopted, 
and  a  committee,  consisting  of  Peter  Schermerhorn,  John  T.  Irving, 
A.  R.  Wyckoff,  Hamilton  Fish,  Dr.  Manley,  and  Washington  Irving, 
was  appointed  to  prepare  a  constitution  and  by-laws. 

An  adjourned  meeting  of  citizens  was  held  on  the  evening  of  Feb- 
ruary 21st.  at  the  same  place,  when  a  draft  of  the  constitution  was  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  Schermerhorn,  and  it  was  determined  that  the  title  of 
the  association  should  be  The  Saint  Nicholas  Society  of  the  Cit\r  of 

*  The  officers  of  the  New  England  Society  of  the  city  of  New  York,  1882-83,  were  : 
Marvelle  W.  Cooper,  president  ;  Stewart  L.  Woodford,  vice-president  :  Horace  Russell, 
second  vice-president  ;  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  treasurer,  and  L.  P.  Hubbard,  secretary. 
The  directors  are  Charles  H.  Isham.  Cornelius  N.  Bliss,  Daniel  G.  Rollins,  Julius 
Catlin.  Jr.,  Locke  W.  Winchester,  Braytnn  Ives,  Charles  B.  Stockwell,  Daniel  Robinson, 
Noah  Davis,  Noah  Brooks,  Augustus  G.  Paine,  L.  G.  Woodhouse.  Levi  M.  Bates,  George 
W.  Smith,  James  H.  Dunham,  Chandler  Bobbins. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


441 


New  York.  It  was  at  the  same  time  resolved  that  the  society  should 
be  "  composed  of  those  persons  present  at  the  adoption  of  the  constitu- 
tion who  shall  sign  the  same  and  pay  the  sums  thereby  required,  and 
of  such  other  persons  as  shall  be  admitted  members  according  to  the 
provisions  of  the  constitution/'  Qualifications  for  membership  were? 
defined  as  follows  in  the  constitution  : 

"  Any  person  of  full  age,  in  respectable  standing  in  society,  of  good  moral  character, 
who  was  a  native  or  resident  of  the  city  or  State  of  New  York  prior  to  the  year  1785,  or 
who  is  the  descendant  of  any  such  native  or  resident,  or  who  is  a  descendant  of  a  mem- 
ber of  this  society,  shall  be  eligible  as  a  member.  But  whenever,  and  as  long  as  there 
shall  be,  rive  hundred  members  of  the  society,  no  one  shall  be  elected  to  membership 
unless  he  be  the  descendant  in  the  oldest  male  line  of  a  member  or  former  member." 

It  was  determined  that  the  anniversar}7,  meeting  of  the  society  should 
be  on  the  6th  day  of  December,  unless  it  should  fall  on  Sunday,  when 
the  meeting  should  be  held  on  Monday. 

On  the  28th  of  February,  at  a  full  meeting  at  Washington  Hall,  the 
constitution  was  adopted,  and  the  society  was  organized  by  the  choice 
of  the  following  gentlemen  as  officers  of  the  society  :  Peter  G. 
Stuyvesant,  president  ;  Abraham  Bloodgood,  first  vice-president  ; 
Washington  Irving,  second  vice-president  ;  Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  third 
vice-president  ;  Peter  Schermerhorn,  fourth  vice-president  ;  John 
Oothout,  treasurer  ;  Hamilton  Fish,  secretary  ;  William  A.  Lawrence, 
assistant  secretary  ;  the  Rt.  Rev.  Benjamin  T.  Onderdonk  and  the 
Rev.  Robert  McCartee,  chaplains  ;  William  II.  Hobart  and  Edward  G. 
Ludlow,  physicians  ;  Hugh  McLean  and  John  W.  Francis,  consulting 
physicians.  There  were  twelve  managers.  The  society  was  incorpo- 
rated April  IT,  1841. 

The  first  anniversary  dinner  of  the  society  was  at  the  City  Hotel,  on 
Broadway,  December  6,  1830.  The  first  Paas  festival  was  held  on 
Thursday  in  Easter  week  (April  11)  in  1S44.  That  year  the  society 
adopted  the  custom  of  having  annual  addresses.  It  had  adopted  a  flag 
in  1830,  which  was  the  original  tricolor  with  the  arms  of  the  city  of 
New  York  in  the  centre.""' 

The  objects  of  the  Saint  Nicholas  Society  are  to  afford  pecuniary 
relief  to  indigent  or  reduced  members  and  their  widows  and  children  ; 
to  collect  and  preserve  information  respecting  the  history,  settlement, 

*  The  officers  of  the  society  in  1883  were  :  Abraham  R.  Lawrence,  president  ;  Nathaniel 
Bailey,  first,  Carlisle  Norwood,  Jr.,  second,  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  third,  and  John  C. 
Mills,  fourth  vice-president  ;  Edward  Schell,  treasurer  ;  Charles  A.  Schermerhorn, 
secretary  ;  Henry  Erskine  Smith,  assistant  secretary  ;  Rev.  Thomas  E.  Vermilye,  D.D., 
and  Rev.  Noah  H.  Schenck,  D.D.,  chaplains  ;  Drs.  Dubois  and  Cheesman,  physicians,  and 
Drs.  Anderson  and  Bogert,  consulting  physicians. 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOHK  CITY. 


manners,  and  such  other  matters  as  may  relate  thereto,  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  to  promote  social  intercourse  among  its  native  citizens. 

The  Saint  Nicholas  Club  of  the  City  of  New  Yoke,  is  an  association 
formed  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  and  preserving  information  respect- 
ing the  early  history  and  settlement  of  the  city  and  State  of  New 
York,  and  to  promote  social  intercourse  among  its  members.  It  was 
organized  in  18T5.  It  adopted  a  constitution  in  June  of  that  year,  and 
appointed  the  following  named  gentlemen  its  officers  :  James  W. 
Beekman,  president  ;  James  M.  .McLean,  vice-president  ;  Edward 
Schell,  treasurer  ;  John  C.  Mills,  secretary,  and  a  board  of  trustees. 
The  society  was  incorporated  May  12,  1X75,  with  the  title  of  The 
Saint  Nicholas  Club  of  the  City  of  New  York.  The  eligibility  of  a 
candidate  for  membership  is  determined  by  the  conditions  prescribed 
by  the  Saint  Nicholas  Society,  and  its  members  are  mostly  members  of 
the  last-named  society.  This  is  one  of  the  most  agreeable  and  flourish- 
ing social  institutions  in  New  York.* 

Tin;  Knickerbocker  Clib  is  a  social  organization  composed  of  a 
class  of  citizens  similar  to  that  of  the  St.  Nicholas  Society  and 
St.  Nicholas  Club.  Many  of  its  members  are  members  of  these  asso- 
ciations. Its  club-house  is  at  24'.)  Fifth  Avenue.  Its  organization 
includes  the  usual  executive  officers,  an  executive  committee,  and  a 
board  of  twenty -one  governors.  The  officers  for  1883  were  Alexander 
Hamilton,  president  ;  Alonzo  C.  Monson,  vice-president  ;  William  D. 
Morgan,  treasurer  ;  and  Frederic  Bronson,  secretary. 

Amonjr  the  notable  seminaries  of  learning  in  the  citvof  New  York  is 
the  Rutgers  Female  College,  first  established  in  1838  as  the  Rutgers 
Female  Institute.  It  owes  its  existence  largely  to  the  exertions  of  the 
late  Rev.  Joseph  P.  Thompson,  who  had  been  for  several  years  at  the 
head  of  a  similar  institution  in  the  city  of  Albany,  and  the  Rev.  Isaac 
Ferris,  D.D.  Removing  to  the  city  of  New  York,  Mr.  Thompson  per- 
ceived the  need  of  such  a  seminary  in  that  city,  and  earnestly  advo- 
cated the  erection  of  one.  Generous  men  heeded  his  recommendations. 
A  paper,  dated  February  9,  1S38,  was  circulated  for  subscriptions  of 
money  to  accomplish  the  object.  It  was  obtained,  and  in  April  follow- 
ing the  Legislature  granted  an  act  of  incorporation  constituting  the 
Kutirers  Female  Institute.  That  name  was  <nven  because  William  B. 
Crosby,  Esq..  the  adopted  son  and  heir  of  Colonel  Henry  Rutgers,  f 

*  The  officers  of  the  club  chosen  for  1882-83  are  :  Frederic  Depe3'ster  (since  deceased), 
president  ;  James  M.  McLean,  vice-president  ;  Edward  Schell,  treasurer  ;  Charles  A. 
SSchermerhorn,  secretary,  and  twenty-one  trustees. 

\  Henry  Rutgers  was  of  Dutch  extraction.    His  grandfather  came  from  Holland,  and 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


generously  gave  the  land  on  Madison  Street  for  the  site  of  the  building. 
At  that  time  there  were  only  two  institutions  of  learning  in  the  city  of 
New  York  incorporated — namely,  Columbia  College  and  the  Univer- 
sity of  the  City  of  New  York. 

The  corner-stone  of  the  edifice  for  the  Rutgers  Female  Institute  was 
laid  on  the  29jth  of  August,  ls:3!»,  on  which  occasion  the  mayor  of  the 
city,  Aaron  Clark,  delivered  an  address.  This  building  was  dedicated 
on  April  27,  1839,  in  the  presence  of  a  crowded  assembly.  There  were 
devotional  exercises  and  a  dedicatory  address  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ferris, 
the  president  of  the  board,  who  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  institu- 
tion. On  Monday  morning.  May  G,  1S39,  the  doors  were  opened  for 
the  reception  of  students. 

"  Never  shall  I  forget,"  said  Professor  Charles  E.  "West,  LL.D.,  in 
an  address,  "  the  excitement  of  that  day.  Pupils  accompanied  by 
their  parents  came  in  crowds.  There  was  the  little  girl  of  four  years, 
to  take  her  first  lesson  in  the  alphabet  ;  and  the  young  lady  of  sixteen, 
who  had  completed  her  education  according  to  the  standard  of  the 
schools.  .  .  .  It  is  hardly  possible  to  describe  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  people  in  favor  of  the  institute.  The  Institute  !  the  Institute  !  was 
on  everybody's  lips.  Visitors  came  in  crowds  to  attend  its  Friday 
afternoon  exercises  in  the  chapel." 

The  question  to  be  solved  was  how  to  make  this  popularity  perma- 
nent. It  was  wisely  resolved  to  make  its  teachings  broad,  thorough, 
and  practical.  The  first  germs  of  chemical  and  philosophical  illustra- 
tion were  gathered  there  and  expanded  into  one  of  the  best  appointed 
laboratories  in  the  country.  Classes  went  into  the  fields  to  gather  ami 
study  flowers  and  minerals  ;  manufactories  were  visited  by  the  pupils  ; 
the  daguerrian  process,  then  just  introduced  into  the  country,  was 
taught  by  appropriate  apparatus  ;  Morse's  telegraph  was  soon  set  up 
and  worked  in  the  laboratory,  and  chemical  experiments  of  the  most 
interesting  kind  were  made.  Music,  drawing,  and  painting  received 
special  care.  Under  such  auspices  was  this  school  for  the  higher  edu- 
cation of  women  established  about  forty-four  years  ago,  and  in  1840 

occupied  a  farm  on  the  East  River  shore  of  the  island  of  Manhattan.  There  Henry  was 
born,  in  1745.  He  was  graduated  at  King's  (now  Columbia)  College  in  1706  ;  entered  the 
continental  army  in  1770,  was  in  the  battle  at  White  Plains,  served  through  the  war.  and 
rose  to  the  rank  of  colonel.  In  person  he  was  specially  attractive,  his  piety  was  con- 
spicuous, and  his  benevolence  was  widely  illustrated.  Colonel  Rutgers  never  married, 
but  adopted  as  his  son  and  heir  the  late  William  R.  Crosby,  the  father  of  Dr.  Howard 
Crosby,  of  New  York,  and  Professor  William  H.  Crosby,  of  Poughkeepsie.  Colonel 
Rutgers  died  on  "  the  Rutgers  estate"  in  1830,  aged  eighty-five  years.  Eight  years  after 
his  death  his  adopted  son  honored  his  memory  by  giving  his  name  to  the  new  institution. 


444 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOUK  CITY. 


there  were  five  graduates.  The  president  of  the  institute  was  the  Rev. 
Isaac  Ferris,  D.D. ;  the  treasurer,  William  II.  Falls  ;  secretary,  J.  K. 
Herrick.  The  principal  of  the  department  of  instruction  was  Professor 
Charles  E.  West,  LL.D.,  which  responsible  situation  he  held  until 
1851.  Dr.  Ferris  held  the  presidency  of  the  institute  for  seventeen 
years,  until  called  to  the  chancellorship  of  the  University  of  the  City 
of  New  York. 

Nineteen  years  after  the  passage  of  the  charter  of  Rutgers  Female 
Institute,  the  Legislature  gave  it  a  new  charter  (April  11,  18t>7)  chang- 
ing its  name  to  Rutgers  Female  College.  It  gave  the  institution 
authority  to  confer  degrees  and  exercise  all  the  functions  of  colleges 
and  universities,  excepting  the  granting  of  diplomas,  which  would 
entitle  graduates  to  enter  any  of  the  professions.  Professional  training 
is  neither  sought  nor  intended  as  a  part  of  its  work. 

The  residence  of  the  college  was  transferred,  in  I860,  to  more  ample 
quarters  and  a  more  desirable  location,  on  Fifth  Avenue,  opposite  the 
Croton  distributing  reservoir,  between  Forty-first  and  Forty-second 
streets,  where  in  18G7  this  "  college  for  women"  was  inaugurated.  It 
had  been  stimulated  to  this  loftier  aspiration  by  the  example  of  the 
College  for  Women  opened  two  years  before  by  Matthew  Vassar  at 
Poughkeepsie.  At  the  inauguration  alluded  to  the  first  president, 
Chancellor  Ferris,  and  the  first  principal,  Dr.  West,  were  present,  and 
stirring  addresses  were  pronounced  by  Dr.  Howard  Crosby  and  others. 

The  college  secured  an  advisory  board  of  thirty-three  distinguished 
persons  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  and  the  institution  in  its  new 
character  was  carefully  organized.  Its  first  degree  was  conferred  in 
1870.* 

The  institution  was  again  removed  in  1882,  and  is  now  at  No.  58 
West  Fifty  fifth  Street,  where  it  has,  in  addition  to  its  collegiate  course 
in  English,  modern  languages,  classics,  science,  and  mathematics,  an 
academic  department  for  younger  pupils,  and  a  kindergarten  for 
children. 

*  The  officers  of  the  board  of  trustees  for  1882  were  :  the  Rev.  Samuel  Burchard,  D.D., 
president  ;  Charles  H.  Smith,  secretary  ;  Jacob  B.  Tallman,  treasurer.  The  faculty  con- 
sisted of  S.  D.  Burchard,  D.D.,  president  and  professor  of  mental  and  moral  philosophy  , 
Miss  E.  P.  Clarke,  principal  and  professor  of  mathematics  and  the  Latin  language  and 
Daniel  G.  Martin,  Ph.D.,  professor  of  geology  and  natural  history.  The  duties  of  pro- 
fessor of  chemistry  and  physios  were  temporarily  in  charge  of  the  professor  of  geology. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


HERE  are  two  Protestant  theological  seminaries  in  the  city  of 


Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  The  Union  Theological  Seminary  in 
the  City  of  New  York,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  General  Theological  Seminary  is  a  creation  of  the  General 
Convention  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  America.  So  early  as 
1814  a  joint  committee  of  both  houses  of  the  convention  was  appointed 
to  report  a  plan  for  the  establishment  of  such  an  institution.  An  able 
report  on  the  subject  was  made  to  the  convention  assembled  in  Trinity 
Church,  New  York,  in  May,  1817.  It  was  adopted,  and  a  series  of 
resolutions,  drawn  by  Bishop  Dehon,  of  South  Carolina,  declared  it 
expedient  to  establish  a  general  theological  seminary,  to  be  under  the 
supervision  and  control  of  the  General  Convention.  It  was  decided 
that  it  should  be  located  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  a  committee 
was  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  measure  involved  in 
the  project.  "  It  was  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  Trinity  Church,  on 
Tuesday,  the  27th  day  of  May,  1817,  in  the  morning,  that  the  General 
Theological  Seminary  was  born." 

A  plan  foreshadowing  the  character  of  the  institution  and  its  profes- 
sorships was  presented  by  Bishops  White,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Hobart, 
of  New  York,  in  1818.  Very  soon  afterward  Dr.  Clement  C.  Moore,* 
son  of  Bishop  Moore,  made  the  munificent  donation  of  a  whole  square 
of  land  on  which  the  seminary  now  stands,  on  the  condition  that  the 
buildings  should  be  erected  thereon.    The  Rev.  Drs.  Turner  and  Jarvis 

*  Clement  Clarke  Moore.  LL.D.,  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  July,  1779,  and 
died  at  Newport,  R.  I.,  in  July,  1863.  He  was  a  son  of  Bishop  Moore,  and  graduated  at 
Columbia  College  in  1798.  He  became  a  professor  of  Hebrew  and  Greek  literature  in  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Seminary  in  New  York  in  1821.  In  1850  he  received  the  title  of 
emeritus  professor.  Dr.  Moore  was  the  pioneer,  in  this  country,  of  the  department  of 
Hebrew  and  Greek  lexicography,  having  published  a  Hebrew  and  Greek  lexicon  in  1809. 
He  was  the  author  of  the  famous  ballad  beginning, 


In  1844  he  published  a  volume  of  poems.  He  also  published  a  volume  of  his  father's 
sermons. 


Theological  Seminary  of  the 


"'Twns  the  night  before  Christmas." 


446 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


were  appointed  professors,  and  the  seminary  was  opened  in  May,  1819, 
with  a  class  of  six  students.  Among  these  were  the  late  Bishops 
Doane  and  East  burn,  and  Dr.  Dorr.  The  students  met  the  professors 
first  in  a  room  in  St.  Paul's  Chapel,  afterward  in  the  vestry-room  of 
St.  John's  Chapel,  and  then  in  a  building  on  the  north-west  corner  of 
Broadway  and  Cedar  Street. 

Failing  to  secure  sufficient  funds  for  the  support  of  the  seminary  in 
New  York,  it  w  as  removed  to  New  Haven  in  September,  1820.  Bishop 
Hobart  and  leading  men  in  the  diocese  of  New  York  consented  to  this 
measure  only  on  the  understanding  that  steps  would  be  immediately 
taken  for  the  establishment  of  a  diocesan  school  in  New  York.  With 
characteristic  energy,  Bishop  Hobart  opened  his  diocesan  school  in  less 
than  six  months.  The  next  year  (1821)  Jacob  Sherrod,  of  New  York, 
dying,  left  a  legacy  of  $•>(», 000  for  a  seminary  in  New  York.  This 
enabled  the  General  Convention  to  remove  the  institution  back  to  New 
York. 

In  the  permanent  establishment  of  the  seminary  in  the  city  of  New 
York  the  chief  credit  is  due  to  Bishop  Hobart,  who  had  as  associates 
and  advisers  in  the  work,  and  as  persona]  friends  and  admirers,  the  hest 
legal  talent  and  social  influence  of  the  city.  The  seminary  was 
reopened  in  New  Fork  in  February,  1822,  with  twenty-three  students. 
It  was  incorporated  in  April  following.  Funds  came  in  slowly,  yet 
the  trustees,  with  hope  and  faith,  had  the  corner-stone  of  the  east 
building  laid  by  Bishop  White  in  July,  1825.  It  was  first  occupied  in 
1827.  The  west  building  was  ordered  in  1834,  and  was  first  occupied 
in  1  s:i«;.  The  site  was  then,  and  is  now,  one  of  the  most  healthful  in 
the  city  of  New  York.  At  that  time  it  was  in  a  rural  district,  far 
removed  from  the  busy  mart,  with  a  pleasant  outlook  westward  over 
the  bright  waters  of  the  Hudson,  which  flowed  up  to  the  borders  of  the 
present  Tenth  Avenue. 

Pecuniary  embarrassments  harassed  the  trustees  from  the  beginning. 
The  purses  of  churchmen  did  not  readily  open,  and  when  it  became 
known  that  Frederick  Khone,  of  Philadelphia,  had  left  a  large  legacy 
to  the  seminary,  those  purse-strings  were  drawn  tighter,  with  the  belief 
that  it  would  be  immediately  available.  That  legacy  was  subject  to  a 
life  interest,  and  the  seminary  was  compelled  to  wait  twenty-four  years 
for  the  funds.  The  city  rapidly  grew  toward  the  seminary  grounds, 
and  it  was  burdened  with  constantly  increasing  and  heavy  assessments 
and  taxes.  Then  came  the  unfortunate  "  tractarian  schism''  in  the 
church,  and  the  seminary  was  often  made  a  battle-ground  of  the  parti- 
sans.   It  seemed  at  one  time  as  if  the  enterprise  must  be  abandoned 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


447 


for  want  of  sustenance,  but  it  was  upheld,  and  to-day,  in  its  pleasant 
grounds,  its  noble  buildings  of  stone,  its  valuable  library  of  about 
eighteen  thousand  volumes  and  ten  thousand  pamphlets,  its  corps  of 
learned  and  devoted  professors,  and  its  earnest  work,  together  with  its 
distinguished  alumni,  it  presents  an  institution  of  theological  learning  of 
which  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  America  may  be  justly  proud. 

The  alumni  of  the  General  Theological  Seminary  include  twenty-one 
bishops  and  a  host  of  the  leading  clergy  of  our  land.  One  third  of 
all  the  candidates  for  holy  orders  are  receiving  instruction  there.  The 
class-rooms  are  full,  and  the  institution  requires  only  adequate  pecun- 
iary support  to  enable  it  to  go  forward  with  efficiency  and  success  in 
the  work  in  which  it  is  engaged.  It  needs  more  endowments  to  make 
its  funds  adequate  and  permanent.*  With  these  it  would  make  a 
grand  and  steady  advance.  Its  income  at  the  present  is  not  sufficient 
to  pay  the  professors  fair  salaries.  These  average  only  about  $1800 
each.f 

The  Union  Theological  Seminary  in  the  City  of  New  York  was 
founded  in  1836.  In  the  autumn  of  1835  a  benevolent  bookseller  ex- 
pressed to  a  friend  a  desire  to  appropriate  a  certain  amount  of  money 
for  some  laudable  purpose.  He  was  recommended  to  devote  it  to  the 
establishment  of  a  theological  seminary  in  the  city  for  the  preparation 
of  young  men  for  the  ministry  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which 
he  was  a  member. 

There  were  then  six  theological  seminaries  within  the  bounds  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  but  they  were  not  harmonious  in  their  theologi 
cal  views,  nor  on  the  anti-slavery  and  colonization  questions,  and  eonse 
quently  no  one  of  them  was  satisfactory  to  the  entire  body  of  that  de- 
nomination. The  great  influx  of  young  men  from  New  England  into 
the  city  of  New  York,  full  of  energy  and  enterprise,  after  the  comple- 
tion of  the  Erie  Canal,  greatly  stimulated  the  growth  of  the  Presbyte- 

*  The  seminary  uow  has  trust  funds,  in  the  shape  of  endowments  and  other  funds, 
amounting  to  the  sum  of  $284,400,  in  the  hands  of  a  special  committee,  composed  of  lay- 
men of  acknowledged  financial  ability  and  probity,  who  report  all  their  acts  to  the  stand- 
ing committee  every  two  months. 

f  All  the  bishops  of  the  Church  in  the  United  States  are  ex. officio  trustees  of  the  semi- 
nary, with  numerous  other  persons.  The  faculty  consist  of  the  Rev.  Eugene  A.  Hoffman, 
D.D.,  dean  ;  Rev.  W.  E.  Eigenbrodt,  D.D  ,  professor  of  pastoral  theology;  Rev.  Samuel 
Buel,  D.D.,  professor  of  systematic  divinity  and  dogmatic  theology  ;  Rev.  R.  0,  Hall, 
D.D.,  professor  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  languages  ;  Rev.  Andrew  Oliver.  D  D..  profes- 
sor of  biblical  learning  and  the  interpretation  of  Scripture  ;  Rev.  W.  J.  Seaburv,  D.  T>., 
professor  of  ecclesiastical  history  and  law  ;  Rev.  Thomas  Ritchie,  D.D  ,  professor  of 
ecclesiastical  history 


448 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


rian  churches  in  that  city,  for  the  new-comers  were  largely  from  Pres- 
byterian families. 

Already  there  was  so  much  dissatisfaction  with  the  seminaries  that 
the  denomination  in  ]Sew  York  had  seriously  contemplated  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  theological  institution  in  that  city  or  vicinity.  When  the 
hint  given  to  the  bookseller  became  known,  much  interest  was  excited. 
After  consultation  with  him,  ministers,  benevolent  merchants,  and 
others  held  conferences  on  the  subject,  and  finally,  at  a  meeting  of  eight 
persons  at  the  house  of  Knowles  Taylor,  in  Bond  Street,  in  October, 
1835,  it  was  resolved,  "  that  it  is  expedient,  depending  on  the  blessing 
of  God,  to  attempt  to  establish  a  theological  seminary  in  this  city.'" 

It  was  estimated  that  $<*>.">.< >o<>  would  be  required  to  carry  out  the 
project.  Five  sixths  of  this  amount  was  subscribed  before  the  awful 
fire  in  December  of  that  year,  which  produced  great  financial  embar- 
rassment for  a  while. 

At  a  meeting  in  January,  1836,  it  was  found  that  the  subscriptions 
to  the  seminary  fund  amounted  to  £<>l,oi><).  How  much  of  this  amount 
might  be  collected  from  sufferiiu!'  subscribers  could  not  be  known  ;  but 
with  hope  in  the  future  a  constitution  was  presented,  and  at  a  subse- 
quent meeting  (  January  18th),  at  the  rooms  of  the  American  Tract 
Society,  it  was  adopted,  and  the  New  York  Theological  Seminary  was 
organized  by  the  choice  of  officers  for  the  year. 

A  lot  of  ground  belonging  to  the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor  estate,  two 
hundred  feet  square,  was  bought.  It  was  on  the  east  side  of  Wooster 
Street,  then  recently  extended  to  Fourteenth  Street,  and  which,  having 
been  widened  above  the  university,  had  been  named  Jackson  Avenue. 
It  was  soon  afterward  changed  to  University  Place.  On  that  plot  of 
ground  a  home  for  the  seminary  was  finally  erected,  and  there  it  still 
stands. 

In  due  time  a  corps  of  instructors  was  secured,  and  the  Rev.  Thomas 
McAuley,  D.  D.,  was  appointed  president.  The  professors  were  the 
Kev.  Thomas  H.  Skinner,  D.D.,  and  the  Revs.  Ichabod  A.  Spencer, 
Erskine  Mason,  and  Henry  White.  On  December  5,  1836,  the  semi- 
nary was  "opened"  by  the  enrollment  of  thirteen  students  at  the 
house  of  the  president,  in  Leonard  Street.  For  a  while  the  institution 
was  a  wanderer,  the  students  appearing  alternately  at  the  houses  of  the 
president  and  the  professors. 

The  erection  of  the  seminary  building  was  begun  in  March,  1837. 
It  was  a  period  of  great  financial  distress.  Many  of  the  subscriptions 
could  not  be  paid,  and  in  April  work  upon  the  building  was  suspended. 
A  bitter  controversy  in  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly  at  Phila- 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


440 


delphia,  in  May  following-,  which  resulted  in  sundering  the  church  in 
twain,  added  to  the  embarrassments,  and  at  one  time  it  appeared  as  if 
the  project  must  be  abandoned.  But  partial  relief  came.  The  build- 
ing was  finished,  and  in  December,  1S38,  it  was  dedicated,  when  the 
names  of  nearly  one  hundred  students  appeared  on  its  rolls.  The  insti- 
tution was  incorporated  in  March,  1S39,  under  the  title  of  the  Union 
Theological  Seminary  in  the  City  of  New  York. 

For  years  the  institution  struggled  for  existence,  but  help  came  from 
time  to  time,  and  at  the  end  of  forty  years  it  stood  among  the  honored 
and  flourishing  seminaries  of  learning  in  the  land,  with  liberal  endow- 
ments to  secure  its  permanent  prosperity.  In  1S74  the  late  James 
Brown  (Brown  Brothers,  bankers)  gave  the  seminary  $:>oo,ooo  to  en- 
dow all  the  professorships,  and  the  late  Governor  I'].  D.  Morgan  was  a 
munificent  benefactor  of  the  institution.  Other  generous  men  have 
contributed  liberally  to  its  financial  interests,  and  the  seminary 
to-day  is  enabled  to  carry  on  its  noble  work  without  pecuniary  embar- 
rassment.- 

The  seminary  has  three  endowed  lectureships — namely,  the  Morse, 
the  Ely,  and  the  Parker.  The  first,  on  "  The  Relations  of  the  Bible 
to  Science,'"  avus  founded  by  Professor  S.  F.  B.  Morse,  in  memory  of 
his  father  ;  the  second,  on  "  The  Evidences  of  Christianity,"  was 
founded  by  Z.  Stiles  Ely,  in  memory  of  his  brother,  the  Rev.  Elias  P. 
Ely  ;  and  the  third  was  founded  by  Willard  Parker,  M.D.,  LL.D., 
designed  to  furnish  theological  students  with  such  instruction  on  health 
as  may  be  specially  useful  to  them  personally  and  as  pastors.  The  semi- 
nary is  open  to  students  of  all  evangelical  denominations. 

The  seminary  has  a  library  of  about  42,000  volumes,  39,500  pam- 
phlets, and  103  manuscripts.  The  basis  of  this  library  was  a  collection 
of  books,  about  13,000  in  number,  made  by  Leander  Van  Ess,  of  Ger- 
many, formerly  a  monk,  and  afterward  a  convert  to  Protestantism. 
He  became  a  translator  of  the  Bible,  and  in  that  labor  he  gathered  very 

*  The  seminary  is  managed  by  a  board  of  directors,  of  which  Charles  Butler,  LL.D.,  is 
now  (1883)  president,  chosen  in  1870  ;  William  E.  Dodge  (since  deceased),  vice-president, 
and  Ezra  ML  Kingsley,  treasurer,  recorder,  and  general  secretary,  chosen  in  1871.  The 
faculty  is  composed  of  the  Rev.  Roswell  D.  Hitchcock.  D.D.,  LL.D.,  president  and 
Washburn  professor  of  church  history  ;  Rev.  William  G.  Shedd,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Roosevelt 
professor  of  systematic  theology;  Rev.  Philip  Sehaff,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Baldwin  professor  of 
sacred  literature;  Rev.  George  L.  Prentiss,  D.D.,  Skinner  and  MeAlpine  professor  of 
pastoral  theology,  church  polity,  and  mission  work;  Rev.  Charles  A.  Briggs,  D.D., 
Davenport  professor  of  Hebrew  and  the  cognate  languages,  secretary  and  librarian  ; 
Rev.  Thomas  Hastings,  D.D..  Brown  professor  of  sacred  rhetoric  ;  Rev.  Francis  M. 
Brown,  associate  professor  in  the  department  of  biblical  philology. 


450 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


rare  books,  among  them  issues  of  the  early  years  of  printing.  This 
collection  was  purchased  for  the  seminary  for  about  $5000  in  1839. 
The  late  ex-Governor  E.  D.  Morgan,  appreciating  the  value  of  the 
library,  gave  the  institution  $100,000  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  fire- 
proof library  building,  and  for  increasing  its  collections. 

The  seminary  also  possesses  a  museum  of  biblical  and  Christian 
antiquities,  and  objects  illustrating  missionary  life  and  work.  The  cor- 
poration have  purchased  a  site  lor  a  new  home  on  Park  Avenue  and 
Sixty-ninth  Street. 

Among  the  prominent  institutions  in  New  York  founded  during  this 
decade,  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York,  an  undenomina- 
tional school,  holds  a  high  rank.  It  was  projected  by  a  number  of  en- 
lightened and  enterprising  citizens  in  1S30,  for  the  purpose  of  providing 
more  varied  and  ample  means  of  education  for  the  youth  of  the  city 
and  of  the  country  at  large  than  the  regular  college  course  afforded. 

Until  that  period  college  education  in  the  United  States  was  mostly 
of  a  single  type,  and  very  few  facilities  for  higher  studies  were  fur- 
nished outside  of  a  regular  and  prescribed  course.  A  system  more 
flexible  and  comprehensive  was  felt  to  be  a  necessity.  After  consulta- 
tions between  professional  men  of  every  kind,  merchants,  and  others,  a 
plan  of  a  university,  largely  laid  upon  that  of  similar  European  institu- 
tions of  learning,  was  drawn  up  and  presented  to  the  Legislature,  with 
a  petition  for  a  charter.  The  prayer  was  heeded,  and  in  the  spring  of 
1831  a  charter  was  granted  establishing  the  University  of  the  City  of 
New  York.  It  was  opened  for  the  reception  of  students  in  Clinton 
Hall  in  October,  1S32,  and  the  first  class,  of  three  students,  graduated 
in  1833. 

Not  a  chair  in  the  institution  was  originally  endowed,  nor  were  any 
superior  facilities  afforded  for  independent  scientific  investigation. 
The  institution  was  long  burdened  with  heavy  debts,  but  one  after 
another  of  these  embarrassments  was  removed  by  the  generosity  of 
citizens.  To  organize  a  great  and  advanced  institution  of  learning  was 
not  an  easy  task,  yet  the  work  was  almost  immediately  begun.  It  was 
the  misfortune  of  the  managers  to  attempt  such  a  work  without  the 
ample  means  which  the  exigencies  of  the  case  required,  and  the  con- 
sequence was  the  university  suffered  the  pecuniary  embarrassments  al- 
luded to. 

The  medical  depaiiment  of  the  university  was  organized  in  1842,  and 
true  to  the  early  promises  of  the  university,  it  signalized  its  early  in- 
struction by  the  adoption  of  improved  methods.  The  introduction  of 
clinical  lectures  was  carried  out  by  some  of  the  most  honored  practition- 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


451 


ers  of  medical  and  surgical  science,  and  secured  a  high  place  for  the 
department  in  the  minds  of  the  profession  generally. 

The  School  of  Civil  Engineering  was  organized  in  1853,  and  the  next 
year  a  law  department  was  established,  which  has  had  the  services  of 
eminent  legal  and  judicial  persons.  It  also  has  a  School  of  Analytical 
and  Practical  Chemistry,  and  another  of  Painting  and  the  Arts. 

The  corner-stone  of  the  university  building  was  laid  in  1833,  on  the 
east  side  of  Washington  Square  (the  Washington  Parade-Ground),  and 
the  edifice  was  completed  and  occupied  in  1835.  It  is  a  Gothic  struct- 
ure, one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  long  by  one  hundred  feet  wide,  and 
built  ol  white  freestone. 

The  first  chancellor  of  the  university  was  the  Rev.  James  M. 
Mathews,  D.D.,  the  learned  and  genial  pastor  of  the  Garden  Street 
(now  Exchange  Place)  Reformed  Dutch  Church.  lie  was  a  gentleman 
of  high  culture,  of  noble  and  commanding  presence,  elegant  in  manners, 
witty  m  conversation,  an  attractive  story-teller,  and  a  very  popular 
preacher  and  instructor.  His  church  edifice  was  consumed  by  the 
great  fire  in  1S35,  and  was  rebuilt  next  to  the  university,  where  he  and 
the  Rev.  Mancius  S.  Hutton  became  associate  pastors. 

Dr.  Mathews,  installed  chancellor  in  1831,  was  succeeded  in  1839  by 
Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  LL.D.,  who  held  that  position  until  1850, 
when  he  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Isaac  Ferris,  D.D.,  in  1852.  Dr. 
Ferris  was  chancellor  until  1870,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev. 
Howard  Crosby,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  institution 
until  1881,  Avhen  he  resigned.*  The  institution  has  had  only  four 
chancellors  in  more  than  fifty  years.    Dr.  Frelinghuysen  held  the  posi- 

*  Howard  Crosby,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  is  a  native  of  New  York  City,  the  child  of  an  adopted 
son  of  Colonel  Henry  Rutgers.  He  is  a  great-grandson  of  William  Floyd,  one  of  the 
signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  a  great-great-grandson  of  Governor 
Belcher,  of  Massachusetts.  He  was  born  on  the  27th  of  February,  1826,  and  was  gradu- 
ated at  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York  in  1844.  In  1851  he  was  appointed  pro- 
fessor of  Greek  in  that  institution,  and  filled  that  chair  until  1859,  when  he  resigned  it 
to  accept  a  similar  chair  in  Rutgers  College,  at  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.  In  that  year  he 
received  the  honorary  degree  of  D.D.  from  Harvard  University,  and  in  1872  that  of  LL.D. 
from  Columbia  College. 

Energetic,  earnest,  strong  in  his  convictions  of  right  and  duty,  and  with  courage  to  act 
accordingly,  Dr.  Crosby  has  always  been  a  power  in  any  community  of  which  he  has 
formed  a  part.  At  the  formation  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  in  New  York, 
he  was  one  of  the  earliest,  most  earnest,  and  efficient  promoters  of  that  institution  ;  and 
in  the  city  of  his  birth  he  has  always  been  the  fearless  advocate  of  virtue  and  justice 
against  crime  and  oppression. 

In  18G1  Dr.  Crosby  was  ordained  a  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  denomination.  In 
addition  to  his  duties  as  professor,  he  filled  the  office  of  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  in  New  Brunswick.    In  18G3  he  left  New  Brunswick  to  assume  *he  pastorate  of 


452  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

tion  eleven  veal's  ;  Dr.  Crosby  was  the  last  chancellor.  His  place  has 
not  yet  (1883)  been  filled.  The  Eev.  John  Hall,  D.l).,  exercises  the 
functions  of  chancellor  ad  interim  * 

The  University  of  the  City  of  New  York  was  the  scene  of  the  de- 
velopment of  two  of  the  most  remarkable  discoveries  of  the  age,  by  two 
of  its  professors — the  electro-magnetic  telegraph,  by  Professor  S.  F.  B 
.Morse,  and  the  daguerreotype,  by  Professor  John  VV.  Draper.  It  was 
in  a  room  in  the  university  that  Professor  Morse  perfected  his  tele 
graph,  and  it  was  on  the  roof  of  the  university  that  the  first  daguerreo- 
type from  the  human  face  was  taken. 

Among  the  more  notable  benevolent  and  charitable  institutions  in 
the  city  of  New  York  founded  between  the  years  1830  and  18-tti  were 
the  New  York  Magdalen  Benevolent  Society,  the  Leake  and  Watts 
Orphan  Asylum,  the  Eastern  Dispensary,  the  New  York  Institution 
for  the  Instruction  of  the  Blind,  the  American  Baptist  Home  Mission 
Society,  the  American  Female  Guardian  Society  and  Home  for  the 
Friendless,  the  Association  for  the  Benefit  of  Colored  Orphans,  the 
Colored  Home  and  Hospital,  and  the  City  Mission  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  ( 'hurch. 

The  New  York  Magdalen  Benevolent  Society  was  founded  in 
the  year  1832.  So  early  as  1828,  benevolent  ladies  belonging  to  vari- 
ous religious  denominations,  perceiving  the  necessity  for  earnest  re- 

the  Fourth  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  York,  in  which  field  he  has  labored 
acceptably  for  twenty  years. 

In  1870  Dr.  Crosby  was  appointed  chancellor  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New 
York.  He  held  that  position  eleven  years,  when  he  resigned,  and  directed  his  labors 
almost  exclusively  to  his  pastorate.  In  1857  he  founded  the  Greek  Club  in  New  York, 
now  twenty-sis  years  of  age.  He  was  moderator  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  1873,  and  of  the  first  great  synod  of  New  York  in  1882.  He  was  the 
founder  in  1877  (and  is  the  president)  of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Crime,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Council  at  Edinburgh  the  same  year.  He  is  one 
of  the  members  of  the  American  Committee  of  Revision  of  the  Bible,  and  is  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Wellesley  College.  Chancellor  Crosby  delivered  the 
Lyman  Beecher  course  of  lectures  in  the  Yale  Divinity  School  in  1879. 

In  addition  to  many  sermons  and  pamphlets,  Dr.  Crosby  has  written  and  published  the 
following  works  :  "  Lands  of  the  Moslem,"  "  CEdipus  Tyrannus,"  with  notes  ;  "  Scholia 
on  the  New  Testament,"  "  Social  Hints,"  "  Thoughts  on  the  Decalogue,"  Commentaries 
on  Nehemiah,  Joshua,  and  the  New  Testament  ;  "  The  Healthy  Christian,"  "  The  Chris, 
tian  Preacher,"  "The  Life  of  Jesus,"  "Bible  Manual,"  and  "The  Humanity  of  Christ." 

*  The  first  officers  of  the  university  were  :  Albert  Gallatin,  president  of  the  council  ; 
General  Morgan  Lewis,  vice-president  ;  John  Delafield,  secretary,  and  Samuel  Ward,  Jr., 
treasurer.  John  Taylor  Johnston  is  now  president,  .Charles  Butler  vice-president,  Will- 
iam R.  Martin  secretary,  and  William  A.  Wheelock  treasurer.  The  members  of  the  coun- 
cil are  :  Howard  Crosby,  John  W.  C.  Leveridge,  Smith  E.  Lane,  and  twenty  nine  others. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-  1840 


453 


formatory  efforts  on  behalf  of  women  of  the  criminal  class,  established 
a  Sabbath-school  in  the  female  department  of  the  Penitentiary  at 
Bellevue.  So  brief,  however,  were  most  of  the  terms  of  commitment 
that  there  was  not  sufficient  time  to  make  any  sensible  impression  on 
the  prisoners,  who  usually  returned  to  their  old  associations. 

The  ladies  who  undertook  this  work,  not  disheartened,  resolved  to 
form  a  permanent  society  for  the  object  of  rescuing  fallen  women,  and 
provide  a  suitable  retreat  for  them.  For  this  purpose  the  Xew  York 
Magdalen  Societv  was  organized  in  January,  1S30.  This  society  was 
disbanded  in  1832,  and  the  next  year  the  same  ladies,  with  a  number 
of  others,  reorganized  under  the  name  of  the  New  York  Female 
Benevolent  Society.  Several  years  afterward  its  name  was  again 
changed,  when  it  assumed  the  present  title.  It  was  incorporated  in 
1851. 

The  association  bought  lots  at  Eighty-eighth  Street  (then  known  as 
Yorkville),  on  which  was  a  frame  building  which  bad  been  used  for 
manufacturing  purposes.  The  society  began  operations  bearing  the 
burden  of  a  heavy  del  it,  but  these  brave  women  never  lost  courage  and 
faith,  but  persevered  against  appalling  discouragements  for  a  while. 
At  length  they  were  relieved  by  an  unexpected  gift  from  a  stranger, 
Dr.  Borthop,  of  Kinderhook,  X.  Y.,  who  by  will  left  the  society  the 
exact  amount  of  money  to  liquidate  its  indebtedness.  For  nearly 
twenty  years  the  old  frame  building  was  used,  when  it  was  replaced  by 
a  larger  one  of  brick,  and  through  the  generosity  of  benevolent  people 
it  was  soon  clear  of  debt. 

This  peculiar  and  most  trying  labor  of  love  in  efforts  to  reclaim  the 
degraded  has  been  successful.  The  number  of  those  who  have  availed 
themselves  of  this  home  has  steadily  increased,  and  there  is  abundant 
evidence  of  the  salvation  of  many  souls  and  bodies.  Late  in  1S(>7  an- 
other enlargement  of  the  building  was  found  to  be  necessary,  and  the 
home  is  now  fitted  with  good  dormitories,  working-rooms,  bath-rooms, 
and  a  chapel. 

The  society  has  done  its  good  work  unostentatiously  and  modestly. 
It  cannot  be  called  a  popular  charity,  for  its  work  is,  in  a  measure, 
"  done  in  a  corner."  Its  self-sacrificing  members — brave  women — visit 
police  courts,  prisons,  and  hospitals  in  quest  of  erring  sisters,  and  they 
seldom  return  empty  handed.  Many  a  poor  creature,  tired  of  a  de- 
graded life,  has  found  in  this  home  a  means  for  restitution  to  a  respect- 
able, virtuous,  and  useful  life.  The  task  of  the  society  is  twofold  — 
namely,  to  reclaim  girls  from  a  life  of  infamy,  and  to  guard  them 
against  a  return  to  it.    They  are  instructed  in  various  employments 


454 


HISTORY'  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


whereby  they  may  gain  an  honest  living,  and  the  influences  of 
regular  religious  services  and  moral  example  are  brought  to  bear 
upon  them. 

During  the  year  ending  May,  1882,  there  were  admitted  to  the 
home  178  girls  and  women,  of  whom  43  went  to  employment,  20  to 
hospital,  <!3  left  by  request,  5  were  expelled,  and  2  escaped.* 

The  House  of  Mercy,  in  Eighty-sixth  Street,  west  of  Broadway, 
founded  by  Mrs.  S.  A.  Richmond  (wife  of  the  late  William  B.  Rich- 
mond) in  1^.">4  for  the  temporal  and  spiritual  salvation  of  fallen  women, 
is  still  engaged  in  the  same  holy  cause  for  which  the  New  York  Mag. 
dalen  Society  is  laboring. 

The  Leake  and  Watts  Orphan  Asyi.i  m  was  founded  in  1831.  It 
is  designed  as  a  home  for  children  bereaved  of  father  and  mother,  and 
left  in  infancy  without  means  for  maintenance. 

The  building  of  this  asylum  is  in  the  district  of  the  city  known  as 
Bloomingdale,  about  seven  miles  from  the  City  Hall.  The  house  is  on 
a  plot  of  ground  bounded  by  One  Hundred  and  Tenth  and  One  Hun- 
dred and  Thirteenth  streets  and  Ninth  and  Tenth  avenues.  It  is 
two  hundred  feet  in  length,  sixty  feet  in  depth,  and  three  stories  in 
height,  and  contains  a  chapel  and  hospital.  It  stands  on  a  ridge  over- 
looking the  Hudson  and  New  Jersey  beyond,  and  is  in  a  very  healthful 
situation.  When  it  was  built  it  was  in  a  picturesque  rural  region  of 
the  island,  which  few  persona  living  can  now  remember.  Its  grounds 
are  spacious  for  every  purpose  of  the  institution. 

John  (t.  Leake  inherited  a  large  estate  from  his  father,  who  died  in 
the  city  of  New  York.  Having  no  lineal  descendants  of  his  own,  he 
bequeathed  his  entire  property  to  Robert  Watts,  the  second  son  of  his 
most  intimate  and  cherished  friend,  John  Watts,  and  his  heirs,  on  the 
express  condition  that  Robert  Watts  and  his  heirs  should  take  the  name 
of  Leake,  and  by  that  name  be  forever  known.  It  was  provided  that 
if  Mr.  Watts  should  die  under  age  or  without  issue,  or  refuse  to  accept 
the  property  on  the  conditions,  the  estate  should  be  used  for  the  estab- 

*  The  names  of  the  managers  of  the  society  the  first  year  were  :  Mary  Hastings,  Eliza 
F.  Clebhorn,  Sarah  Edwards,  Elizabeth  C.  Hoadley,  Mary  A.  C.  Tracy,  Elizabeth  Leeds, 
Pluma  Pond,  Ellen  V.  Combs,  Sarah  Van  Antwerp,  Sarah  W.  Anthony,  Amelia  Nicholson, 
Catharine  Xash.  Mary  15.  Whittemore,  Grace  Bnrrill,  Ann  Petrie,  Hannah  Maria  Wilson, 
Ann  Gillett,  Sarah  Dominiok,  Elizabeth  W.  Hamilton,  Julia  S.  Huntington,  Elizabeth  R. 
Webb,  and  Sarah  M.  G.  Merrill.  The  officers  of  the  society  for  1882-83  are  :  Miss  A.  M. 
Fellows,  first  directress  ;  Mrs.  A.  G.  Allen,  second  directress  ;  Mrs.  Charles  Fanning, 
assistant  treasurer;  Mrs.  A.  A.  Redfield,  secretary.  There  are  nineteen  managers,  all 
married  ladies.  Mrs.  R.  P.  Hudson  and  Miss  M.  E.  Watkins  are  matrons  of  the  asylum, 
and  Dr.  Robert  Ferriss,  house  physician. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


455 


lishment  of  an  orphans'  home,  for  which  he  left  designs,  and  appointed 
seven  ex-ojficio  trustees  to  receive  and  hold  the  same  Upon  trust. 

The  property  was  never  accepted  by  Mr.  Watts  on  the  conditions 
named,  and  the  estate,  amounting  to  about  half  a  million  dollars,  was 
used  for  establishing  an  institution  which  was  incorporated  in  March, 
1S31,  under  the  title  of  The  Leake  and  Watts  Orphan  Asylum  of  the 
City  of  New  York.  The  ex-ojficio  trustees  who  accepted  the  trust 
were  Walter  Bowne,  mayor  of  the  city  of  New  York  ;  Richard  Hiker, 
recorder  ;  the  Rev.  "W.  Pieman,  D.D.,  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  and 
Nehemiah  Rogers  and  Charles  McEvcrs,  wardens  of  the  same  church  ; 
the  Rev.  G.  A.  Kuypers,  oldest  minister  of  the  Dutch  congregations  in 
the  city,  and  the  Rev.  William  Phillips,  oldest  minister  of  the  Presby- 
terian congregations  in  the  same  city.  On  the  first  meeting  of  these 
trustees,  m  March,  1831,  they  adopted  a  seal  having  the  device  of  a 
kneeling  child  supported  by  a  pedestal,  on  which  are  the  words, 
"  J.  G.  Leake  and  John  Watts,  Pounders." 

The  corner-stone  of  the  Orphan  Home  was  laid  on  April  28,  1S38. 
It  was  finished  and  opened  for  the  reception  of  orphans  on  November 
15,  184-3.  The  discipline  of  the  institution  is  parental  in  its  nature  ; 
its  religious  instruction  is  non-sectarian,  and  its  secular  instruction  em- 
braces the  essential  elements  of  an  English  education.* 

The  Eastern  Dispensary  was  incorporated  April  25,  1832,  and  was 
organized  in  June,  1834.  The  first  officers  were  :  Nicholas  Dean, 
president  ;  Dr.  Samuel  Akerly,f  vice-president  ;  Dr.  P.  C.  Milledoler, 
secretary,  and  Zebedee  Ring,  treasurer.  The  dispensary  was  established 
on  the  northern  verge  of  the  city  to  meet  a  pressing  want  of  the  inhab- 
itants in  that  region.  The  district  for  which  it  provided  medical  and 
surgical  relief  is  bounded  by  the  East  River,  East  Fourteenth  Street, 
First  Avenue,  Allen  Street,  and  Pike  Street. 

During  the  existence  of  the  Eastern  Dispensary  (1834-82)  it  has 

*  The  trustees  of  the  institution  in  1882-83  were  :  Franklin  Edson,  mayor  ;  Frederick 
Smyth,  recorder  ;  the  Rev.  Morgan  Dix,  D.D.,  rector  of  Trinity  Church  ;  John  J.  Cisco 
and  Gonvernenr  M.  Ogden,  wardens  of  Trinity  Church  ;  the  Rev.  Thomas  E.  Vermilye, 
senior  minister  of  the  Collegiate  Dutch  Reformed  Church  ;  the  Rev.  William  ML  Paxton, 
D.D.,  minister  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church.  The  officers  were  :  the  Rev.  Morgan 
Dix,  president  ;  John  M.  Knox,  treasurer;  John  M.  Knox,  Jr.,  clerk  ;  Richard  M.  Hay- 
den,  superintendent. 

\  Samuel  Akerly,  M.D.,  was  born  in  1785,  and  died  on  Staten  Island  in  July,  1845. 
He  studied  medicine  with  his  brother-in-law.  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchil).  Dr.  Akerly  was 
a  most  benevolent  man,  and  was  a  founder  and  liberal  supporter  of  the  Asylum  for  the 
Deaf  and  Dumb  and  the  Blind  in  the  city  of  New  York.  He  was  a  constant  contributor 
to  medical  and  scientific  journals,  and  was  the  author  of  an  "  Essay  on  the  Geology  of 
the  Hudson  River"  (1821)  and  "  Observations  on  Deafness"  (1821). 


456 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


furnished  medical  and  surgical  treatment  to  1,054,099  patients,  vac- 
cinated 108,457  persons,  dispensed  1,054,097  prescriptions,  and  ex- 
pended $17o,77o,  on  an  average  of  about  sixteen  cents  to  each  patient. 
The  dispensary  is  in  the  Essex  Market  building,  on  the  north-east 
corner  of  Grand  and  Essex  streets.* 

The  New  York  Institution  fob  the  Blind  owes  its  existence  chiefly 
to  Dr.  Samuel  Akerly  and  Samuel  Wood.  Through  the  influence  of 
these  gentlemen  a  society  was  organized  in  1S31  for  the  purpose  of 
founding  an  institution  for  the  instruction  of  the  blind  — not  a 
"  home,"  nor  an  asylum,  nor  a  hospital,  but  a  school,  in  which  those 
unfortunates  might  receive  the  advantages  of  education  enjoyed  by 
those  who  have  clear  vision,  and  with  a  special  regard  to  their  future 
usefulness  in  life,  and  consequently  of  their  welfare. 

This  was  the  second  institution  for  the  blind  established  in  the 
United  States,  yet  it  was  the  first  that  went  into  operation.  It  was 
opened  for  the  reception  of  pupils  on  March  15,  1832.  It  was  incorpo- 
rated by  the  Legislature  of  New  York  April  21,  1831.  The  first  board 
of  managers  consisted  of  Gideon  Lee,  William  B.  Crosby,  Hiram 
Ketoham,  John  P.  Stagg,  Henry  Thomas,  George  Spring,  John  R. 
Stuvvesant,  Morris  Ketcham,  Mathew  C.  Patterson,  Thomas  W. 
Jenkins,  John  W.  Walker,  Jonathan  D.  Steel,  Silas  Brown,  Thompson 
Price,  Curtis  Bolton,  Samuel  Wood,  Theodore  Dwight,  Franklin  Miller, 
and  John  D.  Puss. 

The  instruction  given  in  this  institution  is  threefold — namely,  intel- 
lectual, musical,  and  industrial.  In  the  first  department  the  pupils 
are  taught  reading  (by  means  of  raised  letters),  writing,  spelling, 
grammar,  arithmetic,  geography,  algebra,  geometry,  history,  and  the 
mental  and  physical  sciences.  The  course  of  instruction  is  graded  and 
regular. 

In  the  musical  department  instruction  is  given,  to  those  who  have  a 
taste  for  it  and  qualified  to  study  it,  in  the  rudiments,  chorus-singing, 
vocal,  piano,  organ,  and  harmony. 

In  the  mechanical  department  three  branches  of  handicraft  are 
taught — namely,  mat,  broom,  cane-seat  and  mattress  making  :  also 
knitting  and  sewing. 

The  fruit  of  this  noble  institution  may  be  seen  in  many  persons  occu- 
pying useful  positions  in  society — merchants,  manufacturers,  insurance 
agents,  piano-tuners,  organists,  teachers,  clergymen,  lawyers,  and  phy- 

*  The  officers  of  the  dispensary  for  1882  were  :  John  EL  Waydell,  president  ;  Edward 
C.  Sampson,  vice-president  ;  A.  W.  Weismann,  secretary  ;  Robert  H.  Crosby,  treasurer  ; 
Dr.  S.  S.  Bogert,  house  physician. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


457 


sicians.  This  and  kindred  institutions  liave  relieved  hundreds  from  the 
terrible  condition  feelingly  described  by  Milton  : 

••  Exposed 

To  daily  fraud,  contempt,  abuse,  and  wrong, 
Scarce  half  I  seem  to  live  ;  dead  more  than  half. 
O,  dark  !  dark  !  dark  !  amid  the  blaze  of  noon, 
Irrevocably  dark  ;  total  eclipse, 
Without  all  hope  of  day  !" 

The  promise  of  Scripture  borne  on  the  title-page  of  the  reports  of 
the  institution  indicates  the  scope  of  its  work  :  "  And  I  will  bring  the 
blind  by  a  way  that  they  know  not  ;  I  will  lead  them  in  paths  that 
they  have  not  known  :  I  will  make  darkness  light  before  them  "  * 

The  New  York  Institution  for  the  Instruction  of  the  Blind  is 
situated  upon  high  ground  and  healthful  position  in  Ninth  Avenue, 
between  Thirty-third  and  Thirty-fourth  streets.! 

The  New  York  Protestant  Episcopal  City  Mission  Society  was 
organized  in  September,  1831,  for  the  purpose  of  supplying,  as  far  as 
possible,  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  poorer  classes  in  the  city.  Its 
charter,  granted  in  April,  1S33,  gave  it  the  right  to  establish  free 
churches  in  the  city  of  New  York.  The  society  at  once  organized  two 
of  these  churches — namely,  the  Holy  Evangelist  and  the  Church  of  the 
Epiphany.  The  former  was  put  under  the  charge  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Cutler,  and  the  latter  under  the  Rev.  Lot  Jones,  D.  D.  Mr  Cutler, 
the  first  missionary  employed  by  the  society,  was  called  to  the  rector- 
ship of  St.  Ann's  Church/Brooklyn,  in  1833. 

As  the  work  of  the  society  expanded,  free  mission  chapels  connected 
with  larger  Episcopal  churches  in  the  city  were  established.  For  sev- 
eral years  this  society  was  associated  in  Christian  work  with  another 
institution  of  the  Church — the  Mission  to  Public  Institutions.  Finally, 
through  the  efforts  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Peters,  rector  of  St.  Michael's 
Church,  who  had  long  been  the  mainstay  of  the  latter  mission,  aided 
by  clerical  and  lay  members  of  it,  the  functions  of  the  Mission  to  Public 
Institutions  were  transferred  to  the  City  Mission  Society,  and  its  mis- 
sionaries became  the  missionaries  appointed  and  supported  by  the 
Board  of  City  Missions. 

And  now  bep;an  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the  society.    In  1865  it 

*  Isaiah  xiii.  16. 

+  The  officers  of  the  institution  for  the  year  ending  September  30,  1882,  were  :  Augus- 
tus Schell.  president  ;  Robert  S.  Hone,  vice-president  :  T.  Bailey  Myers,  recording  secre- 
tary :  W.  C.  Schermerhorn,  corresponding  secretary  :  William  Whitewright,  treasurer  ; 
William  B.  Wait,  superintendent  ;  William  A.  Hume,  M.D.,  attending  physician. 


458 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


founded  the  St.  Barnabas  Home  and  Chapel,  as  a  temporary  dwelling 
for  women  and  children.  The  house  No.  304  Mulberry  Street,  for- 
merly occupied  by  a  most  benevolent  lady, Mrs.  William  Richmond,  for 
a  similar  purpose,  was  hired.  Mrs.  Richmond,  during  many  years  of 
self-sacrificing  labor  in  behalf  of  wandering  and  homeless  ones,  had 
there  established  such  a  home,  and  at  the  time  the  building  was  hired, 
over  its  entrance  was  the  sign,  "  Temporary  Home  for  Women  and 
Children."  The  City  Mission  Society  was  simply  the  follower  of 
Mrs.  Richmond.  This  Christian  lady,  had  established  the  House  of 
Mercy  on  Eighty-sixth  Street  and  a  House  of  Reception  in  Broome 
Street,  which  she  afterward  transferred  to  No.  304-  Mulberry  Street. 
She  had  just  entered  upon  a  new  field  of  duty  in  connection  with  the 
Home  for  Foundlings,  when  her  strength  gave  way  and  she  went  to 
her  reward. 

The  St.  Barnabas  Home  and  Chapel  was  formally  opened  on  the 
evening  of  St.  Barnabas  day  (June  11),  1805,  with  the  Rev.  S.  11. 
Billiard  as  chaplain  of  the  institution,  which  was  intended  as  a  tem- 
porary home  for  wanderers  and  a  free  place  for  public  worship.  The 
sisterhood  of  St.  Mary,  laboring  in  the  House  of  Mercy  in  Eighty-sixth 
Street  and  the  Sheltering  Anns  on  Broadway,  offered  their  assistance 
in  the  newly  undertaken  work,  for  the  support  of  which  the  help  of 
the  benevolent  was  needed.  Nor  was  it  withheld.  The  noble  enter- 
prise was  cherished  from  the  beginning.  From  June  25,  1865,  until 
December  31st  following,  396  women  and  children  were  received  into 
the  Home,  and  10,(!<!4  meals  and  lodgings  were  afforded,  at  a  cost  of 
$1132.  The  Home  was  open  for  all— Protestants,  Romanists,  and 
Jews.  During  the  year  L866  there  were  admitted  844  Protestants, 
482  Romanists,  and  2  Jews.  Of  these,  403  were  sent  to  situations,  350 
to  other  institutions,  209  to  friends,  140  left  of  their  own  accord,  and 
52  were  dismissed.  There  were  given  during  that  year  51,515  meals, 
at  an  average  cost  of  74;  cents.  Such  was  the  benevolent  work  of  the 
first  full  year  of  this  institution. 

In  connection  with  St.  Barnabas  Home  an  industrial  school  was 
established,  and  a  free  reading- room  for  young  men  was  opened  by  the 
St.  Barnabas  Free  Reading-Room  Association,  at  a  house  hired  as  :i 
residence  for  the  clergy  of  the  missions. 

The  year  1882  found  the  New  York  Protestant  Episcopal  City  Mis- 
sion Society  engaged  in  faithfully  carrying  out  the  principles  of  action 
laid  down  at  the  beginning,  in  1831,  "to  take  up  work  before  un- 
thought-of  or  neglected,  and  outside  of  all  churches  and  chapels  and 
other  Christian  influences,  and  carry  it  on  till  some  church  or  special 


KIKST  I>El'ADB,  1830-1840. 


459 


organization  assumed  the  responsibility  thereof. "  Its  work  to-day  is 
the  same  as  it  began  to  do  fifty  years  ago.  Its  field  of  operations  has 
wonderfully  expanded,  and  its  power  for  usefulness  has  proportionally 
increased.  The  result  is  that  the  Episcopal  Church  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  through  this  society,  is  the  only  Christiam.  body,  as  such  (except- 
ing the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  which  professedly  cares  only  for  its 
own  people),  that  is  responsible  for  the  maintenance  of  regular  and 
systematic  religious  services  and  bedside  ministrations  for ''all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  men"  in  the  public  institutions  of  every  kind  in  the 
city  and  on  the  adjacent  islands. 

The  society  has  three  missionaries  on  Blackwell's  Island,  where  they 
labor  respectively  in  the  Charity  Hospital,  with  its  thousand  sick  and 
suffering  inmates  ;  the  Penitentiary  and  Workhouse,  and  the  Alms- 
house and  Lunatic  Asylum.  On  "Ward's  Island  are  four  missionaries  of 
the  society  ministering  to  the  foreign  inmates  of  the  Homoeopathic  and 
Emigrant  hospitals,  and  one  labors  at  Bellevue  Hospital.  The  City 
Prison  and  other  institutions  also  receive  the  regular  ministrations  of 
servants  of  the  City  Mission.  To  one  minister  is  assigned  ten  insti- 
tutions, and  he  does  what  he  can  under  the  circumstances. 

At  the  St.  Barnabas  Home  and  Chapel,  at  the  Midnight  Mission  in 
Greene  Street,  and  the  New  York  Infant  Asylum  in  Sixty-first  Street, 
the  missionary  work  of  the  society  goes  steadily  forward.  The  custody 
of  the  free  reading-room  has  been  transferred  to  the  society,  and  the 
Industrial  School  of  the  City  Mission  is  flourishing.  The  assets  of  the 
society  amount  to  about  §68,000,  besides  the  Mary  Rosalie  Ruggles 
Fund  of  $1000,  and  the  Henry  Keep  Flower  Fund  of  $500»»,  the  income 
of  which  is  applied  to  the  support  of  St.  Barnabas  Home. 

The  following  items  of  the  eood  work  done  bv  the  Citv  Mission 
Society  during  the  year  ending  September  1,  1SS2,  will  give  an  idea  of 
the  value  of  its  labors  :  At  St.  Barnabas  Home  there  were  1(5,31)2  lodg- 
ings and  94,599  meals  furnished,  2412  destitute  and  homeless  women 
and  children  temporarily  cared  for,  and  114  children  admitted  into  the 
day  nursery.  The  whole  number  of  persons  who  found  shelter  and 
comfort  there  during  the  year  was  2542.  During  the  year,  1S()(?  fami- 
lies in  want  and  distress  were  visited,  and  51,931  individuals  were 
visited  for  relief  and  religious  conversation.  Besides  the  Industrial 
School  for  Girls,  the  society  has  a  day  nursery  for  children,  and  an 
employment  society  for  women.* 

*  The  officers  of  the  society  in  1882  were  :  Rt.  Rev.  Horatio  Potter,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
P.O.L.,  president  ex-cffieio;  Rev.  Thomas  M.  Peters,  P.P.,  Rev.  William  F.  Morgan, 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society  was  organized  in  the  city  of 
New  York  on  April  27,  1832.  In  response  to  an  invitation  given 
to  members  of  the  Baptist  communion  throughout  the  country,  a 
convention  was  assembled  on  the  day  above  named,  in  the  Mulberry 
Street  Meeting- House,  New  York.  The  convention  by  unanimous 
vote  resolved  that  it  was  "  expedient  to  form  an  American  Baptist 
Home  Mission  Society."  A  constitution  was  adopted,  and  the  society 
was  organized  by  the  choice  of  the  Hon.  Reman  Lincoln,  of  Massachu- 
setts, president  of  the  society,  and  the  appointment  of  twenty-seven 
vice-presidents  living  in  various  States,  and  a  large  board  of  directors. 
At  an  ad  journed  meeting  on  May  1st,  William  Colgate  was  elected 
treasurer,  Garret  N.  Bleecker  auditor,  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Going  cor- 
responding secretary,  and  the  Rev.  William  R.  Williams  recording 
secretary. 

At  the  first  formal  meeting  of  the  society,  at  the  Oliver  Street 
Church  in  New  York,  where  the  General  Baptist  Convention  for  For- 
eign Missions  was  holding  its  sessions,  the  machinery  of  the  society  was 
finally  completed  by  appointing  the  following-named  persons  an  execu- 
tive committee  :  The  Revs.  Archibald  Maclay,  Spencer  II.  Cone, 
Duncan  Dunbar,  Charles  G.  Sommers,  and  C.  P.  C.  Crosby  ;  and 
Messrs.  Charles  L.  Roberts,  George  W.  Houghton,  Timothy  R.  Greene, 
Nathan  Caswell,  and  William  Winterten.  The  previous  choice  of 
officers  of  the  society  was  ratified,  and  the  headquarters  of  the  associa- 
tion were  fixed  at  New  York  City. 

This  movement  was  the  result  of  long  and  prayerful  deliberation  by 
many  thoughtful  minds  for  years,  and  gave  great  joy  to  many  hearts. 
The  real  founder  of  the  society  was  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Going,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, whom  Dr.  Ilayne  characterized  as  a  "  Scotch  Yankee — a 
combination  which  makes  the  prince  of  strategists." 

Dr.  Going  opened  the  campaign  of  the  society  with  tremendous 
energy.  lie  set  about  its  establishment  on  a  sure  foundation.  With 
his  usual  zeal,  he  sought  men  and  money  for  the  work.  During  the 
summer  of  1832  he  travelled  a  thousand  miles  in  pursuing  this  labor  of 
love.  lie  gained  control  of  the  Baptist  Repository,  and  made  it  an 
efficient  organ  of  the  society  for  about  five  years,  when,  seeing  the 
enterprise  firmly  established  in  the  affections  of  his  denomination,  and 
having  full  faith  in  its  being  liberally  supported,  he  accepted  the  presi- 

D.D.,  Frederick  S.  "Winston,  Thomas  Egleston,  vice-presidents  ;  R.  B.  Tunstall,  secre- 
tary ;  John  H.  Boynton,  treasurer  ;  Rev.  C.  T.  Woodruff,  superintendent,  and  Rev.  X.  F. 
Ludlum.  financial  agent.  There  is  an  executive  committee  of  twenty-five,  of  which  the 
bishop  of  the  diocese  is  chairman. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


461 


dency  of  the  Granville  Literary  and  Theological  Institution,  in  Ohio, 
in  1837,  and  retired  from  the  executive  committee. 

At  first  an  impression  went  abroad  that  the  Foreign  and  Home  Mis- 
sion societies  were  rivals.  At  a  meeting  of  the  latter  in  1S3G  it  was 
formally  resolved  that  they  were  "  twin  sisters,  and  auxiliary  to  each 
other." 

The  first  missionary  appointed  who  went  to  the  field  was  the  Rev. 
Thomas  W.  Merrill,  who  was  sent  to  Michigan  Territory  and  did  brave 
and  efficient  service  there.  Other  appointments  speedily  followed, 
and  in  the  second  }Tear  of  the  life  of  the  society  there  were  eighty 
missionaries  engaged  in  the  service. 

The  labors  of  the  society  were  extended  as  exigencies  arose.  The 
great  emigration  from  Europe  during  its  existence  greatly  and  rapidly 
enlarged  the  demands  upon  it.  The  settlement  in  the  Western  States 
and  Territories  of  an  industrious  and  intelligent  population  from  North- 
ern Europe  presented  a  fruitful  field  for  missionary  labor,  and  it  has 
been  untiringly  cultivated  by  this  Home  Missionary  Society.  During 
and  after  the  great  Civil  "War,  missionary  work  among  the  freedmen 
was  demanded  and  largely  given  by  tie  society  in  the  way  of  spiritual 
instruction  and  secular  education.  This  work  began  as  early  as  1863. 
From  that  time  until  1SS3  the  society  expended,  in  promoting  mission- 
ary work  among  the  freedmen,  more  than  $1,000,000. 

The  avowed  chief  object  of  the  society  at  the  beginning  was  to  pro- 
mote the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  Its  laborers  preach  wherever  they 
can,  organize  chui'ches,  visit  homes  and  individuals,  establish  prayer- 
meetings,  organize  Sunday  -  schools,  distribute  religious  literature, 
build  meeting-houses,  and  thus  in  every  form  "preach  the  gospel." 
The  chief  field  of  its  labor  is  in  the  newer  settlements  in  the  "West  and 
among  the  Indians.  In  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Dakota,  Minnesota,  Iowa, 
and  Wisconsin  there  is  a  large  foreign  population,  and  among  them  the 
great  bulk  of  its  mission  stations  are  selected.  These,  in  its  whole  field 
of  operations  in  1882,  numbered  over  four  hundred  stations,  including 
twenty  general  stations  and  fourteen  freedmen' s  schools. 

Since  its  work  began,  in  1832,  the  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society  had 
spent  5530  years  of  labor,  organized  27<!5  churches,  preached  745,- 
436  sermons,  held  390, 72S  prayer-meetings,  made  1,735,550  religious 
visits,  baptized  85,381  persons,  and  in  1882  had  29,000  children  in  its 
Sabbath-schools.  The  work  is  now  prosecuted  in  forty -three  States 
and  Territories. 

Such  have  been  the  ceaseless,  untiring,  and  useful  labors  of  a  society 
formed  in  the  city  of  New  York  about  fifty  years  ago,  and  still  having 


462 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


the  distributing  centre  of  its  energies  in  the  great  commercial  metrop- 
olis of  our  Republic* 

*  The  officers  of  the  society  for  1882-83  were  :  James  L.  Howard,  president  ;  J.  H. 
Walker  and  John  D.  RockefeUer,  vice-presidents  ;  Joseph  B.  Hoyt,  treasurer  ;  William 
Phelps  and  Joseph  Brokaw,  auditors  ;  the  Rev.  Henry  L.  Morehouse,  D.D.,  correspond- 
ing secretary,  and  the  Rev.  D.  B.  Jutten,  recording  secretary.  The  chairman  of  the 
executive  board  is  S.  S.  Constant. 

The  materials  for  the  above  brief  sketch  of  the  origin  and  growth  of  the  society  were 
drawn  from  an  historical  account  by  the  corresponding  secretary,  the  Rev.  H.  L.  More- 
house, contained  in  a  "  Jubilee  Volume"  of  over  six  hundred  pages,  prepared  by  him 
and  published  by  the  society  in  1863. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


rT^IIE  American-  Female  Guardian  Society  and  Home  for  the 


A  Friendless  had  its  origin  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  the  spring 
of  1834.  At  that  time  there  appeared  an  abundance  of  zeal  in  benevo- 
lent work.  The  public  mind  and  conscience  had  been  powerfully  stirred 
by  revelations  of  great  need  in  such  work.  There  had  been  created  a 
strong  conviction  that  social  evils  were  rapidly  corrupting  public  morals 
and  endangering  the  purity  of  society,  and  also  a  wise  conviction  that 
an  "  an  ounce  of  prevention  is  better  than  a  pound  of  cure." 

Earnest  Christian  women,  like  those  engaged  in  the  Magdalen  Society, 
perceiving  the  danger,  resolved  to  extend  arms  of  protection  to  the 
tempted  and  unfortunate,  while  their  sisters  placed  their  arms  under- 
neath the  fallen  and  wretched  to  lift  them  up.  The  ultimate  object 
was  the  same — salvation.  The  association  was  called  The  American 
Female  Moral  Reform  and  Guardian  Society.  - 

The  Female  Guardian  Society,  as  soon  as  formed,  began  the  publica- 
tion of  a  newspaper  (continued  until  now)  called  the  Advocate  and 
Family  Guardian,  which  has  ever  been  the  organ  and  helper  of  the 
association.  It  was  the  successor  in  scope  and  influence  of  McDowell's 
Journal,  which  had  done  so  much  to  bring  into  the  sunlight  the  hidden 
iniquities  of  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  prime  object  of  the  Guardian  Society  was  to  promote  the  cause 
of  virtue  and  humanity  by  protecting  the  young,  the  destitute,  and  the 
friendless  of  the  gentler  sex  from  the  exposure  to  vice  and  suffering  in- 
cident to  their  condition  ;  also  to  secure  for  homeless  children,  as  far 
as  practicable,  the  training  of  the  Christian  family.  In  this  work  the 
labors  of  the  society  partook  more  of  the  character  of  private  effort, 
and  was  necessarily  quite  circumscribed. 

After  the  Guardian  Society  had  labored  earnestly  and  efficiently 
about  a  dozen  years  in  its  chosen  field,  it  undertook  a  wider  range  of 
duties  and  usefulness.    It  took  measures  to  establish  a  House  of  Indus 
try  and  Home  for  the  Friendless  on  a  broad  scale.    Leading  clergymen 
and  laymen  in  the  city  were  invited  to  act  as  an  advisory  committee, 


464 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


and  they  warmly  espoused  the  cause.*  This  committee  met  in  Jan- 
uary, 1847,  Dr.  S.  H.  Tyng  in  the  chair,  and  arranged  a  plan  of  a 
home.  A  house  was  hired  on  Second  Street  and  First  Avenue,  and 
there  the  new  enterprise  was  inaugurated.  That  was  in  July,  1847. 
Young  girls  of  good  moral  character,  destitute  of  money,  friends,  and 
horse,  were  received,  and  girls  under  the  age  of  fourteen  and  over  three 
years,  and  boys  under  ten  and  over  three  years  of  age,  either  orphans 
or  abandoned  by  their  parents,  were  (and  are)  received  and  provided 
for  until  permanent  homes  in  Christian  families  could  be  secured  for 
them  by  adoption  or  otherwise. 

A  site  for  a  building  for  the  use  of  the  society  was  purchased  on  East 
Thirteenth  Street,  between  Fourth  and  Madison  Avenues,  and  there,  on 
May  5,  1848,  the  corner-stone  of  the  building  the  association  now  occu. 
pies  was  laid.  The  building  was  completed,  and  in  December  following 
was  occupied. 

In  the  spring  of  1S49  the  Legislature  granted  the  association  a 
charter.  Its  name  was  changed  from  American  Female  Moral  Reform 
Society  to  American  Female  Guardian  Society,  and  the  privilege  of 
establishing  a  Home  for  the  Friendless  was  extended  to  it.  The  op- 
erations of  the  society  were  greatly  extended,  and  in  1857  a  Home 
Chapel  was  erected  on  Twenty-ninth  Street.  The  building  comprises 
a  chapel,  office  of  publication  of  the  Adroade,  school-room,  Dorcas- 
rooin,  and  work-room.  It  was  dedicated  on  June  3,  1857.  Auxiliary 
societies,  great  and  small,  were  formed  all  over  the  country  from  Maine 
to  California,  and  from  every  point  came  donations  of  clothing,  pro- 
visions, and  other  necessary  articles  as  offerings  of  benevolent  persons 
to  this  great  charity.  These  amount,  on  an  average,  to  over  seven 
hundred  packages  a  year.  The  society  has  established  schools.  In  1882, 
in  addition  to  its  home  school,  it  had  eleven  industrial  schools  in  various 
parts  of  the  city,  all  well  equipped  with  teachers  and  implements. 

A  "  shelter'  for  unfortunate  and  destitute  women  is  provided,  and 
also  nurseries  for  children.  There  is  a  branch  home  at  Oceanport, 
New  Jersey,  known  as  the  Wright  Memorial,  and  also  a  chapel  for  the 
children,  called  the  Roswell  Inness  Chapel,  built  largely  by  lloswell 
Smith,  Esq.,  in  memory  of  his  only  grandson. 

*  The  following-named  persons  composed  the  advisory  committee  :  the  Rev.  Drs. 
Stephen  H.  Tyng,  Nathan  Bangs,  G.  T.  Bedell,  John  Dowliug,  William  Patten,  George 
Potts,  George  B,  Cbeever,  W.  W.  Everts,  J.  M.  Krebs,  and  Thomas  H.  Skinner  .  Dr.  John 
H.  Griscom,  and  Messrs.  Moses  G.  Leonard,  James  Harper,  E.  W.  Chester,  Lewis 
Tappan,  S.  W.  Benedict,  Joseph  B.  Collins,  Lewis  Hallock,  J.  B.  Graham,  Francis  B. 
Sholes,  J.  S.  Taylor,  E.  E.  Milt  s,  and  E.  Ludlnm. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


465 


According  to  the  annua!  report  of  the  society  for  the  year  ending- 
May  1,  1882,  there  had  been  admitted  into  the  institution  as  tem- 
porary residents  there,  340  women,  of  whom  299  were  dismissed  to 
situations  ;  and  the  number  of  children  cared  for  during  the  year 
in  various  ways  was  553.  The  whole  number  of  children  cared  for 
since  the  opening  of  the  institution  was  about  28,000.  Much  aid  is 
given  to  out-door  poor.  The  average  attendance  at  the  schools  was 
over  2000.* 

The  Female  Guardian  Society  and  Home  for  the  Friendless  is  one  of 
the  most  important  and  useful  of  the  magnificent  charities  of  the  city 
of  New  York.  It  owes  much  to  its  late  corresponding  secretary,  Mrs. 
S.  R.  I.  Bennett,  for  its  existence,  prosperity,  and  abounding  useful- 
ness. She  was  truly  the  "home  mother,"  living  and  laboring  for  it 
continually.  She  died  in  1881,  in  the  very  room  where  she  had  done 
so  much  of  her  noble  work.f  The  Advocate,  issued  semi-monthly  at  $1 
a  year,  is  edited  by  Mrs.  Helen  E.  Brown. 

Fifty  years  ago  the  colored  population  of  the  city  of  New  York  were 
quite  numerous,  the  remnant  of  the  slave  system.  Though  nominally 
free,  they  were  more  degraded  and  oppressed  than  when  they  were  in 
bondage.  They  were  herded  together  in  the  lowest  localities,  and  be- 
cause they  were  of  an  enslaved  race  they  seemed  to  be  almost  beyond 
human  sympathy.  They  were  mostly  excluded  from  benevolent  insti- 
tutions and  the  public  schools,  and  were  overlooked  by  philanthropists. 
And  when  at  length  benevolent  persons,  chiefly  among  the  Society  of 
Friends  or  Quakers,  touched  by  the  miseries  of  the  colored  population 
of  the  city,  listened  to  their  cries  and  proposed  to  do  something  for 
their  elevation  and  comfort,  there  were  few  who  would  join  them,  so 
unpopular  was  the  idea. 

There  were  two  brave  young  women,  daughters  of  Quaker  parents, 
who  courageously  defied  popular  prejudice,  and  proceeded  to  the  good 
work  of  establishing  a  Home  for  Orphan  Colored  Children.  It  was 
a  wise  measure  to  extend  charity  and  benevolence  first  to  the  children. 
These  two  young  women  were  Miss  Anna  Shot  well  and  Miss  Mary 

*  The  officers  of  the  society  for  1882-83  were  :  Mrs.  Charles  C.  North,  president  ;  six- 
teen vice-presidents,  residing  in  New  York  and  other  States  ;  Mrs.  H.  M.  Harris,  corre- 
sponding secretary  ;  Mrs.  Harris  Wilson,  recording  secretary  ;  Mrs.  A.  H.  Ambler,  visit- 
ing secretary  ;  Mrs.  G.  A.  Stone,  treasurer,  and  Miss  Sarah  C.  Wilcox,  matron  of  the 
Home.  There  are  also  auditors,  a  board  of  counsellors,  an  executive  committee,  and  a 
board  of  managers  consisting  of  forty-five  ladies. 

f  Mrs.  Bennett  was  the  author  of  "Walks  of  Usefulness,"  "Wrought  Gold,"  and 
"  Women's  Work  Among  the  Lowly,"  a  memorial  volume  of  the  first  forty  years  of  the 
American  Female  Guardian  Society  and  Home  for  the  Friendless. 


466  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

Murray.  They  practically  asserted  the  equality  of  all  men  in  the 
sight  of  their  Maker. 

Miss  Shotweil  and  Miss  Murray  resolved  to  gather  m  from  the  haunts 
of  vice  and  misery  little  colored  orphans.  They  appealed  to  the  public 
for  contributions  to  that  end.  Patiently  they  told  their  story  from 
nouse  to  house,  amid  much  coldness  and  ridicule,  and  finally  gathered, 
by  small  contributions,  about  $2UUU  and  a  band  oi  twenty  ladies  who 
were  willing  to  undertake  the  woik  with  them. 

These  women  organized  a  society  in  1836,  entitled  The  Association  for 
the  Benefit  of  Colored  Orphans.  The  board  of  officers  consisted  of 
Martha  Cod  wise,  first  directress  ;  Sarah  C.  Ilawxhurst,  second  direct 
jess  :  Anna  II.  Shotweil,  secretary,  and  Mary  Murray,  treasurer. 
These  were  all  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  There  were 
twenty  lour  managers  ;  also  an  advisory  committee,  composed  of  "Will- 
iam T.  Mott,  Robert  I.  Murray,  Charles  King,  Robert  C.  Cornell,  and 
Dr.  Proudfit.    They  established  a  Colored  Orphans'  Home. 

At  the  very  outset  these  good  women  encountered  deep  prejudice. 
They  sought  a  building  to  hire  in  which  to  begin  their  work,  but  prop- 
erty owners  would  not  have  their  buildings  used  for  such  a  purpose, 
thoimh  tenements  for  rent  were  in  abundance.  After  a  vain  search  of 
three  months  for  a  building,  the  pursuit  was  relinquished,  and  they 
managed  to  purchase  a  small  wooden  building  for  $9000,  mortgaging 
it  for  $6000. 

The  Home  was  opened  in  1837,  but  so  dreadful  was  the  financial 
pressure  that  at  times  it  seemed  as  if  they  must  relinquish  the  enter- 
prise. The  utmost  economy  in  management  was  practised,  and  at  the 
close  of  seven  months'  experience,  with  a  family  of  twenty-two  chil- 
dren, they  had  expended  only  S2r>4.  The  house  had  been  furnished 
with  the  discarded  property  of  their  friends,  and  the  table  was  largely 
supplied  from  the  same  source.  The  managers,  on  visiting  the  alms 
house  at  Rellevue,  had  found  the  colored  children  in  charge  of  an  in- 
temperate and  sometimes  crazy  man.  At  other  times  they  were 
crowded  in  with  degraded  adults  in  unhealthful  buildings.  Some  of 
these  children  were  taken  to  the  happy  Home,  but  most  of  them  were 
incurably  diseased. 

The  association  was  incorporated  in  ls.'3S.  In  1842  the  common 
council  granted  the  association  twenty-two  lots  on  Fifth  Avenue,  be- 
tween Forty-third  and  Forty-fourth  streets.  Thereon  a  suitable  build- 
ing was  erected,  and  for  many  years  the  institution  struggled  against 
prejudice  and  indifference,  yet  continually  gaining  friends  and  more 
liberal  support. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


467 


In  July,  1863,  when  the  Civil  War  was  at  its  height,  a  dreadful  riot 
occurred  m  the  city  of  >ie\v  York,  which  will  be  noticed  hereafter. 
The  rioters  were  largely  foreign-born  persons,  chiefly  Irish  of  the  lower 
class,  whose  prejudices  against  the  colored  people  had  been  stimulated 
and  their  imaginations  inflamed  by  designing  demagogues.  In  this  riot 
they  directed  their  blind  fury  against  the  colored  people,  and  sacked 
the  colored  Home,  where  such  noble  work  was  in  progress.  Though  it 
will  anticipate  history  somewhat,  it  seems  to  be  appropriate  here  to 
introduce,  in  a  foot-note,  a  brief  narrative  of  that  event,  for  it  is  an 
important  part  of  the  history  of  the  institution  we  are  considering.* 

*  At  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  ol  July  13,  18G3  while  the  233  inmates  of  the  asylum 
were  quietly  seated  in  the  school-room,  playing  in  the  nursery,  or  lying  on  sick-beds  in 
the  hospital  a  roaring  mob.  composed  of  several  thousand  men  women,  and  children, 
armed  with  clubs  bricks,  and  other  missiles  suddenly  attacked  the  institution.  The 
Home  was  stored  with  good  furniture,  dry-goods,  bedding  clothing,  and  provisions,  and 
the  parlor  had  just  been  newly  carpeted.  The  institution  was  out  of  debt,  and  rejoicing 
in  prosperity  and  usefulness. 

Dr.  Burnett,  the  physician  of  the  asylum  had  watched  the  movements  of  the  mob  with 
great  anxiety  for  the  safety  of  the  institution.  He  gave  the  first  alarm.  The  matron 
went  to  every  room  and  notified  each  occupant  to  assemble  at  a  given  place,  where  the 
children  were  requested  to  engage  in  silent  prayer  to  God  for  protection.  Then,  with 
streaming  eyes,  they  were  led  down  stairs,  and  very  soon  their  ears  were  greeted  with 
the  yells  of  the  approaching  rioters. 

The  managers  had  generally  left  the  city  for  summer  residences,  and  none  but  the 
superintendent  and  his  usual  assistants  were  there.  About  five  hundred  of  the  mob 
entered  the  building,  after  breaking  down  the  front  door  with  an  axe.  At  this  moment 
brave  John  Decker,  chief  engineer  of  the  fire  department,  appeared,  with  ten  or  fifteen 
men.  He  was  a  man  of  powerful  frame  and  iron  will.  His  principal  force  was  at  a  large 
fire  in  Broadway. 

Perceiving  the  situation,  Decker  said  to  his  men,  "  Will  you  stick  by  me  ?"  To  a  man 
the}-  promptly  said,  "  We  will."  Already  the  building  had  been  set  on  fire  in  a  dozen 
places.  The  firemen  attempted  to  extinguish  the  flames,  when  they  were  threatened  with 
death  if  they  did  not  desist. 

"  Then  you  will  have  to  pass  over  our  dead  bodies,''  replied  Decker,  and  their  exer- 
tions were  renewed,  but  in  vain.  After  the  sacking  and  pillage  were  accomplished,  the 
infuriated  rioters  strewed  combustible  materials  over  the  floors,  piled  straw  beds  in  the 
garret,  and  set  them  on  fire,  and  very  soon  the  whole  building  was  in  flames. 

During  these  proceedings  the  superintendent  and  matron  and  other  employes  had 
quietly  collected  the  children.  The  boys  were  hidden  under  the  back  piazza,  the  girls 
were  gathered  in  the  dining-room.  The  sight  of  these  poor  children  as  they  left  the 
building  in  procession  subdued  for  a  moment  the  savage  feelings  of  the  mob.  An  Irish- 
man standing  in  the  street  as  the  children  passed  along  shouted  with  a  loud  voice  : 

"  If  there  is  a  man  among  ye  with  a  heart  in  his  bosom,  come  and  help  these  poor 
children."  A  young  Irishman  named  Paddy  McCaffrey,  with  four  stage-drivers  and  the 
members  of  Engine  Company  Xo.  18,  rescued  some  twenty  of  the  orphan  children,  who 
were  surrounded  by  the  mob,  and  in  defiance  of  the  threats  of  the  cowardly  rioters 
escorted  them  to  the  precinct  station-house. 

The  wrath  of  the  rioters  was  kindled  by  this  appeal.    The  man  was  seized  and  cruelly 


468 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Provision  was  made  for  the  admission  of  the  children  to  shelter  on 
BlackwelTs  Island.  These  were  in  a  forlorn  plight.  They  had  left 
their  pleasant  home  in  ruins,  without  caps,  bonnets,  and  shoes.  They 
were  accompanied  in  their  journey  by  a  large  number  of  colored 
refugees,  who  had  sought  safety  at  the  station-house.  With  a  police 
force  at  their  front  and  rear,  and  flanked  by  fifty  Zouaves  with  loaded 
muskets  and  glittering  bayonets,  the  forlorn  procession  moved,  men- 
aced on  the  way  by  the  mob,  who  were  kept  harmless  by  a  wholesome 
fear  of  bullets  and  cold  steel.  Arrived  at  their  destination,  the  Mer- 
chants'' Relief  Committee  gave  them  aid,  and  they  were  made  comfort- 
able on  the  island*  for  months.  A  commodious  dwelling  at  Carmans- 
ville  was  hired,  altered,  and  repaired,  and  in  October  following  these 
feeble,  wearied  wanderers  were  again  in  a  pleasant  home. 

The  officers  and  servants  of  the  institution  lost  all  their  clothing  and 
other  property,  for  they  were  so  intent  upon  saving  the  children  that 
they  did  not  care  for  themselves.  The  records  of  the  asylum,  which 
were  kept  by  the  same  secretary  twenty-seven  years,  were  also  de- 
stroyed. 

The  lots  on  Fifth  Avenue  were  disposed  of,  and  the  present  home 
was  erected  on  One  Hundred  and  Forty-third  Street  and  Tenth 
Avenue.  It  is  now  in  a  flourishing  condition/''  During  the  year  1S82 
there  were  402  children  in  the  Home,  of  whom  295  were  there  at  the 
close  of  1881.    During  the  year  109  were  released  from  the  Home. 

beaten,  but  the  children  were  allowed  to  pass  on  unmolested.  The  superintendent  and 
matron  took  them  to  the  Thirty-fifth  Street  station-house,  where  the  whole  company 
were  protected  for  three  days  and  three  nights.  .  The  building  was  near  the  Seventh 
Avenue  Arsenal,  and  they  were  guarded  by  volunteer  soldiers. 

At  first  the  children  were  stowed  comfortably  in  a  tier  of  cells,  but  when  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  rioters  were  brought  in,  some  of  them  covered  with  blood,  the  little  ones  were 
turned  out  and  compelled  to  stand  in  the  passage-way,  for  there  was  not  room  for  them 
to  lie  down.  When  the  captain  beheld  the  forlorn  condition  of  these  helpless,  frightened, 
almost  starving  children,  he  burst  into  tears. 

At  length  a  place  was  found  for  the  little  ones  to  lie  down.  At  midnight  they  were 
suddenly  awakened  by  the  loud  voice  of  the  chief  of  police  calling  out  the  men.  The 
children,  supposing  the  order  was  for  them  to  turn  out  and  be  exposed  to  the  mob, 
mshed  to  a  window  with  a  simultaneous  scream.  They  were  soon  quieted,  and  yielded 
that  implicit  obedience  which  they  had  been  taught.  Food  was  abundantly  supplied  by 
their  friends  living  in  the  neighborhood.  The  superintendent  was  given  the  office  of 
provost-marshal  over  the  large  assemblage  of  colored  people  who  had  fled  to  the  station- 
house  for  protection.    These  were  fed  by  the  surplus  food  sent  in  to  the  children. 

*  The  officers  of  the  institution  for  1883  are  :  Mrs.  Augustus  Faber,  first  directress  ; 
Mrs.  William  H.  Onderdonk,  second  directress  ;  Mrs.  Sarah  S.  Murray,  secretary,  and 
Mrs.  S.  B.  Van  Dusen.  treasurer.  There  are  twenty-nine  lady  managers  and  eleven  gen- 
tlemen adviseis.    O.  K.  Hutchins  is  superintendent. 


FIRST  DECADE.  1830-1840. 


469 


The  average  number  of  children  in  the  Koine  during  the  year  was  282. 
The  whole  number  received  since  June  9,  1837,  is  2640.  There  is  a 
nourishing  school  in  the  institution. 

The  two  originators  of  the  association,  Misses  Anna  H.  Shotwell 
and  Mary  Murray,  have  gone  to  their  reward.  Miss  Murray  married 
Lindley  Murray  Ferris,  and  after  her  marriage  lived  many  years  in 
Poughkeepsie  She  had  been  the  treasurer  of  the  institution  until  she 
left  the  city.  In  the  midst  of  her  varied  duties  as  wife  and  mother 
and  great  activities  in  church  affairs  in  her  new  home,  she  always 
maintained  the  deepest  interest  in  the  asylum.  Mrs.  Ferris  died  on 
September  26,  1S81.  One  of  the  founders  of  the  association,  Miss 
Sarah  F.  Underbill,  still  lives.    She  has  been  a  manager  from  the  first. 

The  Colored  Home  axd  Hospital. — About  the  year  1837  Miss  Mary 
Shotwell  and  Mrs.  W.  W.  Chester,  two  benevolent  ladies,  obtained 
support  for  several  colored  persons  in  a  dwelling-house.  Afterward 
they  hired  a  large  frame  house  in  Eleventh  Street,  where  they  sup- 
ported twelve  to  sixteen  persons  until  they  were  removed  to  Woodside, 
a  home  afterward  provided  by  an  association  of  women. 

In  the  autumn  of  1839  Mrs.  Maria  Banyar,  Miss  Jay,  Mrs.  William 
W.  Chester,  Miss  Few,  Mrs.  Mott,  Miss  Miller,  Mrs.  Chrystie,  Mrs. 
Goddard,  Mrs.  Innis,  and  Miss  M.  Shotwell  met  at  the  house  of  Mrs. 
Banyar,  Xo.  20  Bond  Street,  to  take  into  consideration  the  condition 
of  the  colored  population  of  the  city,  and  to  devise  a  plan  for  an  alle- 
viation of  their  sufferings.  Miss  Shotwell  suggested  a  plan,  and  Miss 
Jay  made  a  donation  of  $1000  for  carrying  it  out. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  of  these  earnest  women  a  board  of  man- 
agers was  appointed,  a  constitution  was  adopted,  and  a  society  was 
organized  under  the  title  of  The  Society  for  the  Relief  of  Worthy 
Aged  Colored  Persons.  The  officers  chosen  were  Mrs.  Anna  Mott, 
first  directress  ;  Miss  Mary  Shotwell,  second  directress  ;  Miss  Few, 
treasurer  ;  Miss  A.  H.  Livingston,  secretary,  and  Mr.  Parsons,  adviser. 
There  were,  besides,  seven  managers  appointed. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  board  twelve  persons  were  presented  as 
worthy  of  relief,  and  for  the  first  four  years  the  pensioners  were 
accommodated  in  a  building  on  the  shore  of  the  Hudson  River,  called 
Woodside.  In  1S42  Mr.  Horsburgh  gave  the  society  $2(100.  This  was 
the  nucleus  of  a  fund  for  the  erection  of  a  permanent  building. 

In  1S45  the  society  was  incorporated  under  the  title  of  The  Society 
for  the  Support  of  the  Colored  Home,  and  the  Legislature  appropri- 
ated $10,000  for  the  erection  of  a  permanent  building.  The  next  year 
an  arrangement  was  made  with  the  commissioners  of  the  poor  for  the 


470 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Home  to  receive  all  the  colored  paupers  of  the  city  at  a  very  low  rate 
of  compensation.  In  1847  Mrs.  Maria  Shatzel  bequeathed  to  the  Home 
$10,000  for  the  support  of  a  lying-in  department. 

In  1848  the  society  purchased  forty-four  lots  of  ground  on  First 
Avenue,  between  Sixty-fourth  and  Sixty-fifth  streets,  and  began  the 
erection  of  some  of  the  buildings  since  occupied  by  the  institution. 
The  good  work  has  been  carried  on  successfully,  and  its  field  of  useful- 
ness has  constantly  widened. 

In  view  of  its  thoroughly  organized  medical  department,  the 
Supreme  Court  of  New  York  granted  the  society  the  privilege  of  hav- 
ing the  word  "hospital"  appended  to  its  corporate  title,  and  it  has 
since  been  known  as  the  Colored  I  Ionic  and  Hospital.  It  being  the 
only  hospital  for  colored  people  in  the  city,  its  duties  (as  Avell  as  its 
usefulness)  have  greatly  increased. 

The  Home  and  Hospital  consists  of  four  distinct  departments — 
namely,  hospital,  home  for  the  aged  and  indigent,  nursery,  and  lying- 
in  department.  The  nursery  embraces  children  over  three  years  of  age 
who  cannot  be  admitted  into  the  Colored  Orphan  Asylum.  The 
average  number  in  thai  departmenj  in  1882  was  abonl  twenty.  No 
special  religious  denomination  is  represented  in  the  government  of  the 
institution.  The  greater  number  of  the  inmates  being  Methodists,  the 
chosen  chaplain  is  a  Methodist  minister.  Ministers  of  other  denomina- 
tions are  invited  to  the  performance  of  religious  services.* 

The  Society  for  the  Belief  of  Half  Obphae  and  Destxtdte  Chil- 
dki:n  in  the  city  of  New  York  was  organized  in  the  year  1835.  At 
that  time  there  were  two  orphan  asylums  in  the  city.  One  was  Prot- 
estant, admitting  full  orphans  only,  and  the  other  was  Roman  Catho- 
lic, which  was  open  alike  to  those  who  had  lost  one  or  both  parents. 
There  was  not  at  that  time  any  institution  in  the  United  States  which 
aimed  to  care  for  that  important  class  of  children  who,  by  the  loss  of 
one  parent,  were  frequently  left  as  helpless  and  destitute  as  if  both  had 
been  removed  by  death. 

Attention  was  first  called  to  this  necessity  by  the  story  told  of  a  de- 
voted mother — a  servant-woman  who  became  a  widow.  She  had  two 
small  children  depending  upon  her  earnings  for  their  support.  They 

*  The  officers  of  the  Colored  Home  and  Hospital  in  1882  were  :  Miss  Mary  W.  Booth, 
first  directress  ;  Mrs.  William  E.  Dodge,  second  directress  ;  Mrs.  James  B.  Colgate,  treas- 
urer ;  Miss  Monell,  corresponding  secretary,  and  Mrs.  Frederick  A.  Booth,  recording 
secretary.  It  has  twenty-one  lady  managers,  an  executive  committee,  an  advisory  hoard, 
and  physician.  Dr.  Thomas  W.  Bickerton  was  superintendent,  and  Mrs.  E.  Hagar, 
matron. 


FIRST  DECADE,  1830-1840. 


471 


could  not  be  taken  into  the  family  where  she  lived,  and  she  procured 
board  for  them  elsewhere.  For  this  she  was  compelled  to  pay  the  full 
amount  of  wages  she  was  earning,  leaving  nothing  wherewith  to  buy 
clothing  for  herself  or  children.  So  she  left  her  place  ot  service  in  the 
city  and  went  with  her  children  into  the  country. 

The  story  of  this  loving  mother  was  told  to  a  few  benevolent  ladies, 
who  conceived  a  plan  for  a  Protestant  asylum  for  children  similarly 
situated.  At  an  appointed  day  seven  of  them  met  to  digest  and  arrange 
their  plans.  They  organized  a  society,  appointed  managers,  opened 
a  subscription,  which  netted  s7">,  and  with  that  small  sum  began  the 
enterprise.  That  organization  took  place  on  the  evening  before  the 
great  fire  of  December  16,  1835.  A  basement  room  in  "White  Street 
was  hired  for  the  beginning  of  the  benevolent  work,  a  matron  was 
engaged,  and  she  began  her  duties  in  taking  care  of  four  children. 

rl  he  lady  in  whose  family  the  poor  widow  lived,  and  who  related  the 
story  to  friends,  was  Mrs.  "William  A.  Tomlinson. 

The  following  ladies  formed  the  first  board  of  officers  of  the  Half 
Orphan  Asylum  :  Mrs.  William  A.  Tomlinson,  first  directress  ;  Mrs. 
James  Boorman,  second  directress  ;  Mrs.  J.  W.  Wheeler,  secretary  ; 
Mrs.  N.  Littlefield,  treasurer.  The  executive  committee  was  composed 
of  Mrs.  Tomlinson,  Mrs.  Boorman,  Mrs.  Wheeler,  Mrs.  E.  Wainwright, 
and  Mrs.  Levi  Coit.  A  board  of  managers  composed  of  twenty-six 
ladies  was  organized. 

Within  a  few  months  a  house  was  hired  on  Twelfth  Street,  and  the 
number  of  children  had  increased  to  fifty-nine.  This  enterprise  soon 
found  generous  supporters — among  the  most  munificent  of  these  was 
the  late  James  Boorman.  The  institute  was  incorporated  in  April,  1837, 
under  the  name  of  The  Society  for  the  Relief  of  Half  Orphan  and 
Destitute  Children  in  the  City  of  New  York.  In  the  following  year 
the  society  purchased  a  house  on  Tenth  Street.  It  was  soon  too  small, 
arid  finally  the  present  home  was  erected  at  No.  07  West  Tenth  Street. 

The  Protestant  Half  Orphan  Asylum  is  doing  a  noble  work  in  its 
special  sphere  of  duty.  Its  means  have  enlarged  with  its  growth  in 
usefulness.  Its  officers  for  1882  were  :  Mrs.  George  D.  Phelps,  first 
directress  ;  Mrs.  M.  W.  Bradley,  treasurer,  and  Mrs.  J.  M.  Campbell, 
superintendent. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  population  of  the  city  of  New  York  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Second  Decade  (1840)  was  312,700,  an  increase  in  ten  years  of 
nearly  110,000.  The  business  of  the  city  in  almost  every  department 
had  increased  in  proportion,  and  it  was  giving  a  sure  promise  of  be- 
coming one  of  the  most  populous  and  prosperous  cities  of  the  world. 
London  then  contained  nearly  2,000,000  inhabitants,  including  its  sub- 
urbs, and  Paris  about  920,000.  The  total  foreign  commerce  of  New 
York  City  proper  had  expanded  in  value  from  about  $55, 000, 000  in 
1830  to  over  $100,000,000  in  1840. 

Within  twenty  years  the  city  had  doubled  in  size  by  the  erection  of 
new  buildings,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  older  part  of  the  city  had 
been  rebuilt,  particularly  its  stores  and  warehouses.  Many  of  these 
were  of  granite  and  marble,  and  brown  freestone  was  beginning  to 
be  used  in  veneering  the  fronts  of  the  better  class  of  new-built  resi- 
dences. Of  the  latter  many  elegant  houses  had  been  erected  in  East 
Broadway.  St.  Mark's  Place,  Bond  Street,  and  on  Washington  Square, 
of  fine  brick,  with  white  marble  trimmings  and  marble  steps  and  porti- 
cos. These  localities  were  then  contending  for  the  honor  of  being  the 
exclusively  fashionable  portion  of  the  city  in  its  newest  part.  The  city 
was  then  partly  lighted  with  gas  and  partly  with  oil. 

The  public  squares  and  promenades  in  the  compact  part  of  the  city 
were  yet  very  few.  The  Battery  still  held  its  pre-eminence  as  a  fash- 
ionable as  well  as  popular  resort  for  cool  shade  and  fresh  air  in  sum- 
mer-time, but  it  was  becoming  too  far  away  from  the  upper  borders  of 
the  city  to  hold  that  pre-eminence  long.  The  only  other  squares  or 
malls  in  the  city  at  that  time  were  the  City  Hall  Park,  St.  John's 
Park,  Washington  and  Tompkins  squares.  St.  John's  Square  was 
not  open  to  the  public,  but  was  held  for  the  exclusive  use  of  property- 
owners  around  it.  It  was  then  a  beautifully  shaded  park,  the  trees 
having  been  selected  for  their  affinities  by  the  elder  Michaud.  The 
northern  boundary  of  the  compact  portion  of  the  city  had  now  ex- 
tended to  Twelfth  Street. 

The  year  18-10  was  marked  by  one  of  the  most  excitable  and  de- 


476 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


moralizing  political  campaigns  ever  known  in  this  country,  not  only  in 
the  city  of  New  York  but  throughout  the  Republic.  It  was  a  canvass 
for  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States.  The  rival  candidates 
were  Martin  Van  Buren,  then  in  the  Presidential  chair,  and  General 
"William  Henry  Harrison,  the  popular  military  leader  in  the  North- West 
in  the  Avar  of  1812-15.  Van  Buren  was  the  candidate  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  and  General  Harrison  of  the  AVhig  party.  Ex-Governor 
John  Tyler,  of  Virginia,  was  the  Whig  candidate  for  Vice-President. 

The  usual  trick  of  demagogues  in  formulating  a  "  war-cry"  and  pro- 
viding a  symbol  of  the  party  or  the  candidate  to  catch  the  ear  and 
enlist  the  sympathies  of  the  illiterate  and  unthinking  multitude  was 
now  resorted  to.  Harrison  having  been  associated  with  pioneer  life 
in  the  "West,  the  log-cabin  was  chosen  as  his  symbol.  The  fiction  was 
industriously  circulated  that  he  was  living  in  a  log-cabin  in  Ohio  ;  that 
he  was  very  hospitable  ;  that  the  "  latch-string''  of  his  door  was 
always  "  out,"  and  that  every  guest  was  regaled  with  flagons  of  hard 
cider.  This  fiction  was  coupled  with  the  battle-cry  of  "  Tipi'ecaxoe 
and  Tyi.kk  too,"  and  a  log-cabin  was  adopted  as  the  symbol  of  Harri- 
son, and  a  barrel  of  hard  cider  as  the  symbol  of  his  generous  hospital- 
ity. Log-cabins  were  erected  all  over  the  country — in  villages,  cities, 
and  in  rural  districts— as  rallying- places  for  politicians  and  the  electors, 
in  each  of  which  hard  cider  was  dispensed  to  every  comer,  young  and 
old,  as  freely  as  water. 

In  the  city  of  New  York  a  log-cabin  was  erected  in  nearly  every 
ward,  wherein  cider  flowed  in  an  almost  perpetual  stream.  Horace 
Greeley,  who  had  been  engaged  in  unsuccessful  journalism  (pecuniarily) 
in  the  city  for  about  seven  years,  conducting  the  Xnr  Yorker  and  the 
Jefiirxonuin,  was  engaged  by  Thurlow  Weed  and  his  political  friends  in 
Albany  to  edit  a  campaign  paper,  which  was  called  the  Lof/-Cnbin,  for 
special  effort  in  the  city  of  New  York.  It  proved  to  be  a  mighty 
partisan  power,  and  with  the  aid  of  other  agencies  it  overturned  the 
Democratic  party  in  the  city.  The  course  of  Van  Huren  in  regard  to 
finances  during  the  distressful  times  of  1837-38  had  made  him  unpopu- 
lar with  the  commercial  community,  and  a  political  tidal  wave,  like 
that  of  1882,  swept  over  the  country  and  carried  Harrison  and  Tyler 
into  office.  Harrison  lived  only  a  month  after  his  inauguration  as 
President,  and  Tyler  became  his  constitutional  successor. 

Mr.  Greeley's  conduct  of  the  Log-Cuhni  fully  attested  his  pre-eminent 
ability  as  a  political  writer,  and  the  qualities  which  constitute  a  skilful 
journalist.  He  was  then  twenty-nine  years  of  age.  The  great  "Whig 
party  as  a  body  appreciated  his  powers.    The  Whig  leaders  perceived 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


477 


the  necessity  of  a  cheap  Whig  paper  in  the  city  of  New  York,  all 
of  those  then  published  being  "  blanket-sheets."  Mr.  Greeley  was 
appealed  to,  to  establish  such  a  newspaper.  lie  pondered  the  matter 
during  the  winter  of  1S40-41.  A  Whig  President  would  fill  the  chair 
of  state  ;  the  Whig  party  was  in  the  ascendency  in  the  Union  ;  the 
prospect  seemed  encouraging  for  such  an  enterprise,  and  he  resolved  to 
undertake  it.  With  a  small  capital  in  money,  but  a  large  capital  of  in- 
dustry, patience,  strong  will,  and  faith,  he  established  the  New  York 
Tribime  immediately  after  the  inauguration  of  President  Harrison  in 
the  spring  of  1841.  - 

Mr.  Greeley  needed  a  business  manager  for  his  newspaper,  for  in  that 
capacity  he  was  deficient  in  ability,  lie  soon  found  just  the  man  for 
the  place  in  Thomas  McElrath,  a  young  lawyer  by  profession,  who 
had  been  an  active  and  intelligent  book-publisher.  He  took  hold  of 
the  business  oar  of  the  Tribune  in  July,  1841,  and  to  his  energy,  skill, 
and  enterprise  in  the  early  management  of  the  paper  was  due  its  finan- 
cial success.  The  Tribune  encountered  fierce  opposition  at  the  begin- 
ning from  rival  publications. 

From  the  beginning  the  Tribune  was  conspicuously  individual  in  its 
course  in  regard  to  men,  events,  and  opinions.  It  was  always  ready  to 
advocate  any  measure  that  seemed  to  promise  benefit  to  mankind.  It 
was  ever  a  manly  champion  of  new  ideas  and  projects,  and  when  satis- 
fied that  one  of  its  foster-children  was  unworthy  of  further  support  it 
abandoned  it  in  the  same  manly  way.  In  consequence  of  its  advocacy 
or  discussion  of  novel  dootrines  in  morals,  religion,  politics,  and  social 
life,  which  the  critics  of  its  editor  grouped  under  the  vague  head  of 
"  isms,"  it  was  often  subjected  to  severe  animadversions. 

In  the  year  after  the  Tribune  was  established  there  were  nine  cheap 
cash  journals  and  seven  ''sixpenny  sheets"  published  daily  in  New 
York.  There  were  also  five  Sunday  papers  and  six  Saturday  papers 
published.*  The  daily  papers  had  an  aggregate  circulation  of  92,700  ; 
the  weekly  papers  of  38,500.  The  Sun  (one  cent)  had  the  largest  cir- 
culation—20,000  ;  the  Herald  (two  cents)  the  next  largest — 15,000, 

*  The  cheap  newspapers  in  >~ew  York  in  184-2  were  the  8un,  Harold,  Tribune,  Aurora, 
Morning  Post,  Plebeian,  Chronicle,  Union,  and  Taller.  The  "  sixpenny  sheets"  were  the 
Courier  and  Enquirer,  Journal  of  Commerce,  Commercial  Adcerttsrr,  E. 'press,  American,  Even- 
ing Post,  and  Standard.  The  Journal  of  Commerce  had  then  a  daily  circulation  of  7500. 
The  Saturday  papers  were  the  Brother  Jonathan,  Xew  World,  Spirit  of  the  Tunes,  Whip, 
Flash,  and  Pake.  The  Xew  World,  edited  by  Park  Benjamin,  had  a  weekly  circulation  of 
8000.  The  Sunday  papers  were  the  Atlas,  Times,  Mercury,  and  Xew  Sunday  Herald.  The 
latter  had  a  circulation  of  'J000. 


478 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


and  the  Tribv/ne  (one  cent)  hail  9,500.  It  was  compelled  soon  to 
advance  its  price  to  two  cents.  At  one  time  subsequently  the  cir- 
culation of  the  Weekly  Tribune  attained  a  circulation  of  200,000. 

The  Trtbum  still  flourishes  as  a  leading  daily  journal  in  the  metrop- 
olis. Its  founder  (Horace  Greeley)  died  from  the  effects  of  overwork 
of  the  brain  late  in  1*72,  but  it  continues  to  be  marked  by  great  ability 
in  its  management.  It  is  to-day  worthy  of  the  great  editor  who 
founded  it.* 

One  of  the  greatest  inventions  in  connection  with  the  art  of  printing 
since  Faust  and  Guttenberg  lived  was  made  in  Xew  York  at  about  the 
time  of  the  advent  of  the  Tribime.  That  invention  was  the  "  light- 
ning press,"  devised  by  Richard  M.  Hoe,  eldest  son  of  Robert  Hoe, 
one  of  the  earliest  printing-press  manufacturers  in  the  city  of  New 
York. 

Richard  M.  Hoe's  father,  the  founder  of  the  firm  of  R.  M.  Iloe  6z  Co., 
was  a  native  of  Lancashire,  England,  where  he  was  born  in  1781.  His 


*  Horace  Greeley  was  born  in  Amherst,  N.  H.,  in  February,  1811.  He  was  the  son  of  a 
small  farmer,  was  educated  at  a  common  school,  learned  the  printer's  trade  at  Poultney, 
Vermont,  and  in  August,  1831,  found  his  way  to  New  York  City,  where  he  was  employed 
in  his  trade.  He  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  establish  a  one-cent  newspaper.  In 
1834,  in  connection  with  Jonas  Winchester,  he  established  The  New  Yorker,  a  literary 
weekly  paper,  of  which  he  was  editor.  It  continued  seven  years,  but  was  not  pecuniarily 
successful.  After  the  political  "  hard  cider"  campaign  in  1810  be  established  the 
Tribune,  the  career  of  which  is  mentioned  in  the  text.  He  was  a  member  of  Congress 
in  1818,  and  in  lSol  he  visited  Europe  the  first  time.  »His  course  at  times  during  tbe 
Civil  War  was  rather  eccentric.  He  was  one  of  Jefferson  Davis's  bail  bondsmen  before 
that  person  was  indicted  for  treason,  after  the  war. 

Mr.  Greeley  was  a  presidential  elector  in  1864.  In  I860  he  was  the  Republican  candi- 
date for  comptroller  of  the  State  of  Xew  York.  In  1872,  though  always  a  Whig  and 
Republican  in  politics,  Mr.  Greeley  accepted  the  nomination  for  the  Presidency  of  the 
United  States  from  the  Democratic  party,  and  was  defeated.  His  intense  mental  and 
physical  labors  during  that  campaign,  working  upon  a  brain  that  had  been  overtaxed  for 
many  years,  prostrated  his  nervous  system.  Added  to  these  causes  was  painful  watch- 
ing at  the  bedside  of  his  dying  wife  at  the  close  of  the  campaign.  He  died  at  his  home 
at  Chappaqna,  in  November,  1872. 

Horace  Greeley  was  a  great  man.  He  was  honest,  conscientious,  ever  true  to  his  con- 
victions, faithful  in  everything.  His  errors  were  of  the  head,  not  of  the  heart.  The 
latter  was  large  enough  to  embrace  sympathy  for  all  human  kind. 

Mr.  Greeley  was  the  author  of  several  important  books.  The  most  pretentious  one  of 
any  was  "  The  American  Conflict,"  a  history  of  the  Civil  War  in  America.  He  had  for- 
merly (1850)  published  a  "  nistory  of  the  Struggle  for  Slavery  Extension."  His  death 
produced  a  profound  impression  of  regret  throughout  the  country.  Good  men  of  all 
parties  mourned  his  loss.  His  body  lay  in  state  in  the  City  Hall,  New  York,  for  one  day, 
where  it  was  visited  by  a  vast  multitude  of  people,  whose  emotions  attested  the  love  and 
reverence  they  felt  for  the  dead  editor  and  the  friend  of  man. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1830. 


479 


father,  a  well-to-do  fanner,  apprenticed  Mm  to  a  carpenter.  Robert 
was  a  bright,  ambitions  boy.  Attracted  by  accounts  of  the  far  greater 
facilities  for  advancement  in  the  business  of  life  offered  in  the  United 
States  than  in  his  own  country,  and  the  chances  for  the  enjoyment  of 
political  and  social  freedom  here,  Robert  purchased  the  remainder  of 
the  period  of  his  apprenticeship,  and  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years 
landed  at  the  city  of  New  York.  On  his  first  arrival  he  formed  the 
acquaintance  of  the  benevolent  little  Scotchman,  Grant  Thorburn,  who 
kept  plants  and  seeds  for  sale  in  a  building  on  Cedar  Street,  once  occu- 
pied as  a  Friends'  meeting-house,  in  front  of  wliich  he  had  a  pretty 
flower  garden.  The  lad  could  not  get  work  at  his  trade  on  account  of 
the  yellow  fever,  and  he  had  no  money.  The  kind  seedsman  offered  to 
board  him  until  he  could  find  employment.  A  week  after  he  entered 
Thorburn's  dwelling  he  was  seized  with  the  fever  and  nearly  died. 
Mrs.  Thorburn  nursed  him  tenderly,  and  he  recovered.  The  recipient 
of  tliis  favor  in  the  hour  of  his  great  need  gratefully  remembered  the 
act,  and  the  homes  of  his  children  were  ever  open  to  Grant  Thorburn 
as  a  welcome  guest  until  his  death,  at  the  age  of  ninety  years. 

Young  Hoe  soon  established  himself  as  a  master  carpenter,  married 
a  daughter  of  Matthew  Smith,  of  Westchester,  within  a  little  more  than 
a  year  after  his  arrival  ;  formed  a  business  partnership  with  one  of  her 
brothers,  and  continued  in  the  business  of  carpenter  and  printer's  joiner 
for  many  years.  His  brother-in-law,  Peter  Smith,  invented  a  printing 
press,  and  Hoe  and  Smith  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  presses.  On 
the  death  of  these  two  brothers  in  1823,  Mr.  Hoc  succeeded  to  the 
entire  business,  giving  employment  to  only  a  few  men,  and  in  1825  he 
publicly  announced  himself  as  a  printing-press  manufacturer. 

"When  Mr.  Hoe  heard  of  the  introduction  in  England  of  the  flat-bed 
cylinder  printing  press,  he  sent  an  intelligent  mechanic  thither  to  ex- 
amine it.  His  report  caused  the  alert  and  ingenious  Hoe  to  make  great 
improvements  in  the  press  and  begin  the  manufacture  of  presses  in  the 
United  States.  They  were  soon  in  general  use  here.  In  1832  his 
health  failed,  and  he  relinquished  the  business  to  his  eldest  son,  Richard 
M.  Hoe,  and  Matthew  Smith,  son  of  his  old  partner. 

Robert  Hoe  died  the  next  year,  at  the~age  of  forty-nine.  Soon  after- 
ward the  new  firm  erected  quite  extensive  buildings  for  their  business 
on  the  corner  of  Broome  and  Sheriff  sti*eets,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
city,  where  now  (1SS3),  in  greatly  extended  accommodations,  the  most 
of  their  work  in  the  manufacture  of  circular  saws  and  printing  presses 
is  carried  on.  They  have  also  quite  extensive  works  at  the  old  place  of 
business  in  Gold  Street. 


480  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

Mr.  Smith  died  in  1S42,  when  Richard  M.  Hoe  associated  in  busi- 
ness with  himself  his  two  brothers,  Robert,  Jr..  and  Peter  S.,  under 
the  present  firm  name  of  R.  M.  Hoe  &  Co. 

Richard  M.  Hoe  is  a  remarkable  inventor.  He  was  born  in  the  city 
of  New  York  in  1812.  In  1S3T  he  patented  in  the  United  States  and 
in  England  a  new  method  for  grinding  circular  saws  which  is  now 
universally  used.  In  1S4G  appeared  his  most  wonderful  invention,  the 
"  lightning-  printing  press,"  better  known  as  the  rotary  press.  The 
form  of  type  is  secured  upon  the  surface  of  a  horizontal  cylinder,  and 
prints  at  every  revolution  as  many  papers  as  it  has  impression  cylin- 
ders. At  first  there  were  four  cylinders  ;  these  were  finally  increased 
to  ten,  giving  the  press  a  capacity  for  making  20,000  impressions  in 
an  hour,  on  one  side  of  the  sheet.  This  press  soon  superseded  every 
other  in  the  United  States,  in  Great  Britain,  in  cities  on  the  continent 
of  Europe,  and  in  Australia. 

It  was  not  long  before  Mr.  Hoe  produced  an  evidence  of  his  genius 
still  more  wonderful  than  his  simple  rotary  press.  It  is  known  as  the 
web  perfecting  press.  It  is  capable  of  printing  on  a  continuous  web  or 
roll  of  paper  several  miles  in  length,  on  both  sides  of  the  roll  at  the 
same  time,  and  cutting  off  and  folding  ready  for  the  carrier  from 
15,000  to  20,000  perfected  newspapers  an  hour  !  The  paper  is  drawn 
through  the  press  at  the  rate  of  one  thousand  feet  a  minute.  The 
Tribune — the  little  penny  sheet  in  1841 — is  now  (1883)  printed  on  a 
web  perfecting  press  at  the  regular  rate  of  15,000  an  hour. 

The  growth  of  Hoe's  establishment  is  a  conspicuous  example  of  the 
mighty  expansion  of  business  in  the  city  of  New  York  during  the  last 
fifty  years.  In  1842  it  was  carried  on  in  a  small  way  in  Gold  Street. 
Now  its  floor  room  would  cover  several  acres.  Their  main  estab- 
lishment covers  considerably  more  than  one  entire  block,  bounded  by 
Grand,  Broome,  Sheriff,  and  Columbia  streets.  The  main  structure,  on 
the  corner  of  Grand  and  Sheriff  streets,  is  six  stories  in  height  ;  the 
remainder  are  four  stories  in  height.  The  total  surface  of  floor-room 
amounts  to  over  200,000  square  feet,  or  over  four  acres  ;  in  all  the 
work-shops  the  floor  room  is  equal  to  five  acres  in  extent. 

The  total  number  of  persons  employed  in  the  several  establishments 
at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1883  was  over  1000  ;  the  yearly  amount 
of  wages  paid  was  $750,000,  and  the  number  of  apprentices  was  about 
250.  For  the  benefit  of  the  latter  the  proprietors  furnish  an  evening 
school  during  the  winter  months,  in  which  mechanical  drawing  is 
taught  two  evenings  in  a  week  and  mathematics  one  evening  a  week 
to  each  boy.    Every  apprentice  is  compelled  to  attend  this  school. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


481 


Xo  charge  is  made  for  their  tuition  ;  on  the  contrary,  each  apprentice 
receives  a  good  lunch,  consisting  of  sandwiches  and  coffee,  after  leav- 
ing work  and  before  going  into  the  class.  The  head  teacher  in  this 
evening  school  devotes  his  whole  time  to  this  work  and  in  visiting  the 
sick  and  poor  among  the  workmen. 

In  the  establishment  of  It.  Hoe  »te  Co.  (Richard  M. ,  Peter  S. ,  and  Rob- 
ert Hoe)  is  a  shop  benefit  society  of  over  800  members,  who  by  means  of 
co-operation  are  enabled  to  buy  necessaries  of  life  at  the  lowest  whole- 
sale prices.  In  the  year  1882  the  purchasing  committee  of  the  society 
bought  and  distributed  among  the  subscribers  (all  members)  about  400 
tons  of  coal,  300  barrels  of  flour,  and  S000  pounds  of  coffee,  at  whole- 
sale prices,  thereby  saving  much  to  the  workmen. 

R.  Hoe  &  Co  have  a  branch  of  their  establishment  in  Chicago  and 
also  in  London.  Their  saw  business  is  very  large,  and  the  manufacture 
of  printing  presses  of  every  kind,  as  well  as  articles  for  the  use  of 
printers,  is  very  extensive.  At  a  recent  visit  of  the  writer  to  their 
establishment  there  were  over  200  machine  printing  presses  in  course  of 
construction,  most  of  them  already  ordered.  The  tools  used  in  their 
business  are  valued  at  $1,000,000. 

Immediately  associated  with  the  invention  of  the  printing  press  are 
the  arts  of  type-making,  stereotyping,  and  electrotyping,  which  are 
now  carried  on  very  extensively  in  the  city  of  Xew  York.  During  the 
second  decade  type-making  and  stereotyping  had  assumed  large  propor- 
tions in  that  city,  wherein  the  latter  process  was  first  introduced  in  the 
year  1S13  by  David  Bruce,  brother  of  George  Bruce,  the  latter  the  most 
eminent  type-founder  in  Xew  York  during  a  period  of  about  fifty  years. 

David  Bruce  sailed  from  Leith,  Scotland,  in  the  year  1703,  and 
landed  at  Philadelphia.  His  brother  George  reached  the  same  city 
from  Scotland  two  years  later,  when  he  was  about  fourteen  years  of 
age.  He  learned  the  printer's  trade  in  Philadelphia.  In  1798  the  yellow 
fever  drove  the  brothers  from  that  city.  They  journeyed  to  Xew 
York,  thence  to  Albany,  where  they  both  obtained  employment  in  a 
printing  office  a  while  ;  but  they  returned  to  Xew  York  in  the  fall, 
walking  the  whole  distance,  and  made  that  city  their  permanent  abode. 
In  1S06  they  started  a  book  printing  office,  at  the  corner  of  Wall  and 
Pearl  streets,  under  peculiar  circumstances.  The  printing  of  "  Lavoi- 
sier's Chemistry*'  was  offei*ed  them.  They  had  neither  an  office, 
type,  nor  press,  yet  they  resolved  to  undertake  the  commission.  They 
borrowed  a  font  of  type  and  a  printing  press,  and  they  executed  the 
work  promptly. 

Desirous  of  doing  their  work  better,  they  explained  their  projects  to 


482 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


an  acquaintance  in  Philadelphia,  Adam  Ramage  (inventor  of  a  printing 
press  and  a  standing  press),  and  asked  him  for  a  standing  press  on 
credit.  He  sent  one  to  them,  and  it  was  the  first  standing  press  for 
smoothing  printed  sheets,  which  the  printers  of  that  city  considered  an 
unnecessary  innovation.  The  printing  of  the  book  greatly  pleased 
their  employers,  and  work  flowed  in  abundantly.  At  the  end  of  three 
years  they  had  nine  presses  at  work. 

David  Bruce  went  to  England  in  1812.  Earl  Stanhope  had  just 
completed  the  contrivance  of  a  new  method  of  stereotyping  by  immer- 
sion. Mr.  Bruce  bought  the  secret  and  partly  learned  the  process. 
Returning  to  Xew  York  in  1813,  the  brothers  made  arrangements  for 
introducing  the  process  into  this  country.  By  perseverance  they  over- 
came many  obstacles.  David  invented  the  planing  machine,  which 
overcame  the  objection  that  the  plates,  as  cast,  were  of  irregular  thick- 
ness, lie  also  invented  mahogany  shifting  blocks  to  bring  the  plates 
to  type  height.  Having  surmounted  all  difficulties,  they  stereotyped  the 
New  Testament  in  bourgeois  type  in  IS  14,  the  first  book  ever  printed 
from  stereotype  plates  in  America.  They  made  two  sets  of  plates,  one 
for  themselves  and  one  for  Matthew  Carey  of  Philadelphia.  An  Eng- 
lishman named  Watts  and  Mr.  Fay,  father  of  the  author  and  diplomat, 
Theodore  S.  Fay,  afterward  brought  stereotyping  to  the  highest  per- 
fection in  this  country.* 

In  1816  the  American  Bible  Society  was  founded,  and  the  Bruces 
stereotyped  their  first  issues.  So  it  was  that  New  York  won  the  honor 
of  being  the  first  place  in  America  where  the  process  of  stereotyping 
was  performed. 

In  1S10  the  brothers  Bruce  abandoned  printing,  bought  a  building 
on  Eldridge  Street,  and  George  devoted  his  talent  to  type-making, 
while  the  genius  of  David  was  engaged  in  stereotyping.  George  had 
learned  from  experience  the  necessity  of  being  independent  of  others, 
as  far  as  possible,  in  business,  so  he  set  about  cutting  his  own  steel 
punc  hes  for  making  type.  With  exquisite  taste  he  soon  became  one  of 
the  most  artistic  of  type  punch-cutters.  His  designs  for  fancy  type, 
combination  borders,  and  ornaments  showed  rare  artistic  taste  and 
skill.  He  would  sit  quietly  in  his  private  office  for  many  hours  engaged 
in  tin's,  to  him,  delightful  labor.  I  saw  him  so  engaged,  his  thin  gray 
hair  beautifying  a  placid  countenance  when  cutting  exquisite  punches 
for  great  primer  script,  with  defective  vision,  in  the  seventy-eighth  year 
of  his  age.    It  was  his  last  work. 


*  See  "  A  History  of  American  Manufactures,"  by  Dr.  J.  Leander  Bishop. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1S40-1850. 


483 


Many  of  the  novelties  introduced  into  the  trade  to  facilitate  printing 
and  to  elevate  the  standard  of  excellence  were  designed  or  invented  by 
him.  The  first  issue  of  the  Patent  Office  under  the  act  of  1842  for  pro- 
tecting designs  was  granted  to  George  Bruce  for  one  of  his  incompar- 
able scripts.  His  life  was  contemporary  with  the  rise  and  progress  of 
the  typographical  art  in  this  country  to  its  highest  standard.  He 
found  the  art  of  type-founding  undeveloped,  stereotyping  unknown, 
printing  in  a  wretched  state,  the  newspaper  in  its  infantile  condition, 
and  American  literature  yet  unborn. * 

*  George  Bruce  was  born  in  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  June  26,  1781.  When  not  quite 
fourteen  years  of  age  he  came  to  America,  settled  in  Philadelphia,  and  with  an  elder 
brother,  as  we  have  seen,  subsequently  engaged  in  the  business  of  book  printing  in  New 
York  early  in  the  present  century.  His  business  career  with  his  brother  is  related  in 
the  text.  From  1816  until  his  death,  on  July  5,  1866,  he  was  engaged  in  the  business 
of  a  type-founder  in  New  York  City.  Chambers  Street  was  opened  in  1818,  and  in  it  he 
erected  a  house  for  a  foundry,  and  this  place  he  occupied  all  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
His  brother  and  he  remained  together  in  business  some  time  longer.  In  1815  they 
issued  the  first  specimen-book  of  "  The  New  York  Type  Foundry."  The  health  of  his 
brother  failing,  the  latter  purchased  a  farm  in  New  Jersey,  and  the  firm  was  dissolved  in 
1822.  Then  George  relinquished  stereotyping  and  engaged  exclusively  in  making  type. 
He  introduced  improvement  after  improvement,  until  the  beautiful  productions  of  his 
foundry  gained  for  it  a  wide  reputation  and  extensive  and  profitable  business. 

In  1833  Peter  C.  Cortelyou  became  a  business  partner  cf  George  Bruce,  and  remained 
so  until  1850,  when  he  retired,  and  Mr.  Bruce's  only  son,  David  W.,  took  his  place,  and 
niainly  conducted  the  business  during  the  latter  part  of  his  father's  life.  His  name  did 
not  appear  in  the  firm  until  after  the  death  of  his  father,  when  it  was  changed  to 
"George  Bruce's  Son  &  Co."  Under  that  firm  name  David  W.  Bruce  yet  (1883)  con- 
tinues the  business  at  the  old  place,  13  Chambers  Street. 

In  1851  Mr.  Bruce  secured  the  services  of  James  Lindsay,  an  expert  type-founder  and 
stereotyper,  to  superintend  his  foundry.  That  position  Mr.  Lindsay  held  until  his  death, 
in  1879.    The  elder  Bruce  gave  him  a  junior  partner's  interest  in  the  profits. 

Mr.  Bruce  was  an  early  member  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  and  of  the  St.  An- 
drew's Society,  which  he  joined  in  1804  ;  was  a  member  and  liberal  patron  of  the  Typogra- 
phical Society  and  the  Printers'  Library,  a  member  and  for  several  years  president  of  the 
Mechanics'  Institute,*  a  member  of  the  American  Institute,  an  officer  for  many  years  of 
the  General  Society  of  Mechanics  and  Tradesmen  and  of  the  Apprentices'  Library,  and  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  Soon  after  the  Civil  War  broke  out  the  manufact- 
urers of  type  organized  a  type-founders'  association.  Mr.  Bruce  was  elected  its  presi- 
dent, and  remained  in  that  office  until  his  death.  In  a  quiet  way  Mr.  Bruce  was  always 
doing  good.  He  was  of  slight  frame,  slow  and  deliberate  of  speech,  and  grave  in  man- 
ner :  and  always  wearing  a  white  neckcloth,  simple  attire,  and  of  serious  countenance,  he 
would  be  taken  by  a  stranger  for  a  clergyman.  He  had  all  the  industry,  integrity,  tena- 
city, and  self-will  of  the  Scotch.  Under  his  apparently  cold  exterior  was  a  warm,  forgiv- 
ing, and  generous  nature. 

*  The  Mechanics'  Institute  was  incorporated  in  1833.  and  was  for  some  years  quite  a  flourishing  institu- 
tion in  the  city  of  New  York.  It  had  a  respectable  library,  philosophic  apparatus,  scientific  lectures,  and, 
for  a  number  of  years,  a  flouri-him;  day  school.  It  also  held  annual  fairs  for  a  few  year*.  Its  rooms  were 
in  the  basement  of  the  City  Hall  a  number  of  years,  and  subsequently  on  Fourth  Avenue.  At  its  dissolu- 
tion its  library  formed  the  nucleus  of  that  of  the  Cooper  Union. 


484 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


It  was  in  the  city  of  New  York  that  the  important  chemical  process 
known  as  electro-metallurgy  was  first  applied  to  the  production  of  elec- 
trotypes for  printing.  The  late  Professor  James  J.  Mapes,  in  the  year 
1840,  was  publishing  the  American  Repertory  of  Arts,  /Sciences,  and 
Manufactures,  lie  had  seen  accounts  of  the  production  of  facsimiles 
of  copperplate  engravings  by  chemical  precipitation.  Desirous  of  so 
copying  a  certain  engraving  for  his  magazine,  he  and  the  late  Dr.  J.  R. 
Chilton  made  successful  experiments  to  that  end.  The  result  induced 
James  Conner,  an  eminent  type-founder  in  New  York  forty  years  ago, 
to  attempt  the  production  of  matrices  for  casting  type  by  chemical 
precipitation.  He  succeeded,  and  this  finally  led  to  the  process  now 
universally  applied  in  producing  copper-faced  type  for  printing  known 
as  electrotyping.* 

Besides  Bruce  and  Conner,  White  and  Farmer  wore  leading  type- 
founders in  \c\\-  York  in  this  decade.  Mr.  Farmer  is  yet  carrying  on 
the  business  with  vigor  at  the  corner  of  Gold  and  Beekman  streets, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Farmer,  Little  &  Co.  The  establishment  was 
first  founded  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  in  1804,  and  in  1812  it  was  removed 
to  Thames  Street,  New  York.  Thence  it  was  removed  to  Gold  Street, 
then  to  Cliff  and  Beekman  streets,  and  finally  to  its  present  location, 
where  it  has  a  very  extensive  and  thoroughly  equipped  type-foundry. 

The  year  1S42  was  an  eventful  one  in  the  history  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  for  in  the  summer  of  that  year  the  waters  of  the  Croton  River, 
more  than  forty  miles  away,  were  let  into  the  city.    In  a  preceding 

*  James  Conner  was  a  Dative  of  Hyde  Park,  Duchess  County,  N.  Y.,  where  he  was  bora 
April  22,  17(J8.  He  learned  the  printer's  trade.  Before  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age 
he  entered  the  office  of  the  HaHonal  Advocate,  published  by  M.  M.  Noah,  as  a  half  -pay 
hand,  but  soon  became  employed  with  a  book  printer,  where  he  might  gain  a  more  per- 
fect knowledge  of  the  business.  He  soon  became  very  expert,  and  was  employed  by 
Watts,  an  Englishman,  who  was  a  skilful  stereotyper,  and  then  he  learned  that  busi- 
ness, and  became  a  leading  stereotyper.  For  about  three  years  he  was  employed  in 
Boston,  when  he  returned  to  New  York  and  established  himself  there  as  a  type-founder. 
He  made  the  first  stereotype  plates  of  a  folio  Bible  ever  made,  and  sold  the  plates  to  Silas 
Andrews,  of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  for  $5000.  He  afterward  produced  other  stereotyped 
works  of  great  utility,  and  published  them  himself.  Among  these  were  "  Maunder's 
Treasury  of  Knowledge"  and  a  Polyglot  Bible.  For  the  latter  he  made  and  intro- 
duced a  new  size  and  style  of  type  called  agate.  Mr.  Conner  was  ever  alert  in  the 
matter  of  improvements  in  his  business,  and  employed  every  useful  appliance  to  the 
perfection  of  his  art.  He  became  possessed  of  David  Bruce's  patent  for  the  machine 
casting  of  type.  In  1844  Mr.  Conner,  whose  personal  qualities  made  him  popular,  was 
elected  county  clerk  of  New  York  for  three  years.  By  re-election  he  was  continued  in 
that  office  six  years.  He  died  in  May,  1861.  His  two  sons  have  ever  since  continued 
the  business.  They  have  a  large  establishment  on  the  corner  of  Reade  and  Centro 
streets,  and  one  of  the  best  equipped  in  the  city. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


485 


chapter  we  have  traced  the  history  of  the  great  Croton  Aqueduct  from 
its  inception  till  its  completion. 

The  water  commissioners  having  walked  through  the  aqueduct,  a 
distance  of  more  than  forty  miles,  on  a  tour  of  inspection,  pronounced 
its  construction  perfect,  and  on  the  4th  of  July,  1842,  the  water  at 
Croton  Lake,  in  Putnam  County,  was  let  into  the  aqueduct  and  allowed 
to  flow  across  High  Bridge  and  into  the  city,  filling  the  great  distribut- 
ing reservoir  on  Murray  Hill,  the  Incleberg  of  Revolutionary  times. 
This  structure  is  of  dark  granite,  in  Egyptian  style  of  architecture,  and 
has  a  capacity  of  20,000,000  gallons,  and  covers  an  area  of  two  acres. 
Its  walls  average  forty-four  feet  in  height  above  the  adjacent  streets. 
Upon  the  top  of  the  wall,  which  is  reached  by  massive  steps,  is  a  broad 
promenade,  from  which  may  be  obtained  very  extensive  views  of  the 
city  and  the  surrounding  country  beyond  the  two  rivers.  The  safety 
of  the  passengers  on  this  promenade  is  made  secure  by  a  battlement  of 
granite  on  the  outside,  and  by  an  iron  fence  next  the  water. 

The  larger  of  the  distributing  pipes  being  completed  in  October,  the 
water  was  let  into  them  on  the  14th  of  that  month,  on  which  occasion 
the  great  event,  and  one  next  in  importance  to  the  completion  of  the 
Erie  Canal,  to  the  city  of  New  York,  was  celebrated  by  a  grand  civic 
and  military  display.  As  such  displays  are  similar  on  all  occasions,  we 
will  not  weary  the  reader  with  details.  It  is  said  to  have  exceeded  in 
numbers  and  imposing  appearance  the  great  Federal  Celebration  of 
1788  and  the  Canal  Celebration  in  1825. 

The  procession  was  nearly  seven  miles  in  length.  Fountains  were 
opened  as  the  line  passed  by,  creating  many  demonstrations  of  joy. 
The  several  divisions  of  the  procession  halted  at  the  City  Hall  Park, 
where  the  president  of  the  State  board  of  water  commissioners,  Samuel 
Stevens,  after  an  able  address,  turned  over  the  great  work  to  J.  L. 
Lawrence,  president  of  the  Croton  Aqueduct  board.  Then  the  Sacred 
Music  Society,  standing  before  the  sparkling  waters  of  the  City  Hall 
Park  fountain,  sang  a  stirring  ode  composed  at  the  request  of  the 
city  authorities  by  George  P.  Morris,*  the  lyric  poet. 

*  George  P.  Morris  was  born  in  Philadelphia  in  October,  1802,  and  died  in  New 
York  City  in  July,  1864.  He  went  to  New  York  in  early  life  and  engaged  in  literary  pur- 
suits, publishing  verses  when  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age.  With  Samuel  Woodworth  he 
began  the  publication  of  the  New  York  Minor  in  1823.  He  was  associated  in  the  conduct 
of  that  weekly  periodical  with  Theodore  S.  Fay  and  N.  P.  Willis  at  different  times. 
He  established  the  Evening  Wrror  in  1844,  a  daily  paper,  assisted  by  Willis  and  Hiram 
Fuller.  In  1840  he  established  the  Ifome  Journal.  He  was  a  bi-igadier-general  of  a  city 
military  brigade.  As  a  lyric  poet.  General  Morris  acquired  wide  popularity.  The  most 
noted  of  his  lyrics  was  "  Woodman.  Spare  that  Tree."  The  last  complete  edition  of  his 
poems  was  published  in  18G0. 


486 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


In  a  hygienic  and  economical  view,  the  importance  of  this  great  work 
cannot  be  estimated.  In  insurance  alone  it  caused  the  reduction  of 
forty  cents  on  every  $100  on  the  annual  rates. 

Notwithstanding  the  ridge  line  or  watershed,  including  the  Croton 
valley  above  the  dam,  is  101  miles  in  length,  the  stream  itself  30  miles 
long,  and  its  tributaries  136  miles  in  length,  and  the  total  area  of  the 
valley  352  square  miles,  with  31  natural  lakes  and  ponds,  it  was  soon 
doubted  whether  the  supply  of  water  provided  for  by  the  magnificent 
work  Avould  be  sufficient  even  for  the  wants  in  the  near  future  of  the 
rapidly  increasing  population  of  New  York  City. 

So  early  as  the  year  185 7  these  doubts  led  to  a  survey  the  next  year 
of  a  portion  of  the  upper  Croton  valley,  for  the  purpose  of  construct- 
ing a  storage  reservoir  somewhere.  But  here  the  matter  rested  for 
years,  notwithstanding  the  Croton  Aqueduct  board  urged  the  necessity 
of  such  a  reservoir,  for  prudential  considerations.  At  length  one  was 
constructed,  at  Boyd's  Corners,  in  Putnam  County,  under  authority 
given  by  the  Legislature  in  1865.  It  was  completed  in  1873,  and  has  a 
storage  capacity  of  3,000,000,000  gallons. 

Since  then  various  projects  for  increasing  the  water  supply  have  been 
proposed.  One,  to  bring  water  from  the  Ilousatonic  River,  by  a  canal 
to  the  Croton  valley,  has  met  with  much  favor  ;  and  another,  to  bring 
water  from  tlx;  Bronx  River,  in  Westchester  Couuty,  has  been  adopted, 
and  work  upon  it  is  now  (18S3)  progressing.  In  the  spring  of  1883  the 
Legislature  authorized  the  city  of  New  York  to  construct  a  new  aque- 
duct. Commissioners  were  appointed  for  the  purpose.  They  organ- 
ized on  July  5,  1883,  and  chose  the  mayor  of  the  city,  Franklin  Edson, 
president  of  the  board. 


CHAPTER  II. 


IX  the  year  1842  the  foundation  of  a  great  financial  institution  was 
laid  in  New  York  City.  That  institution  is  The  Mutual  Lifk  In- 
surance Company  of  New  Yoke.  It  began  its  career  without  a  dollar 
of  capital,  forty  years  ago,  its  sole  basis  for  operations  being  $500,000 
of  risks,  on  paper,  taken  by  the  corporators  of  the  company,  that  they 
might  avail  themselves  of  a  special  charter  passed  that  year.  Now* 
(1883)  that  institution  has  nearly  $100,000,000  of  aggregate  assets. 
The  facts  concerning  the  history  of  this  institution  down  to  a  late 
period  have  been  drawn  from  a  little  work,  by  Joseph  Howard,  Jr., 
entitled  "  Marvels  in  Finance." 

The  real  founder  of  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company  of  New 
York  was  the  late  Alfred  Pell.    On  returning  from  a  trip  abroad,  in 

1842,  having  observed  and  studied  the  workings  of  the  life-insurance 
system  in  England  and  France,  he  suggested  to  some  of  his  wealthy 
and  influential  friends  the  propriety  of  testing  the  purely  mutual 
system  in  this  country.  At  his  suggestion  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance 
Company  was  organized,  with  the  following  named  corporators  : 
William  II.  Aspinwall,  James  Brown,  John  W.  Leavitt,  Elihu  Town- 
send,  James  S.  \Vadsworth,  Philip  S.  Van  Rensselaer,  Gouverneur  M. 
AVilkins,  John  Y.  L.  Pruyn,  Thomas  W.  Olcott,  Charles  L.  Livingston, 
Joseph  Blunt,  Jacob  P.  Giraud,  John  C.  Cruger,  Alfred  Pell,  David 
C.  Golden,  Jacob  Harvey,  Robert  B.  Minturn,  Mortimer  Livingston, 
Rufus  L.  Lord,  Arthur  Bronson,  Henry  Brevoort,  Theodore  Sedgwick, 
Stacy  B.  Collins,  Robert  C.  Cornell,  James  Boorman,  James  Campbell, 
William  Moore,  Zebedee  Cook.  Jr..  Jonathan  Miller.  Fitz-Grcene 
HaJleck,  John  A.  King,  T.  Romeyn  Beck,  Richard  Y.  De  Witt', 
Gideon  Hawley,  James  J.  Ring. 

Mr.  Pell  secured  a  charter  from  the  Legislature  in  the  winter  of 

1843,  and,  in  order  to  avail  themselves  of  it,  a  certain  amount  of  insur- 
ance was  subscribed  for  by  the  corporators.  So  limited  were  the  means 
of  the  institution  that  in  the  first  year  the  salary  of  the  president 
was  only  $1500,  from  which  he  was  to  pay  the  rent  and  current  ex- 
penses ! 


488 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  growth  of  the  institution  was  gradual  at  first,  but  at  the  end  of 
five  years  it  had  made  considerable  progress.  Up  to  that  time  it 
had  not  been  discovered  that  the  company  had  been  operating  upon 
a  vitally  erroneous  basis,  which  Mr.  Pruvn,  who  drew  the  charter, 
had  not  considered.  The  error  consisted  in  the  omission  to  provide  for 
reserves  to  meet  current  expenses,  and  also  to  meet  the  losses  of  future 
years.  The  charter,  as  drawn,  provided  that  at  the  expiration  of  the 
first  five  years,  and  of  every  subsequent  five  years,  a  balance  of  the 
accounts  of  the  company  should  be  struck,  and  after  deducting  its  pay- 
ments from  its  receipts,  all  the  remainder  should  be  divided  among  the 
policy -holders.  By  this  scheme  the  company  really  began  business 
afresh  eveiy  five  years. 

The  charter  was  at  once  amended  so  as  to  provide  for  the  accumula- 
tion of  a  sufficient  reserve  to  meet  the  future  liabilities,  and  "  the  re- 
cuperative power  of  compound  interest  did  the  rest."  It  was  a  lucky 
escape  from  imminent  peril. 

The  first  president  of  the  company  was  Morris  Robinson.  He  died, 
and  Joseph  15.  Collins  was  elected  to  fill  his  place,  which  he  did  until 
June,  1853.  At  that  time — the  close  of  the  first  ten  years  of  its  ex- 
istence— there  were  G773  policies  in  force,  insuring  $17, 917, -418,  with 
assets  of  $2, 040, 000.  During  that  time  the  company  had  received  the 
gratuitous  services,  in  the  way  of  advice  and  active  interest  in  its  affairs, 
of  Alfred  Pell,  Joseph  Blunt,  and  .1.  V.  L.  Pruvn,  who  may  be  justly 
styled  the  fathers  of  the  great  company. 

It  was  at  the  beginning  of  a  new  decade  in  the  life  of  the  company 
that  the  trustees  became  dissatisfied  with  the  management  of  the  presi- 
dent. There  was  then  in  the  board  of  trustees  a  clear-headed  mer- 
chant, who  had  accepted  a  seat  at  the  board  on  the  earnest  solicitation 
of  the  first  president  (Mr.  Robinson)  and  Mr.  Minturn,  with  the 
assurance  that  it  need  not  take  more  than  four  hours  of  his  time  in  a 
year.  The  olfice  was  then  in  Wall  Street,  near  Pearl  Street,  not 
far  from  this  trustee's  place  of  business.  lie  soon  perceived  that  if 
he  should  do  his  duty  as  a  trustee  of  a  great  moneyed  institution,  if  he 
cared  to  know  anything  of  the  workings  of  the  company,  he  must 
spend  four  hours  a  day,  instead  of  four  hours  a  year,  in  order  to  under- 
stand the  responsibility  he  had  voluntarily  assumed.  lie  accordingly 
visited  the  institution  almost  daily,  spending  a  long  time  in  studying 
the  details  of  the  work.  The  other  trustees  soon  perceived  that  there 
was  a  dominant  mind  among  them,  and  they  elected  this  merchant 
president  of  the  company  in  1853.    That  chosen  officer  was  Frederick 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


489 


Seymour  Winston,  who  still  holds  the  arduous  and  responsible  posi- 
tion. * 

It  was  a  fortunate  day  for  the  Mutual  Insurance  Company  when  it 
chose  Mr.  Winston  for  its  president.  With  his  inauguration  the  higher 
life  of  the  company  began,  and  the  institution  soon  assumed  a  proud 
position.  It  was  affected  by  the  financial  difficulties  of  1857,  yet  it 
went  steadily  forward  with  ever-increasing  strides.  Then  came  a  crisis 
which  required  great  wisdom  and  sound  judgment  to  meet.  Civil 
war  broke  out  in  1861.  Immediate  confusion  followed  in  all  the 
relations  of  life,  social,  mercantile,  and  financial,  as  well  as  political. 
Confidence  was  disturbed,  and  very  soon  there  was  little  more  than  bel- 
ligerent communications  between  the  people  of  the  North  and  South. 

The  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company  held  risks  at  the  South.  It 
was  impossible  for  the  Southern  policy-holders  to  meet  their  obligations 
with  the  company.  The  holders  were  beyond  the  company,  as  the 
company  was  inaccessible  to  them.  The  question  arose,  not  What  is 
e.rjH'diott  ?  but  What  is  just  ?  On  the  suggestion  of  the  president  the 
company  assumed  that  each  policy  so  held  in  the  South  was  tendered 
to  the  company  for  surrender,  and  that  it  would  accept  the  surrendered 
policies,  paying  the  holders  the  value  thereof.  The  Supreme  Court 
decided  that  this  course  was  legal  and  just,  and  there  was  general  satis- 
faction among  the  policy-holders. 

Then  arose  another  important  question  :  What  shall  the  company  do 
with  policies  held  by  soldiers  in  the  Union  armies  ?  By  the  rules  of 
the  company  the  moment  a  policy-holder  bore  arms  in  any  cause  what- 
ever, his  policy  became  void.  The  company,  led  by  the  wise  and 
patriotic  impulses  of  the  president,  did  not  hesitate  a  moment  on  the 
verge  of  the  question,  but  determined  to  carry  the  policies  upon  their 
books,  charirimr  an  extra  amount  that  might  seem  reasonable  against 
the  dividends,  and  to  pay  the  face  of  the  policy  in  case  of  death.  They 
also  took  new  risks  upon  the  same  terms,  and  the  losses  and  the  extra 

*  Mr.  Winston  is  a  native  of  Ballston,  N.  Y.,  where  he  was  born  in  the  year  1812.  His 
parents  were  Frederick  and  Susan  (Seymour)  Winston.  His  father  was  of  a  Virginia 
family,  his  mother  of  a  Connecticut  family.  In  1833  Mr.  Winston  married  Miss  Lucy 
Cotton.  They  have  been  blessed  with  six  children,  and  lived  to  celebrate  their  golden 
wedding.  The  education  of  Mr.  Winston  was  academic.  He  passed  his  youth  on  a 
farm,  but  has  been  a  resident  of  Xew  York  City  since  1826,  where  he  began  his  business 
life  as  a  merchant,  and  pursued  that  vocation  until  elected  president  of  the  institution  of 
which  he  is  the  head.  He  has  been  a  life-long  and  devoted  member  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  and  was  for  many  years  an  active  member  of  the  vestry  of  St.  George's 
Church  and  leader  in  its  Sabbath-school. 


490 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


amount  received  for  policies  held  by  soldiers  balanced  within  a  few 
dollars.  The  following  letter,  written  by  the  president  to  Captain  T. 
Seymour,  in  Fort  Moultrie,  Charleston  Harbor,  on  December  26,  1860, 
shows  the  humane  and  patriotic  spirit  of  the  company  : 

"  Dear  Sin  :  Your  note  of  the  22d  is  before  me.  May  God  avert  the  insane  outrage 
and  the  terrible  calamity  yon  contemplate  :  but  if  it  comes  to  you  now,  while  doing  your 
duty  in  Fort  Moultrie,  abandoned  by  the  government  that  should  sustain  you,  have 
no  anxiety  about  your  policy.  So  sure  as  there  is  a  North  on  this  continent,  you  shall 
be  paid  if  you  fall. 

"  On  no  spot  in  this  land  is  so  much  interest  concentrated  as  on  the  fort  you  occupy. 
May  the  stars  and  stripes  wave  over  it  forever. 

"Very  respectfully  yours,  F.  S.  Winston.  " 

At  this  dreadful  crisis  in  the  life  of  the  Republic,  the  government 
needed  money.  Its  securities  had  been  discredited  by  a  traitorous 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Howell  Cobb.  Its  credit  was  well-nigh 
gone.  Hanks  and  capitalists,  regarding  its  bonds  as  almost  worthless 
under  the  circumstances,  tightened  their  purse-strings.  "Where  was 
the  money  to  be  procured  The  wise  and  patriotic  Mutual  Insurance 
Company  answered  the  momentous  question.  Through  its  president  it 
said  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  "  We  have  considered  the  gov- 
ernment bonds  good  enough  to  warrant  our  investing  fifty  per  cent  of 
our  assets  in  them.  If  they  fail,  we  fail.  If  the  country  survives,  we 
survive." 

From  that  time  the  Mutual  continued  to  make  large  subscriptions  to 
government  loans.  On  one  occasion  Secretary  Chase  came  from  Wash- 
ington, called  a  number  of  capitalists  together,  and  represented  to  them 
the  immediate  perils  and  the  wants  of  the  government.  Tin;  Mutual 
Life  Insurance  Company  was  represented  at  the  meeting,  and  it  showed 
its  faith  in  the  government,  its  true  patriotism,  and  its  loyalty  to  the 
flag,  by  subscribing  s^oojioo,  taking  government  bonds  at  81.  And  in 
like  manner  it  gave  its  aid  to  the  government  all  through  the  dire 
conflict,  and  profited  by  it  in  every  way. 

Then  came  the  rise  in  gold  and  the  suspension  of  specie  payments. 
The  country  was  flooded  with  a  depreciated  currency — paper  money, 
so  called,  not  worth  its  face.  The  questions  confronted  the  company  : 
Shall  we  accept  this  currency,  and  take  the  chance  of  its  future  appreci- 
ation '.  or  shall  we  decline  to  take  it,  and  sacrifice  the  business  of  the 
company  ?  Good  judgment,  sound  discretion,  and  faith  in  the  triumph 
of  a  righteous  cause  solved  the  question  immediately.  The  company 
decided  to  take  the  paper  currency  and  call  it  cash,  and  this  policy  was 
pursued  until  the  resumption  of  specie  payment  and  the  equalization  of 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


•I'll 


value1  between  the  greenbacks  and  gold  and  silver.  In  this  wise  and 
patriotic  course  the  company  reaped  many  profits  and  won  a  host  of 
friends. 

In  the  cause  of  benevolence  the  Mutual  was  ever  conspicuous  during 
the  war.  President  Winston  was  present  at  the  formation  of  the 
United  States  Sanitary  Commission  in  New  York,  and  contributed  lib- 
erally, then  and  always,  to  its  funds.  The  company  was  ever  ready  to 
extend  a  helping  hand  in  time  of  need.  Mr.  Howard  relates  that  after 
a  severe  battle  the  society  was  without  funds  to  carry  on  their  work 
at  that  point  with  efficiency.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Bellows,  president  of  the 
commission,  called  on  the  president  of  the  Mutual,  and  said  : 

"  My  dear  friend,  we  don't  know  what  to  do,  where  to  turn,  where 
to  go  to  ;  how  to  raise  money  for  our  absolute  needs  is  beyond  us. 
We  have  funds  sufficient  for  a  few  days  only,  and  unless  something- 
turns  up,  or  something  conies  unexpectedly  to  our  relief,  we  shall  be 
obliged  to  disband.  It  will  be  difficult  for  us  to  continue  the  work 
three  months  longer,  as  seems  necessary." 

"  How  much  do  you  want  ?"  asked  President  Winston. 

Dr.  Bellows  named  the  sum,  when  the  president  instantly  replied  : 

"  You  shall  have  it.    Come  to  me  always  ;  we  will  do  our  propor- 
tion, and  our  example  will  unquestionably  be  followed  by  others." 

The  Mutual  not  only  helped  the  nation  in  its  distress,  but  it  helped 
the  city  and  country  of  its  birth  in  patriotic  operations.  The  president 
of  the  company  had  faith  in  the  ability  and  disposition  of  both  to  meet 
their  obligations,  and  his  faith  inspired  others. 

Late  in  the  war  the  public  confidence  in  the  ability  of  the  city  and 
county  of  New  York  to  meet  its  liabilities  was  fearfully  shaken,  and 
the  city  bonds  could  not  be  readily  negotiated.  It  was  just  after  the 
last  call  of  the  government  for  volunteers.  There  were  plenty  of 
recruits  at  headquarters,  but  money  was  lacking  to  enable  the  authori- 
ties to  send  them  to  the  field.  A  committee  from  the  comptroller's  » 
office  called  on  President  Winston  and  asked  for  a  loan,  stating  the 
circumstances.  He  examined  their  statements,  and  said  promptly,  "  Go 
back  to  headquarters,  arrange  to  send  your  men  away,  bring  me  the 
bonds,  and  take  the  money."  The  proper  authorities  officially  thanked 
the  company  for  this  timely  help. 

The  lesser  benefactions  of  the  company  have  always  been  conspicu- 
ous. It  sent  $10,000  to  the  sufferers  in  Chicago  after  the  great  fire 
there.  When  Memphis  was  smitten  with  the  yellow  fever  it  sent 
$5000  to  the  authorities  of  the  afflicted  city  ;  and  when  the  gal- 
lant Seventh  Regiment   National   Guard,  fo  whom  the  city  is  so 


492 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


much  indebted  for  immunity  from  riots  and  insurrections  from  time  to 
time,  appealed  for  aid  to  build  their  magnificent  armory  on  Fifth 
Avenue,  the  Mutual  was  a  liberal  subscriber.* 

For  thirty  years  since  the  elevation  of  Mr.  Winston  to  the  presidency 
of  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company  of  New  York,  a  broad  and  lib- 
eral policy  has  characterized  its  conduct.  Its  success  has  been  marvel- 
lous. It  is  to-day  the  foremost  financial  institution  in  the  world.  Mr. 
Winston  is  still  (1883)  its  president  and  Isaac  F.  Lloyd  is  its  secretary. 
To  Mr.  Winston's  wisdom,  perspicacity,  and  business  ability  is  mainly 
due  the  pre-eminent  position  now  enjoyed  by  the  Mutual.  Its  assets 
in  November,  1883,  were  S100,000,000.t 

*  The  new  armory  for  the  Seventh  Regiment  National  Guard  is  a  magnificent  building, 
occupying  a  whole  square  between  Fourth  (or  Park)  Avenue  and  Lexington  Avenue,  and 
Sixty-sixth  and  Sixty-seventh  streets.  It  covers  an  area  of  200  by  405  feet.  It  is  con- 
structed of  Philadelphia  brick,  with  granite  trimmings.  The  style  of  architecture  is 
mixed.  It  has  a  square  tower  at  each  corner,  and  one  at  the  centre  of  the  front.  At  the 
main  entrance  there  is  a  broad  platform  and  steps,  and  the  staircases  are  broad  and 
elegant.  Facing  Fourth  Avenue  are  the  administration-rooms,  occupying  the  whole  front, 
and  leaving  the  remainder  of  the  floor  (200  by  300  feet)  for  a  drill-room.  The  interior 
is  admirably  arranged  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  designed,  and  most  sumptuously 
fitted  up.  There  are  ten  company-rooms,  each  of  which  is  fitted  up  in  accordance 
with  the  taste  of  each  company.  No  two  are  alike.  The  woodwork  of  one  is  mahogany, 
of  another  oak,  of  another  rosewood.  The  ceiling  of  one  is  frescoed,  another  is  of 
carved  wood  panels.  Our  space  will  not  allow  a  description  of  these  rooms.  Most  ex- 
quisite taste  is  displayed  in  all.  There  is  nothing  meretricious.  Everything  means 
something.  There  is  an  air  of  spaciousness  and  substantiality  about  them  all.  The 
veterans'  room— the  room  devoted  to  the  use  of  the  veterans  of  the  regiment — is  magnifi- 
cent, and  beautiful  in  details  ;  it  is  an  art  study. 

Besides  these  rooms  there  are  a  library  and  reading-room,  rooms  for  the  officers  and 
non-commissioned  officers,  a  memorial-room,  six  squad  drill-rooms,  and  in  the  basement 
a  rifle-range  300  feet  in  length. 

•f-  During  the  rule  of  a  band  of  plunderers  of  the  city  treasury  some  years  ago  known 
as  "The  Tweed  Ring,"  a  conspiracy  was  formed  among  them  to  get  control  of  the 
Mutual,  by  obtaining  an  order  from  a  judge  of  the  supreme  court  to  place  the  affairs  of 
the  company  in  the  hands  of  a  politician  and  professional  receiver,  under  the  false 
charge  that  it  was  insolvent.  Information  to  this  effect  reached  Mr.  Winston,  and  he 
employed  George  H.  Purser,  an  astute  lawyer,  to  use  his  knowledge  of  the  thieves  and  his 
influence  in  averting  the  theatened  peril.  Purser  called  on  the  judge,  who  tacitly 
admitted  that  he  intended  to  issue  such  an  order.  No  argument  could  move  him  to  prom- 
ise to  desist  from  the  intended  crime.  Purser  then  called  on  a  prominent  city  official, 
who  afterward  became  a  fugitive  from  justice,  and  charged  him  with  complicity  in  the 
conspiracy.  He  tried  to  bribe  Mr.  Purser.  Perceiving  that  the  conspiracy  was  nearly 
ripe  for  action,  Purser  again  called  on  the  judge,  with  a  certificate  of  the  superintendent 
of  insurance  to  the  effect  that  the  Mutual  was  perfectly  solvent.  He  told  the  judge 
plainly  that  unless  he  gave  him  a  promise  to  desist  from  complicity  in  the  villainous 
scheme,  application  would  be  made  in  the  morning,  before  the  proper  authorities, 
to  restrain  him,  as  a  chief  of  a  band  of  conspirators,  from  interfering  with  the  business 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


493 


The  jrre.it  influx  of  foreijrners  into  the  city  of  New  York  for  several 
years,  already  alluded  to  in  connection  with  the  Election  Riots  of  1834, 
had  increased  the  uneasiness  of  multitudes  of  reflecting'  minds  concern- 
ing the  safety  of  the  ballot-box,  the  palladium  of  our  liberties.  These 
adopted  citizens  had  grown  so  strong  in  numbers  early  in  the  second 
decade  that  they  held  the  balance  of  power  between  the  two  great 
political  parties,  the  Whigs  and  Democrats,  at  the  spring  elections. 
The  consequence  was  that  when  either  party  gained  a  victory,  the 
adopted  citizens  claimed,  it  was  alleged,  an  unreasonable  share  of  the 
spoils,  and  the  amount  of  the  patronage  controlled  by  the  mayor  and 
common  council  of  New  York  was  very  great.  At  length  the  native 
citizens  became  alarmed,  and  it  was  resolved  to  endeavor  to  make  the 
naturalization  laws  more  stringent. 

In  the  winter  of  1843-44  a  large  number  of  citizens,  including  many 
of  the  most  respectable  in  character,  influence,  and  wealth,  and  mem- 
bers of  both  parties,  combined  in  organizing  a  formidable  opposition  to 
this  aggressive  and  dangerous  element  in  the  local  politics.  This 
league  was  called  the  Native  American  party.  They  nominated  James 
Harper,  the  senior  partner  of  the  firm  of  Harper  tfc  Brothers,  publish- 
ers, for  the  office  of  mayor  of  New  York,  and  a  full  number  of  alder- 
men. It  was  a  "citizens'  ticket."  Mr.  Harper  was  elected  in  the 
spring  of  1844  by  a  majority  over  the  "Whig  and  Democratic  candidates 
of  4310.*    The  larger  number  of  the  Native  American  candidates  for 

of  a  solvent  corporation.  "  I  give  you  my  word,"  said  Mr.  Purser,  "  as  your  personal 
friend,  and  as  counsel  for  this  company,  that  unless  you  assure  me,  before  I  leave  this 
room,  that  this  project  shall  be  abandoned,  I  will  not  rest  until  I  obtain  an  injunction 
against  you  as  a  conspirator  in  this  infamy."  The  frightened  judge  promised,  and  the 
Mutual  was  saved  from  a  great  peril. 

In  December,  1882,  the  Mutual  bought  the  premises  on  Nassau,  Cedar,  and  Liberty 
streets,  occupied  for  many  years  as  the  city  Post-Office,  and  which  was  formerly  the 
"  Middle  Dutch  Eeformed  Church."  The  dimensions  of  the  lot  are  184  feet  8  inches  on 
Nassau  Street,  115  feet  9  inches  on  Cedar  Street,  110  feet  8  inches  on  Liberty  Street,  and 
174  feet  in  the  rear.  On  this  lot  the  company  has  erected  an  edifice  for  its  use,  eleven 
stories  in  height,  and  at  one  point  it  reaches  161  feet  from  the  ground.  This  building 
is  in  the  style  of  the  Italian  Renaissance.  The  materials  are  of  gr.inite,  terra-cotta, 
and  buff  brick,  fire-proof,  and  furnished  with  six  hydraulic  elevators,  the  cost  of  the 
structure  being  about  SI. 500.000. 

*  James  Harper,  the  senior  member  of  the  original  firm  of  Harper  .t  Brothers,  was  the 
son  of  Joseph  Harper,  a  farmer  of  Newtown,  Long  Island.  He  was  born  April  13,  1705. 
His  grandfather  came  from  England  to  America  about  the  year  1740,  and  was  one  of  the 
earliest  Methodists  in  this  country.  James  and  his  three  brothers- -John,  Joseph 
Wesley,  and  Fletcher — adopted  the  religious  belief  of  their  father  and  grandfather 

James  was  a  tall  and  stalwart  lad  of  sixteen  when  he  came  to  New  York  to  learn  the 
art  of  printing.    By  his  unusual  industry,  fidelity,  and  thrift  he  gained" in  a  few  years 


494 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


aldermen  were  also  elected.  From  this  auspicious  beginning  the  Native 
American  party  spread,  and  was  an  active  element  in  the  politics  of  the 
Republic.  But  its  policy  became  so  narrow  and  really  anti-American 
in  character  that  after  the  national  election  in  lS5l>,  when  Millard 

sufficient  means  to  begin  business  as  a  printer  on  his  own  account.  He  had  great  phys- 
ical strength,  and  was  considered  the  most  expert  pressman  in  the  city.  Ho  was  shortly 
after  joined  by  bis  brother  John,  who  had  also  learned  the  printer's  trade,  and  very 
soon  the  firm  of  J.  &  J.  Harper  became  known  for  its  skill  and  trustworthy  work.  Their 
two  younger  brothers— Joseph  Wesley  and  Fletcher— became  their  apprentices,  and 
about  1826  their  partners  in  business,  when  the  firm  of  Harper  &  Brothers  was  estab- 
lished-soon to  become  the  leading  publishing  house  in  America.  To  the  frequent 
question,  "Which  is 'Harper'  and  which  are  the  '  Brothers '?  "  the  invariable  reply 
was,  "  Each  of  us  is  '  Harper'  and  the  rest  are  the  '  Brothers.'  " 

For  forty-three  years  this  brotherhood  remained  unbroken  until,  in  the  spring  of  1809, 
the  eldest  brother  and  the  founder  of  the  house  was  suddenly  removed  by  death.  Early 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  '25th  of  March,  pursuant  to  an  engagement  with  one  of  his 
nephews,  he  went  to  Rockwood's  and  had  his  photograph  taken.  After  dinner,  on  his 
way  to  the  Central  Park,  accompanied  by  one  of  his  daughters,  the  horses  were  fright- 
ened and  ran  away,  and  Mr.  Harper  and  his  daughter  were  thrown  violently  to  the  ground. 
Mr.  Harper  was  taken  to  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  where  he  died  on  Saturday  evening,  the 
2!)th  (Easter  even),  never  having  recovered  consciousness  after  the  accident.  The 
funeral  services  were  held  March  31st,  in  St.  Raul's  Methodist  Church,  attended  by  a 
large  number  of  people.  The  pall-bearers  were  Refer  Coopei-,  John  Hall,  Jacob  Sleeper, 
A.  T.  Stewart,  Daniel  Drew,  J.  M.  Raymond,  Edwin  Mead,  James  M.  Morrison,  Wesley 
Smith,  William  H.  Appleton,  Henry  Drisler,  and  George  William  Curtis.  There  was 
universal  mourning  for  the  deceased,  and  marked  respect  for  his  memory  was  paid  by 
societies,  corporations,  and  the  business  fraternity  with  which  he  was  associated.  The 
members  of  the  municipal  government  attended  his  funeral  in  a  body. 

While  there  was  this  public  manifestation  of  sorrow— while  the  flags  above  the  City 
Hall  and  other  public  buildings  were  displayed  at  half-mast,  and  the  press  everywhere 
gave  utterance  to  the  general  regret  for  the  loss  of  an  eminent  citizen  —there  was  a  multi- 
tude of  those  who  were  bowed  down  by  a  private  grief,  because  they  had  lost  a  sympa- 
thizing friend.  Few  knew  the  extent  of  Mr.  Harper's  charities  ;  often  not  even  the 
recipient  knew  from  what  source  relief  came.  One  instance  may  be  mentioned  as  char- 
acteristic of  the  man  and  his  unostentatious  benevolence.  He  knew  the  name  and  the 
Circumstances  of  nearly  every  one  of  the  hundreds  employed  in  his  establishment.  A 
woman  was  suffering  from  an  inflammation  of  the  eyes.  Her  sister  in  the  country  wrote, 
urging  her  to  visit  her.  She  could  not  afford  the  expense  of  the  journey.  One  morning 
Mr.  Harper  stopped  at  her  stand  and  handed  her  a  little  book,  saying,  "  There,  there  ! 
Don't  be  troubled  about  your  eyes.  Go  and  visit  your  sister,  and  here's  a  little  book  to 
read  on  the  way."  The  woman  opened  the  book,  as  he  went  away,  and  between  its 
covers  found  money  more  than  sufficient  to  meet  her  need. 

Mr.  Harper  was  both  an  example  and  an  advocate  of  the  virtue  of  temperance.  He 
was  the  president  of  the  first  Washingtonian  Total  Abstinence  Society  founded  in  New 
York.  In  1801  he  was  chosen  by  Mr.  Matthew  Vassar,  of  Poughkeopsie,  as  one  of  the 
incorporators  of  the  first  college  ever  established  for  women,  and  he  remained  a  trustee 
of  that  institution  until  his  death.  He  was  without  political  ambition.  It  was  only  at 
the  earnest  solicitation  of  good  men  that  he  accepted  the  nomination  for  mayor  of  the 
city  of  New  York.    He  was  elected  by  a  majority  composed  of  the  best  citizens  of  both 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840  1850. 


495 


Fillmore  was  its  candidate  for  President  of  the  United  States,  it  was 
dissolved. 

There  was  a  reaction  the  year  following  the  election  of  Harper. 
The  Democrats  elected  William  F.  Havemeyer  mayor,  and  nearly  all 
the  aldermen.  During  the  remainder  of  this  decade  the  Whigs  and 
Democrats  alternately  elected  their  candidates  for  mayor.  The  Demo- 
crats elected  Andrew  II.  Mickle  in  184(>,  but  in  1847  the  Whigs  gained 
the  ascendency  and  elected  their  candidate,  William  V.  Brady.  Mr. 
Havemeyer  was  re-elected  in  1848,  but  the  next  year  the  Whigs  were 
again  triumphant,  electing  Caleb  S.  Woodhull  mayor.  It  was  in  the 
latter  j^ear  (1849)  that  an  amended  charter  was  granted  to  the  city, 
which  changed  the  day  of  the  charter  election  from  the  first  Tuesday 
in  April  to  the  first  Tuesday  in  November,  the  day  of  the  State 
election. 

During  this  decade  and  a  part  of  the  preceding  decade  the  courts, 
especially  that  of  Common  Pleas,  in  the  city  of  New  York  underwent 
modifications.  In  1834  an  associate  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  was  created,  who  was  vested  with  all  the  powers  of  the  first 
judge.  To  this  position  Michael  Ulshoeffer  was  first  appointed.  On 
the  death  of  Judge  John  T.  Irving,  in  1838,  Ulshoeffer  was  appointed 
first  judge,  and  Daniel  P.  Ingraham  associate. 

parties.  He  accepted  the  office  as  an  important  trust,  and  discharged  its  duties  in  the 
same  spirit. 

But  his  life  was  pre-eminently  that  of  a  business  man.  The  industry,  integrity,  and 
sound  judgment  by  which  he  had  won  success  were  also  his  characteristic  qualities  as 
senior  member  of  the  prosperous  firm.  Every  morning  he  visited  each  department  of 
the  establishment,  with  a  sharp  eye  to  every  business  detail,  but  with  here  and  there  a 
helpful  word  and  everywhere  the  kindliest  humor.  Many  of  the  most  eminent  .authors 
and  literary  men  of  the  time  had  become  associated  with  the  house,  and  their  reminis- 
cences of  Mr.  Harpers  sage  counsel  and  quaint  humor  would  fill  a  volume.  But  espe- 
cially the  young  and  as  yet  unknown  author  had  occasion  to  remember  the  appreciation 
and  encouragement  received  in  the  counting-room  where  he  first  met  the  oldest  of  the 
Harper  Brothers. 

The  late  afternoon  and  evening  Mr.  Harper  devoted  to  domestic  duties  and  pleasures. 
Besides  the  members  of  his  own  family,  he  in  his  home  frequently  met  and  entertained 
others,  gathered  together  by  accident— for  he  seldom,  if  ever,  gave  any  formal  parties. 

Mr.  Harper  lived  to  be  seventy-four  years  old.  But  in  physical  and  mental  vigor  he 
seemed  at  least  twenty  years  younger.  He  was  perfectly  erect,  with  scarcely  a  gray  hair 
on  his  head.  He  was  twice  married.  He  left  one  son  by  his  first  wife — Mr.  Philip  J.  A. 
Harper,  now  the  senior  member  of  the  house  of  Harpei  &  Brothers.  By  his  second  wife 
he  left  two  daughters  and  a  son. 

The  portrait  of  Mr.  Harper  given  in  this  work  is  engraved  from  the  photograph  taken 
on  the  afternoon  of  the  fatal  accident.  The  fac-simile  of  his  signature  under  the  portrait 
is  from  his  autograph  appended  to  a  document  signed  by  him  just  before  he  left  his 
office  on  that  day.    It  was  the  last  writing  from  his  hand. 


496 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


An  additional  associate  judge  was  created  in  1839,  vested  with  all 
the  powers  of  the  other  judges,  and  William  Inglis  was  appointed  to 
that  position.  Charles  P.  Daly  succeeded  Judge  Inglis  in  ls44.  The 
court  thus  constituted — a  lirst  judge  and  two  assistant  judges — re- 
mained until  the  adoption  of  the  revised  State  Constitution  in  1846. 
By  the  fiat  of  that  Constitution  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  and  the 
Superior  Court  of  New  York  City  were  specially  excepted  from  the 
general  judicial  reorganization  of  the  State  ;  but  by  an  act  passed  the 
following  year  it  was  provided  that  the  terms  of  the  judges  of  both 
courts  should  expire  on  the  17th  of  January  thereafter  (1S4*),  and  that 
an  election  of  judges  by  the  people,  for  each  of  the  courts,  should  take 
place  in  June  preceding.  It  was  also  provided  that  the  terms  of  the 
judges  elected  should  be  classified  in  terms  of  two,  four,  and  six  years, 
to  be  determined  by  lot,  and  that  the  election  of  all  judges  thereafter 
in  either  of  the  courts  should  be  for  six  years.  In  June,  1847,  all  of 
the  existing  judges  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  were  elected.  The 
allotment  was  as  follows  :  Michael  Ulshoeffer,  two  veal's  ;  Daniel  P. 
Ingraham,  four  years,  and  Charles  P.  Daly,  six  years.* 

*  Charles  P.  Daly,  LL.D.,  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York  October  31,  181G.  He  is 
a  descendant  of  the  Roman  Catholic  branch  of  the  O' Daly's  of  Gal  way,  a  family  notable 
in  Irish  history  for  its  many  scholars,  bards,  and  legislators.  His  father  came  from  the 
north  of  Ireland,  established  a  tavern,  first  on  the  spot  where  the  Tribune  building  now 
stands,  and  afterward  near  the  Park  Theatre.  It  became  a  place  of  great  resort  for  theat- 
rical people.  After  his  death,  his  son  Charles,  who  had  been  educated  at  a  private 
bjhool,  determined  to  earn  his  own  living.  He  procured  employment  in  Savannah,  but 
becoming  dissatisfied  with  his  employer  he  went  to  sea,  first  as  a  cabin-boy  and  then  as 
a  sailor  before  the  mast.  In  this  pursuit  he  continued  fully  three  years,  when  he 
returned  to  New  York  and  apprenticed  himself  to  a  mechanic.  Having  an  ardent  thirst 
for  learning  and  a  strong  desire  for  mental  improvement,  he  soon  joined  a  debating 
society,  and  became  distinguished  for  great  ability  in  debate  arid  correctness  and  fluency 
in  speech. 

Young  Daly  attracted  the  attention  of  an  eminent  member  of  the  bar,  who  advised 
him  to  study  law,  offering  to  pay  the  expense  of  his  tuition  at  Union  College.  The 
young  mechanic  was  unwilling  to  incur  such  a  heavy  obligation.  Soon  after  this  offer 
was  made  his  master  died.  He  was  legally  released  from  the  bonds  of  his  indentures, 
but  he  felt  himself  morally  bound  by  them,  and  he  served  his  master's  widow  faithfully 
until  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age.  Then  he  began  the  study  of  law  with  the  gentle- 
man who  had  advised  him  to  make  it  his  life  profession.  His  extraordinary  progress  in 
his  studies  enabled  him,  by  a  relaxation  of  rigid  rules  in  his  case,  to  be  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1839,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  years.  He  rapidly  rose  in  his  profession,  was 
elected  to  the  Legislature  in  1843,  and  in  1814,  on  the  recommendation  of  Governor 
Marcy,  he  was  appointed  a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  the  city  of  New 
York.    He  has  held  that  position  ever  since,  by  appointments  and  successive  elections. 

In  1857  Judge  Daly  was  raised  to  the  head  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  During  the 
forty  years  of  his  judicial  service  no  whisper  of  a  suspicion  of  dereliction  of  duty  on  the 
part  of  Judge  Daly  has  ever  been  heard  ;  no  charge  of  unfairness  nor  hint  of  corruption 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


497 


By  the  act  of  1^47,  and  by  the  code  adopted  in  1848  and  amended  in 
1S49,  1851,  and  1853,  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  New  York  City 
exercised  unlimited  jurisdiction  in  law  and  equity,  when  the  defendants 
reside  or  are  personally  served  with  process  in  the  city  of  Kew  York. 

has  ever  been  made  by  political  partisans,  or  that  he  was  the  willing  instrument  of  any 
class  of  politicians.  His  ermine  mantle  is  free  from  the  least  stain.  He  enjoys  the  con- 
fidence and  respect  of  all  citizens,  and  he  is  justly  regarded  as  a  representative  of  the 
highest  moral  and  intellectual  tone  of  the  society  of  which  he  is  a  member.  Judge  Daly 
is  an  earnest,  plodding,  persistent  investigator  and  searcher  after  truth,  a  patriot  of 
broad  views,  and  a  churchman  without  bigotry  or  uneharitableness. 

Judge  Daly  visited  Europe  in  1851,  and  was  received  warmly  by  cultivated  men  every- 
where. In  England  he  won  the  friendship  of  Lord  Brougham,  and  on  the  continent  of 
the  Chevalier  Bunsen  and  Baron  Humboldt.  In  a  letter  to  Buusen  concerning  Judge 
Daly,  Humboldt  wrote  :  "All  that  you  communicated  to  me  about  him  I  have  found 
confirmed  in  a  much  higher  degree.  Few  men  leave  behind  them  such  an  impression  of 
high  intellect  upon  the  great  subjects  which  influence  the  march  of  civilization." 

Judge  Daly  had  won  a  national  reputation  before  his  visit  to  Europe,  by  his  admirable 
course  in  administering  justice  to  the  Astor  Place  rioters.  He  was  called  upon  to  pre- 
side at  the  Court  of  Sessions.  In  his  charge  to  the  jury  the  young  judge  said  a  mob  was 
a  despot,  and  rioting  was  a  crime  against  law  and  order.  Men  who  stir  up  a  popular 
tumult  to  advance  their  own  selfish  ends,  he  said,  must  take  the  consequences,  as  do 
other  criminals.  To  the  astonishment  of  the  multitude  who  sympathized  with  the 
rioters,  the  criminals  were  convicted  under  the  clear  rulings  of  the  court,  and  their 
leader  was  sent  to  the  penitentiary. 

When  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  Judge  Daly  stood  firmly,  not  only  in  support  of  the 
government,  but  of  justice  toward  all.  In  the  case  of  the  captured  "  privateers"  at  the 
beginning  of  the  strife,  and  of  the  "  Trent  affair"  some  months  afterward,  he  gave  the 
law  to  the  President  and  his  cabinet  so  forcibly  and  clearly  that  the  government  was  pre- 
vented from  making  most  serious  blunders. 

In  1867  Judge  Daly  was  an  active  member  of  the  New  York  State  Constitutional  Con- 
vention. He  was  a  leading  member  of  the  Judiciary  Committee  that  reported  the  present 
judiciary  system  of  the  State  of  New  York.  His  addresses  before  the  convention  were 
admirable  historical  reviews.  He  is  one  of  the  founders  of  the  American  Geographical 
Society,  and  one  of  its  most  worthy  members.  The  position  of  its  president  he  has  held 
many  years.  When  he  took  the  chair  the  society  was  in  a  languishing  condition  ; 
under  his  energetic  administration  it  has  become  one  of  the  most  flourishing  and 
useful  institutions  of  the  metropolis — the  object  of  his  constant  care.  At  the  rooms  of 
the  society  and  at  his  own  hospitable  mansion,  he  receives  the  most  distinguished 
travellers  and  philosophers  from  other  lands,  and  his  hand  is  ever  open  with  generous 
gifts  of  work  or  money  for  the  advancement  of  science  and  learning  in  all  their  aspects. 
His  annual  addresses  before  the  society  rank  foremost  among  the  geographical  literature 
of  onr  time. 

Judge  Daly  is  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  dramatic  literature,  poetry,  and  music,  and 
his  sweet  tenor  voice  when  he  sings  after  a  quiet  family  dinner  is  genuine  melody.  In 
1856  he  married  Miss  Maria  Lydig,  a  lady  of  high  social  position,  and  prominently 
known  ever  since  for  her  labors  in  connection  with  private  and  public  charities 
Their  beautiful  home  is  the  resort  of  cultivated  people  of  both  sexes.  The  judge's 
Interest  and  activity  in  the  various  societies  and  institutions  in  the  city— literary,  scien- 
tific, and  artistic —never  flags.    His  industry  is  remarkable,  his  temperate  and  regular 


498 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


It  has  also  jurisdiction  against  corporations  created  by  the  laws  of  the 
State  which  transact  their  general  business  in  the  city  ;  also  against 
foreign  corporations  upon  any  cause  of  action  arising  in  the  State.  By 
an  act  passed  in  1854  this  court  possesses  jurisdiction  in  special  proceed- 
ings for  the  disposition  of  the  real  estate  of  infants,  when  such  property 
is  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

By  this  code  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  is  made  a  court  of  review 
for  the  judgments  of  the  Marine  or  district  justices'  courts  of  the  city, 
and  its  decision  upon  and  appeal  from  any  of  these  courts  is  final.  It 
also  has  the  exclusive  power  of  remitting  fines  imposed  by  the  Court  of 
Sessions  as  penalties.* 

The  charter  of  the  city  of  Xew  York,  amended  by  act  of  the  Legis- 
lature, passed  April  7,  1830,  was  again  amended  by  the  act  of  the 
Legislature,  passed  April  2,  1849,  to  take  effect  on  the  first  day  of  June 
ensuing.  The  amended  charter  provided,  as  we  have  observed,  for 
holding  the  charter  election  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  November  (the 
day  of  the  State  election),  the  terms  of  the  respective  officers  chosen  to 
begin  on  the  first  Monday  in  .January  next  ensuing  ;  also  that  the 
mayor  and  aldermen  should  be  elected  annually  as  before,  but  to  hold 
their  office  for  two  years  instead  of  one,  while  the  assistant  aldermen 
should  be  elected  every  year  as  before. 

The  charter  also  provided  for  the  creation  or  permanent  establish- 
ment of  nine  executive  departments,  the  heads  of  which  should  con- 
stitute a  portion  of  the  city  government,  to  assist  the  magistrate  in 
ruling  the  city.  They  were  to  form  a  sort  of  cabinet  ministry  for 
the  mayor,  who  could  at  any  time  summon  them  to  his  assistance  in 
the  administration  of  the  government  of  the  city.  These  departments 
were  to  be — 

I.  The  Police  Department,  with  the  mayor  at  the  head,  and  a 
bureau,  the  head  of  which  was  to  be  known  as  the  Chief  of  Police. 

habits  are  proverbial,  anil  his  love  of  books  and  of  research  is  a  passion  which  he  grati- 
fies. His  is  one  of  the  choicest  private  libraries  in  the  city.  Although  Judge  Daly  is 
one  of  the  busiest  of  men,  he  is  one  of  the  most  social  of  men.  He  is  always  ready  to  see 
his  friends,  and  the  deserving  applicant  for  his  bounty  is  always  listened  to  patiently, 
and  is  never  turned  from  his  doors  empty-handed. 

Judge  Daly  is  the  author  of  many  published  works,  comprising  addresses,  essays, 
histories,  and  biographies.  Among  these  is  a  learned  "  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Tribunals 
of  Xew  York  from  1(523  to  1846,"  also  "  The  Nature,  Extent,  and  History  of  the  Surrogate 
Court  of  the  State  of  New  York,"  "  A  Comparison  Between  the  Ancient  and  Modern 
Banking  Systems,"  "  History  of  the  Settlement  of  the  Jews  in  North  America,"  etc. 

*  See  Chief- Justice  Daly's  erudite  "  History  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the 
City  and  County  of  New  York,  with  an  Account  of  the  Judicial  Organization  of  the 
State  from  1623  to  1846." 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


409 


2.  The  Department  of  Finance,  of  which  the  chief  officer  was  to  be 
denominated  the  Comptroller  of  the  City  of  Xew  York.  The  depart- 
ment was  to  have  three  bureaus,  the  heads  of  which  were  to  be  called, 
respectively,  the  Receiver  of  Taxes,  the  Collector  of  the  City  Revenue, 
and  the  Chamberlain  of  the  City  of  Xew  Fork. 

3.  The  Street  Department,  the  chief  officer  of  which  was  to  be  called 
the  Street  Commissioner  ;  the  department  to  have  one  bureau,  the 
head  of  which  was  to  be  called  the  Collector  of  Assessments,  and 
another  bureau,  the  chief  of  which  was  to  be  known  as  the  Superin- 
tendent of  Wharves. 

4.  The  Department  of  Repairs  and  Supplies,  with  four  bureaus,  the 
heads  of  which  should  be  called,  respectively,  Superintendents  of 
Roads,  Repairs  to  Public  Buildings,  and  of  Permits,  and  Chief  Engineer 
of  the  Fire  Department.  The  head  of  the  department  was  to  be 
known  as  the  Commissioner  of  Repairs  and  Supplies. 

5.  The  Department  of  Streets  and  Lamps,  under  a  Commissioner  of 
Streets  and  Lamps,  with  three  bureaus,  the  chiefs  of  which  were 
called,  respectively,  Superintendents  of  Lamps  and  Gas,  of  Streets, 
and  of  Markets. 

6.  The  Croton  Aqueduct  Board,  the  chief  of  which  should  be  de- 
nominated President,  Engineer,  and  Assistant  Commissioner,  with  a 
bureau,  the  head  of  which  was  to  be  called  the  Water  Register. 

7.  The  City  Inspector's  Department,  the  chief  officer  known  as  City 
Inspector. 

8.  The  Almshouse  Department,  the  chief  officers  known  as  Gov- 
ernors of  the  Almshouse. 

9.  The  Law  Department,  the  head  of  which  was  to  be  called  the 
Counsel  for  the  Corporation,  with  a  bureau  known  as  that  of  the  Cor- 
poration Attorney. 

It  was  provided  that  the  heads  of  these  several  departments,  except- 
ing the  Croton  Aqueduct  Board,  should  be  elected  every  three  years 
by  the  people.  They  were  all  subject  to  the  legislative  regulation  and 
direction  of  the  common  council. 

The  year  1845  was  marked  by  several  noted  conflagrations  in  the 
city  of  Xew  York.  One  of  these  was  exceeded  in  destructiveness  only 
by  the  great  fire  of  ten  years  before.  On  the  morning  of  February 
5th,  about  four  o'clock,  during  the  prevalence  of  a  terrible  snow-storm, 
a  fire  broke  out  in  the  counting-room  of  the  Tribune  building.  It  was 
discovered  by  the  pressmen  in  the  basement,  who,  like  the  compositors 
in  the  upper  story,  had  barely  time  to  escape  with  their  fives.  Mr. 
Graham  (one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  Tribune)  and  a  clerk  were  sleep- 


500 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


ing  in  the  second  story,  and  escaped  by  jumping  out  of  a  "window  into 
snowdrifts  below.  So  deep  and  drifted  was  the  snow  that  it  was 
impossible  to  drag  fire-engines  through  it— indeed  some  of  them  could 
not  be  gotten  from  their  houses  for  a  long  time — ami  the  hydrant 
nearest  the  Tribune  building  was  so  frozen  that  it  could  only  be  opened 
•with  an  axe.  That  building  and  the  one  adjoining,  on  the  corner  of 
Spruce  and  Nassau  streets,  were  destroyed,  with  all  their  contents. 

On  the  25th  of  April  the  Bowery  Theatre  was  destroyed  by  fire  for 
the  fourth  time,  about  six  o'clock  in  the  evening.  The  fire  broke  out 
in  the  carpenter's  shop  of  the  theatre,  and  before  an  iron  safety  door 
could  be  closed,  spread  rapidly  to  the  scenery  within  the  building.  In 
less  than  half  an  hour  the  theatre  was  a  smoking  ruin.  It  was  sup- 
posed the  lire  was  the  work  of  an  incendiary.  The  loss  to  the  proprie- 
tor, T.  S.  Ilamblin,  was  about  §100,000. 

At  midsummer,  1845,  the  third  great  fire  in  the  city  occurred.  The 
other  two  were  the  conflagrations  of  1770  and  1886.  On  the  morning 
of  July  19th  smoke  was  seen  issuing  from  the  third  story  of  an  oil-store 
on  Xew  Street,  a  small  avenue  between  Broadway  and  Broad  Street, 
extending  from  "Wall  Street  to  Beaver  Street.  The  time  of  this  dis- 
covery was  just  before  dawn.  The  person  having  charge  of  the  fire- 
alarm  bell  at  the  City  Hall  failed  to  ring  it  for  a  time,  and  when  a 
sufficient  force  of  the  department,  which  if  summoned  promptly  could 
have  smothered  the  flames,  arrived  at  the  scene  of  the  kindling  con- 
flagration, it  was  beyond  their  control.  Perceiving  that  the  oil-store 
could  not  be  saved,  the  firemen  directed  all  their  energies  to  save  the 
buildings  near  it,  but  could  not.  The  flames  communicated  to  an  ad- 
joining carpenter's  shop,  and  spread  rapidly. 

At  No.  38  Broad  Street,  opposite  the  starting-point  of  the  fire,  and 
connected  with  a  building  on  Xew  Street  by  a  wooden  platform,  was 
the  large  store  of  Crocker  &  "Warren,  in  which  was  a  great  quantity  of 
saltpetre.  By  the  omission  to  close  tightly  an  iron  shutter  of  this 
store,  the  fire  was  communicated  to  it  by  means  of  the  platform,  and 
the  contents  of  that  structure  became  a  terrible  force  in  spreading 
destruction.  An  official  report  of  this  fire,  made  by  a  joint  special 
committee  of  the  common  council,  alluding  to  the  scenes  at  this  build- 
ing, says  : 

"  The  assistant  foreman  of  No.  22  engine,  Mr.  Waters,  had  not  advanced  more  than 
three  feet  within  the  building,  in  which  he  had  not  before  noticed  fire  or  smoke,  when 
there  issued  toward  him  from  the  first  story  a  dense  smoke,  which  compelled  him  and 
all  the  others  present  to  retire  from  the  building.  ...  A  few  minutes  after  this  a  report 
was  heard  in  Crocker  A'  Warren's,  resembling  the  discharge  of  a  common  horse-pistoL 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


501 


accompanied  with  a  puffing  sound  like  that  emitted  from  a  locomotive  when  first  set  in 
motion,  and  followed  by  the  issuing  from  the  first  story  of  a  thick,  black  smoke,  which 
shot  out  as  from  a  gun,  and  reached  nearly  across  Broad  Street  in  a  horizontal  body. 
Then  immediately  a  bright  flauie  was  propelled  in  a  similar  manner  from  the  same  place 
across  Broad  Street,  and  struck  the  houses  on  the  opposite  side.  Then  followed,  at  inter- 
vals of  a  few  seconds,  ten  or  twelve  successive  explosions,  each  louder  than  the  other, 
and  each  accompanied  with  a  shoot  of  brighter  light  through  the  flame,  which,  com- 
mencing with  the  first  explosion,  poured  continuously  out  until  the  building  from  which 
it  emanated  was  destroyed. 

"  While  these  explosions  were  occurring  the  firemen  of  Engine  No.  22  say  they  heard 
some  one  exclaim,  '  Bun,  No.  22,  for  your  lives  ;  the  building  is  full  of  powder  ! '  .  .  . 
While  most  of  them  were  in  the  act  of  running,  a  grand  explosion  took  place,  with  a  sound 
compared  by  one  witness  to  a  clap  of  thunder.  It  was  accompanied  with  an  immense 
body  of  flame,  occupying  all  the  space  in  Broad  Street  betweeu  Beaver  and  Exchange 
streets.  It  instantly  penetrated  at  least  seven  buildings,  blew  in  the  fronts  of  the  oppo- 
site houses  on  Broad  Street,  wrenched  shutters  and  doors  from  buildings  at  some  dis- 
tance from  the  immediate  scene  of  the  explosion,  propelled  bricks  and  other  missiles 
through  the  air,  threw  down  many  individuals  who  had  gone  as  far  as  Beaver  Street, 
spread  the  fire  far  and  wide,  so  that  the  whole  neighborhood  was  at  once  in  a  blaze,  and 
most  unfortunately  covered  up  the  hose  through  which  the  streams  of  water  had  been 
playing  upon  the  fire.  After  this  the  firemen  could  with  difficulty  obtain  any  control 
over  the  conflagration. " 

The  force  of  the  explosion  was  tremendous.  Within  two  hours  one 
hundred  and  fifty  building's  were  in  flames.  In  one  direction  the 
flames  had  crossed  Broad  Street  and  extended  almost  to  AVall  Street, 
and  in  the  other  direction  had  reached  the  Bowling  Green,  at  the 
foot  of  Broadway.  The  ravages  of  the  fire  extended  from  Broad 
Sti'eet  below  Wall  Street  to  Stone  Street,  up  Whitehall  Street  to 
Bowling  Green,  and  up  Broadway  to  Exchange  Place.  Three  hundred 
and  forty-five  buildings  were  destroyed.  Augustus  L.  Cowdrey,  a  fire- 
man, and  three  other  persons  were  killed,  and  Engine  No.  22,  whose 
members  fled  in  time  to  save  their  lives,  was  nearly  destroyed  by  the 
foi'ce  of  the  great  explosion. 

The  value  of  the  edifices  consumed,  witli  their  contents,  was  esti- 
mated at  from  $6,000,000  to  $10,000,000.  The  long-debated  question 
among  scientific  men,  ''Will  saltpetre  explode  ?"  was  settled  by  a 
voice  of  thunder  uttering  a  vehement  argument  on  the  affirmative 
side.  * 

*  In  this  conflagration  a  cherished  relic  of  the  past  was  destroyed.  It  was  the  bell  of 
the  "  Old  Jail ' ' — the  famous  Provost  prison  during  the  occupation  of  the  British  from 
177G  to  1783.  When  that  old  lock-up  was  remodelled  and  became  the  present  Hall  of 
Records,  that  bell  was  placed  on  the  Bridewell,  at  the  west  side  of  the  City  Hall,  as  a 
fire-alarm  bell.  On  the  destruction  of  the  Bridewell  the  old  bell  was  allowed  to  continue 
its  association  with  the  fire  department  by  beiDg  placed  in  the  cupola  of  the  Naiad  Hose 
Company,  in  Beaver  Street.    On  the  morning  of  July  19,  1845,  it  gave  its  last  warning  of 


502 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


In  no  respect  is  the  progress  of  the  city'of  New  York  more  emphat- 
ically illustrated  than  in  the  contrast  hetween  1833  and  1883  as  regards 
fire-insurance  facilities,  processes,  and  resources. 

Fifty  years  ago  only  ahout  eighteen  fire-insurance  companies  were  in 
existence  in  New  York  City.  In  1883,  on  July  1st,  there  were  forty- 
eight  local  companies.  In  1833  the  total  fire-insurance  capital  was  hut 
little  over  $6,000,000.  Now  the  New  York  City  companies  have 
$17,434,000  cash  capital,  with  surplus  assets  of  $22,680,493  hesides, 
making  a  total  of  $40,114,513. 

Then  only  a  single  company — the  Glohe  (long  since  defunct) — could 
boast  of  $1,000,000  capital.  Now  no  less  than  five  New  York  City 
companies  possess  $1, 000,000  capital  each,  with  important  surplus  funds 
in  addition  ;  and  a  single  company — the  Home — with  a  cash  capital  of 
$3,000,000,  can  exhibit  more  assets  than  the  combined  capitals  of  all 
the  New  York  companies  of  1833. 

The  entire  premium  receipts  of  the  eighteen  companies  of  1S33  did 
not  reach  the  sum  of  £1. 000, 000  per  annum,  whereas  the  premium 
income  of  the  forty -eight  New  York  companies  now  doing  business 
was,  for  the  year  1882,  $15,027,548,  of  which  at  least  five  companies 
could  report  having  received  over  $1,000,000  each  during  the  year  ; 
and  one  (the  Home)  reported  premium  receipts  to  the  enormous 
amount  of  $2,745,663,  or  more  than  one  sixth  of  the  entire  premium 
receipts  reported  by  the  forty-eight  city  companies. 

Between  1833  and  the  end  of  1835  seven  additional  companies,  with 
$1,700,000  more  capital,  came  in  to  make  the  total  fire-insurance 
capital  of  the  city  nearly  $8,000,000,  and  (as  the  event  proved)  to 
lend  what  little  aid  they  could  to  moderate  the  ruin  which  followed  in 
the  wake  of  the  great  fire  of  December,  1835.  By  that  fire  from 
$15,000,000  to  $20,000,000  worth  of  property  was  annihilated,  and 
all  but  seven  of  the  twenty-five  local  fire-insurance  companies  were 
made  insolvent.  The  few  companies  that  remained  alive  had  but  little 
more  than  $1,000,000  capital  left  between  them  all.  Under  a  law 
passed  specially  for  their  encouragement,  however,  several  companies 
were  reorganized  with  new  capital  to  the  aggregate  of  $3,500,000, 
and  once  more  the  New  York  companies  could  claim  nearly  $6,000,000 
of  capital,  all  told,  as  a  guaranty  of  their  promises  of  indemnity  to 
sufferers  by  fire. 

The  fire  of  July,  1845,  swept  away  over  $6,000,000  worth  of  property, 

danger  and  destruction  to  sleeping  citizens.  The  house  of  the  Naiad  Hose  Company 
was  consumed  in  the  great  conflagration,  and  the  old  bell  perished  with  it. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


503 


and  with  it  many  of  the  companies,  cutting  down  the  capital  of  the 
New  York  and  Brooklyn  companies  combined  to  about  $-1, 000, 000. 
For  several  years  thereafter  the  lire-insurance  field  seemed  to  dis- 
courage rather  than  invite  the  investment  of  further  capital.  But  in 
1849  the  passage  of  a  general  insurance  law  opened  a  new  vista  to 
promoters  and  investors  ;  and  from  that  year  on  to  1876,  with  scarcely 
an  exception,  new  companies  continued  to  be  annually  organized  (and 
withdrawn),  the  largest  number  existing  in  any  one  year  being  in  l  sr.7, 
when  ninety-one  New  York  fire-insurance  companies  reported  net 
assets  to  the  amount  of  $28,015,535. 

Between  1835  and  1853  no  company  of  large  capital  was  formed. 
In  the  last-named  year  two  $500,000  companies  were  organized. 
Others,  too,  were  added,  especially  from  1859  onward,  until  in  1883, 
as  already  stated,  the  city  of  New  York  has  no  less  than  five  fire- 
insurance  companies  capitalized  at  $1,000,000,  and  one  at  $3,000,000, 
all  of  them  having  large  surplus  assets,  over  capital  and  liabilities, 
ranging  from  $72S,000  to  $1,750,000 — the  last-named  amount  being 
the  net  surplus  of  the  Home  Insurance  Company,  over  its  $3,000,000 
of  capital  and  all  other  liabilities  whatsoever. 

The  fires  of  Portland,  Albany,  Troy,  St.  Louis,  Chicago,  Boston, 
etc.,  have,  during  the  past  twenty  years,  made  havoc  with  insurance 
capital,  and  either  destroyed  or  crippled  New  York  fire-insurance  com- 
panies by  scores,  and  almost  by  hundreds.  By  the  Chicago  fire,  in 
October,  1871,  no  less  than  sixteen  New  York  City  companies  were 
absolutely  ruined  (as  well  as  fifty-two  other  companies),  and  six  were 
compelled  to  repair  shattered  capitals  to  the  amount  of  $2,060,000. 
By  the  Boston  fire  of  November,  1872,  five  New  York  City  companies 
were  destroyed  (in  addition  to  seventeen  companies  in  Massachusetts 
and  other  States),  and  eight  more  were  the  subjects  of  sympathy  by 
reason  of  requisitions  to  supply  impairments  of  capital  to  the  aggregate 
amount  of  $766,600. 

The  insurance  department  of  the  State  of  New  York  was  established 
by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  passed  in  April,  1859.  At  that  time  there 
were  ninety-four  New  York  and  Brooklyn  fire-insurance  companies, 
seventy-two  of  which  had  been  organized  within  the  preceding  ten 
years,  the  other  twenty-two  being  all  that  had  survived  of  all  the 
companies  fonned  between  the  years  1787  and  1S50.  Of  these  ninety- 
four  fire-insurance  companies  alive  in  1859,  no  less  than  forty-seven  (or 
exactly  one  half)  have  meanwhile  disappeared  from  the  arena  of  com- 
petition, leaving  only  forty-seven  surviving  of  those  companies  whose 
birth  dates  back  of  1860.    Summed  up,  the  showing  is  that  of  one 


504 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


hundred  and  twenty -seven  fire-insurance  companies  existing  in  1859, 
or  since  organized,  no  less  than  seventy-one  have  gone  out  of  sight, 
fifty -two  of  them  during  the  past  thirteen  years.  It  is  to  be  borne  in 
mind  that  no  account  is  made,  in  this  respect,  of  other  than  New 
York  City  and  Brooklyn  companies.  If  the  failures  and  withdrawals 
elsewhere  throughout  the  State  were  added,  the  necrology  would,  of 
course,  be  considerably  swelled.  It  is  noticeable  that  of  the  twenty 
companies  organized  during  the  past  twelve  years,  only  five  survive, 
and  instead  of  the  ninety-nine  New  York  and  Brooklyn  companies 
that  had  a  name  to  live  in  18fiC>,  there  are  in  1883  but  fifty-eight  to  be 
credited  to  botli  cities  ;  and  of  these  forty-eight  are  New  York  City 
institutions. 

Meanwhile  the  business  of  fire  insurance  has  become  the  football  of 
fierce  competition  between  giants,  who,  in  their  struggles,  bid  fair  to 
trample  many  a  weak  pigmy  into  the  dust. 


CHAPTER  III. 


IT  has  been  observed  that  the  New  York  Sketch  Club  was  reorganized 
in  1841,  when  it  had  become  well  known  to  the  public.  At  the 
beginning  it  assumed  a  mysterious  character,  and  for  a  while  it  puzzled 
the  curious.  Its  real  name,  its  character,  and  its  membership  were 
concealed  from  the  public,  and  many  were  the  amusing  and  wild  con-  | 
jectures  as  to  its  real  name  and  social  position.  It  advertised  its  meet- 
ings in  the  newspapers  in  this  cabalistic  manner  : 

"|[^-  S.  C—  T.  S.  C. 
Thursday  Evening,  3,  10." 

This  meant,  "  Sketch  Club  meets  at  T.  S.  Cuminings's,  Thursday  even- 
ing, March  10th." 

After  the  club  was  first  reorganized,  in  1830,  it  was  known  as  the 
Twenty-one,  probably  because  its  membership  long  consisted  of  that 
number.  Access  to  its  ranks  was  quite  as  difficult,  perhaps,  as  to  the 
French  Academy  or  elevation  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States. 

On  the  reorganization  of  the  club  in  1841  it  assumed  a  higher  tone 
toward  art  ;  yet  it  was  not  until  three  years  afterward,  when  it  was 
again  reorganized  or  "  made  over,"  that  it  became  a  more  purely  art 
and  literary  association,  retaining  its  pleasant  social  features.  It  was 
really  a  new  association. 

It  was  at  a  social  meeting  of  artists — Messrs.  Chapman,  Ingham, 
Cummings,  Durand,*  Gray,  Morton,  Edmonds,  Agate,  and  two  or 

*  Asher  Brown  Durand,  one  of  the  three  survivors  (1883)  of  the  founders  of  the 
National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design,  was  born  August  21,  179G,  on  the  estate  where 
he  now  lives,  near  the  village  of  South  Orange,  in  New  Jersey.  The  use  of  the  pencil 
was  his  delight  even  in  his  infantile  years.  His  father  was  a  repairer  of  watches,  and  in 
his  shop  this  son  made  his  first  essays  in  the  art  of  engraving.  Having  shown  much 
genius  for  that  art,  he  was  apprenticed  in  1812  to  Peter  Maverick,  then  a  noted  engraver 
on  copper.  Young  Durand  was  employed  chiefly  in  copying  English  book  illustrations 
for  publishers,  and  so  conspicuous  was  his  ability  that  at  the  end  of  his  apprenticeship 
Maverick  made  him  his  business  partner. 

Durand's  genius  attracted  the  attention  of  Colonel  Trumbull,  and  when  the  latter  was 
about  to  make  arrangements  with  Maverick  to  engrave  his  picture  of  the  "  Declaration 
of  Independence,"  he  expressed  the  desire  that  Durand  should  do  the  work.  This 
offended  Maverick,  and  he  broke  up  his  partnership  with  his  gifted  pupil.    Durand  set 


506 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


three  others — on  the  2d  of  January,  1S44-,  that  it  was  proposed  to 
organize  a  sketching  club  on  an  improved  plan.  The  idea  was  warmly 
approved.  Cummings  was  at  once  called  to  the  chair  ;  some  prelimi- 
nary action  was  taken,  and  it  was  resolved  to  call  the  new  society  the 
Artists''  Sketching  Club.  The  association  was  formed.  The  first  sub- 
scribing members  were  the  artists  first  named,  with  the  addition  of 
Cole,  Mount,  Casilear,  Shegogue,  Baker,  Prud'homme,  Jones,  Gignoux, 
and  a  few  others.  It  became  one  of  the  most  charming  clubs  in  the 
city,  and  attracted  artists  and  literary  and  professional  men  to  its 
membership  and  its  pleasant  meetings. 

I  remember  being  a  guest  at  a  meeting  of  the  Sketch  Club  in  March, 
1847,  at  the  house  of  General  Cummings,  at  which  most  of  the  mem- 
bers were  in  attendance  — Messrs.  Bryant,  Campbell,  Colden,  Chapman, 
Cozzens,  Cummings,  Durand,  Edmunds,  Leupp,  Gray,  Huntington, 
Ingham,  Brown,  Shegogue,  Seymour,  Sturges,  Yerplanek,  Gourlie, 
Kielson,  and  Morse  ;  and  Gorham  Abbott,  Elliott,  West,  and  Tappan 
were  guests. 

At  these  meetings  the  artists  and  literary  men  were  kept  ignorant  of 
the  subject  that  was  to  engage  their  attention  and  genius,  until  it  was 
announced  by  the  host,  when  pens  and  pencils  would  work  vigorously 
for  exactly  one  hour.  At  the  end  of  that  period  every  production, 
artistic  or  literary,  finished  or  unfinished,  was  gathered  up  by  the  host. 
These,  in  groups,  were  distributed  by  lot  at  the  close  of  .the  year. 

On  the  evening  in  question  the  members  were  seated  at  a  large,  well- 
lighted  table,  with  working  materials  ready  for  action.  At  precisely 
eight  o'clock  General  Cummings  touched  a  little  bell  and  said, 
"Raising  the  Wind.*'  This  was  the  first  intimation  of  the  subject. 
It  was  amusing  and  amazing  to  see  pictures  and  poetical  or  prose 
sketches  appear  as  if  by  magic  from  the  brains  and  fingers  of  these 

up  for  himself.  Trumbull  employed  him,  and  he  made  an  admirable  picture.  It  was 
greatly  admired  for  its  faithfulness  in  drawing  and  technical  execution.  He  soon  pro- 
duced other  engravings  of  great  excellence.  His  "  Ariadne  Sleeping,"  from  the  painting 
by  Vanderlyn,  is  regarded  as  the  most  perfect  specimen  of  line  engraving  ever  done  in 
America.  Critics  regard  it  as  equal  to  anything  that  Sharp,  the  famous  English  engraver, 
ever  did. 

Mr.  Durand  was  one  of  the  most  active  and  honored  of  the  founders  of  the  National 
Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design.  He  was  chosen  its  president  on  the  retirement  of  Pro- 
fessor Morse  in  1845,  and  filled  the  chair  with  great  dignity  aud  efficiency  for  seventeen 
consecutive  years.  At  about  the  middle  of  his  official  career  his  fellow-artists  presented 
him  with  a  valuable  service  of  plate,  as  an  attestation  of  their  appreciation  of  him  as  an 
artist,  a  man,  and  his  valuable  services  to  the  Academy. 

Mr.  Durand  abandoned  engraving  as  a  profession  about  183G,  and  became  a  profes- 
sional painter,  in  which  he  excelled.    He  painted  in  a  very  pleasing  style  the  portraits 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


507 


gentlemen.  Edmonds,  I  think,  sketched  a  colored  boy  raising  the 
wind  by  rigorously  blowing  a  fire  with  bellows.  Another  made  a 
Jeremy  Diddler  raising  the  wind  by  stealing  a  handkerchief  from  a 
gentleman's  pocket.  One  of  the  poetical  products  of  the  occasion  I  am 
able  to  recall  to  memory  : 

"  Eaise  the  wind  !    To-morrow  raise  your  sashes, 
And  fickle  March  will  teach  you  how  to  do  it. 
He'll  smile,  then  bluster,  then  in  sudden  dashes 
He'll  enter  with  a  blast  ;  how  you  will  rue  it  ! 

"  So  treat  your  fellow-mortals.    Kindest  greetings 
Exchange  for  coldness  now,  and  then  caresses  ; 
Then  scornful  be  at  pleasant  social  meetings  ; 
You'll  raise  the  Kind  that  may  disturb  your  tresses." 

At  this  period  the  Artists'  Sketching  Club  became  the  foundation  of 
another  organization,  upon  which  has  been  reared  one  of  the  noblest 
superstructures  of  aesthetic  social  life  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Late 
in  1846,  John  G.  Chapman  (a  resident  of  Rome,  Italy,  since  1848),  at 
a  meeting  of  the  club  proposed  the  formation  of  an  association  of 
artists  and  men  of  letters,  with  a  membership  restricted  to  one  hun- 
dred. The  proposition  was  approved,  and  a  circular  letter,  signed  by 
John  G.  Chapman,  Asher  B.  Durand,  Charles  C.  Ingham,  A.  M. 
Cozzens,  F.  W.  Edmonds,  and  Henry  T.  Tuckerman,  was  addressed 
to  about  one  hundred  gentlemen  of  the  city  distinguished  in  art  and 
letters,  or  who  were  amateurs  of  letters  and  the  fine  arts,  inviting 
them  to  a  meeting  in  the  Xew  York  Gallery  of  Fine  Arts  in  the  old 
Rotunda,  in  the  Park,  on  January  13,  1847. 

This  meeting  was  largely  attended.  David  C.  Colden  was  called  to 
the  chair.  Mr.  Chapman  presented  a  report,  with  a  draft  of  a  consti- 
tution.   A  society  was  organized,  and  on  motion  of  Edward  S.  Yan 

of  many  distinguished  men,  but  landscape  painting  was  his  favorite  pursuit,  and  in  this 
he  was  most  successful.  He  visited  Europe  in  1840,  but  did  not  remain  long  from  home. 
With  untiring  industry  he  pursued  the  art  of  painting,  and  his  beautiful  landscape 
pieces  adorn  many  a  private  dwelling  in  the  city  of  New  \ork.  He  left  the  city  in  1869, 
and  took  up  his  abode  on  the  ancestral  estate,  near  Maplewood  station,  on  the  Delaware, 
Lackawanna  and  Western  Railroad,  at  the  foot  of  Orange  Mountain.  It  is  a  beautiful 
spot.  His  mansion  is  spacious  and  elegant.  In  the  upper  story  is  his  studio,  wherein 
hang  about  one  hundred  of  his  landscape  studies,  and  his  exquisite  copy  of  Vanderlyn's 
picture  of  "  Ariadne  Sleeping,"  the  size  of  his  engravings.  There,  too,  is  the  last  pro- 
duction of  his  brush — a  beautiful  landscape  painted  when  he  was  eighty-three  years  of 
age.  Fifty  years  ago  Dunlap  wrote  of  this  beloved  artist  :  "  Mr.  Dnrand's  character  is 
that  of  the  most  perfect  tiuth  and  simplicity.  As  a  husband,  a  father,  and  a  citizen,  he 
is  without  blemish  from  evil  report.  He  is  an  honor  to  the  arts,  which  delight  to  know 
him."    This  is  true  of  his  character  to-day. 


508 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Winkle  it  was  named  The  Century,  because  of  its  restricted  member- 
ship to  one  hundred  persons. 

A  committee  of  management  was  appointed,  consisting  of  Gulian  C. 
Yerplanck,  John  L.  Stephens,  A.  B.  Durand,  J.  G.  Chapman,  David 
C.  Colden,  and  Charles  M.  Leupp.  Thomas  S.  Cummings  was  ap- 
pointed treasurer,  and  Daniel  Seymour  secretary. 

The  first  home  of  the  Century  was  in  rooms  at  Xo.  495  Broadway. 
Like  other  associations,  the  club  became  migratory.  From  Broadway 
it  went  to  Broome  Street  ;  then  again  it  was  on  Broadway  ;  at  a 
fourth  migration  we  find  it  in  Clinton  Place,  and  there  it  remained 
until  it  took  possession  of  its  own  house,  Xo.  1<>9  Fifteenth  Street, 
where  it  still  remains,  but  contemplates  another  removal. 

The  Century  flourished  from  the  beginning.  Its  meetings  were  well 
attended.  A  reading-room  was  provided,  and  the  beginning,  of  a 
library  was  established.  Many  artist  members  contributed  works  from 
their  studios  to  adorn  its  walls.  A  journal  was  read  for  two  or  three 
years,  once  a  month,  called  the  Century.  The  genial  member  of 
to-day,  John  II.  Gourlie,  was  the  senior  editor,  assisted  by  the  pleasant 
humorist,  the  late  F.  S.  Cozzens.  It  contained  contributions  from 
other  members,  and  its  contents  were  largely  published  in  the  Knichir- 
Ixu  l'  i'  Jfct/t/3nn ,  edited  by  Lewis  Gaylord  Clark.  Receptions  were 
given  to  men  eminent  in  statesmanship,  letters,  science,  and  art,  and 
twice  a  year  receptions  were  extended  to  the  feminine  friends  of  the 
members.  For  a  while  they  kept  up  the  old  German  custom  of  observ- 
ing Twelfth  Night,  and  this  has  recently  been  revived. 

At  the  end  of  the  second  meeting  new  members  were  introduced. 
The  following  named  gentlemen  were  the  first  who  were  admitted  by 
election  :  Russell  II.  Xevins,  James  W.  Glass,  Charles  S.  Roe,  and 
Thomas  S.  Olficer.*  Its  finances  have  been  health v  from  the  bejjin- 
ning.f 

*  The  following  are  the  names  of  the  first  members  of  the  Century  Club  in  January, 
1847  :  William  C.  Bryant,  Rev.  H.  W.  Bellows,  Henry  K.  Brown,  J.  G.  Chapman,  A.  M. 
Cozzens,  David  C.  Cnlden,  J.  D.  Campbell,  L.  Gaylord  Clark,  T.  S.  Cummings,  A.  B. 
Durand,  Rev.  Orville  Dewey,  F.  W.  Edmonds,  C.  L.  Elliott,  Thomas  Addis  Emmet, 
Dudley  B.  Fuller,  Thomas  H.  Faile,  George  Folsom,  Alban  Goldsmith,  John  n.  Gourlie, 
Henry  Peters  Gray,  Daniel  Huntington,  Ogden  Haggerty,  W,  J.  Hoppin,  C.  C.  Ingham, 
Gouverneur  Kemble,  William  Kemble,  Shepherd  Knapp,  Robert  Kelly,  Charles  If.  Leupp, 
G.  E.  Lyon,  Christian  Mayer,  Dr.  Maeneven,  Eleazer  Parmly,  T.  P.  Eossiter,  Daniel 
Seymour,  Jonathan  Stnrges,  John  L.  Stephens,  Joseph  Trent,  H.  T.  Tuckerman,  H.  P. 
Tappan,  G.  C.  Verplanek,  Edgar  S.  Van  Winkle. 

Ten  of  the  forty-two  original  members  of  the  Century  in  1847  were  living  at  the 
beginning  of  18S3. 

f  "  See  Origin  and  History  of  the  Century,"  by  John  H.  Gourlie. 


SECOND  DECADE,  L840-1850. 


509 


The  Century  was  incorporated  in  1857.  Tn  the  act  Gulian  C.  Ver- 
planck,  William  0.  Bryant,  Charles  M.  Leupp,  A.  P>.  Durand,  John  F. 
Kensett,  William  Kemble,  and  William  II.  Appleton  are  named  as 
corporators.  It  was  early  determined  to  enlarge  the  limits  of  member- 
ship, and  the  maximum  was  fixed  at  six  hundred.  That  is  still  the 
limit,  and  it  is  about  filled.  In  August,  1883,  the  number  of  members 
was  five  hundred  and  ninety-live.  The  initiation  fee  is  $100,  and  the 
annual  dues  $36.* 

The  utmost  care  is  taken  to  keep  the  Century  free  from  even  the 
smallest  vices  of  every  kind.  It  is  one  of  the  purest  as  it  is  one  of  the 
most  elevated  in  moral  and  intellectual  tone  among  the  social  institu- 
tions of  the  land.  It  exerts  a  powerful  and  salutary  influence  in  the 
promotion  of  moral  and  intellectual  cultivation  of  the  highest  kind. 

"Our  club,"  says  Mr.  John  Durand,  in  his  "Prehistoric  Notes  of 
the  Century  Club,'1  "  is  made  up  of  members  belonging  to  all  guilds. 
It  is  an  assemblage  of  men  from  all  parts  of  Europe,  from  all  sections 
of  our  country,  and  of  every  profession—artists,  literary  men,  scientists, 
physicians,  officers  of  the  army  and  navy,  members  of  the  bench  and 
bar,  engineers,  clergymen,  representatives  of  the  press,  merchants,  and 
men  of  leisure. ' '  f 

The  Century  has  from  time  to  time  published  for  private  circulation 
memoirs  of  some  of  its  distinguished,  deceased  members.  Its  dead  in 
1882  numbered  181. 

Late  in  the  second  decade  the  city  of  New  York  suffered  the  inflic- 
tion of  two  scourges  in  one  year,  dissimilar  in  character,  but  both 
serious.  These  scourges  were  the  outbreak  known  as  the  Astor  Place 
Riot,  and  the  other  the  cholera.  Both  events  occurred  between  May 
and  September,  1S-19. 

The  Astor  Place  Riot,  in  its  origin  and  progress,  Avas  a  disgrace  to 

*  The  club-house  on  Fifteenth  Street  has  a  modest  exterior.  On  the  first  floor  are  the 
reception,  wine,  dining,  and  reading  rooms,  all  furnished  with  hard  woods,  the  walls 
adorned  with  pictures,  many  of  them  costly,  and  all  the  apartments  are  brilliantly  lighted 
by  gas-jets  in  artistic  chandeliers.  Ascending  a  broad  stairway,  the  visitor  reaches  the 
second  floor,  which  is  occupied  by  the  art  gallery,  library,  writing-room,  and  a  large  hall 
or  council-room  of  the  Century.  It  is  believed  that  tbe  art  collections  of  the  Century  — 
paintings,  engravings,  and  statues  — are  not  excelled  by  any  club  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  The  library,  which  contains  fully  5000  volumes,  occupies  three  pleasant  rooms, 
and  is  rich  in  reference  books  on  art  and  literature.  In  the  great  hall  or  council-room 
the  receptions  and  other  entertainments  are  given. 

f  The  officers  of  the  Century  in  1882  were  :  Daniel  Huntington,  president  ;  Gilbert 
M.  Speir  and  H.  W.  Bellows,  vice-presidents  ;  A.  E.  Macdonough,  secretary,  and  Henry 
A.  Oakley,  treasurer. 


510 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


human  nature,  to  civilization,  and  the  enlightened  city  of  Xew  York. 
It  grew  out  of  a  personal  quarrel  between  two  stage-players,  Edwin 
Forrest,  an  American,  and  W.  C.  Macready,  an  Englishman.  Both 
were  distinguished  tragedians,  and  were  rivals  for  popular  favor  in  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain.  Macready  was  well  known  and  very 
popular  in  the  United  States,  especially  in  the  city  of  JSTew  York,  long 
before  the  period  and  the  event  we  are  now  considering.  After  an 
absence  in  England  of  about  three  years  he  returned  to  ~New  York  in 
September,  1848,  and  appeared  in  tragedy  at  the  Astor  Place  Opera- 
Ilouse.  This  building  had  been  erected  by  subscription  the  year  be- 
fore, with  John  Sefton  as  general  manager. 

Forrest  had  been  playing  in  England  not  long  before  Macready  came 
to  Xew  York,  in  ls+S,  where  he  had  gained  great  renown,  and  dis- 
puted with  the  English  tragedian  for  the  prize  of  supreme  popularity. 
Much  unpleasant  feeling  had  been  engendered  between  them,  and  it 
was  widely  reported  and  generally  believed  that  Macready,  on  one 
occasion,  visited  the  theatre  in  London  where  Forrest  was  performing 
and  publicly  hissed  him.  This  story  created  great  indignation  among 
the  friends  of  Forrest  in  his  own  country,  where  he  was  very  popular. 
It  was  in  the  face  of  this  indignation,  unknown  and  unsuspected  by 
him,  that  Macready  appeared  at  the  Astor  Place  Opera-House  in  the 
spring  of  1S4!>  to  fulfill  a  farewell  engagement  with  the  lessees,  Messrs. 
Niblo  and  EEackett.  Forrest  was  then  performing  at  Wallack's  Broad- 
way Theatre,    ^sow  came  the  tug  of  war. 

On  a  bright  morning  in  May,  1S-J-'.*,  citizens  and  strangers  in  the 
streets  of  Xew  York  saw  on  conspicuous  placards  the  announcements 
that  Macready  would  appear  as  Macbeth  at  the  Astor  Place  Opera 
House  and  Forrest  as  Macbeth  at  the  Broadway  Theatre,  both  on  the 
same  night. 

The  placards  seemed  like  mutual  declarations  of  war  between  Forrest 
and  Macready,  for  their  quarrel  and  its  cause  were  generally  known. 
There  were  apprehensions  of  some  disturbances,  for  this  appearance  of 
Macready  as  an  open  rival  of  Forrest  on  his  native  soil  greatly  increased 
the  indignation  of  the  American  tragedian's  friends  against  his  English 
rival.  With  that  indignation  was  mingled  the  sentiment  of  hostility 
to  everything  British  which  had  been  engendered  by  past  conflicts,  and 
which  still  lingered  in  the  breasts  of  a  vast  multitude  of  the  American 
people.  To  some,  Macready's  appearance  assumed  the  shape  of  a 
gauntlet  of  defiance  cast  by  the  British  at  the  feet  of  Americans. 

Mr.  Niblo,  stimulated  by  the  spirit  of  rivalry,  and  determined  to 
have  a  full  house,  unwisely  gave  out  more  tickets  than  the  building 


SECOND  DECADE,  1810-1850. 


511 


would  hold,  and  when,  before  sunset,  they  were  all  taken,  he  was 
alarmed  by  a  suspicion  that  the  purchasers  might  be  largely  enemies  of 
Macready.  lie  hastened  to  the  office  of  Mr.  Matsell,  the  chief  of 
police,  and  requested  the  presence  of  a  force  in  case  of  any  disturbance. 
It  was  promised. 

More  than  an  hour  before  the  time  for  the  performance  to  begin  an 
immense  crowd  had  gathered  in  the  street  before  the  Opera- House, 
and  when  the  portals  were  unclosed  a  rushing  tide  of  human  beings — 
u  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men"  — poured  into  the  house  and  speedily 
filled  every  spot  in  it  excepting  the  boxes.  It  was  the  most  extraordi- 
nary crowd  ever  seen  in  an  opera-house  or  a  theatre.  Some  were  in 
their  shirt-sleeves,  others  were  in  tattered  and  dirty  garments  ;  some 
were  elegantly  dressed,  and  nearly  all  were  excited.  There  were  evi- 
dences of  preconcerted  action,  yet  the  motley  crowd  remained  quite 
orderly. 

The  managers  watched  this  strange  audience  with  great  anxiety, 
especially  when  the  crowd  began  to  stamp  impatiently  for  the  curtain 
to  rise.  Louder  and  louder  became  this  significant  uproar.  Niblo, 
with  an  attending  police  officer,  looked  a  moment  upon  the  mass  of 
beings  that  filled  the  parquette  and  amphitheatre. 

"  "Will  there  be  a  disturbance  ?"  asked  the  manager. 

"  I  think  not  a  serious  one,"  replied  the  officer.  "  There  will  be  an 
attempt  to  stop  the  play.  The  boys  have  been  sent  here  for  that  pur- 
pose, but  they  appear  to  be  patient  and  good-natured. 1 1 

Macready,  who  had  been  dressing,  now  appeared.  He,  too,  looked 
upon  the  audience  through  an  opening  made  by  the  slightly  drawn 
curtain.  He  was  agitated  by  doubts  and  fears.  So  also  was  Mrs. 
Pope.  The  crowd  was  silent  while  the  orchestra  played,  but  began 
stamping  more  furiously  than  ever  when  the  music  ceased.  This  was  a 
critical  moment.  There  was  a  proposition  to  suspend  the  play. 
Macready  would  not  consent.  The  warning  bell  tinkled.  The  drop- 
curtain  slowly  rose,  and  revealed  to  the  astonished  eyes  of  the  motley 
host  a  magnificent  open-air  scene,  and  the  three  witches  performing 
their  weird  incantations,  while  the  lightning  flashed  and  the  thunder 
roared.    The  crowd  was  awed  into  silence  by  the  wondrous  scene. 

Then  came  in  Kin"-  Duncan  and  attendants.  Mistaking  him  for 
Macbeth,  the  crowd  hissed  him,  but  soon  perceiving  their  mistake  they 
were  again  silent.  When  Macbeth  came  he  was  received  with  loud 
applause  from  the  boxes  and  dress  circle,  but  his  voice  was  utterly 
overborne  by  every  kind  of  tumultuous  noise  from  the  crowd  before 
him.    The  foolish  actor  became  angry,  and  tried  to  browbeat  the  wild 


512 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


mass.  He  went  through  with  his  part  without  a  word  he  uttered 
being  heard. 

Lady  Macbeth  (Mrs.  Pope)  appeared,  but  she  was  abused  with  inde- 
cent vulgarity  and  fled  from  the  stage.  Macbeth  again  appeared,  and 
was  assailed  with  addled  eggs  and  other  missiles.  With  genuine  Eng- 
lish pluck  he  stood  his  ground  until  he  found  his  life  was  in  danger, 
when  he  too  fled  behind  the  curtain,  and  it  fell  upon  the  scene.  The 
roughs  had  accomplished  the  task  they  had  been  sent  to  perform,  and 
refraining  from  doing  any  damage  to  property,  quietly  withdrew.  To 
the  utter  dishonor  of  Mr.  Forrest,  it  must  be  recorded  that  he  did  not 
utter  a  word  of  denunciation  of  this  outrage.  The  impression  was 
universal  that  he  had  countenanced  if  not  incited  the  disgraceful  pro- 
ceedings. 

Every  high-minded  person  in  the  community  cried  "  Shame  I"  and 
all  felt  personally  aggrieved  by  the  outrage,  which  cast  disgrace  upon 
the  city.  When  it  became  known  that  Macready  contemplated  throw- 
ing up  his  engagement,  many  of  the  best  men  of  New  York,  in  every 
rank  of  social  life,  feeling  that  the  city  had  been  dishonored,  addressed 
to  him  a  letter  expressing  their  extreme  regret  because  of  the  treat- 
ment he  had  received,  promising  him  protection  in  the  exercise  of  his 
rights,  requesting  him  not  to  yield  to  the  lawless  spirit  which  had 
assailed  him,  and  asking  him  to  give  the  city  an  opportunity  to  wipe 
out  the  disgrace  which  had  been  inflicted  upon  its  character.  Mr. 
Macready  yielded,  and  Thursday,  the  10th  of  May,  was  fixed  upon  for 
his  appearance  in  the  same  play. 

So  soon  as  placards  announced  the  intended  reappearance  of  Mac- 
ready,  others,  proclaiming  that  Forrest  would  appear  in  the  same  play 
on  the  same  night  at  the  Broadway,  were  put  up  alongside  them.  The 
following  incendiary  handbill  was  also  posted  all  over  the  town  : 

"  WORKINGMEN  ! 

SHALL  AMERICANS  OR  ENGLISH  RULE  TN  THIS  COUNTRY? 

The  crew  of  the  British  steamers  have  threatened  all  Americans 
who  shall  dare  to  appear  this  night  at  the 

ENGLISH  ARISTOCRATIC  OPERA-HOUSE. 
WORKINGMEN  !  FREEMEN  !  STAND  UP  TO  YOUR 
LAWFUL  RIGHTS!" 

There  was  deep  menace  and  a  mob  spirit  in  these  words.  The 
friends  of  Macready  prepared  to  resist  the  threatened  danger.  Most 
anxious  to  keep  Forrest's  friends  from  entering  the  house,  tickets  were 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


sold  or  given  away  by  the  managers  only  to  those  who  were  known  to 
be  friends  of  Macready.  The  chief  of  police  agreed  to  furnish  a  strong 
force  to  preserve  order,  and  two  regiments  of  soldiers  were  ordered  to 
be  under  arms  that  evening  and  ready  to  march  at  a  moment's  notice. 

On  the  evening  of  the  loth  about  three  hundred  well-instructed 
police  were  quietly  placed  in  charge  of  the  Opera-House,  outside  and 
in,  and  an  immense  crowd  had  gathered  in  front  of  it.  "When  the 
doors  Avere  opened  the  populace  made  a  rush  to  enter,  but  were  kept 
back  by  the  police.  When  all  who  had  tickets  were  within,  the  doors 
were  closed  and  barred.  The  windows  had  been  barricaded  also  with 
heavy  plank.  These  the  mob  assailed  with  stones,  and  they  tried  to 
batter  down  one  of  the  doors.  They  were  defeated  by  the  police,  and 
in  their  rage  they  demolished  the  street-lamps  in  the  neighborhood. 
A  huge  stone  hurled  through  one  of  the  windows  shattered  the  mag- 
nificent  chandelier,  and  its  fragments  fell  on  the  frightened  occupants 
of  the  pit. 

The  play  began.  In  spite  of  all  precautions,  many  of  the  roughs 
were  inside  the  house,  and  were  prepared,  at  a  given  signal  of  their 
leader,  to  rush  upon  the  stage  and  seize  Macready.  The  police  had 
mingled  with  them  in  disguise  all  day,  and  knew  their  plans.  The 
chief  of  police  had  made  his  plans,  and  when  the  rioters  arose  to  seize 
the  actor  the  chief  raised  his  hat  as  a  signal,  and  his  force  soon  had  the 
astonished  rowdies  in  their  power.  Most  of  them  were  thrust  outside 
the  building,  but  the  ringleaders  were  confined  inside. 

The  mob  furiously  attacked  the  police  force  outside,  and  had  nearly 
overpowered  them  when  the  Seventh  Regiment  National  Guard,  with 
their  colonel,  Duryee,  at  their  head,  appeared  on  the  scene.  They  had 
been  marched  up  from  their  armory  in  Centre  Market,  furnished  with 
ball  cartridges,  preceded  by  the  National  Guard  Troop.  The  latter 
turned  into  Astor  Place  from  Broadway  and  charged  the  mob. 

Now  began  a  dreadful  tragedy — more  dreadful  than  the  simulated 
one  which  had  just  been  performed  in  the  Opera-House.  In  Astor 
Place  the  paving-stones  had  been  taken  up  and  piled  in  heaps  while 
excavating  for  a  sewer.  These,  with  ragged  fragments  of  stones  from 
a  marble-yard  near  by,  furnished  the  rioters  with  fearful  missiles,  with 
which  they  assailed  the  mounted  men  as  the)'  gallantly  dashed  through 
the  crowd,  their  horses  terribly  galled  by  the  flying  stones.  Several 
of  the  men  were  dragged  from  their  saddles,  and  many  were  driven 
back  to  Broadway. 

Colonel  Duryee  now  prepared  his  infantry  for  the  struggle.  His 
men  loaded  their  muskets,  but  the  crowd  was  so  dense  they  could  not 


514 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


move  in  column.  lie  led  his  men  in  file  close  to  the  wall  of  the 
Opera-House  in  the  rear,  and  forced  his  way  to  the  front.  The  frantic 
mob,  with  yells  and  execrations,  assailed  them  fiercely  with  missiles. 
More  than  thirty  stand  of  arms  were  battered  in  the  hands  of  the 
citizen  soldiers.  Many  of  the  men  fell  to  the  ground  severely  wounded. 
Forbearance  was  no  longer  a  virtue,  and  Recorder  Talhnadge,  who 
represented  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  city  in  the  absence  of  Mayor 
Woodhull,  was  told  that  unless  the  troops  should  receive  orders  to  fire 
they  would  be  withdrawn. 

Talhnadge  addressed  the  roaring  mob,  begging  them  to  disperse,  but 
to  no  purpose.  After  a  brief  consultation  between  the  recorder  and 
Generals  1 1  all  and  Sandford  (the  latter  the  division  commander),  the 
order  to  fire  was  given  by  Sheriff  Westervelt,  but  to  shoot  over  the 
heads  of  the  multitude  against  the  blank  wall  of  a  house  opposite,  in 
order  to  intimidate  them.  It  had  an  opposite  effect.  Believing  the 
troops  had  only  blank  cartridges  this  merely  excited  their  contempt. 
They  defied  the  civil  and  military  authorities,  and  after  this  ineffective 
volley  they  were  more  furious  than  ever.  General  Duryee  addressed 
them,  saying  unless  they  desisted  ball  cartridges  would  be  used. 

"  Fire  and  be  damned  !"  shouted  one  of  the  ringleaders.  "  Fire 
if  you  dare — take  the  life  of  a  free-born  American  for  a  bloody  British 
actor  !  You  darsent  fire  V  and  he  boldly  bared  his  breast  before  the 
levelled  muskets. 

"  Fire,  will  you  !"  screamed  another,  as  he  hurled  a  stone  at  General 
Sandford,  which  almost  disabled  his  sword-arm.  There  was  no  alter- 
native. Dire  necessity  and  the  instinct  of  self-defence  demanded 
prompt  and  effective  action.  The  word  "  Fire  !"  was  given.  Only  a 
single  musket  responded,  and  was  answered  by  defiant  yells  and  more 
furious  peltings  by  the  mob.  "  Fire  !"  again  shouted  General  Sand- 
ford, his  voice  almost  smothered  by  the  roar  of  the  seething  multitude. 
Onlvtwoor  three  muskets  responded,  when  Colonel  Duryee,  in  ring- 
ing tones,  shouted  "  Fire  !"  and  a  volley  all  along  the  line  followed. 

The  dead  among  the  rioters  now  gave  assurance  that  the  authorities 
were  in  earnest.  The  mob  fell  back  a  little,  but  providing  themselves 
witli  more  stones  they  renewed  the  attack.  A  more  destructive  volley 
ensued,  and  the  rioters  fell  back  in  a  panic,  but  did  not  disperse. 
They  stood  sullenly  on  the  verge  of  the  dreadful  scene  like  a  wild 
beast  at  bay,  while  the  military  took  position  in  front  of  the  Opera- 
House  and  guarded  it  in  silence. 

It  was  now  eleven  o'clock  at  night.  So  savagely  threatening  still 
appeared  the  baffled  mob  that  more  troops  were  sent  for,  with  two 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


515 


cannons.  They  came,  with  a  section  of  a  six-gun  battery  under  Colonel 
llincken.  The  guns  were  charged,  with  grapeshot.  They  dashed  up 
and  took  position  for  attack,  when  the  mob  dispersed,  and  all  danger 
was  overpast. 

Upward  of  two  hundred  persons  were  killed  or  wounded  in  this  riot. 
Among  the  latter  were  Colonel  Duryee,*  Generals  Hall  and  Sandford, 

*  Abraham  Duryee  is  of  Huguenot  descent.  He  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York 
April  29,  1815.  His  education  was  completed  at  the  high  school  in  Crosby  Street.  In 
the  old  war  for  independence  his  great-grandfather  was  a  soldier,  and  a  prisoner  in  the 
old  sugar-house  in  Liberty  Street.  His  grandfather  was  an  importing  merchant  in  New 
York,  and  his  father  and  two  uncles  were  meritorious  officers  in  the  war  of  1812-15. 
Young  Duryee  began  his  military  career  in  the  State  militia.  In  1838,  he  joined  the 
Twenty-seventh  (now  Seventh;  Regiment  National  Guard  as  a  private.  Passing 
rapidly  through  the  non-commissioned  officers,  he  was  commissioned  second  lieutenant 
of  the  Second  Company  in  1810.  He  soon  rose  to  the  rank  of  captain,  and  in  1842  was 
advanced  to  the  field  of  the  Seventh  Regiment,  with  the  rank  of  major.  Soon  afterward 
he  was  elected  lieutenant-colonel.  While  holding  that  rank  he  organized  and  commanded 
a  six-gun  battery  and  formed  a  howitzer  corps.  Early  in  1849  he  was  elected  colonel  of 
the  regiment,  and  first  appeared  before  it  as  its  commander  at  the  terrible  Astor  Place 
Riot  in  May.  In  that  encounter  he  won  admiration  for  his  coolness,  skill,  and  bravery. 
He  was  twice  wounded  in  the  fray. 

Colonel  Duryee  resigned  his  commission  in  1859,  after  ten  years'  service  as  commander 
of  the  Seventh  Regiment,  during  which  time  he  had  led  it  in  quelling  several  riots. 
The  regiment  in  a  body  waited  upon  him  to  persuade  him  to  withdraw  his  letter  of 
resignation,  but  in  vain.  The  merchants  of  New  York,  in  recognition  of  his  services, 
presented  him  with  an  elegant  service  of  plate,  and  his  associates  in  arms  gave  him  a 
more  elegant  present— a  dinner  set  of  massive  silver  and  gold  which  cost  about  $8000. 

When  the  Civil  War  broke  out  Colonel  Duryee  began  the  organization  of  the  famous 
regiment  known  as  Duryee's  Zouaves.  In  the  space  of  sixteen  days  he  organized  and 
mustered  into  the  United  States  service  a  regiment  of  940  men,  which  sailed  for  Fortress 
Monroe  late  in  May,  18G1,  where  their  colonel  was  placed  in  command  of  Camp  Hamil- 
ton, as  acting  brigadier-general,  with  3000  troops.  He  was  soon  superseded  by  General 
Fearce.  In  the  march  to  Big  Bethel  in  the  early  part  of  June  the  Zouaves  led  the  column, 
and  in  the  sharp  conflict  that  ensued  they  fought  gallantly  under  their  skilful  leader. 

Colonel  Duryee  was  commissioned  full  brigadier-general  at  the  close  of  August,  1861. 
and  placed  in  command  of  13,000  men  at  Baltimore,  where  they  constructed  an  exten- 
sive and  formidable  fort.  In  compliance  with  his  request,  the  general  was  sent  to  the 
front  in  command  of  a  brigade  in  Yirginia.  Our  limits  will  not  permit  even  the  mention 
of  the  several  continuous  and  gallant  services  rendered  by  General  Duryee,  especially 
during  Pope's  campaign  in  Yirginia,  which  ended  with  the  summer  of  18G2.  General 
Duryee  was  in  Ricketts's  division,  which  on  all  occasions  bore  the  brunt  of  battle.  It 
was  in  the  campaign  in  Maryland,  in  September  of  the  same  year,  and  fought  gallantly  in 
the  battles  of  South  Mountain  and  Antietam.  In  the  official  reports  of  these  sanguinary 
struggles  Duryee  and  his  brigade  are  mentioned  with  special  commendation.  At  the 
battle  of  Antietam,  when  General  Hooker  was  wounded  and  left  the  field,  Ricketts  took 
command  of  the  corps  and  Duryee  commanded  his  division.  In  this  terrible  conflict  he 
exhibited  rare  courage  and  consummate  military  skill,  which  were  officially  commended. 
His  horse  and  those  of  nearly  all  his  staff  were  shot  under  them,  and  his  brigade  came 


510 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Lieutenant-Colonel  Brinckerhoff,  Captains  Shumway  and  Pond,  Lieu- 
tenants Todd  and  Negus,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  of  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  Seventh  Regiment.  On  the  part  of  the  mob  thirty-four 
were  killed  (a  few  innocent  spectators),  and  a  large  number  were 
wounded. 

The  excitement  and  alarm  within  the  Opera- House  had  been  intense. 
It  seemed,  at  times,  as  if  the  building  would  be  destroyed,  but  the  fury 
of  the  mob  was  drawn  to  the  military  after  their  arrival.  When  the 
play  was  ended  the  afterpiece  was  omitted.  Mr.  Mac  ready  escaped 
in  disguise  through  a  private  door  and  hurried  to  his  hotel.  Before 
midnight  all  was  quiet  in  Astor  Place.  The  dead  and  wounded  had 
been  removed,  but  a  military  guard  kept  "  watch  and  ward  "  until 
morning.* 

The  city  was  stirred  the  next  day  by  the  wildest  excitement  and  the 
deepest  anxiety.  In  the  morning  a  placard  was  posted  all  over  the 
town  requesting  "  the  citizens  of  Xew  York  opposed  to  the  destruction 
of  human  life  to  assemble  in  the  Park  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
May  11,  to  express  public  opinion  upon  the  lamentable  occurrence  of 
last  night." 

Early  in  the  day  a  rumor  spread  that  roughs  from  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore  were  on  their  way  to  Xew  York  for  the  purpose  of  renewing 
the  riot,  and  with  a  hope  of  plunder.  Happily  the  rumor  was  false. 
The  "  indignation  meeting"1  in  the  Park  was  composed  of  a  vast  multi- 
tude of  citizens  of  every  class.    Speeches  were  made  by  demagogues 

out  of  the  battle  with  only  about  300  men.  After  this  battle  General  Duryee  retired  from 
the  army,  and  in  March,  18G5,  he  was  breveted  major-general  for  "  faithful  and  distin- 
guished services."  With  this  brevet  he  received  the  thanks  of  the  governor  of  New  York 
in  behalf  of  the  State  for  his  ,;  gallantry  and  devotion." 

In  1873  General  Duryee  was  appointed  a  police  commissioner,  and  in  that  capacity 
did  efficient  service  in  preserving  the  peace  and  security  of  the  city.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  St.  Nicholas  and  Historical  societies,  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Potomac,  a  veteran 
of  the  National  Guard,  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order,  and  of  other  organizations.  He 
is  small  in  stature,  elegant  in  figure,  and  exceedingly  pleasant  and  winning  in  his 
manner.  "  Natural  talent,  dashing  and  brilliant,  constant  practice  and  diligent  study," 
says  Colonel  Clarke  in  his  "  History  of  the  Seventh  Regiment,"  "  made  him  a  superior 
military  instructor  of  remarkable  accomplishments." 

*  Among  the  members  of  the  Seventh  Regiment  was  a  very  conscientious,  slow-spoken 
man  named  Baldwin.    When  loading  his  musket  he  said  to  Colonel  Duryee  : 

"  My  conscience  forbids  me  to  fire  on  these  citizens." 

"  You  are  here  to  obey  orders,"  said  the  colonel  ;  "  conscience  is  not  in  command." 

At  that  moment  a  stone  struck  Baldwin's  head.  With  the  greatest  celerity  he  loaded 
and  cocked  his  musket,  and  was  about  to  fire  when  he  was  ordered  to  stop,  shoulder  his 
piece,  and  await  orders.  He  was  one  of  the  foremost  workers  against  the  rioters  when  the 
firing  began.    The  stone  had  put  his  conscience  asleep. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


517 


denunciatory  of  the  civil  and  military  authorities  for  the  part  they  had 
taken  in  the  events  of  the  preceding  night,  hut  not  a  word  was  said  in 
condemnation  of  the  inciters  to  the  riot.  Resolutions  of  censure  of  the 
authorities  were  adopted  by  acclamation,  apparently  forgetful  or  igno- 
rant of  the  fact  that  leniency  to  a  traitor  is  an  injury  to  the  State. 
A  mob  is  a  traitor  to  social  order  ;  an  outlaw  whose  subjugation 
orderly  society  demands  at  any  sacrifice,  for  the  tendency  of  mob  rule 
is  toward  anarchy  and  utter  disorganization  of  human  society. 

The  meeting  in  the  Park  did  not  hint  at  violent  demonstrations  as 
desirable,  nor  were  any  attempted.  The  lesson  of  the  previous  night 
was  heeded.  The  mob  spirit  was  tamed  by  an  effectual  argument.  A 
portion  of  the  Seventh  Regiment  remained  on  duty  on  the  11th  and 
12th,  as  faithful  guardians  of  the  peace  of  the  city.  Hitherto  that 
regiment  had  a  local  reputation  and  honor  as  such  guardians  ;  that 
reputation  and  honor  were  made  national  by  their  conduct  in  the  trying 
hours  of  the  Astor  Place  Riot. 

Among  the  citizens  who  signed  the  assuring  letter  sent  to  Macready 
were  "Washington  Irving,  Charles  King,  General  George  P.  Morris, 
General  T.  S.  Cummings,  Moses  H.  Grinnell,  and  other  leading  mer- 
chants and  professional  men.  The  principal  actors  in  the  event  are 
now  beyond  the  reach  of  human  judgment  and  influence.  Macready, 
Forrest,  Mrs.  Pope,  Generals  Sandford  and  Hall,  Tallmadge,  and  the 
signers  of  the  letter  above  mentioned,  have,  all  but  one  (General 
Cummings),  crossed  the  dark  river,  never  to  return. 

The  famous  old  Park  Theatre — the  patriarch  among  the  New  York 
play-houses — had  been  destroyed  by  fire  in  December,  18-tS,  on  the 
thirteenth  anniversary  of  the  great  fire  of  1835.  Just  before  the  open- 
ing of  the  house  on  that  evening  a  file  of  play-bills  hanging  near  the 
prompter's  entrance-door  to  the  stage  was  blown  against  a  lighted 
gas-jet  and  took  fire.  The  flames  were  communicated  to  the  scenery, 
and  in  less  than  an  hour  the  interior  of  the  building  was  in  a  blaze,  and 
was  speedily  reduced  to  ashes,  nothing  but  the  bare  Avails  remaining. 

So  perished  the  oldest  and  the  leading  theatre  for  about  half  a 
century  in  the  city  of  Xew  York.  It  had  been  the  pride  of  its  citizens. 
It  had  formed  a  link  of  connection  with  the  old  American  theatrical 
company,  which  in  1753  first  performed  in  a  small  building  on  Xassau 
Street  ;  for  of  that  old  company,  Lewis  Hallam,  second,  one  of  its 
members,  played  ten  years  in  the  Park  Theatre  from  the  time  of  its 
opening,  in  January,  1798. 

In  February,  1841,  the  Park  Theati'e  presented  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  spectacles  the  citizens  of  the  metropolis  had  ever  seen.  It 


518 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


was  the  occasion  of  the  famous  "  Boz  Ball,"  in  honor  of  Charles 
Dickens,  then  on  his  first  visit  to  America  with  his  wife.  The  fete 
was  given  on  the  16th  of  February,  1S12. 

The  committee  of  arrangements  for  this  ball  included  many  of  the 
most  prominent  men  in  the  city — Robert  II.  Morris,  the  mayor  ;  ex- 
Mayor  Philip  Hone  ;  Drs.  Mott,  Francis,  and  Cheesman  ;  Judge 
Oakley  ;  Messrs.  Hamilton  Fish,  Henry  Brevoort,  Moses  H.  GrinneD, 
William  H.  Appleton,  C.  C.  Cambreling,  David  C.  Golden,  and  others. 
The  tickets  were  $10  each — an  enormous  price  at  that  day.  The  char- 
acter of  every  purchaser  was  strictly  scrutinized  by  a  committee  of 
gentlemen,  so  that  the  company  might  be  perfectly  select  and  unexcep- 
tionable. The  decorations  were  beautiful  in  the  extreme  and  conspicu- 
ously appropriate. 

After  every  dance  was  exhibited  an  exquisite  tableau  illustrating 
some  scene  from  the  works  of  the  great  novelist,  "  which j"  said  an 
eye-witness,  "  excited  rapture  in  the  beholder."  So  anxious  were  the 
public  to  see  the  grand  decorations  and  other  appointments  of  this  cele- 
brated festival  that  they  were  left  as  used  on  the  occasion,  and  two 
succeeding  balls  were  given  by  Manager  Simpson,  which,  at  reduced 
prices,  attracted  very  large  attendance. 

In  the  fall  of  that  year  George  Yandenhoff  and  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Brougham  made  their  first  appearance  in  America  at  the  Park  Theatre. 
The  former  was  a  tragedian,  and  had  made  a  good  name  as  a  person- 
ator  of  Hamlet  in  the  London  theatres.  The  Broughams  were  charm- 
ing actors.  Mrs.  Brougham  was  "  a  model  of  physical  beauty  of  the 
Juno  type."  She  was  Miss  Williams.  In  1845  she  returned  to  Eng- 
land, came  back  seven  years  later,  remained  a  short  time,  and  returned 
to  England,  and  in  1859  she  came  again  as  Mrs.  Robertson.  She  died 
in  New  York  in  1865.  Meanwhile  Brougham  had  won  and  retained 
unbounded  popularity,  and  was  a  favorite  until  1802,  when  he  returned 
to  England.  As  a  handsome  and  bright  comic  aotor  he  was  a  legiti- 
mate successor  of  Tyrone  Power.  The  Broadway  Lyceum  (afterward 
Wallack's)  was  built  for  him  in  1850,  but  it  was  not  a  success  finan- 
cially. For  about  fifteen  years  Brougham  was  a  popular  comedian  at 
Burton's  and  Wallack's  theatres.  He  wrote  many  popular  pieces  for 
the  stage. 

In  1813  Macready  made  his  appearance  at  the  Park  Theatre,  the 
first  time  in  sixteen  years.  lie  played  the  part  of  Macbeth.  The 
same  year  Forrest  performed  at  the  Park  with  great  success  in  various 
tragedy  characters — as  Richelieu,  Claude  Melnotte,  Macbeth,  Othello, 
Hamlet.  Metamora.  King  Lear,  and  Spartacus.    Ole  Bull,  the  great 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-18:0. 


519 


Norwegian  violinist,  made  his  first  appearance  there  in  the  autumn  of 
that  year,  witli  a  full  orchestral  accompaniment.  He  was  already- 
renowned  all  over  Europe. 

Mr.  and  Mi's.  Seguin  reappeared  at  the  Park  in  18+1  in  Balfe's  opera 
of  the  Bohemian  Girl,  and  were  warmly  welcomed.  In  1815  Anna 
Cora  Mowatt  made  her  first  appearance  there  on  any  stage  ;  and  in 
1815-46  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  Kean  (the  latter  late  Miss  Ellen 
Tree)  were  received  at  the  Park  with  great  enthusiasm  after  a  consid- 
erable absence,  and  fulfilled  an  engagement.  The  same  year  (1846) 
Miss  Julia  Dean,  an  American— young,  pretty,  graceful,  and  intelli- 
gent— first  appeared  at  the  Park,  and  was  for  a  long  time  a  powerful 
attraction  there  ;  also  afterward  at  the  Astor  Place  Opera-House. 
She  took  the  part  of  Julia  in  the  Mwnchback.  Miss  Dean  married 
Dr.  Hayne  of  Charleston,  S.  C,  in  1855. 

Simpson  had  been  straggling  for  some  time  with  adverse  fortune. 
For  thirty-eight  years  he  had  been  chief  manager  of  the  Park  Theatre. 
He  had  acquired  a  fortune  at  one  time  ;  now  it  was  slipping  away  from 
him.  His  last  season  of  management  was  1817-18.  During  that 
season  Madam  Anna  Bishop,  the  second  wife  of  H.  R.  Bishop,  the 
eminent  composer  of  the  music  of  many  of  Moore's  best  songs,  charmed 
the  large  audiences  at  the  Park  with  her  magnificent  voice.*  But 
poor  Simpson,  after  a  long  and  heroic  struggle,  was  compelled  to  suc- 
cumb. He  relinquished  the  management  of  the  Park  on  the  night  of 
June  5,  1818.  The  effects  of  rivalry  and  losses  by  unfortunate  invest- 
ments had  impoverished  him  on  the  verge  of  old  age.  He  parted  with 
his  interest  in  the  theatre  for  a  life  annuity  of  $1500.  Crushed  by 
grief  and  mortification,  he  died  a  few  weeks  after  he  gave  up  the 
theatre,  f 

At  the  beginning  of  this  decade  the  Bowery  Theatre  was  the  most 
popular  of  the  Xew  York  play-houses.  It  presented  spectacular  plays, 
in  accordance  with  public  taste.  Among  these  was  a  wild  drama 
called  the  Gnome  Fl>/,  in  which  the  principal  actor  was  a  deformed 

*  Madam  Anna  Bishop  had  made  her  first  appearance  as  a  public  singer  in  London 
in  1839,  with  Grisi  and  others.  She  made  the  tour  of  Europe  with  tcreat  erlnt.  Beauti- 
ful in  person,  and  such  an  accomplished  linguist  that  she  could  sing  in  the  vernacular 
of  every  capital  in  Europe,  hers  was  a  triumphal  career  at  once.  She  sang  everywhere 
in  America,  in  Australia,  and  in  China. 

t  Edmund  Simpson  was  born  in  England  in  1781.  He  first  appeared  as  a  stage-player 
at  Towcester  in  May,  1806,  and  on  the  boards  of  the  Park  Theatre,  New  York,  in  October, 
1809,  in  the  Road  to  Rain.  In  1810  he  became  manager  of  the  Park  Theatre.  Stephen 
Price  was  his  partner  many  years.  Simpson  retired  from  the  stage  in  1833,  but  appeared 
occasionally  on  the  boards.    His  last  performance  was  in  1811. 


520 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


man  named  Leach,  a  native  of  "Westchester  County,  New  York.  He 
was  deformed  from  his  birth.  His  legs  at  maturity  were  no  bigger 
than  those  of  a  child  two  years  of  age.  He  acquired  great  strength  of 
arms.    In  the  Gnome  Fhj  he  performed  the  parts  of  a  baboon  and 

%• 

This  was  followed  by  a  play  in  which  Bihin,  the  Belgian  giant,  who 
was  nearly  eight  feet  in  height,  took  a  part  as  the  Giant  of  Palestine. 
Putnam^  tin  Iron  Son  qff76,  drew  immense  crowds  to  the  Bowery  for 
a  long  series  of  nights,  and  Ilamblin,  the  proprietor,  was  well  rewarded 
for  his  enterprise. 

In  1M7  ;i  large  and  elegant  structure  was  erected  on  Broadway,  be- 
tween Pearl  and  Anthony  (now  Worth)  streets,  and  called  the  Broad- 
way Theatre.  It  was  intended  to  supersede  the  Park  in  the  public 
regard,  but  the  expectations  of  its  owners  were  not  realized.  The  first 
performance  in  it  took  place  in  September,  1847.  The  play  was  the 
School  for  Scandal,  in  which  the  veteran  Henry  Wallack  appeared  as 
Sir  Peter  Teazle. 

At  this  time  J.  Lester  Wallack,  son  of  the  popular  manager,  James 
"W.  "Wallack,  and  grandson  of  Henry,  made  his  first  appearance  on  the 
stage.  He  was  very  successful  in  a  wide  range  of  characters  in  fight 
and  genteel  comedy.  lie  was  slender  in  person,  fastidious  in  his  toilet, 
graceful  in  carriage,  and  was  for  many  years  regarded  as  the  hand- 
somest man  on  the  New  York  stage. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  decade  the  most  renowned  stock  actors  in 
New  York  were  Placide,  Browne,  Abbott,  Barry,  Latham,  John 
Fisher,  Chippendale.  "W.  II.  Williams,  Wheat  ley.  Miss  ( 'ashman,  Mrs. 
"Wheatley,  Mrs.  Yernon,  Mrs.  Knight,  and  Miss  Buloid.  These  gave 
great  success  to  the  Park  during  the  season  of  1S41-42.  Tragedy  was 
neglected,  and  even  Fanny  Elssler,  though  generally  attractive,  often 
danced  to  thin  houses. 

It  was  during  this  decade  that  another  strenuous  effort  was  made  to 
establish  the  Italian  opera  as  a  permanent  institution  in  the  city  of 
New  York.  The  movement  began  in  opposition  to  the  theatres.  Men 
and  women  who  assumed  to  be  arbiters  of  fashion  in  this  regard 
declared  the  common  play-house  to  be  vulgar,  and  the  opera  the  only 
refined  species  of  dramatic  amusement  and  instruction.  They  carefully 
abstained  from  attending  upon  the  most  refined  performances  at  the 
Park.  Thev  soon  had  a  large  following,  and  their  influence  had  a 
serious  effect  upon  the  fortunes  of  the  Park  and  its  enterprising  man- 
ager. The  result  of  this  movement  was,  not  the  permanent  establish- 
ment of  the  Italian  opera  in  the  city  of  New  York,  but  the  financial 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


521 


ruin  of  a  worthy  Italian  who  undertook  that  task.  That  Italian  was 
Signor  Ferdinand  Palmo. 

Mr.  Palmo  had  been  for  some  time  the  proprietor  of  a  cafe  on  Broad- 
way, between  the  New  York  Hospital  and  Duane  Street,  where  he 
gave  a  variety  of  musical  entertainments.  It  was  called  "  Cafe  des 
Mille  Colonnes."  There  he  had  amassed  a  considerable  fortune.  He 
hired  the  building  formerly  occupied  by  Stoppani's  Arcade  Baths,  at 
Xos.  39  and  41  Chambers  Street,  and  had  it  neatly  fitted  up  for  an 
opera-house.  It  was  first  opened  on  the  evening  of  February  3,  1S44, 
with  /  Puritan i.  On  the  bills  for  the  occasion  was  a  notice  that  the 
proprietor  had  made  arrangements  with  "the  railroad  company  [the 
Harlem,  then  the  only  city  line]  for  the  accommodation  of  ladies  and 
gentlemen  living  uptown,  so  that  a  large  car,  well  lighted  and 
warmed,  will  start  after  the  theatre  closes  ;  and  police  officers  will  be 
in  attendance  to  prevent  disorder.  The  cars  will  run  from  the  corner 
of  Chambers  and  Centre  streets  as  far  as  Forty-second  Street." 

Poor  Palmo  !  He  continued  the  experiment  without  success  so  long 
as  his  money  lasted,  when  he  gave  it  up,  and  then  became  a  barkeeper 
in  a  fashionable  hotel  in  Xew  York.  The  Pavels,  and  afterward 
Burton,  occupied  Palmo5 s  Opera-House  with  success. 

In  the  spring  of  1847  there  came  to  !New  York  an  Italian  opera 
troupe  from  Havana,  Cuba,  where  they  had  performed  with  great  suc- 
cess during  the  winter.  There  were  seventy-two  artists  in  the  troupe. 
Among  them  was  the  celebrated  Tedesco.  They  opened  with  Verdi's 
opera  of  Em  a  n't.  During  that  summer  Castle  Garden  was  fitted  up 
for  dramatic  performances  and  concerts.  Thither  the  troupe  from 
Havana  went,  and  performed  for  a  short  season  the  operas  Ernam, 
Norma,  and  La  Sormambula.  Their  last  performance  was  on  the  20th 
of  August,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Orphan  Asylum  of 
New  York,  when  they  departed  for  Europe. 


CHAPTER  IY. 


ALLUSIOX  has  been  made  to  two  calamities  which  afflicted  the 
city  of  Xew  York  in  1840 — namely,  the  Astor  Place  Riot  and 
the  Asiatic  cholera.    The  former  has  been  considered. 

The  first  cholera  case  in  1S49  appeared  in  the  then  focus  of  conta- 
gion-breeding in  the  city,  the  Five  Points,  on  the  14th  of  May.  The 
health  department  immediately  appointed  a  sanitary  committee,*  in- 
vested with  the  full  powers  of  the  board  of  health.  They  associated 
with  themselves  three  members  of  the  medical  profession  in  high  stand- 
ing, which  were  denominated  medical  counsellors.  These,  with  the 
resident  physician  and  the  health  commissioners,  acted  in  concert 
during  the  entire  period  of  the  prevalence  of  the  epidemic.  They 
came  to  the  conclusion  early  that  the  disease  was  not  contagious,  but 
was  caused  by  a  peculiar  condition  of  the  atmosphere. 

The  first  care  of  the  sanitary  commission  was  to  remove  the  patients 
from  impure  localities  to  better  air.  A  large  three-story  building 
known  as  Monroe  Hall,  on  the  corner  of  Pearl  and  Centre  streets,  was 
taken  and  converted  into  a  hospital,  and  thither  the  patients  were  con- 
veyed. It  was  put  under  the  charge  of  Dr.  Puel,  and  was  known  for 
years  afterward  as  the  Centre  Street  Hospital. 

On  the  24th  of  May  the  medical  counsellors  (Drs.  J.  B.  Beck,  J.  M. 
Smith,  and  S.  ~W.  Moore),  Dr.  Seth  Greer,  the  health  commissioner, 
and  the  resident  physician,  Dr.  R.  L.  Morris,  published  in  all  the  city 
newspapers  an  address  to  the  inhabitants  setting  forth  the  fact  that 
epidemic  cholera  was  present  in  the  city,  and  that  the  first  and  most 
important  consideration  related  to  the  cleanliness  of  the  streets  and 
dwellings. 

It  was  proposed  to  appropriate  the  public-school  houses  for  hospital 
purposes.  The  board  of  education  warmly  remonstrated.  A  commit- 
tee on  hospitals  was  appointed,  of  which  the  late  ex-Governor  E.  D. 
Morgan  was  chairman,  to  thoroughly  investigate  the  subject.  After 
patient  inquiries  they  reported  in  favor  of  so  appropriating  the  public- 

*  James  Kelly,  Robert  T.  Hawes,  Alexander  H.  Schultz,  Charles  Webb,  George  H. 
Franklin,  Edwin  D.  Morgan,  Robert  A.  Sands,  Jacob  F.  Oakley,  and  Oscar  W.  Sturtevant. 


SECOND  DECADI5,  1840-1850. 


523 


school  buildings.  The  sanitary  committee,  regarding  the  public  health 
as  of  the  first  importance,  accepted  the  report,  and  acted  in  accordance 
with  its  recommendation.  There  was  much  opposition,  and  public 
meeting-s  were  held  to  remonstrate  against  the  measure.  The  school 
buildings  were  made  hospitals,  and  very  soon  there  was  general  acqui- 
escence in  the  humane  measure. 

At  this  juncture  occurred  an  episode  in  the  medical  history  of  the 
city  of  New  York  which  has  a  mediaeval  aspect.  On  the  14th  of  June 
the  board  of  health  received  a  petition  requesting  the  establishment  of 
a  cholera  hospital,  in  which  patients  might  be  treated  on  the  homoeo- 
pathic plan.  The  petition  was  referred  to  the  sanitary  committee. 
They  referred  it  to  their  medical  counsellors.  The  latter  reported  on 
the  19th  as  follows  : 

"  By  intelligent  and  well-educated  physicians  generally  homoeopathy  is  looked  upon  as 
a  species  of  empiricism.  It  is  neither  practised  by  them  nor  countenanced  by  them. 
Concurring  entirely  with  their  professional  brethren  on  this  subject,  the  undersigned 
conceive  that  the  public  authorities  of  our  city  would  not  consult  either  their  own  dig- 
nity or  the  public  good  by  lending  the  sanction  of  their  name  or  influence  to  homoeopathy, 
or  any  other  irregular  mode  of  practice. " 

The  sanitary  committee,  feeling  it  to  be  "  their  duty  to  have  nothing 
to  do  with  medicine,  except  as  they  found  it  embodied  in  what  is  un- 
derstood and  known,  both  to  the  public  as  well  as  physicians,  as  the 
regular  profession,"  denied  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners.  Homoe- 
opathy had  then  been  successfully  practised  in  the  city  of  New  York 
for  twenty  years. 

The  number  of  persons  admitted  to  the  free  cholera  hospitals  was 
1901  ;  the  number  of  deaths  from  that  disease  in  these  hospitals  was 
1021.  The  number  of  deaths  in  the  city,  outside  the  hospitals,  is  not 
known.  It  is  supposed  that  nearly  3000  persons  died  of  cholera  in 
New  York  in  1849. 

A  new  era  in  the  art  of  building  sailing  vessels  at  New  York  began 
in  the  second  decade,  with  a  more  perfect  development  of  the  famous 
Baltimore  clipper,  which  gained  such  renown  for  the  x\merican  navy 
during  the  second  war  for  independence,  1812-15.  The  New  York 
shipbuilders  had  already  become  pre-eminent  as  constructors  of  fast- 
sailing  vessels  for  the  merchant  marine.  The  Liverpool  packets  built 
by  the  Webbs  (father  and  son)  and  by  others  were  the  fastest  sailing 
packet-ships  of  that  class  in  the  world.  They  had  attained  a  speed  and 
a  regularity  in  their  voyages  in  point  of  time  almost  equal  to  that  of 
our  steamships.  Fourteen  and  sixteen  days  was  the  average  time  occu- 
pied by  some  of  them  in  voyages  between  New  York  and  Liverpool. 


524 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


They  carried  double  crews  before  the  labor-saving  invention  of  double 
topsails  appeared. 

The  great  development  of  the  East  India  trade  at  the  middle  of  the 
second  decade,  and  especially  the  rushing  stream  of  emigration  to  Cali- 
fornia after  its  annexation  to  the  United  States  and  the  discovery  of 
gold  in  its  bosom,  called  for  faster  sailing  vessels,  and  inventive  genius 
soon  produced  a  greater  development  of  the  Baltimore  clipper  principle 
in  naval  architecture.  New  York-built  vessels  soon  reached  a  higher 
point  of  excellence  than  had  ever  before  been  attained. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the  Steers  Brothers  (James  and  George, 
sons  of  an  English  shipbuilder)  achieved  wonderful  success  in  the  con- 
struction of  swift  pilot-boats  and  other  smaller  craft  on  the  clipper 
model.  Their  first  great  success  was  the  cat-boat  McmhaUam,.  Then 
they  produced  the  schooners  Georye  Sterr*  and  Jfary  Taylor — "  our 
Mary,"  as  the  fascinating  actress  then  at  the  Olympic  Theatre  was 
called,  after  whom  the  vessel  was  named.  They  were  built  in  1845, 
and  after  their  model  the  best  sailing  vessels  have  since  been  con- 
structed. 

Tins  was  also  the  era  of  the  development  of  the  yacht  as  it  is  now 
known.  There  had  been  yachts  built  long  before,  and  races  between 
them,  but  no  regular  yacht  association  existed  until  1844,  when  John 
C.  Stevens  founded  the  New  York  Yacht  Club.  There  were  nine 
members  and  as  many  yachts.  The  first  regular  regatta  in  America 
wassailed  about  the  middle  of  July,  1845,  when  the  Cygnet,  built  by 
Steers  Brothers,  was  the  winner. 

In  1S51  the  Steerses  built  for  Mr,  Stevens  the  famous  yacht  America, 
designed  to  contend  for  the  Queen's  Cup  at  the  annual  regatta  of  the 
Royal  Yacht  Club  at  Cowes,  England.  Mr.  Stevens  offered  to  give  the 
builders  a  large  bonus  in  case  she  won  the  prize.  They  both  went  to 
Europe  with  her,  with  Richard  Brown  as  pilot.  As  they  approached 
the  port  of  Havre  they  were  met  by  a  Channel  pilot-boat  bearing  a 
French  flag,  indicating  that  she  was  in  command  of  a  French  pilot.  It 
was  immediately  discovered  that  this  was  a  false  pretence.  The  pilot- 
boat  had  been  sent  out  as  a  spy  to  discover  the  sailing  qualities  of  the 
America,  whose  fame  had  gone  before  her.  The  pilot  was  charged 
with  fraud,  and  acknowledged  that  he  was  not  a  Frenchman.  He  was 
dismissed,  and  hurrying  back  to  Cowes  said  to  the  Royal  Yacht  Club, 
"  The  Yankee  is  the  fastest  vessel  going." 

When  the  America  crossed  the  Channel  and  it  was  proposed  to  enter 
her  as  a  contestant  for  the  prize  which,  according  to  the  terms,  was 
"open  to  all  the  world,"  her  builders  were  coldly  received.  The 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


b2b 


members  of  the  Royal  Yacht  Club  were  so  alarmed  by  the  report  of 
the  spy  that  they  determined  to  keep  the  America  out  of  the  race  as  a 
competitor  for  the  prize.  Accordingly  at  near  midnight  before  the  day 
•appointed  for  the  regatta,  the  Steel's  Brothers  were  officially  informed 
that  their  vessel  was  "ruled  out  of  the  race,"  and  wagers  from  her 
company  were  refused  ! 

The  America  had  voyaged  3000  miles  to  show  her  speed,  and  was 
determined  to  do  so,  though  deprived  of  the  right  to  the  prize  if  she 
won  it.  She  started  with  the  other  yachts  the  next  day  (August  21, 
1851),  and  easily  outsailed  them  all  ;  and  yet  the  20,000  English  people 
who  saw  the  victory  were,  wrote  an  eye-witness,  "  as  mute  as  oysters." 

All  fair-minded  persons  condemned  the  conduct  of  the  Royal  Yacht 
Club  on  that  occasion.  Queen  Victoria,  who  with  her  husband  and 
the  young  Prince  of  AY  ales  was  a  witness  of  the  triumph  of  the 
America,  with  her  innate  love  of  fair  play  immediately  paid  a  compli- 
mentary visit  to  the  winning  yacht,  with  her  maids  of  honor  and 
others.  She  was  dressed,  with  republican  simplicity,  in  a  calico  gown. 
"When  about  to  leave  she  inquired -the  number  of  the  crew,  and  when 
told  she  took  out  her  purse  and  laid  down  on  a  plate  an  ecpial  number 
of  guineas  to  be  distributed  among  them.  She  also  invited  them  to 
visit  her  at  Osborne.  She  did  more.  She  rebuked  the  unfair  conduct 
of  the  Royal  Yacht  Club  by  having  a  duplicate  of  the  Queen's  Cup, 
which  the  crew  of  the  America  fairly  won,  made  and  presented  to 
them.    This  cup  is  now  in  possession  of  the  Xew  York  Yacht  Olub. 

The  company  of  the  America  visited  Osborne,  where  the  Queen  had 
some  fetes  for  their  entertainment.  The  Marquis  of  Anglesea  visited 
the  yacht,  invited  the  company  to  his  mansion  on  the  Isle  of  "Wight, 
and  said  he  had  come  "  to  see  the  men  who  had  brains  to  build  that 
vessel. ' '  * 

Five  years  after  these  events  George  Steers,  while  driving  a  team  of 
horses  to  Glen  Cove,  Long  Island,  to  take  his  wife  home,  was  thrown 
from  the  carriage  and  mortally  hurt  in  head  and  spine,  and  never  spoke 
again.  He  was  then  thirty-six  years  of  age.  At  the  time  of  his  death 
the  great  steamship  Adriatic,  of  the  Collins  line,  had  just  been  launched 
from  his  yard. 

Mr.  Stevens  sold  the  America  in  England.  The  Confederates  bought 
her  in  1862,  brought  her  back  to  the  United  States,  and  sunk  her  in  a 
Southern  harbor  to  prevent  her  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  national 
authorities.    She  was  raised,  became  a  tender  to  a  naval  schoolship. 


*  See  "  The  Old  Shipbuilders  of  New  York,"  Harper's  Magazine,  vol.  Ixv. 


526 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


and  was  finally  bought  by  General  B.  F.  Butler,  who  was  Governor 
of  Massachusetts  in  1883. 

From  the  close  of  this  decade  until  the  Civil  War  shipbuilding  at 
Xew  York  was  one  of  its  most  flourishing  industries,  and  William  H. 
Webb  was  its  most  conspicuous  representative.  His  father,  Isaac 
Webb,  a  leading  shipbuilder  in  New  York  for  many  years,  died  in 
1840,  when  his  son  William  II.,  then  less  than  twenty-four  years  of 
age,  became  his  successor  in  business,  forming  a  copartnership  with 
his  father's  partner,  Mr.  Allen,  under  the  firm  name  of  Webb  <fc 
Allen.  This  connection  continued  less  than  three  years,  after  which 
Mr.  Webb  pursued  the  business  in  his  own  name  until  18G8.  During 
that  quarter  of  a  century  he  built  one  hundred  and  fifty  vessels  of  all 
sizes,  most  of  them  of  the  largest  class  and  of  a  much  greater  average 
tonnage  than  had  ever  been  constructed  by  any  shipbuilder  in  the 
world. 

Among  these  vessels  were  ships  of  war  for  the  United  States,  Mexico, 
.Russia,  and  Italy.  He  built  the  7:2 -gun  frigate  General  Admiral,  7000 
tons  burden,  for  the  Russian  Government,  and  the  screw  frigate  lie 
d"1  Italia  and  lie  de  Portot/alo,  6800  tons,  for  the  Italian  Government. 
The  last  two  were  the  first  iron-clad  ships  that  ever  crossed  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  The  first  went  from  New  York  to  Cherbourg  in  the 
unprecedented  shoi't  time  of  eleven  days  and  eight  hours  ;  the  other 
made  the  passage  from  New  York  to  Xaples,  5000  miles,  in  eighteen 
days  and  twenty  hours. 

In  1847  Mr.  Webb  built  for  Charles  II.  Marshall  and  others  the 
steamship  United  States  for  the  New  Orleans  trade,  but  it  was  sold  to 
the  German  Confederation  and  altered  into  a  powerful  vessel  of  war 
by  Mr.  Webb.  The  next  year  he  built  the  steam  vessel  California  for 
the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company.  It  was  the  first  steamer  to 
enter  the  Golden  Gate  and  the  harbor  of  San  Francisco.  He  also  built 
the  three  steamships  which  carried  the  first  regular  United  States  mail 
between  this  country  and  Japan  and  China — Xew  York  and  Aspinwall, 
and  Panama  to  San  Francisco,  and  thence  to  Yokohama  and  Hong 
Kong. 

Mr.  Webb  built  for  the  United  States  Government  the  Harriet  Lane 
(named  in  honor  of  the  niece  of  the  bachelor  President  Buchanan,  and 
who  was  the  accomplished  "  lady  of  the  White  House"),  the  first 
steam  revenue  vessel  constructed  for  our  government.  The  contract 
was  awarded  to  him  in  competition  with  twenty-two  other  ship- 
builders. It  was  the  first  competition  of  the  kind  ever  had  in  this 
country.    The  vessel  was  a  noted  one.    She  was  destroyed  by  the  in- 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


527 


surgents  off  the  harbor  of  Galveston  in  1862.  Mr.  Webb  also  built  for 
the  United  States  Government  the  steam-rani  Dumlerberg,  7200  tons 
burden,  the  largest  wooden  vessel  ever  yet  built.  Her  speed  is  un- 
rivalled by  any  vessel  of  war  afloat  to  this  day.  She  mounted  twenty- 
two  guns  of  enormous  calibre  in  casemates.  The  Civil  War  ended 
before  she  was  completed,  and  the  government  had  no  immediate  u  e 
for  her.  The  combined  governments  of  Peru  and  Chili  were  then  at 
Avar  with  Spain,  and  they  offered  Mr.  Webb  $5,000,000,  United  States 
currency,  for  her  delivered,  full  armored,  in  the  harbor  of  Valparaiso. 
He  offered  to  refund  to  our  government  the  money  already  paid,  but 
it  refused  to  release  him,  unwilling  to  have  the  most  powerful  vessel  of 
war  in  the  world  leave  the  country,  for  she  was  the  pride  of  the 
nation.  Mr.  Webb  afterward  obtained  a  law  of  Congress  relieving 
him  from  the  contract  on  equitable  conditions,  and  he  sold  the  Duml  r- 
herg  to  the  Emperor  Napoleon  for  S2, 500,000,  delivered  in  New  York. 
The  French  admiral  sent  a  French  crew  to  man  her  for  an  Atlantic 
v<  >yage,  but,  afraid  to  undertake  the  task,  he  made  arrangements  with 
Mr.  Webb  to  deliver  her  in  the  port  of  Cherbourg.  This  was  done  by 
an  American  crew,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Joseph  W.  Comstock, 
with  Mr.  Webb  on  board.  She  made  the  passage  in  fourteen  days. 
Her  name  had  been  changed  to  Iiochambeau.  Mr.  Webb  was  prom- 
ised the  decoration  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  in  case  she  was  safety  de- 
livered, but  that  promise  has  never  been  fulfilled. 

Previous  to  these  great  structures  for  steam  navigation  Mr.  Webb 
built  many  saihng  clipper  vessels  of  large  size  and  unrivalled  speed, 
notably  the  Comet  and  Young  America,  yet  in  service,  and  about 
thirty  years  old.  The  former  made  five  consecutive  voyages  between 
New  York  and  San  Francisco  around  Cape  Horn,  averaging  one  hun- 
dred days  each.  One  passage  from  San  Francisco  to  New  York  was 
made  in  seventy-six  days.  The  latter  has  been  noted  for  her  regu- 
larity of  arrival  in  port,  and  obtained  the  best  reputation  for  excellence 
among  the  ships  in  the  Pacific  trade. 

In  1S6G  Mr.  Webb  built  the  magnificent  coast  steam-vessels  Bristol 
and  Providence,  which  ply  between  New  York  and  Newport.  They 
were  his  first  effort  in  this  class  of  vessels.  They  were  built  at  a  cost 
of  §1,200,000  each.  The  Bristol  is  375  feet  in  length  and  of  3000  tons 
burden.  She  has  four  tiers  of  staterooms,  and  can  furnish  1200  berths. 
These  vessels  are  unrivalled  in  speed  and  best  sea-going  qualities.  In 
appointments  they  are  veritable  palaces  afloat.* 

*  William  H.  Webb  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York  June  19,  1816.  His  parental 
ancestors  were  from  the  lowlands  of  So  jtland,  and  coining  to  America  settled  first  at  Hart- 


628 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


At  about  the  middle  of  this  decade  fashionable  residences  began  to 
appear  in  considerable  numbers  beyond  Fourteenth  Street,  particularly 
in  the  vicinity  of  Fourth  and  Fifth  avenues  and  around  Union  Square. 
The  latter  is  a  piece  of  ground  of  oval  form  between  Fourteenth  and 
Seventeenth  streets  and  Fourth  and  Fifth  avenues.  It  was  inclosed  by 
an  iron  fence,  and  had  a  fountain  in  its  centre.  Farther  on,  between 
Twentieth  and  Twenty-first  streets  and  Third  and  Fourth  avenues, 
was  Grramercy  Park.  The  land  had  recently  been  conveyed,  in  trust, 
to  Lhe  owners  of  the  sixty  lots  around  it.  It  was  inclosed  by  a  costly 
iron  fence,  and  lias  remained  a  private  park  ever  since.  The  generous 
provider  of  this  elegant  little  park  was  the  late  Samuel  B.  Kuggles,  for 
half  a  century  one  of  the  most  active,  enterprising,  and  public-spirited 

ford,  and  in  1042  at  Stamford,  Connecticut.  His  mother's  family  were  Huguenots  who 
settled  at  New  Rochelle,  in  Westchester  County.  William's  father  was  one  of  the  early 
and  eminent  shipbuilders  of  New  York.  Designing  his  son  for  a  profession,  he  pro- 
cured for  him  a  good  education  in  private  schools  and  at  the  Columbia  College  Grammar 
School.  He  preferred  his  father's  business,  and  when  a  little  past  fifteen  years  of  age 
he  entered  the  shipyard  as  an  apprentice.  Before  he  attained  his  majority  he  made  a 
sub-contract  with  his  father  to  build  the  sailing-ship  Oxford,  for  the  old  "Black  Ball" 
line  of  packets  sailing  between  New  York  and  Liverpool,  the  first  regular  line  ever  estab- 
lished. 

Having  by  overwork  impaired  his  health,  young  Webb  went  to  Europe  in  the  fall  of 

1839.  His  father  dying  soon  after  his  arrival  there,  he  returned  home,  and  in  April, 

1840,  entered  upon  the  business  of  shipbuilding  on  his  own  account,  as  we  have 
observed.  His  career  in  that  pursuit  has  been  briefly  outlined  in  the  text.  He  retired 
from  it  in  the  year  18G8,  after  a  business  career  of  nearly  thirty  years  of  almost  unex- 
ampled success  in  every  particular.  His  services  were  acknowledged  by  the  Russian 
and  Italian  governments  by  presents  and  appreciative  letters.  The  latter  bestowed  upon 
him  the  decoration  of  the  Order  of  St.  Maurice  and  Lazarus,  one  of  the  oldest  in  Europe. 

Besides  the  building  of  ships  Mr.  Webb  was  largely  engaged  in  other  enterprises.  He 
was  a  large  stockholder  of  the  Panama  Railway  at  the  time  of  its  construction,  but  sold 
out  long  after  its  completion  at  an  enormous  profit.  After  his  retirement  from  shipbuild- 
ing he  was  engaged  in  running  steamships  to  California,  the  Sandwich  Islands,  New 
Zealand,  and  Australia  for  several  years.  He  was  the  first  to  establish  an  American  line 
of  steamers  to  these  far-off  countries.  It  was  done  with  a  view  to  control  the  trade  which 
had  enriched  them,  and  to  bring  it  to  the  United  States.  He  tried  to  interest  his  own 
government  in  the  enterprise,  but  notwithstanding  President  Grant  recommended  it  in 
two  messages,  Congress  would  not  be  made  to  see  its  advantages.  He  obtained  sub- 
sidies from  New  Zealand  and  Victoria,  the  first  ever  accorded  by  British  subjects  to  an 
American  line  of  steamers.  The  enterprise  proving  unprofitable,  the  ships  were  with- 
drawn. 

At  the  age  of  fifty-six  Mr.  Webb  withdrew  from  active  business  life.  He  lives  quietly 
at  his  beautiful  and  picturesquely  situated  country  seat,  "  Waldheim,"  at  Tarrytown  on 
the  Hudson.  He  has  never  been  a  candidate  for  any  political  office,  though  tbree  times 
offered  the  nomination  for  mayor  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  by  both  political  parties. 
In  1843  he  married  Miss  Henrietta  Amelia  Hidden,  a  native  of  New  York  City,  and 
descended  from  the  Ives  family  of  Rhode  Island. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


529 


citizens  of  New  York,  who,  by  their  energy,  wisdom,  and  personal 
character,  contributed  to  the  prosperity  and  good  name  of  the  metrop- 
olis,   lie  was  an  able  lawyer  and  well-known  publicist. 

With  keen  foresight  Mr.  Ruggles  predicted  the  rapid  growth  of 
New  York,  and  acted  accordingly.  He  invested  largely  in  real  estate 
beyond  Fourteenth  Street.  He  built  blocks  of  houses,  the  Clarendon 
Hotel,  and  the  six  detached  dwellings  on  each  side  of  Fourth  Avenue, 
between  Eighteenth  and  Nineteenth  streets,  which  appear  with  flower- 
gardens  in  front.  Mr.  Buggies  was  the  abiding  and  efficient  friend 
of  every  measure  devised  for  the  prosperity  of  the  city  of  his  adoption 
and  his  common  country.  * 

*  Samuel  Bulkeley  Ruggles  was  a  native  of  Connecticut.  He  was  born  in  the  year  1800, 
entered  Yale  College  before  he  was  twelve  years  of  age,  and  graduated  when  he  was  four- 
teen years  old.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  was  admitted  to  practice  law,  and  began  in 
New  York  City,  rising  rapidly  in  his  profession.  He  soon  had  a  large  income,  which  he 
invested  judiciously  iD  real  estate.  In  1838  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Legislature  as  a 
representative  of  New  York  City,  and  was  made  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and 
Means.  The  next  year  he  was  made  canal  commissioner,  and  in  1840  was  chosen  presi- 
dent of  the  canal  board.  His  reports  on  the  canal  policy  always  contained  sound  and 
advanced  views,  and  the  results  more  than  justified  his  opinions  and  estimates. 

Mr.  Ruggles  was  one  of  the  founders  of  tbe  Bank  of  Commerce  in  New  York,  and  was 
an  earnest  advocate  of  the  general  banking  law.  He  was  one  of  the  commissioners  to 
determine  the  route  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railway.  In  every  good  work  for  sustain- 
ing the  National  Government  during  the  Civil  War  he  was  conspicuous.  His  pen  and 
tongue  were  ever  busy  in  the  discussion  of  measures  for  the  public  good.  In  1864  he 
published  a  report  on  tbe  revenue  of  the  United  States,  and  on  a  uniform  system  of 
weights,  measures,  and  coins,  which  he  had  laid  before  the  International  Statistical  Con- 
gress at  Berlin.  He  was  appointed  United  States  commissioner  to  the  Paris  Exposition 
in  18GG,  and  his  exhaustive  report  thereon  displayed  most  remarkable  research  and  skill 
in  analytical  investigation.  Mr.  Ruggles  was  a  delegate  at  the  International  Money  Con- 
ference in  Paris  the  succeeding  summer,  in  which  assembly  he  took  the  highest  rank  as 
authority.  Two  years  later  he  was  a  delegate  at  the  International  Statistical  Conference 
at  the  Hague.  In  all  these  public  consultations  he  was  ever  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
acute  philosophers  and  trustworthy  counsellors.  As  a  lawyer  he  bad  few  superiors.  He 
was  a  most  valued  member  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  in  which  body  his 
opinions  on  political  economy  always  had  great  weight.  His  soundness  of  judgment  and 
remarkable  practicability  were  thoroughly  appreciated  in  all  circles.  In  his  earlier 
years  Mr.  Ruggles  was  a  warm  personal  and  political  friend  of  William  H.  Seward,  and 
when  the  latter  became  governor  of  New  York  State  he  supplied  him  with  statistics  for 
his  first  annual  message.  He  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  canal  and  railroad  systems 
of  our  Slate  and  other  important  national  improvements. 

After  the  death  of  his  wife  Mr.  Ruggles  resided  at  the  Westminster  Hotel  in  New 
York.  His  habits  were  simple,  and  in  his  later  years  he  was  seldom  seen  in  society. 
The  last  and  crowning  work  of  his  life,  and  to  which  he  had  devoted  many  years  of  study 
and  research,  was  "  The  Consolidated  Table  of  National  Progress  in  Cheapening  Food," 
presenting  by  decades  and  geographic  divisions  the  progress  of  the  nation  in  cheapening 
the  food  of  America  and  Europe. 

Mr.  Ruggles  married,  in  May,  1821,  Miss  Mary  R.  Rathbone,  who  died  in  October,  187S. 


530 


HISTORY  OF  Nr.YV  YORK  CITY. 


At  the  close  of  this  decade  New  York  City  had  only  a  few  little 
parks  or  "  squares,"  as  they  were  called  whatever  their  form.  They 
were  the  Battery,  Bowling  Green,  City  Hall  Park,  with  shade  trees, 
walks,  and  a  fountain  ;  St.  John's  Park,  in  front  of  St.  John's  Chapel, 
between  Varick  and  Hudson  streets,  beautifully  laid  out  and  shaded 
and  surrounded  by  an  iron  fence,  but  accessible  only  to  subscribers  ; 
Washington  Square  or  Parade-Ground,  also  planted  with  trees  and 
inclosed  by  an  iron  fence  ;  Tompkins  Square,  then  in  the  north-east 
part  of  the  growing  city  and  just  planted  with  trees  ;  Union  Square 
and  Gramercy  Park,  already  mentioned,  and  Madison  Square,  Stuy- 
vesant  Square,  and  Hamilton  Square.  Stuyvesant  Square  had  lately 
been  inclosed,  and  new  St.  George's  Church  edifice  erected  on  its 
western  side.  Madison  and  Hamilton  squares  were  yet  a  sort  of  rough 
"  commons."  The  latter  was  six  miles  from  the  City  Hall,  toward  the 
eastern  side  of  the  island.  There  a  corner-stone  of  a  projected  monu- 
ment in  honor  of  Washington  had  been  laid.  Other  squares  had  been 
marked  on  a  map  of  the  city,  but  were  not  yet  visibly  defined  in  its 
topography. 

Two  events  of  national  importance  occurred  during  the  latter  portion 
of  this  decade,  in  which  citizens  of  New  York  w  ere  conspicuous  actors, 
directly  or  indirectly.  These  were  the  war  with  Mexico  (1846~48) 
and  the  discovery  and  mining  of  gold  in  California. 

There  were  abundant  causes  for  the  existence  of  mutual  irritation  on 
the  part  of  the  United  States  and  the  Republic  of  Mexico  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  decade.  In  Mexico  good  government  was  an  impossibility 
because  revolutions  in  that  country  were  frequent.  American  vessels 
in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  were  plundered  by  the  Mexicans,  and  the  prop- 
erty of  American  merchants  in  Mexico  was  seized  and  confiscated. 
The  United  States  Government  remonstrated  in  vain.  In  1840  the 
value  of  the  property  of  Americans  so  plundered  amounted  to  more 
than  $6,000,000.  American  settlers  in  Texas  had  rebelled  against  the 
Government  of  Mexico,  and  had  wrested  that  province  from  the  parent 
State,  and  in  18-1-6  it  was  annexed  to  the  United  States.  These  were 
causes  of  mutual  irritation. 

War  ensued,  and  the  State  of  New  Tork  contributed  to  it  two 
veteran  generals  of  the  war  of  1812-15 — Wool  and  Worth  * — a  gallant 

While  sojourning  at  the  Surf  House,  Fire  Island,  in  the  summer  of  1881,  Mr.  Rugglea 
died,  August  28,  from  the  effects  of  a  stroke  of  paralysis. 

*  In  memory  of  General  Worth,  the  corporation  of  the  city  of  New  York  caused  to  be 
erected,  in  1858,  an  imposing  monument  at  the  junction  of  Broadway  and  Fifth  Avenue. 
This  monument  is  of  Quincy  granite.    Its  entire  height  from  the  ground  is  fifty-one 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


531 


soldier  and  a  leader  of  armies  in  the  Civil  War,  Philip  Kearny,  and  a 
host  of  brave  men  who  won  renown. 

When  tidings  of  the  victories  of  General  Taylor  (who  had  been  sent 
to  the  frontier)  over  the  Mexicans  at  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la  Palma 
reached  the  city  of  New  York,  late  in  May,  1S4(>,  the  people  were 
powerfully  stirred  with  pleasurable  excitement,  and  the  City  Hall  Park 
was  crowded  to  excess  one  evening-  with  a,  multitude  of  men,  women, 
and  children  looking  upon  one  of  the  greatest  displays  of  fireworks  in 
front  of  the  City  Hall  ever  before  seen  in  New  York. 

The  war  with  Mexico  was  ended  by  treaty  concluded  in  February, 
1848,  and  in  the  same  month  gold  was  discovered  in  California,  a 
province  acquired  by  the  treaty — a  discovery  which  speedily  led  to  the 
founding  of  a  powerful  State  on  the  Pacific  coast.  A  man  named 
Marshall,  employed  by  Captain  Sutter,  who  owned  a  mill  on  the 
American  Fork  of  the  Sacramento  River,  discovered  gold  while  digging 
a  mill-race.  The  metal  was  soon  afterward  found  in  other  places,  and 
during  the  summer  of  1848  rumors  of  the  fact  reached  New  York  City. 
These  rumors  were  not  generally  believed  until  a  trustworthy  message 
came  that  there  was  gold  enough  in  California  to  pay  all  the  expenses 
of  the  war  with  Mexico. 

In  December,  1848,  President  Polk  in  his  annual  message  to  Congress 
officially  announced  the  wonderful  discoveries  of  the  precious  metals  in 
California,  and  early  in  1849  thousands  of  gold-seekers  were  on  their 
way  to  the  modern  Ophir.  Around  Cape  Horn,  across  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  and  over  the  great  central  plains  of  our  continent  men  went 
by  hundreds.  Gold  was  soon  found  in  every  direction  in  California. 
Hundreds  also  flocked  thither  from  Europe  and  South  America,  and 
Chinese  came  from  Eastern  Asia  to  dig  for  gold.  The  dreams  of  the 
early  Spanish  voyagers,  and  those  of  the  English  who  sought  gold  on 
the  shores  of  Labrador  and  up  the  mid-continent  rivers,  have  been  more 
than  realized.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  discoveries  of  the 
immense  mineral  resources  of  the  \Yestern  States  and  Territories  of  our 
Republic. 

In  this  great  early  migration  to  California  the  citizens  of  New  York 
bore  a  conspicuous  part,  and  very  soon  it  became  the  chief  receiver 
of  the  precious  metals  sent  to  the  Atlantic  coast  for  coinage  at  the  mint 
or  exportation  to  Europe.    During  that  early  migration  hundreds  of 

feet.  It  is  an  obelisk.  The  smooth  surface  of  the  shaft  is  broken  by  raised  bands,  on 
which,  in  bronze  letters,  are  the  names  of  the  battles  in  which  General  Worth  was  dis- 
tinguished in  the  war  of  1812  and  in  the  war  with  Mexico.  On  the  lower  section  of  the 
shaft  are  representations  of  military  trophie;>  in  bronze  in  relief. 


53:3 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


energetic  men  went  from  the  city  of  New  York.  Business  of  every 
kind  was  abandoned  ;  families  were  left  without  fathers,  husbands,  and 
brothei*s,  in  the  wild  scramble  for  gold,  the  visions  of  which  almost 
dazed  men.  Some  made  fortunes,  but  a  vast  majority  who  rushed 
blindly  to  the  Pacific  slope  were  disappointed.  Many  returned  home, 
but  many  remained,  and  at  the  end  of  three  years  from  the  time  the 
tide  of  emigration  began  to  flow  thither,  California  had  a  mixed  popu- 
lation of  over  2.")i»,uiM»  human  beings,  and  had  become  an  independent 
State  of  the  Republic.  When  the  gold  fever  had  somewhat  subsided, 
and  political,  moral,  and  religious  consideration  directed  public  atten- 
tion to  California,  New  York  City  contributed  very  largely  many 
efficient  instrumentalities  in  forwarding  the  great  work  of  building  up 
an  enlightened  and  prosperous  State. 

It  has  been  observed  that  during  the  great  fire  of  1835  the  Post- 
Office  was  removed  from  the  Exchange  building  in  Wall  Street.  It 
was  temporarily  established  in  a  brick  store  in  Pine  Street,  near  Nassau 
Street.  There  was  then  such  a  demand  for  buildings  in  that  neighbor- 
hood that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  obtain  a  good  place  for  the  Post- 
Office.  The  corporation  offered  the  Rotunda,  in  the  Park,  built  for 
Vanderlyn  for  the  exhibition  of  panoramic  paintings.  It  was  accepted, 
and  when  this  acceptance  was  known  there  was  great  indignation 
expressed  by  business  men  because  of  the  removal  of  the  Post-Office 
so  far  up  town.  The  Post-Office  remained  in  the  Rotunda  for  about 
ten  years. 

Much  dissatisfaction  was  continually  felt  and  expressed  by  citizens  of 
all  classes  because  of  the  location  of  the  Post-Office.  A  letter  delivery 
was  established  at  the  new  Exchange,  but  this  gave  little  relief. 
Finally  the  Middle  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  in  Nassau  Street,  was  pur- 
chased by  the  government  and  converted  into  a  city  Post-Office,  and  the 
first  mails  were  placed  in  it  early  in  January,  1815.  There  the  Post- 
Office  had  its  location  while  the  great  tide  of  business  and  population 
was  flowing  up  town,  until  the  completion  of  the  spacious  Post-Office 
building  at  the  southern  end  of  the  City  Hall  Park.* 

*  The  new  Post-Office  building,  situated  at  the  southern  end  of  the  City  Hall  Park,  is 
one  of  the  largest  and  most  conspicuous  structures  in  New  York.  It  is  triangular  in 
shape,  five  stories  in  height  (one  story  in  the  mansard  roof),  besides  a  basement  and  sub- 
basement.  In  the  latter  are  the  engines  and  other  machinery  used  in  running  the  eleva- 
tors connecting  the  different  floors  and  in  heating  the  building.  The  architecture  is  a 
mixture  of  the  Doric  and  the  Pienaissance,  and  the  material  of  the  walls  is  a  light-colored 
granite  from  Dix  Island,  Maine.  The  girders,  beams,  etc.,  are  iron,  and  the  structure  is  re- 
garded as  absolutely  fire-proof.  It  was  completed  at  a  cost  of  between  $0,000,000  and 
$7,000,000,  and  was  first  occupied  September  1,  1877. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1810-1850. 


533 


The  postal  facilities  in  the  city  are  admirable.  Besides  the  General  Post-Office  there 
were  nineteen  sub-stations,  at  the  beginning  of  1883,  under  the  control  of  the  Postmaster. 
There  were  about  one  thousand  lamp-post  boxes,  from  which  collections  were  made  from 
twelve  to  twenty  times  a  day  and  night  in  all  parts  of  the  city  below  Fifty-nmth  Street. 
The  city  mail  is  conveyed  between  the  Post-Office  and  the  stations  by  the  elevated  rail- 
roads and  by  wagons. 

The  following  exhibit,  kindly  furnished  to  the  writer  by  the  Postmaster  at  New  York, 
H.  G.  Pearson,  Esq.,  will  indicate  the  vast  amount  of  work  performed  at  the  Post-Office 
during  the  year  ending  January  1,  1883  : 

There  were  delivered,  through  lock-boxes  and  by  carriers,  253,528,3G2  pieces  of  or- 
dinary mail  matter,  divided  as  follows  :  150,245,025  letters,  38,735,751  postal-cards, 
and  55,537,5SG  of  other  matter.  There  were  handled  in  the  distribution  department, 
including  receipts,  a  total  of  511,015,572  pieces.  These  were  contained  in  520,4:77  lock- 
pouches  and  502.173  sacks,  besides  a  very  large  number  of  pouches,  cases,  and  sacks 
of  registered  letters  and  supplies,  and  pieces  in  transit  to  and  from  other  offices,  making 
a  total  of  pouches,  cases,  and  sacks  of  2,321,572.  The  heaviest  day's  work  was  on  De- 
cember 20,  1882,  when  10,147  mail-bags  of  every  kind,  with  their  contents,  were  handled. 

The  amazing  growth  of  the  population,  and  especially  of  the  business  of  the  city,  during 
the  past  thirty  years  is  conspicuously  indicated  by  the  following  comparative  statement  : 
The  number  of  letters, newspapers,  circulars,  etc.,  delivered  in  New  York  City  by  lock-boxes, 
carriers,  etc.,  in  1853,  was3,927,93G  ;  the  number  of  letters,  newspapers,  postal-cards  and 
circulars  delivered  in  the  city  by  lock-boxes  and  carriers  in  1882  was  129,037,537  ;  increase, 
125,037,587.  The  gross  receipts  of  the  National  Post-Office  Department  in  1853,  includ- 
ing those  from  the  23,540  post-offices  then  established  in  the  United  States,  was  0,255,- 
580.    The  gross  receipts  of  the  New  York  City  Post-Office  in  1882  were  $4,331,705. 

There  were  posted  at  the  New  York  Post-Office  during  the  year  1882,  21,999,144 
pounds  of  "mail  matter  of  the  second  class"  (newspapers  and  periodicals  sent  by  pub- 
lishers and  news  agents  to  subscribers),  equal  to  10,995  tons.  The  postage  received  on 
this  matter  amounted  to  §439,802,  a  daily  average  of  $1322, 


CHAPTER  V. 


AT  the  close  of  the  second  decade  there  were  224  church  edifices  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  including  those  of  all  denominations  of 
Christians,  Hebrew  synagogues,  and  of  miscellaneous  congregations. 
There  were  41  Protestant  Episcopal  church  edifices,  33  Presbyterian, 
31  Methodist  Episcopal,  20  Baptist,  15  Dutch  Reformed,  13  Reformed 
Presbyterian,  13  Roman  Catholic,  7  Congregational,  3  Unitarian, 
5  Lutheran,  3  Associate  Reformed  Presbyterian,  2  Welsh,  1  Protestant 
Methodist,  12  miscellaneous,  9  synagogues,  and  4  Friends'  (or  Quaker) 
meeting-houses.  The  aggregate  number  of  church  edifices  in  the  city 
in  1883  was  about  four  hundred  and  seventy-live. 

THE  DUTCH   REFORMED  CHURCH. 

The  most  ancient  of  the  church  organizations  in  the  city  of  New 
York  is  the  Dutch  Reformed.  There  were  members  of  that  Church 
among  the  traders  on  Manhattan  Island  as  early  as  the  year  1020,  and 
it  is  believed  that  among  the  colonists  who  arrived  there  in  1023  a 
church  organization  was  effected  in  1020.  There  are  regular  records 
since  1039. 

The  Dutch  built  a  large  square  fort  on  the  southern  end  of  Manhat- 
tan Island,  on  the  ground  now  known  as  the  Battery.  In  it  were 
several  houses,  and  in  1042  a  church  edifice  was  erected  at  the  south- 
east corner  of  the  fort.  It  stood  there  nearly  one  hundred  years.  In 
1741  it  was  consumed  by  fire,  and  not  again  rebuilt.  This  edifice  was 
constructed  by  order  of  Governor  Kieft,  by  John  and  Richard  Ogden. 
It  was  built  of  stone  and  roofed  with  split  oaken  shingles,  which  were 
called  "  wooden  slate."  The  cost  of  the  edifice  was  about  $2000.  It 
was  52  feet  in  width,  70  feet  in  length,  and  10  feet  in  height.  Before 
this  they  had  a  little  barn-like  structure  in  which  they  worshipped. 

The  city  (first  New  Amsterdam,  and  after  the  English  occupation 
New  York)  grew  apace,  and  in  1090  there  were  nearly  eight  hundred 
and  fifty  families  there.    The  city  stretched  northward,  and  a  new 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-  1850. 


535 


Church  became  a  necessity.  There  was  at  that  time  a  short,  narrow 
street  called  Garden  Alley,  running  parallel  with  the  present  Wall 
Street,  from  Broad  Street  eastward.  The  grounds  here  had  been  laid 
out  and  cultivated  with  much  taste,  hence  the  name — Garden  Alley, 
then  Garden  Street.  It  is  now  Exchange  Place.  A  church  was  built 
there  ki  1693.  It  was  considered  rather  too  far  out  of  town.  This 
was  afterward  called  the  South  Church  when  two  other  Dutch  Ee- 
formed  churches  were  built  north  of  it. 

The  Garden  Street  Church  was  built  of  wood,  of  octagonal  form, 
with  a  tower  and  steeple  in  the  centre  of  the  roof.  It  was  enlarged 
and  repaired  in  177<>,  and  in  1S0T  was  rebuilt  of  stone,  6C  feet  long  and 
50  feet  wide.  A  large  congregation  continued  to  assemble  there  until 
1813,  when  it  was  separated  from  the  Collegiate  Church  and  became  a 
distinct  charge,  and  the  Eev.  James  M.  Matthews  was  installed  its 
pastor.  lie  was  its  sole  pastor  until  1S34,  when  he  was  chosen  chan- 
cellor of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and  the  Eev.  Mancius 
Ilutton  was  installed  as  colleague  pastor.  This  ancient  church  edifice 
was  devoured  by  the  great  fire  in  1835,  as  we  have  observed.  The  last 
sermon  ever  preached  in  it  was  delivered  to  fourteen  hearers.  A  new 
church  was  built  on  Murray  Street,  corner  of  Church  Street.  It  was 
opened  for  service  in  the  spring  of  1S38,  with  the  Eev.  J.  M.  Macauley 
as  pastor,  Messrs.  Matthews  and  Ilutton  becoming  colleague  pastors  of 
a  new  church  adjoining  the  University. 

Again  the  increasing  population  of  the  city  made  it  necessary  for  the 
Dutch  Church  to  erect  another  edifice  farther  north.  A  more  spacious 
structure  than  either  of  the  former  ones  soon  appeared  on  Nassau 
Street,  between  (present)  Cedar  and  Liberty  streets.  It  was  opened  for 
worship  in  1720,  and  was  known  as  the  New  Church.  It  was  built  of 
stone,  100  feet  long  and  70  feet  wide,  with  a  steeple  and  bell.  It  had 
no  gallery,  and  the  ceiling  was  a  single  arch  without  pillars.  So  it 
remained  until  1764-,  when  a  gallery  was  built  on  three  sides,  and 
columns  were  put  up  to  support  the  roof.  It  was  closed  as  a  place  of 
worship  during  the  old  war  for  independence.  The  British  removed 
the  pews  and  used  the  building  first  as  a  hospital  and  then  as  a  riding- 
school.  It  was  reopened  and  repaired  after  the  Eevolution.  In  time 
business  crowded  families  out  of  its  neighborhood  until,  in  1S44,  there 
was  scarcely  a  member  living  within  easy  walking  distance  of  it.  It 
was  then  determined  to  abandon  it  as  a  place  of  worship.  It  was  sold 
to  the  National  Government  and  converted  into  a  city  Post-Office. 

A  farewell  meeting  was  held  in  the  church  on  Sunday  evening, 
August  11,  1844,  when  the  Eev.  Dr.  Knox,  the  senior  pastor  of  the 


536 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Collegiate  Church,  preached,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  De  Witt,*  one  of  the 
pastors,  presented  an  outline  history  of  the  church.  He  pronounced 
the  benediction  in  the  Dutch  language.    For  many  years  the  edifice 

*  Thomas  De  Witt,  D.D.,  was  descended  from  the  eminent  Holland  family  of  that  name. 
His  father  was  Thomas  De  Witt,  a  soldier  of  the  French  and  Indian  war  and  of  the  old 
war  for  independence,  who,  in  1782,  married  Elsie  Hasbrouck,  of  Huguenot  lineage. 
Thomas,  their  fifth  and  youngest  child,  was  born  near  Kingston,  Ulster  County,  N.  Y.,  on 
September  13,  17'J1.  His  preparatory  education  was  at  the  Kingston  Academy,  and  when 
he  was  little  more  than  fourteen  years  of  age  he  entered  the  sophomore  class  at  Union  Col- 
lege. Before  he  was  eighteen  he  graduated,  became  a  communicant  of  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Church,  and  began  the  study  of  theology  under  Rev.  Dr.  Brodhead,  of  Rhinebeck.  Duch- 
ess County.  In  1810  he  entered  the  divinity  school  of  Rutgers  College  at  New  Brunswick, 
N.  J.,  and  was  graduated  in  1812.  The  same  year  he  was  ordained  at  Poughkeepsie  a 
minister  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  and  accepted  a  call  to  the  pastorate  of  the  united 
churches  at  New  Hackensack  and  Hopewell,  in  Duchess  County.  He  had  a  wide  field  of 
labor,  and  he  cultivated  it  with  untiring  zeal  and  gratifying  success.  So  great  were  the 
promises  of  abundant  fruit  that  he  twice  declined  the  offer  of  a  professorship  in  Rutgers 
College.  He  remained  in  charge  of  the  Hopewell  congregation,  which  became  separated 
from  that  of  Hackensack,  until  1827,  when  he  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Collegi- 
ate Dutch  Church  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

Dr.  De  Witt  married  Eliza  Ann  Waterman,  of  New  York,  who  was  as  lovely  in  character 
as  she  was  beautiful  in  person.  She  was  his  loving  companion  and  efficient  and  judi- 
cious helpmate  in  all  things,  until  her  spirit  was  suddenly  called  home  not  long  before 
his  own  death,  in  May,  1874.  For  more  than  forty-five  years  Dr.  De  Witt  was  loved, 
honored,  and  revered  as  a  pastor  and  a  citizen  by  all  classes  of  men  of  every  creed,  and  at 
his  funeral  clergymen  of  nearly  all  denominations  were  the  pall-bearers. 

In  the  summer  of  1846  Dr.  De  Witt  visited  Holland  and  England  with  his  eldest 
daughter.  He  was  never  so  long  absent  from  his  pulpit.  He  was  always  at  his  post  of 
duty  of  every  kind,  whether  in  the  Church  or  in  the  various  religious  and  benevolent  in- 
stitutions of  which  he  was  a  manager. 

With  all  his  varied  labors,  he  always  seemed  to  have  leisure,  and  to  no  appeal  for  his 
help  did  he  ever  say,  "  I  have  not  time.  "  He  was  an  active  and  most  useful  member  of 
the  New  York  Historical  Society,  of  which  he  was  second  vice-president  ten  years,  first 
vice-president  twenty  years,  and  in  1870,  when  he  was  nearly  fourscore  years  of  age,  he 
was  chosen  president,  served  two  years,  and  then  declined  a  re-election. 

When  old  age  began  to  lay  its  burdens  upon  him.  Dr.  De  Witt  resigned  his  position 
as  stated  preacher,  yet  he  retained  the  office  of  senior  pastor  of  the  Collegiate  Church 
until  his  death,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Yermilye,  who  yet  (1883)  holds  that  posi- 
tion. His  latest  public  act  was  the  dedication  of  the  new  church  edifice  on  the  corner  of 
Forty-eighth  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  when  he  was  eighty  years  of  age. 

Dr.  De  Witt  suffered  sore  afflictions  in  the  loss  of  children  by  death  ;  also  of  his  wife, 
when  he  was  in  the  eighty-second  year  of  his  age.  Yet  such  was  his  sublime  faith  in  the 
goodness  and  wisdom  of  his  Maker,  and  his  overflowing  gratitude  for  mercies,  that  he 
never  murmured.  When  his  only  son,  a  promising  young  man.  suddenly  died,  a  friend, 
hearing  of  it.  hastened  to  the  house  of  affliction.  The  stricken  father  met  him  at  the 
door.  The  friend  said,  "  Oh,  Doctor,  can  this  be  true  ?"  The  aged  saint,  with  serene 
composure,  said,  "We  must  remember  the  mercies."  At  the  burial  of  his  wife  in  Green- 
wood, as  the  coffin  was  lowered  into  the  grave,  there  burst  from  the  lips  of  the  venerable 
husband  the  uncontrolled  Words  which  thrilled  every  heart  of  the  multitude  of  friend j 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


537 


had  been  known  as  the  Middle  Dutch  Church,  because  another,  farther 
north,  had  been  erected  on  William  Street,  between  Fulton  and  Ann 
streets,  and  called  the  North  Dutch  Church. 

The  latter  named  church  edifice  was  of  elegant  architecture,  built  of 
the  same  materials  and  of  the  same  size  as  the  Middle  Dutch  Church, 
at  a  cost  of  about  8<>o, 01 >0.  It  was  recently  torn  down.  It  had  a  high 
steeple.  This  church  was  first  opened  for  public  worship  in  May, 
17<i!».  The  ground  on  which  it  stood  was  given  for  the  purpose  by 
John  Ilarpending. 

The  principal  cause  which  led  to  the  erection  of  this  church  was  the 
radical  change  of  substituting  the  English  for  the  Dutch  language  in 
the  public  worship.  Until  a  few  years  before  the  building  of  this 
edifice,  all  the  services  were  held  in  the  Dutch  language.  But  the 
increase  of  English-speaking  people  in  the  city,  and  the  increasing  use 
of  English  among  Dutch  families  made  it  apparent  that  unless  that  lan- 
guage were  introduced  into  the  Dutch  churches  the  attending  congre- 
gations would  rapidly  decrease,  especially  the  younger  portions  of 
them.  At  last  it  was  proposed  to  call  from  Holland  a  minister  who 
could  preach  in  Dutch  and  English.  The  proposal  excited  bitter  hos- 
tility. Great  strife  arose,  and  even  the  power  of  the  law  was  invoked 
to  prevent  the  innovation,  but  without  effect. 

The  call  was  made,  and  the  Rev.  Archibald  Laidlie  responded  to  it, 
arriving  at  Xew  York  in  1764.  He  was  a  native  of  Scotland,  but  had 
been  called  to  Holland  to  minister  in  the  Scotch  Church  at  Flushing. 
He  occupied  the  pulpit  of  the  old  Middle  Church  with  great  acceptance. 
The  congregation  increased  so  rapidly  that  three  years  after  his  installa- 
tion it  was  found  necessary  to  build  a  new  church  edifice  for  English- 
speaking  worshippers.  The  ground  was  given,  and  the  North  Dutch 
Church  was  built. 

At  the  first  seiwice  held  by  Dr.  Laidlie  in  the  Middle  Dutch  Church, 
all  but  the  singing  was  conducted  in  English,  the  congregation  being 
unacquainted  with  English  psalmody.  Jacobus  Van  Antwerp,  the 
"fore-singer,"  led.  The  house  was  densely  packed  with  people,  and 
many  climbed  up  in  the  windows.  The  Lust  discourse  in  the  Dutch 
language  in  the  city  of  New  Fork  was  preached  in  1803,  to  a  very 
small  number  of  hearers. 

who  stood  around  :  "  Farewell,  my  beloved,  honored,  and  faithful  wife.  The  earthly  tie 
that  united  us  is  severed.  Thou  art  with  Jesus,  in  glory,  and  He  is  with  me  :  by  His 
grace  I  shall  soon  be  with  thee.    Farewell !" 

In  all  the  relations  of  life,  Dr.  De  Witt  was  a  bright  example.  He  was  truly  a  great 
man.  He  died  on  Hay  10.  1874. 


538 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


In  the  Xorth  Dutch  Church  was  begun,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Collegiate  Church,*  in  the  season  of  great  financial  trouble  in  1857, 
those  remarkable  religious  services  known  as  the  Fulton  Street  noon 
prayer-meetings,  originated  by  Jeremiah  Lanphier,  and  yet  (1883)  con- 
tinued.   These  will  be  noticed  hereafter. 

From  the  beginning  of  this  century  until  the  period  we  are  consider- 
ing the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  established  many  new  congregations 
and  erected  church  edifices  as  the  city  extended  northward.  A  church 
was  built  at  Bloomingdale  in  1805,  five  miles  from  the  City  Hall.  It 
was  erected  by  Jacob  Ilarsen,  on  his  own  land,  and  was  dedicated  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  John  II.  Livingston. 

The  Greenwich  Street  Church  was  a  small  wooden  structure  built  in 
1802,  between  Amos  and  Charles  streets.  It  was  sold  in  1826  to  a 
society  of  Reformed  Presbyterians,  who  had  it  removed  entire,  with  a 
spire  containing  a  public  clock  in  motion  at  the  time.  During  its 
migration  to  Waverley  Place  a  congregation  was  gathered  in  it  and  a 
sermon  was  preached  to  them. 

The  Franklin  Street  Church  was  between  Churcli  and  Chapel  streets. 
Its  first  pastor  was  the  Rev.  Christian  Bork,  who  was  a  Hessian  soldier 
captured  with  Burgoyne  in  1777,  and  converted  under  the  preaching  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Livingston  in  a  barn.  The  Houston  Street  Church  was 
the  result  of  missionary  work  for  a  destitute  population.  The  Broome 
Street  Church  was  erected  on  the  corner  of  Broome  and  Greene  streets, 
and  the  Orchard  Street  Church  was  built  between  Broome  and  Delan- 
cey  streets. 

The  Colored  Reformed  Dutch  Church  did  not  succeed,  and  a  church 
edifice  was  never  erected.    Such  was  the  case  with  the  Yande water 

*  The  Collegiate  Church  consists  of  three  congregations  under  but  one  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction,  the  ministers  officiating  alternately  in  the  three  churches.  It  is  the  centre 
of  power  and  government  in  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  in  New  York,  and  is  the  oldest 
and  wealthiest  corporation  in  the  metropolis.  It  was  chartered  by  William  III.  in  May, 
1G96.  This  royal  charter  was  ratified  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Colony  of  New  York  in 
1753,  and  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York  in  1784  and  1805.  The  control  of 
the  corporation  and  its  largo  property  is  vested  in  a  legislative  body  of  twenty-four 
persons,  each  of  the  three  churches  belonging  to  the  society  being  equally  represented 
in  it,  and  is  known  as  the  consistory.  The  ministers  of  the  Collegiate  Church  are  called 
to  it  for  life,  and  may  be  removed  only  for  cause. 

The  oldest  of  the  Collegiate  churches  is  in  Lafayette  Place,  and  known  as  the  Middle 
Church  ;  the  second  is  at  the  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  West  Twenty-ninth  Street,  and 
known  as  the  Holland  Church  ;  and  the  third  is  at  the  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and 
West  Forty-eighth  Street.  At  the  close  of  the  second  decade  the  Collegiate  Church 
embraced  about  live  hundred  families  and  a  membership  in  communion  of  nearly  fifteen 
hundred  persons. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


539 


Street  Church.  They  were  both  soon  disbanded.  The  Manhattan 
Dutch  Church  was  the  result  of  missionary  labor.  The  edifice  stand- 
ing near  the  Dry  Dock  was  built  by  Presbyterians,  and  purchased  by 
the  Collegiate  Church  in  1833,  when  a  congregation  was  formed.  It 
w  as  known  for  many  years  as  the  Young  Men's  Mission  Church.  The 
Rev.  D.  Yan  Kleek  was  the  first  minister.  A  new  edifice  of  brick  was 
built  and  opened  in  1843:, 

The  Xinth  Street  Church,  on  Ninth  Street,  between  Broadway  and 
the  Bowery,  formed  a  very  convenient  location  for  a  large  portion  of  the 
congregation  of  the  Collegiate  Church  who  had  removed  to  that 
part  of  the  city.  The  Twenty-first  Street  Church,  near  Fifth  Avenue, 
was  built  on  ground  given  by  the  family  of  the  deceased  Rev.  John  F. 
Jackson. 

Such,  in  brief,  is  a  history  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  churches  proper, 
existing  at  the  close  of  the  second  decade,  in  1849.  There  was  a 
church  established  at  Harlem  at  a  very  early  date,  but  it  is  uncertain 
whether  it  was  in  connection  with  the  Collegiate  churches.  There  was 
a  church  there  as  early  as  1686.  The  first  trustworthy  record  of  it 
begins  one  hundred  years  later.  It  is  believed  the  services  were  con- 
ducted in  the  Dutch  language  at  Harlem  as  late  as  1781.  In  1883 
there  were  twenty  Reformed  Dutch  churches  in  the  city,  some  of  them 
elegant  structures.  Perhaps  the  finest  is  the  one  on  the  corner  of  Forty- 
eighth  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  of  which  Rev.  Dr.  Coe  is  pastor. 

There  was  also  a  German  Reformed  Church  in  Nassau  Street, 
between  John  Street  and  Maiden  Lane.  The  building  had  formerly 
been  used  as  a  theatre.  The  first  minister  (1758)  was  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Rozencrantz.  The  congregation  was  composed  of  Germans  who  had 
attached  themselves  to  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  because  they  could 
understand  the  Low  Dutch  language,  or  had  joined  the  Lutherans 
where  the  services  were  conducted  in  German.  They  Avere  Calvinists. 
They  adopted  the  name  of  the  German  Reformed  Congregation  of 
New  York.  Before  the  Revolution  they  formed  a  connection  with  the 
Collegiate  Church.  In  1765  they  built  a  new  church  edifice  on  the 
same  spot.  About  1822  they  sold  the  property  and  built  a  new  church 
on  Forsyth  Street.  For  many  years  there  were  bitter  controversies  in 
the  church  between  the  Lutheran  and  German  Reformed  ministers, 
and  the  law  was  evoked  to  settle  the  question  as  to  the  rightful  posses- 
sion of  the  property.  The  Court  of  EiTors  decided  that  the  Lutherans 
had  the  right  of  possession. 

In  1  s^3  a  difference  arose  in  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church.  Several 
ministers  and  churches,  principally  in  Eastern  Xew  Jersey,  withdrew 


540 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


from  that  communion.  A  church  of  the  secessionists  was  organized  in 
New  York  City  in  1823,  calling  themselves  the  True  Reformed  Prot- 
estant Dutch  Church.  They  built  a  house  of  worship  on  King  Street, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  second  decade  they  had  no  fellowship  with  the 
main  body  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church. 

The  school  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  New  York  City  is  the 
oldest  educational  institution  in  the  United  States.  It  was  founded  in 
1633,  and  has  been  in  constant  operation  (excepting  a  few  years, 
1T7G-83)  until  the  present  time,  a  period  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years.  The  history  of  this  famous  school  is  exceedingly  interesting. 
Allusion  to  this  institution  has  already  been  made  in  Chapter  XVI. 
This  school  was  under  the  care  of  the  local  government  at  New 
Amsterdam  for  many  years,  and  was  a  cherished  institution.  The 
Dutch  municipality  was  too  poor  to  build  a  school-house,  and  the 
school  was  held  for  many  years  in  the  City  Hall,  at  the  head  of 
Coenties  Slip. 

When  New  Amsterdam  was  incorporated  a  city  in  1653,  Governor 
Stuvvesant  relinquished  to  the  municipal  authorities  the  revenue' arising 
from  excise  licenses,  on  condition  that  they  should  pay  out  of  it  the 
salaries  of  "  two  ministers,  one  schoolmaster,  and  one  dog-whipper  ;" 
but  this  privilege  was  withdrawn  the  next  year  because  the  burgomas- 
ters had  paid  the  salary  of  only  the  dog-whipper. 

The  conquest  of  New  Netherlands  by  the  English  did  not  materially 
affect  the  Dutch  Church  or  its  school.  The  petty  tyrant  Lord  Cornbury 
gave  them  some  trouble,  but  it  was  temporary.  The  school  had  no 
permanent  habitation  until  1748,  when  it  was  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
years  old.  In  that  year  a  small  house  was  built  for  it  on  Garden 
Street  (now  Exchange  Place).  On  its  site  was  erected  a  new  and  more 
spacious  house  in  1773,  when  the  salary  of  the  schoolmaster  was  $400  a 
year. 

Up  to  this  period,  though  the  English  language  was  generally  spoken 
in  New  York,  no  one  had  presumed  to  teach  any  but  the  Dutch  tongue 
in  this  school.  From  its  foundation  until  1808  the  school  was  under 
the  exclusive  control  of  the  ministers  and  deacons  of  the  Church,  and 
they  for  some  time  strenuously  resisted  the  inevitable  change.  The 
pressure  of  necessity  became  too  great,  and  in  1773  the  deacons  con- 
sented to  have  reading  and  writing  taught  in  both  the  Dutch  and  Eng- 
lish languages. 

While  the  British  held  the  city  of  New  York  (1776-83)  the  Dutch 
Church  School  was  closed.  It  was  reopened  a  few  weeks  before  the 
British  troops  evacuated  the  city.    In  17S9  a  custom  was  established  of 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


541 


providing  each  scholar  with  a  suit  of  clothes,  collections  being  made 
for  the  purpose  in  the  churches.  The  first  collection  was  made  in  the 
North  Dutch  Church,  and  amounted  to  $210. 

In  17D2  the  first  feminine  teacher — Elizabeth  Ten  Eyck — was  em- 
ployed in  the  school.  She  continued  about  eighteen  years,  when  the 
introduction  of  the  Lancastrian  system  excluded  her,  but  for  thirty 
years  afterward  she  was  employed  in  making  clothing  for  the  girls  of 
the  school. 

It  was  not  until  1804  that  English  grammar  was  taught  in  this 
school.  Four  years  later  the  deacons  gave  up  their  rule  to  a  board  of 
trustees,  and  that  form  of  government  still  continues.  The  following 
year  the  Lancastrian  system  was  introduced.  Henry  Webb  Dunshee 
was  appointed  teacher  in  1842,  and  yet  (1883)  holds  that  exalted  posi- 
tion, after  a  faithful  service  of  forty-one  years.* 

The  home  of  the  school  is  in  a  three-story  brick  building  on  the  south 
side  of  Twenty-ninth  Street,  near  Seventh  Avenue,  fifty  feet  wide  in 
front.  Over  the  front  door  is  a  white  tablet  in  the  form  of  a  shield 
bearing  the  following  words  : 

"  SCHOOL  OF  THE  COLLEGIATE  REFORMED  PROTESTANT 
DUTCH  CHURCH  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK. 
FOUNDED  A.D.  1633.    ERECTED  A.D.  1860." 

For  the  first  thirty  years  of  its  existence  the  school  was  supported 
by  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  or  the  Dutch  colonial  government. 
After  the  English  occupation  (and  since)  its  support  came  chiefly  from 
collections  taken  up  in  the  Dutch  churches.  A  few  gifts  and  legacies 
also  give  it  a  small  income.  It  has  been  migratory  :  first  on  Garden 
Street,  then  on  Duane,  Canal,  basement  of  the  church  on  the  corner  of 
Broome  and  Greene  streets,  basement  of  the  Ninth  Street  Church, 
Fourth  Street  near  Sixth  Avenue,  and  finally  at  its  present  location. 
The  number  of  its  pupils  has  always  been  limited  :  first  (1786)  12  ;  in 
1808,  72  ;  in  1832,  150.  The  school  is  exclusively  for  children  of  those 
persons  who  are  either  members  or  habitual  attendants  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church.  The  250th  anniversary  of  this  school  was  celebrated 
on  November  22,  1883. 

LUTHERAN  CHURCH. 

So  early  as  1003  the  Lutherans  settled  in  New  Amsterdam  had 
organized  a  church,  and  had  a  meeting •-house  near  the  fort.  Their 

*  In  1853  Mr.  Dunshee  prepared  and  published  a  most  interesting  history  of  the  school, 
ivom  which  the  writer  has  drawn  largely  the  facts  for  this  brief  sketch. 


542 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


first  minister,  the  Rev.  Jacob  Fabricius,  seems  to  have  been  obnoxious 
to  the  Dutch  municipal  government,  for  he  was  twice  fined  for  "  mis- 
demeanor," and  in  1765  he  was  forbidden  to  preach  any  more  in  the 
province. 

In  1702  the  Lutherans  erected  a  small  church  edifice  of  stone,  on  the 
corner  of  Rector  Street  and  Broadway,  the  original  site  of  Grace 
Church.  It  was  destroyed  by  the  great  fire  in  New  York  in  1776,  and 
not  rebuilt  by  the  Lutherans.  In  1805  Grace  Church  was  erected  on 
the  spot.  In  1751  a  small  Lutheran  church  was  huilt  at  the  northerly 
termination  of  Cliff  Street,  now  occupied  by  portions  of  the  East  River 
Bridge,  but  a  few  years  later  they  built  a  substantial  stone  edifice  at 
the  corner  of  Frankfort  and  William  streets,  known  as  the  Swamp 
C  hurch.  As  in  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  so  in  the  Lutheran  :  dis- 
putes arose  about  the  change  of  language  in  the  public  services.  Final- 
ly the  English  was  substituted  for  the  German.  For  a  long  time  the 
services  were  conducted  interchangeably  in  German  and  English. 

At  the  time  we  are  considering  (184-9)  the  Lutheran  churches  in  the 
city  were  St.  Matthew's,  in  Walker  Street,  established  in  1751  ; 
St.  James's,  in  Mulberry  Street  :  German  Reformed  Lutheran,  in 
Forsyth  Street  :  Evangelical  Lutheran,  Sixth  Avenue  ;  and  Old 
Lutheran,  Columbia  Street.  In  the  latter  the  services  were  conducted 
in  the  German  language.  The  first  Lutheran  Church  established  in 
1603  became  extinct  in  17*4. 

PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 

The  English  Church,  as  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  was  called 
in  colonial  times,  was  the  third  ecclesiastical  organization  established  in 
the  city  of  New  York.  "When,  in  1<164,  the  name  of  the  city  of  New 
Amsterdam  was  changed  to  New  York  by  the  English  conquerors, 
they  also  gave  to  the  English  Church  the  precedence  in  the  colony 
which  the  Dutch  Church  had  enjoyed  for  about  forty  years.  They 
called  the  chapel  in  the  fort  King's  Chapel,  and  introduced  the  liturgy 
of  the  English  Church  therein.  This  was  the  only  English  Church  in 
the  city  until  1607,  when  Trinity  Church  was  completed. 

Trinity  Church  edifice  was  begun  in  1606,  and  completed  in  1697. 
It  was  a  small  square  building,  and  was  first  opened  for  divine  service 
in  1697.  This  church  stood  on  the  west  side  of  Broadway,  which  then 
ran  along  the  brow  of  a  green  slope  that  extended  down  to  the  Hudson 
River.  The  site  was  the  one  now  occupied  by  the  elegant  structure  on 
Broadway  at  the  head  of  Wall  Street.    This  building  was  enlarged  in 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-18CQ. 


1737  and  1739,  to  the  dimensions  of  14S  feet  in  length  and  72  feet  in 
width.    It  had  a  steeple  175  feet  in  height. 

This  edifice  was  destroyed  in  the  great  conflagration  of  1 770,  and  no 
effort  was  made  to  rebuild  it  until  after  the  war  then  raging.  A  new 
building  was  completed  in  1788,  not  so  long,  but  of  the  same  width  as 
the  former  one.  This  was  demolished,  and  the  corner-stone  of  the 
present  superb  church  edifice  was  laid  on  the  old  site  in  1841.  The 
building  was  consecrated  in  May,  1846.  At  that  time  there  were  forty 
other  Protestant  Episcopal  churches  in  the  city.  Now  there  are  nearly 
double  that  number.  Of  the  abounding  good  work  of  Trinity  Church, 
in  religion  and  charity,  an  account  will  be  given  presently. 

In  all  the  ancient  churches  in  New  York  City  the  plan  of  a  collegiate 
charge  seems  to  have  obtained.  This  plan  was  acted  upon  by  the 
Episcopal  Church  as  well  as  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church.  Trinity 
was  considered  the  parish  church,  and  had  as  a  collegiate  charge  three 
others,  which  were  called  chapels — namely,  St.  George's,  St.  Paul's, 
and  St.  John's.  St.  George's  became  a  distinct  charge  in  1811,  while 
the  other  twro  are  still  chapels  of  Trinity. 

St.  George's  Church,  or  Chapel,  was  completed  and  consecrated  in 
the  summer  of  17.">2.  It  was  erected  on  the  corner  of  Van  Cliff's  Street 
(now  Cliff  Street)  and  Beekman  Street,  and  the  high  ground  on  which 
it  stood  was  named  Chapel  Hill.  It  was  built  of  stone,  10-1  feet  long 
and  ~rl  feet  wide,  with  a  tall  pointed  spire.  It  stood  sixty  years,  when, 
in  1814,  fire  consumed  all  of  it  but  its  stone  walls.  It  was  rebuilt  and 
reopened  in  Xovember,  1815.  The  Rev.  James  Milnor,  D.D.,  became 
its  rector  in  1816,  and  held  that  position  until  his  death  in  1845,  when 
the  Rev.  Stephen  II.  Tyng,  D.D.,*  became  his  successor.    At  that 

*  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.D.,  for  many  years  the  distinguished  rector  of  St.  George's 
Church,  is  a  native  of  Newburyport,  Mass.,  where  he  was  born  March  1,  1800.  He 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  and  for  two  years  afterward 
he  was  a  merchant's  clerk.  Then  he  began  the  study  of  theology  under  Bishop  Gris- 
wold,  of  Rhode  Island,  and  was  ordained  a  deacon  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
in  America  in  1821.  For  two  years  he  labored  at  Georgetown,  D.  C,  and  for  six  years  in 
Queen  Anne's  parish.  Prince  George's  County,  Maryland.  In  May,  1829,  he  removed  to 
Philadelphia  and  became  rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church.  In  1833  ho  was  called  to  the 
Church  of  the  Epiphany  in  the  same  city. 

On  the  death  of  the  venerable  Dr.  Milnor,  of  St.  George's  Church.  New  York,  in  1845, 
Dr.  Tyng  was  called  to  be  his  successor  in  charge  of  that  parish,  and  he  occupied  that 
position  until  the  spring  of  1880,  when,  at  the  age  Df  eighty  years,  he  relinquished  the 
charge.  After  laboring  in  old  St.  George's  Church  in  Beekman  Street  a  few  years,  his 
field  of  parochial  labor  was  transferred  to  another  part  of  the  city.  The  congregation 
had  erected  a  magnificent  (for  the  time)  new  church  in  Rutherford  Place,  corner  of 
Sixteenth  Street,  and  facing  Stuyvesant  Square.    It  was  first  occupied  in  1849.  There 


544 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


time  the  number  of  communicants  of  St.  George's  Church  was  about 
four  hundred  and  lift}'. 

The  following  year  Peter  G.  Stuyvesant  generously  gave  to  St. 
George's  Church  lots  of  ground  in  Rutherford  Place  on  which  to 
erect  a  new  temple.  Man}r  of  the  members  of  the  church  had  moved 
up  town,  and  a  new  building  was  speedily  begun.  Before  the  close  of 
the  decade  a  very  spacious  structure  was  erected  and  occupied  by  the 
congregation.  It  fronts  on  Stuyvesant  Square.  The  church  in  Beek- 
m;m  Street  was  finally  demolished  and  its  place  appropriated  to  com- 
mercial business. 

Fourteen  years  after  this  second  Episcopal  church  or  chapel  was 
built,  a  third  was  erected  on  Broadway,  between  Fulton  and  Vesey 
streets,  and  called  St.  Paul's  Chapel.  It  was  built  of  reddish-gray 
stone,  113  feet  long  and  73  feet  wide,  and  was  consecrated  in  the 
autumn  of  1766.  It  has  an  elegant  and  tall  tower  and  spire.  St.  Paul's 
remains  a  chapel  of  Trinity  Church. 

The  third  chapel  of  Trinity  built  in  the  city  is  St.  John's,  which  is 
an  elegant  structure  of  stone  with  a  tall  tower  and  spire.  It  is  in 
Varick  Street,  fronting  what  was  formerly  known  as  Hudson's  Square. 
It  is  111  feet  in  length  and  73  feet  in  breadth,  and  was  completed  in 
1S(>7  at  a  cost  of  more  than  §200,000.  It,  too,  like  St.  Paul's,  remains 
a  chapel  of  Trinity  Church.    In  front  of  it,  between  Varick  and 

for  more  than  thirty  years  Dr.  Tyng  labored  most  successfully.  His  Sabbath-school 
work  was  marvellous.  At  one  time  there  were  in  the  home  school,  and  in  a  mission 
school  attached  to  the  church,  about  nineteen  hundred  pupils  and  teachers.  During  his 
pastorate  that  organization  raised  and  disbursed  $03,985.  The  disbursements,  included 
the  building  of  two  churches  and  two  schoolhouses  in  Africa,  building  and  furnishing 
the  Chapel  of  Free  Grace  in  Nineteenth  Street,  building  and  furnishing  the  German 
chapel  in  Fourteenth  Street,  including  the  ground  on  which  it  is  built,  the  annual  sup- 
port of  the  parish  missions  of  St.  George's  Church,  and  for  all  the  chancel  furniture  of 
the  church  and  a  portion  of  the  clock,  when  it  was  rebuilt  after  the  fire  that  consumed 
its  interior,  about  the  year  1850.  Out  of  that  fund  also  were  made  gifts  to  instrumentali- 
ties for  the  promotion  of  religion  and  morals. 

Dr.  Tyng  was  one  of  the  most  learned  and  eloquent  clergymen  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  a  man  of  great  force  of  character,  decided  in  his  views  of  men  and 
things,  varied  in  his  knowledge,  extremely  energetic  in  his  labors  of  every  kind,  earnest 
and  faithful  in  his  legitimate  work,  and  beloved  by  all  his  parishioners.  Since  he  left 
his  charge  the  infirmities  of  age  and  the  effects  of  hard  work  with  the  brain  have  borne 
heavily  upon  him.  He  is  the  author  of  several  valuable  books,  mostly  on  biblical 
subjects. 

In  his  intercourse  with  other  denominations  Dr.  Tyng  has  always  been  extremely 
friendly,  working  earnestly  with  them  in  advancing  his  Master's  kingdom.  He  has  not 
been  walled  about  by  church  discipline  or  Episcopalian  propriety  ;  not  tongue-  or 
hand-tied  by  forms  and  customs.  As  a  platform  speaker  he  had  few  equals.  His  with- 
drawal from  the  ministry  left  a  void  not  easily  to  be  filled. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


545 


Hudson  streets,  was  a  beautiful  private  park,  planted  with  shade  trees 
under  the  direction  of  the  Elder  Michaud,  who  chose  them  because  of 
their  mutual  affinities.  They  had  become  magnificent  trees  when  they 
fell  victims  to  the  insatiable  appetite  of  commerce.  About  1808  the 
land  was  bought  by  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  the  trees  were  cut  down, 
and  the  space  Avas  covered  by  the  freight-houses  of  the  Hudson  River 
Railroad  Company.  It  is  now  almost  the  only  church  within  a  radius 
of  half  a  mile.* 

*  Trinity  Church,  which  is  possessed  of  a  large  income,  is  doing  a  vast  amount  of  good 
in  the  promotion  of  religion  and  morality  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Our  space  will 
allow  only  a  brief  outline  of  its  operations.  At  the  beginning  it  received  a  magnificent 
endowment  from  the  English  Government—  the  gift  of  the  "  Queen's  Farm,"  inclosing 
the  entire  lot  of  land  lying  along  the  Hudson  River  west  of  Broadway,  between  Vesey 
and  Christopher  streets.  A  large  part  of  this  domain  the  church  still  holds,  and  from  it 
derives  an  annual  income  of  about  $500,000,  which  goes  to  the  maintenance  of  the  parish 
church  on  the  ancient  site,  six  chapels,  a  multitude  of  charities  connected  with  them, 
and  in  keeping  alive  about  a  dozen  churches  in  the  poorer  portions  of  the  city.  Two 
of  these  chapels — St.  Paul's  and  St.  John's— have  .already  been  mentioned  in  the  text. 

Between  1851  and  185G  Trinity  Chapel  was  built,  on  Twenty-fifth  Street,  just  west  of 
Broadway,  for  the  accommodation  of  up-town  communicants  of  the  parish  church.  It  is 
the  only  one  of  the  six  chapels  where  the  pews  are  rented.  It  is  an  elegant  brown-stone 
building,  and  its  interior  is  noted  for  its  richness  of  color. 

St.  Chrysostom's  Chapel  is  on  Seventh  Avenue,  corner  of  Thirty-ninth  Street,  and  was 
the  first  built  of  a  series  of  mission  chapels  which  the  Trinity  corporation  proposes  to 
erect  in  the  poorer  districts  of  the  city.  It  too  is  a  pretty  Gothic  brown-stone  building, 
and  was  completed  in  18G9.    Connected  with  it  are  a  school  and  mission-rooms. 

St.  Augustine's  Chapel,  in  Houston  Street,  just  east  of  the  Bowery,  was  completed  in 
1877.  It  is  built  of  brown  stone,  in  Gothic  style,  with  a  steeple,  on  the  apex  of  which 
is  a  crystal  cross  which  may  be  illuminated  at  night  with  gas,  making  a  beautiful  appear- 
ance. It  is  one  of  the  most  complete  little  churches  in  the  city.  Its  interior  is  finished 
in  what  is  termed  the  Queen  Anne  style.  The  entrance  to  the  chapel  is  grand  and 
beautiful.  The  finishing  of  the  chapel  and  school  and  mission-rooms  is  very  handsome. 
It  has  a  hall,  in  which  pleasant  entertainments  are  given  to  tho  poor  children  of  the 
neighborhood.    The  chapel  is  in  a  densely  crowded  and  poor  district. 

St.  Cornelius  Chapel  is  on  Governor's  Island,  and  was  erected  nearly  twenty  years  ago 
by  the  free-will  offerings  of  churchmen  in  tho  city  of  New  York,  the  office  of  post-chap- 
lain there  having  been  discontinued. 

The  charities  of  Trinity  parish  and  its  dependencies  are  numerous  and  liberal.  The 
Dorcas  societies  of  the  chapels  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  John  were  founded  about  thirty 
years  ago.  The  Employment  Society  of  Trinity  Chapel  was  formed  some  years  ago  by 
the  ladies  of  the  chapel  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  employment  for  those  who  need. 
They  give  sewing  or  light  employment  to  indigent  communicants,  for  which  they  pay  the 
full  market  price.  Trinity  Chapel  Home,  on  West  Twenty-seventh  Street,  is  an  excellent 
local  charity,  supported  by  the  voluntary  contributions  of  the  congregation.  It  shelters 
and  cares  for  the  aged  communicants  of  the  chapel.  There  is  connected  with  Trinity 
Church  the  Sisterhood  of  the  Holy  Cross,  an  association  of  ladies  under  the  direction  of 
the  clergy,  assisting  and  providing  for  the  sick  poor. 

Industrial  schools  are  important  methods  of  dispensing  charity.    In  these  girls  aro 


546 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  second  Episcopal  church  organized  in  the  city  of  New  York  was 
Christ  Church,  founded  in  1794,  when  a  small  edifice  was  built  of  stone 
for  its  use  in  Ann  Street,  a  few  doors  east  of  Nassau  Street.  The  Rev. 
Joseph  Pillmore  was  its  first  rector,  and  was  succeeded  in  1805  by  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Lyell.  The  church  remained  in  Ann  Street  until  1S23, 
when  a  large  portion  of  the  congregation  took  possession  of  an  edifice 
which  had  been  erected  in  Anthony  Street.  A  part  of  the  people 
remained,  and  forming  a  separate  congregation  worshipped  in  the  old 
church  until  it  was  sold  to  the  Roman  ( 'atholics.  A  few  years  after 
that  sale  it  was  consumed  by  fire.  The  church  in  Anthony  Street  was 
prosperous  at  the  close  of  the  second  decade. 

Soon  after  the  organization  of  Christ  Church,  St.  Mark's  was  organ- 
ized. After  the  surrender  of  the  city  to  the  English,  in  1004,  Governor 
Stuyvesant  retired  to  his  farm  lying  on  the  East  River,  whereon  he 

taught  to  sew.  and  rendered  able  to  earn  their  own  living.  Connected  with  the  one  of 
the  parish  of  Trinity  is  a  Ladies'  Employment  Society,  by  which  deserving  women  are 
employed  in  preparing  clothing  for  those  who  need  it.  In  the  industrial  school  of  St. 
John  there  were,  in  the  spring  of  1882,  about  500  scholars  and  41  teachers.  The  school 
attached  to  Trinity  Chapel  gives,  in  addition  to  common  sewing,  instruction  in  needle- 
work, and  has  an  average  of  300  girls.  St.  Chrysostoin' s  contains  about  120  girls,  and 
St.  Augustine's  GOO  girls  and  41  teachers. 

There  are  several  parochial  schools  which  furnish  instruction  to  the  children  of  the 
parish  gratuitously.  The  instruction  embraces  the  ordinary  English  branches,  music, 
and  sewing.  Night  schools  connected  with  the  parish  church  and  St.  Augustine's  chapel 
are  open  for  women  on  Mondays,  Wednesdays,  and  Fridays,  and  for  men  on  the  other 
evenings  of  the  week. 

St.  Paul's  has  a  Working  Club,  formed  for  the  purpose  of  "  social  intercourse  and 
material  help  in  poverty,  sickness,  and  burial  of  the  dead."  It  is  composed  of  men 
residing  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city.  It  occupies  a  building  at  the  corner  of  Centre  and 
Leonard  streets,  where  there  is  a  reading-room,  bath-rooms,  and  other  apartments,  open 
to  members  at  all  hours.  Under  the  auspices  of  St.  Paul's  Guild,  lodging  for  sixty  or 
seventy  persons  a  night  may  be  had  for  a  mere  nominal  price,  and  wholesome  nienls  for 
five  cents  each. 

The  Mission  Home  of  the  Sisterhood  of  St.  Mary,  in  State  Street,  is  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  rector  of  Trinity  Church.  In  the  Mission  Home  is  a  dispensary,  a  kinder- 
garten, a  kitchen  garden,  a  girls'  training  school  for  household  service,  and  ladies'  em- 
ployment society.    Hundreds  of  poor  women  and  girls  appear  at  this  Home  weekly. 

Trinity  Infirmary  is  a  charity  maintained  by  the  corporation  of  Trinity  for  the  benefit 
of  the  sick  poor  belonging  to  the  parish.  Whenever  there  is  room,  patients  are  received 
from  the  free  or  mission  churches  of  the  city.  They  are  also  visited  at  their  homes. 
The  vestry  of  the  church  also  pay  for  free  beds  in  St.  Luke's  Hospital. 

The  Trinity  Association  is  an  organization  of  gentlemen  who  volunteer  to  carry  on 
charitable  work  down  town  in  connection  with  Trinity  Church.  The  association  sup- 
ports the  Mission  Home  in  State  Street,  the  headquarters  of  a  great  work  among  the 
poor,  with  all  its  adjuncts— a  young  men's  guild,  a  boys'  guild,  a  summer  sanitarium  by 
the  seaside,  entertainments  and  lectures  for  the  poor,  a  relief  bureau,  and  a  home  Boho  >1 
for  instructing  little  girls  in  housework. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


547 


erected  a  chapel  in  which  divine  worship  was  celebrated  according  to 
the  rites  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  of  which  he  was  a  ruling 
elder.  At  his  death,  in  1082,  Governor  Stuyvesant's  remains  were 
deposited  in  a  vault  under  this  chapel,  and  near  it  was  placed  the 
remains  of  Governor  Henry  Slaughter. 

After  Stuyvesant's  decease  public  worship  ceased  at  the  chapel. 
More  than  one  hundred  years  afterward  ( 1 703)  a  great-grandson  of  the 
Dutch  governor  generously  offered  the  site  of  the  old  chapel  to  the 
vestry  of  Trinity  Church,  with  $4000  in  money,  to  induce  them  to  erect 
an  Episcopal  church  there.  The  offer  was  accepted,  the  corner-stone 
of  a  church  edifice  was  laid  in  the  spring  of  1705.  and  in  May,  1799, 
the  church  was  consecrated  under  the  name  of  St.  Mark's  Church. 
The  steeple  was  not  built  until  1826.  The  parish  was  organized  early 
in  the  year  1810.  The  Rev.  Henry  Anthon,  D.D.,  was  rector  of  the 
church  at  the  period  we  are  considering  (1840).  The  church  is  on  the 
corner  of  Eleventh  Street  and  Second  Avenue. 

The  first  church  in  the  city  in  which  the  services  were  conducted  in 
the  French  language  was  Du  St.  Esprit.  It  was  founded  by  some  of 
the  Huguenots  who  fled  from  France  after  the  revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes  in  1685.  Large  numbers  of  them  came  to  New  York.  A 
congregation  was  formed,  and  in  1704  they  built  a  church  edifice  in 
Pine  Street,  in  size  50  by  77  feet  and  running  through  to  Cedar 
Street.  There  they  continued  to  worship  one  hundred  and  thirty 
years.  In  1834  they  sold  this  property  and  erected  an  elegant  build- 
ing of  white  marble  on  the  corner  of  Franklin  and  Church  streets, 
at  a  cost  of  $00,000.  This  church  was  organized  according  to  the 
doctrines  and  discipline  of  the  Reformed  churches  of  Geneva  and 
France.  Just  one  hundred  years  after  they  built  their  first  church 
in  the  city  (1804),  it  was  agreed  by  the  pastor  and  people  to  adopt 
the  rituals  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  Since  that  time  the 
Church  du  St.  Esprit  has  been  in  ecclesiastical  communion  with  the 
Episcopal  Church. 

A  second  Episcopal  church  in  which  the  services  were  conducted  in 
the  French  language  was  organized  in  1843,  and  called  the  Church  du 
St.  Sauveur.  The  Rev.  C.  EL  Williams  was  appointed  its  pastor,  and 
at  the  time  we  are  considering  there  were  about  twenty  communicants. 
Having  no  house  of  worship,  they  assembled  in  the  Brick  Church 
Chapel,  near  the  Park,  on  the  site  of  the  office  of  the  New  York  Daily 
Times. 

There  was  another  Church  of  Our  Saviour,  a  floating  chapel  for 
seamen,  built  by  the  Young  Men's  Missionary  Society  of  the  Episcopal 


548 


HISTORY  OF  >iEW  YOKK  CITY. 


Church,  and  first  opened  for  religious  worship  early  in  1844.  It  was 
70  feet  long  and  30  feet  wide,  and  was  permanently  moored  in  the 
East  River  at  the  foot  of  Pike  Street.  The  Rev.  B.  C.  C.  Parker  was 
its  first  rector. 

Of  the  remainder  of  the  forty-one  Episcopal  churches  in  New  York 
at  the  close  of  the  second  decade,  the  most  prominent  were  :  St.  Ste- 
phen's, Grace,  St.  Luke's,  St.  Thomas's,  the  Ascension,  Epiphany, 
St.  Bartholomew's,  Calvary,  Holy  Communion. 

St.  Stephen's  Church  edifice  was  erected  on  the  corner  of  Broome 
and  Chrystie  streets  in  1805,  when  there  were  sixty  communicants.  In 
1849  there  were  three  hundred  and  fifty. 

We  have  observed  that  the  first  Grace  Church  edifice  was  built  on 
the  site  of  a  Lutheran  Church,  on  the  corner  of  Rector  Street  and 
Broadway,  which  was  consumed  by  the  great  fire  in  177(5.  In  1808 
Episcopalians  erected  a  plain  but  spacious  edifice,  and  the  Rev.  X. 
Bowen  was  appointed  rector.  There  the  congregation  continued  to 
WOTship  until  their  elegant  new  home  on  Broadway  and  Tenth  Street 
was  completed  and  opened  for  public  service,  in  March,  184(!. 

St.  Luke's  Church  was  organized  in  1820.  A  substantial  house  of 
worship,  built  of  brick,  on  Hudson  Street,  was  first  opened  in  1822. 
Two  of  its  rectors — the  Revs.  L.  S.  Ives  and  "W.  R.  AVhittingham — after- 
ward became  bishops,  the  former  of  the  T>iocese  of  North  Carolina  and 
the  latter  of  the  Diocese  of  Maryland.  The  Rev.  J.  M.  Forbes  was  its 
rector  in  1849.  Both  he  and  Bishop  Ives  afterward  joined  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  Since  1850  it  has  become  a  prosperous  and  influ- 
ential church  under  the  rectorship  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Tuttle. 

St.  Thomas's  Chui'ch  was  organized  in  1823.  A  very  capacious 
house  of  worship  was  built  of  stone,  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and 
Houston  Street,  and  was  opened  for  divine  service  in  February,  182G. 
The  late  Dr.  Francis  L.  Hawks  became  its  rector  late  in  1831,  and 
remained  until  the  close  of  1843.  The  Rev.  II.  J.  Whitehouse,  D.D. 
(afterward  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  Illinois),  succeeded  Dr.  Hawks, 
and  was  its  pastor  at  the  close  of  this  decade.  It  is  now  one  of  the 
most  flourishing  and  useful  of  the  Episcopal  churches  in  the  city,  with 
a  magnificent  house  of  worship  on  Fifth  Avenue,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Morgan, 
rector. 

The  Church  of  the  Ascension  was  founded  in  1826,  and  in  the  spring 
of  1827  Bishop  Hobart  laid  the  corner-stone  of  a  church  edifice  for  its 
accommodation  on  Canal  Street,  between  Broadway  and  Elm  Street. 
It  was  opened  for  worship  in  May,  1828.  A  large  congregation  soon 
gathered  there  under  the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  (afterward  Bishop  of 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


549 


Massachusetts)  Manton  Eastburn.  The  building  was  destroyed  by  fire 
in  1839.  A  new  edifice  was  erected  on  Fifth  Avenue,  corner  of  Tenth 
Street,  which  was  consecrated  in  November,  1841.  Mr.  Eastburn 
haying  been  elected  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  Massachusetts  the  next 
year,  he  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  G.  T.  Bedell  (now  Bishop  of  the 
Diocese  of  Ohio)  in  the  spring  of  1843. 

The  Church  of  the  Epiphany,  built  for  missionary  purposes,  was  a 
very  efficient  instrumentality  at  this  period.  One  Sabbath  in  the  fall 
of  1832  the  Rev.  Dr.  McYickar,  passing  through  the  lower  part  of 
Stanton  Street,  saw  throngs  of  destitute  children  playing  or  lounging 
on  the  sidewalks. 

"  Why  are  you  not  in  Sunday-school  ?"  he  asked  a  group  of  cliildren. 

"  There  is  no  Sunday-school,'"  they  answered. 

"  Why  are  you  not  at  church  V 

"  There  is  no  church,"  was  the  reply. 

The  good  man's  heart  was  touched  with  pity  at  their  heathenish 
condition.  He  mentioned  the  case  to  two  benevolent  women.  They 
placed  $75  in  his  hands,  and  said  : 

"  We  will  have  on  that  spot  a  mission  church  ;  do  you  preach,  and 
we  will  help  you." 

A  small,  dark  room  over  an  engine-house  was  obtained,  and  there 
the  first  congregation — six  adult  worshippers  with  two  prayer-books, 
and  a  few  ragged  children — -were  gathered.  A  Sabbath-school  was 
organized,  and  on  the  third  Sunday  the  meeting  was  held  in  a  well- 
lighted  hall  on  the  corner  of  Allen  and  Houston  streets.  It  was  on 
Epiphany  Sunday — the  day  in  the  Church  calendar  commemorative  of 
the  manifestation  of  Christ  to  the  Gentiles — and  the  church  organized 
soon  afterward  was  called  the  Epiphany.  The  corner-stone  of  a  church 
edifice  was  laid  by  Bishop  Moore,  of  Virginia,  on  Stanton  Street,  near 
the  spot  where  Dr.  McVickar  was  inspired  to  begin  the  work,  and  it 
was  completed  in  June,  1834,  at  a  cost  of  about  $19,000.  At  the 
period  we  are  considering  (1849)  the  Rev.  Lot  Jones  was  the  pastor, 
and  there  were  more  than  500  communicants,  with  a  Sabbath-school  of 
300  children,  under  the  care  of  40  teachers. 

St.  Bartholomew's  Church  edifice,  erected  in  Lafayette  Place,  was 
completed  in  1830.  The  same  3rear  Calvary  Church  was  organized, 
with  nine  members.  A  small  frame  building  was  erected  on  the  corner 
of  Fourth  Avenue  and  Twenty-fifth  Street,  and  was  opened  for 
worship  on  New  Year's  day,  1837.  It  seemed  too  far  up  in  the  un- 
settled parts  of  the  city,  and  about  1841  it  occupied  a  small  cruciform 
wooden  building  on  the  corner  of  Twenty-second  Street.    The  same 


550 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


year  the  corner-stone  of  the  present  edifice,  on  the  corner  of  Fourth 
Avenue  and  Twenty-first  Street,  was  laid  by  the  bishop  of  the  Diocese 
of  Michigan. 

The  Church  of  the  Holy  Communion,  a  costly  building,  was  erected 
on  the  corner  of  Sixth  Avenue  and  Twenty-first  Street  in  1825.  Dr. 
W.  A.  Muhlenberg  was  its  rector,  and  there  he  performed  eminent 
services  in  the  field  of  Christian  effort  until  his  death.  The  church 
was  free  to  all.    There  were  no  pews,  only  "  slips,"  neatly  cushioned. 

A  band  of  colored  Episcopalians  began  a  meeting  by  themselves  in 
1809,  assembling,  by  permission,  in  a  school-room  near  the  corner  of 
Frankfort  and  William  streets,  where  Mr.  McCoombs,  a  white  man, 
officiated  as  a  lav  reader  for  several  years.  In  181!)  the  cono-re^ation 
obtained  the  lease  of  three  lots  for  sixty  years  (after  that  to  be  held  in 
fee  simple  as  a  gift)  on  the  westerly  side  of  Centre  (then  Collect) 
Street.  There  they  erected  a  modest  building,  which  was  consecrated 
to  divine  worship  in  the  summer  of  1819  by  Bishop  Ilobart,  as 
St.  Philip's  Church.  This  edifice  was  burned  in  1821,  and  the  follow- 
ing year  it  was  rebuilt  of  brick,  at  a  cost  of  $8000.  It  was  under  the 
pastorate  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Williams,  a  colored  minister.  In  1849  more 
than  three  hundred  names  were  on  the  roll  of  its  communicants. 

Early  in  this  century  the  Episcopalians  began  the  planting  of 
churches  in  the  northern  part  of  Manhattan  Island.  There  were  a  few 
families  of  Episcopalians  at  Bloomingdale,  Manhattan ville,  and  around 
Fort  Washington.  In  1807  a  congregation  was  organized  at  Blooming- 
dale  called  St.  Michael's  Church,  and  a  small  frame  house  of  worship 
was  built.  There  were  about  fifty  communicants  scattered  all  over 
that  sparsely  inhabited  region. 

In  1810  a  small  church  edifice  was  built  on  Hamilton  Square,  a  mile 
or  more  eastward  of  St.  Michael's,  called  St.  James's  Church.  In  1811 
the  two  churches  became  one  charge,  under  the  rectorship  of  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Farmer  Jarvis,  who  continued  his  ministry  until  1818.  In  1822 
the  Rev.  William  Richmond  was  instituted  rector  of  the  united 
churches,  and  the  next  year  a  third  church,  located  at  Manhattanville, 
and  called  St.  Mary's,  was  added  to  his  charge.  A  lay  reader  assisted 
him.  A  small  church  building  was  erected  at  Manhattanville  in  lS2fi. 
The  previous  year  another  church,  called  St.  Ann's,  was  organized  at 
Fort  Washington,  and  in  1833,  after  struggling  several  years,  this 
church  became  the  fourth  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  Richmond.  In 
1825  St.  Ann's  Church  was  dissolved.  In  1837  the  other  three 
churches  were  under  the  rectorship  of  the  Rev.  James  Cook  Richmond, 
an  eminent,  learned,  and  eloquent  preacher.    These  churches  were 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


551 


maintaining  a  feeble  existence  at  the  close  of  this  decade.  They  are 
now  (1883)  in  a  flourishing-  condition.  At  the  close  of  this  decade  nine 
Episcopal  churches  in  the  city  had  become  extinct — namely,  Calvary, 
near  Corlear's  Hook  ;  Christ's,  in  Ann  Street  ;  St.  Ann's,  Fort  Wash- 
ington ;  St.  Augustine's,  Emmanuel,  Free  Church  of  the  Redemption, 
Church  of  the  Messiah,  St.  Timothy's  (German),  and  St.  Matthew's, 
colored. 

In  1883  there  were  in  the  city  of  New  York  seventy-one  Protestant 
Episcopal  churches,  presided  over  by  Right  Rev.  Horatio  Potter. 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  S.T.D.,  who  has  been  bishop  of  the  diocese  since  1854.* 

*  Horatio  Potter,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  S.T.D.,  was  born  in  the  town  of  Beekman,  Duch- 
ess County,  N.  Y.,  on  February  9,  1802.  His  parents  were  Joseph  and  Anna  Potter, 
members  of  the  Society  of  Friends  or  Quakers.  He  received  an  academic  education  at 
Poutihkeepsie  ;  his  collegiate  education  was  received  at  Union  College,  Schenectady, 
where  he  was  graduated  in  1826,  and  was  ordained  a  deacon  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  the  next  year.  In  1828,  he  was  elevated  to  the  full  ministry,  and  was  appointed 
professor  of  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy  in  Washington  (now  Trinity)  College, 
Hartford,  where  he  remained  five  years.  Bishop  Moore,  of  Virginia,  invited  him  to 
become  assistant  minister  of  the  Monumental  Church  at  Richmond,  but  he  declined  the 
position, 

In  1833  Mr.  Potter  accepted  the  rectorship  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Albany,  and  in 
1837  he  was  elected  president  of  Trinity  College,  Hartford.  That  office  he  declined, 
and  remained  rector  of  St.  Peter's  until  1«54,  when,  on  the  death  of  Bishop  Wain  wright,  he 
was  chosen  provisional  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York.  Bishop  Onderdonk,  a  sus- 
pended prelate,  was  yet  living.  At  his  death,  in  April,  1861,  Bishop  Potter  was  conse- 
crated full  bishop  of  the  diocese.  He  received  the  degree  of  D.D.  from  Trinity  College 
in  1838,  and  in  1856  the  degree  of  LL.D.  from  Geneva. 

In  1800  Dr.  Potter  visited  England,  and  was  received  with  marked  honor  by  the 
English  prelates.  The  University  of  Oxford  conferred  on  him  the  degree  of  S.T.D. 
He  has  presided  over  his  diocese  with  great  ability,  dignity,  and  sound  judgment. 
Failing  health  compelled  him  to  ask  for  an  assistant  in  the  autumn  of  1883,  when  the 
diocesan  convention  appointed  his  nephew,  Dr.  Henry  C.  Potter,  rector  of  Grace  Church, 
New  York,  and  a  son  of  the  late  Bishop  Alonzo  Potter  (brother  of  Horatio),  of  the  Diocese 
of  Pennsylvania,  to  fill  that  responsible  position. 

Bishop  Horatio  Potter  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest  scholars  in  the  denomination. 
In  person  he  is  tall  and  thin,  erect  in  carriage,  and  of  active  step.  His  utterances  are 
calm  and  dignified,  full  of  earnestness,  and  ever  displaying  a  gentle  Christian  spirit 
Universally  popular  in  his  denomination  among  both  c  lergy  and  laity,  he  has  labored  in 
the  ministry  with  very  great  success. 

Dr.  Henry  C.  Potter,  the  newly  elected  assistant  bishop,  is  forty-eight  years  of  age. 
He  was  born  in  Schenectady  in  1835,  and  received  his  education  at  the  Episcopal  Acade- 
my in  Philadelphia,  at  Union  College,  and  at  the  Theological  Seminary  of  Virginia, 
graduating  in  1857.  The  same  year  he  was  ordained  a  deacon,  and  took  charge  of  Christ 
Church,  Greenwich,  in  Westmoreland  County,  Pennsylvania.  In  1859  he  accepted  a  call 
from  St.  John's  Church,  Troy.  He  became  assistant  minister  of  Trinity  Church,  Boston, 
in  18G6,  and  in  1808  he  succeeded  the  Rev.  Dr.  Taylor  as  rector  of  Grace  Church.  New 
York.  In  1865  he  received  the  degree  of  D.D.  from  Union  College.  He  is  one  of  the 
most  active,  earnest,  and  able  ministers  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  this  country. 


552 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  diocese  is  in  a  very  flourishing  condition.  The  increase  in  the 
number  of  its  churches  has  been  greater  than  that  of  any  other  denom- 
ination. 

FRIEXDS  OR  Ql'AKERS. 

The  Friends  suffered  persecution  at  the  hands  of  the  Dutch  authori- 
ties on  Manhattan  Island,  as  well  as  the  Puritan  authorities  in  Church 
and  State  in  Massachusetts.  In  1656  Robert  Hodgson  landed  at  New 
Amsterdam,  but  found  it  dangerous  to  stay.  Stuyvesant  was  a  stanch 
churchman,  and  was  intolerant  of  all  "  irregulars/'  So  late  as  1672, 
when  George  Fox  visited  Friends  at  Flushing,  L.  I.,  he  crossed  from 
Middletown,  X.  J.,  and  landed  at  Gravesend,  avoiding  New  York 
altogether. 

The  Friends  finally  obtained  a  footing  in  New  York  and  established 
a  meeting  for  public  worship  at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
Their  meeting  was  connected  with  the  monthly  meeting  at  Flushing, 
and  with  the  yearly  meeting,  which  had  been  held  on  Long  Island  so 
early  as  1670. 

The  first  house  of  worship  erected  by  Friends  in  New  York  City  was 
built  about  the  year  1700  in  Little  Green  Street,  a  lane  extending  from 
Maiden  Lane  to  Liberty  Street.  It  was  their  sole  meeting-house  for 
seventy  veal's.  In  1775  they  built  a  meeting  house  of  brick  on  Pearl 
Street,  between  Franklin  Square  and  Oak  Street.  This  was  demol- 
ished in  1S2+.  The  congregation  worshipping  in  Little  Green  Street 
built  a  new  meeting-house  of  brick  in  Liberty  Street,  in  1802,  in  size 
60  by  4o  feet.  It  was  abandoned  as  a  place  of  worship  in  1826,  when 
it  was  occupied  by  Grant  Thorburn  as  a  seed-store. 

In  1S11>  the  Friends  built  another  house  of  worship,  in  Hester  Street, 
between  Elizabeth  Street  and  the  Bowery.  When,  in  1824,  the 
meeting-house  on  Pearl  Street  was  taken  down,  they  built  a  spacious 
one  in  Rose  Street,  near  Pearl  Street.  There  are  now  only  two 
Friends'  meeting-houses  in  the  city  of  New  York — one  belonging  to 
the  Trinitarian  or  Orthodox  branch,  and  the  other  to  the  Unitarian 
or  Ilicksite  branch. 

JEWS. 

The  early  appearance  of  Jews  in  New  York  City,  and  their  erection 
of  a  synagogue  in  Mill  Street,  have  already  been  noticed.*    The  syna- 

*  The  congregation  then  and  there  formed  is  still  in  existence.  It  is  Sheareth  Israel, 
and  is  the  oldest  ami  richest  of  the  Jewish  corporations  in  the  city  (chartered  in  ]t>71^, 
its  real  estate  being  estimated  at  $500,000.    It  was  originally  composed  of  Spanish  and 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


553 


gogue  was  built  of  wood,  but  in  1729  it  was  replaced  by  one  of  stone, 
measuring  58  by  36  feet  in  size.  Therein  the  Hebrews  Avorshipped  for 
about  a  century.  It  was  rebuilt  in  ISIS.  Already  business  had  driven 
many  families  from  the  neighborhood,  and  very  soon  the  Jews,  like 
Christians,  sought  another  spot  whereon  to  erect  a  temple.  They 
chose  Crosby,  near  Spring  Street,  for  their  new  place  of  worship,  and 
there  they  built  an  elegant  synagogue  in  1833. 

A  second  synagogue  was  organized  about  1824  by  German  and  Polish 
.lews,  who  separated  from  the  congregation  in  Crosby  Street.  They 
bought  a  church  edifice  built  by  colored  Presbyterians  in  Elm  Street, 
near  Canal  Street,  and  altered  it  to  suit  their  own  form  of  worship. 
A  secession  took  place  in  this  congregation  in  1839,  which  led  to  the 
establishment  of  another,  which  assembled  in  Franklin  Street,  with  the 
Rev.  S.  M.  Isaacs  as  minister,  and  there  they  were  worshipping  at  the 
close  of  this  decade. 

A  third  congregation  of  Jews  was  formed.  They  purchased  the 
Friends'  Meeting-house  in  Henry  Street,  and  first  occupied  it  as  a 
synagogue  in  18-40.  The  next  year  a  fourth  synagogue  was  built  in 
Attorney  Street,  near  Rivington  Street,  and  in  1842  a  fifth  synagogue 
was  built,  in  Attorney  Street,  near  Houston.  The  two  synagogues  in 
Attorney  Street  and  the  one  in  Henry  Street  formed  a  sort  of  collegiate 
connection,  and  elected  as  chief  rabbi  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lilienthal,  who  had 
been  employed  in  the  department  of  education  of  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment. He  officiated  in  each  of  them  alternately.  Four  other  congre- 
gations had  been  formed  in  the  city  at  the  close  of  the  second  decade, 
but  they  had  not  erected  any  buddings  for  worship.  In  1883  there  ai'e 
twenty-six  buildings  dedicated  to  divine  worship  by  the  Hebrews,  the 
most  notable  of  which  is  Temple  Enianu-el.* 

Not  one  of  the  nine  synagogues  existing  in  1849  now  occupies  the 
site  it  did  then,  for  the  congregations  have  moved  up  town.  Each 
synagogue  adopts  some  significant  title,  as  Sheareth  Israel,  "  the 
remnant  of  Israel." 

Portuguese  Jews,  and  is  one  of  the  strictest  of  the  orthodox  congregations.  Its  place  of 
worship  is  on  the  corner  of  Nineteenth  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue. 

*  This  temple  is  at  the  north-east  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Forty-third  Street.  It 
is  the  finest  specimen  of  Moorish  architecture  in  America,  and  is  one  of  the  costliest 
religious  structures  in  the  city.  The  material  of  which  it  is  built  is  brown  and  yellow 
sandstone,  and  the  roof  is  composed  of  alternate  red  and  black  tiles.  The  centre  of  the 
facade  on  Fifth  Avenue,  containing  the  main  entrance,  is  flanked  by  two  beautiful  min- 
arets. These  and  the  entire  front  are  richly  covered  with  ornaments.  The  interior  of  the 
temple  is  reached  by  five  doors.  It  is  decorated  with  a  profusion  of  Oriental  ornamenta- 
tion and  coloring.  The  minister  is  Rabbi  Gustav  Gottheil,  a  profound  scholar  and  an 
earnest  promoter  of  the  interests  of  the  reformed  portion  of  the  Jewish  Church. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


PRESBYTERIAN'  CHURCH. 


FEW  New  Englanders  living  in  New  York  at  the  beginning  of 


for  social  worship.  In  1708  two  Presbyterian  ministers  (the  Revs. 
Francis  Kemie  and  John  Hampton,  of  London)  came  to  New  York, 
after  preaching  in  Virginia  and  Maryland.  Showing  proper  credentials, 
Kemie  obtained  leave  to  preach  in  the  Garden  Street  Dutch  Reformed 
Church,  but  when  Lord  Cornbury,  the  governor,  heard  of  it,  he  issued 
an  order  forbidding  him  to  preach  there.  The  governor  persecuted 
Kemie  in  various  ways,  even  to  imprisonment. 

In  171*>  the  Presbyterians  in  New  York  resolved  to  organize  a  church 
and  obtain  a  minister,  if  possible.  It  was  done,  and  the  Rev.  James 
Anderson,  of  Scotland,  became  their  pastor.  They  held  their  meetings 
in  the  City  Hall  for  about  three  years,  when,  in  1719,  they  built  a 
house  of  worship  in  Wall  Street,  near  Broadway.  About  1722  a  party 
seceded  from  this  church  and  formed  a  separate  society,  but  did  not 
effect  a  church  organization.  Jonathan  Edwards,  the  (afterward) 
eminent  theologian,  then  about  nineteen  years  of  age  and  a  candidate 
for  orders,  was  invited  to  preach  for  them,  which  he  did  for  about 
eight  months.  Most  of  the  members  returned  to  the  old  organization, 
and  the  new  society  was  disbanded. 

The  first  visit  of  the  Rev.  George  Whitefield,  in  1740,  caused  a  great 
increase  in  the  number  of  Presbyterians  in  New  York  City,  and  they 
were  compelled  to  enlarge  their  house  of  worship  in  1748.  A  few 
years  later  serious  dissensions  arose  in  the  church  on  the  subject  of 
psalmody,  when  some  members  withdrew  and  joined  a  society  known 
as  Scotch  Presbyterians,  who  permit  nothing  but  psalms  to  be  sung  at 
public  worship. 

The  expansion  of  membership  went  steadily  on,  and  in  1705  the 
Presbyterians  obtained  from  the  corporation  a  grant  of  land  "  in  the 
Fields"  (corner  of  Beekman  and  Nassau  streets),  on  which  an  edifice 
was  erected.  It  was  opened  in  1708  under  the  name  of  the  Brick 
Church,  the  two  churches  remaining  under  one  pastorate  and  govern- 


meeting  in  private  houses 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840  1850. 


555 


incut.  During  the  war  for  independence  the  "Wall  Street  Church  was 
used  by  fche"  British  for  barracks,  and  the  Brick  Church  for  a  hospital. 

Population  stretching  north-eastward  after  the  Revolution,  there  was 
a  demand  for  another  Presbyterian  church  in  that  direction.  Colonel 
Putters  gave  them  land  on  the  corner  of  what  was  afterward  Putters 
and  Henry  streets,  and  there  the  Rutgers  Street  Church  was  completed 
in  1798.  The  three  Presbyterian  churches  remained  a  collegiate 
charge  until  ISO!),  when  they  were  separated.  In  1810  the  Wall  Street 
Church  was  rebuilt  on  an  enlarged  plan,  with  a  handsome  spire.  It 
Avas  built  in  183-1,  and  soon  afterward  rebuilt.  In  18-11  it  was  sold, 
taken  down,  and  removed  to  Jersey  City.  The  next  year  this  Church 
erected  an  elegant  edifice  on  Fifth  Avenue,  between  Eleventh  and 
Twelfth  streets,  and  it  was  opened  for  worship  on  January  1,  1816. 
It  is  now  (1883)  one  of  the  most  flourishing  Presbyterian  churches  in 
the  city,  under  the  pastorate  of  the  Pev.  William  M.  Paxton.  The 
Brick  Church  was  demolished  in  1857,  and  the  congregation  have 
since  occupied  a  superb  edifice  on  Fifth  Avenue.  The  Rutgers  Street 
Church  is  now  on  Madison  Avenue. 

The  first  Presbyterian  church  organized  in  the  city,  independent  of 
the  then  collegiate  churches,  was  the  Cedar  Street  Church,  founded  in 
1808.  Business  crowded  the  street,  and  in  1831  the  property  was  sold 
and  a  new  and  spacious  edifice  was  built  in  Duane  Street,  near  Church 
Street,  which  was  first  occupied  by  the  congregation  in  1836.  The 
name  was  changed  to  Duane  Street  Church.  At  length,  when  many 
of  the  members  had  moved  up  town  far  from  Duane  Street,  the  neces- 
sity for  a  new  church  was  obvious.  Dr.  Potts,  its  pastor,  resigned  and 
opened  services  in  the  chapel  of  the  University.  An  elegant  church 
edifice  was  built  in  University  Place  in  1815,  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Potts 
as  pastor. 

This  migratory  movement  presents  the  most  conspicuous  features  of 
the  external  history  of  all  the  churches  in  the  city,  of  every  denomina- 
tion, founded  during  the  first  quarter  of  the  present  century.  They 
were  nearly  all  organized  and  the  edifices  were  built  at  points  below 
Spring  Street  before  1825.  They  have  gradually  followed  the  stream 
of  population,  constantly  tending  northward  as  the  lower  part  of  the 
city  yielded  to  the  demands  of  trade  and  commerce.  The  property  of 
these  churches  down  town  enormously  increased  in  value,  and  when 
sold  the  proceeds  furnished  the  congregations  with  capital  which 
enabled  them  to  build  more  spacious  and  elegant  structures  in  the  upper 
part  of  the  city.  Xow  that  section  of  New  York  above  Fourteenth 
Street  is  famous  for  the  splendor  of  its  church  architecture. 


550 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Before  the  close  of  the  second  decade  twenty-one  Presbyterian 
churches  of  the  city  had  become  extinct.  In  1883  there  Avere  fifty  in 
the  city. 

BAPTIST  CHURCH. 

The  Baptists,  like  the  Friends,  were  persecuted  in  New  York  on 
their  first  appearance.  In  1T09  a  Baptist  clergyman  named  Wickenden 
preached  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Ayres,  in  New  York,  and  having-  no 
license  he  was  imprisoned  by  the  royal  governor  three  months.  In 
1712  another  minister  (Mr.  Whitman)  came  and  preached  in  the  house 
of  Mr.  Ayres,  who  became  a  convert  and  afterward  a  Baptist  preacher. 
He  continued  these  private  services  for  about  two  years.  For  fear  of 
consequences  it  was  finally  proposed  that  the  ordinance  of  baptism  by 
immersion  should  be  performed  at  night.  Mr.  Ayres  was  opposed  to 
this  proposition,  and  he  obtained  from  Governor  Burnet  permission  to 
be  so  publicly  baptized.  The  governor  attended  the  ceremony.  That 
was  about  1720.  Four  years  later  a  Baptist  church  was  organized  in 
New  York,  and  a  small  meeting-house  was  erected  on  Golden  Hill,  near 
(present)  Gold  and  Fulton  streets.  A  few  years  afterward  this  edifice 
was  claimed  by  one  of  the  trustees  as  his  private  property.  It  was 
sold,  and  the  church  was  dissolved. 

The  body  now  known  in  New  York  as  the  First  Baptist  Church  was 
organized  in  1762.  For  seventeen  years  previously  Baptists  had  held 
prayer-meetings,  and  heard  preaching  occasionally  in  private  houses, 
but  there  was  no  church  organization.  Sometimes  they  occupied,  in 
these  meetings,  a  rigging-loft  in  William  Street.  The  nearest  Baptist 
church  at  that  time  was  at  Scotch  Plains,  N.  J.,  and  to  that  church 
these  faithful  people  were  attached,  and  considered  as  a  branch  of  it. 
Flder  B.  Miller,  the  pastor  of  the  Scotch  Plains  Church,  preached 
occasionally  to  the  congregation  in  New  York,  and  administered  the 
Lord's  Supper  once  in  three  months. 

In  1759  the  few  Baptists  in  New  York  bought  a  lot  on  Gold  Street, 
between  (present)  Fulton  and  John  streets,  and  there  built  a  small 
meeting-house  in  1760.  Two  years  later  a  church  was  organized — the 
First  Baptist  Church — with  nearly  thirty  members,  with  the  liev.  John 
Gano  as  pastor.  This  gifted  preacher  soon  drew  a  large  congregation 
to  the  meeting-house,  but  the  society  was  scattered  during  the  war  of 
the  Revolution.  When,  in  17S4,  Mr.  Gano,  who  became  a  chaplain 
in  the  Continental  Army,  returned  to  New  York,  he  could  find  only 
thirty-seven  of  the  two  hundred  church-members  he  had  gathered. 

The  old  meeting-house  was  rebuilt  in  1801  at  a  cost  of  $25,000. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


557 


The  dedication  service  was  preached  in  May,  1802,  by  Stephen  Gano, 
son  of  the  first  pastor  of  the  church. 

Obedient  to  the  demands  of  necessity,  the  congregation  sold  their 
property  in  Gold  Street  in  1840  and  built  a  spacious  and  elegant  church 
edifice  of  stone,  on  the  corner  of  Broome  and  Elizabeth  streets,  and 
called  the  Rev.  Spencer  II.  Cone,  D.D.,  to  the  pastorate  of  it  in  1841. 
The  Second  Baptist  Church  was  the  outgrowth  of  a  serious  dissension 
in  the  First  Church,  on  the  subject  of  parcelling  the  lines  in  the  sing- 
ing !  This  occurred  in  1770,  when  some  of  the  dissatisfied  members 
withdrew  and  formed  a  new  church  organization.  It  was  scattered 
during  the  Revolution,  but  was  again  united  a  year  or  two  after  the 
war  had  ceased. 

Again,  about  1790,  dissensions  rent  the  First  Church.  There  was 
another  secession  of  members,  the  seceders  uniting  with  the  Second 
Church.  In  that  congregation  a  violent  quarrel  was  soon  developed, 
and  early  in  1791  the  church  was  divided,  each  section  claiming  to  be 
the  true  Second  Church.  Friends  effected  a  compromise.  The  con- 
tending claims  were  dropped.  One  party  assumed  the  name  of  Bethel 
Church,  the  other  that  of  the  Baptist  Church  in  Fayette  (afterward 
Oliver)  Street. 

The  Bethel  Church  occupied  a  small  meeting-house  in  Rose  Street, 
opposite  the  Friends'  Meeting- House,  and  the  name  Second  Church 
was  applied  to  it  for  several  years  afterward.  It  erected  a  small 
wooden  building  in  Broome  Street,  near  the  Bowery,  in  1806.  In  time 
it  became  prosperous.  In  1819  the  congregation  erected  a  brick  church 
on  the  corner  of  Delancey  and  Chrystie  streets,  which  they  occupied  in 
unity  until  1830,  when  the  church  was  split  by  contentions.  Out  of 
this  church  the  Sixth  Street  Baptist  Church  was  formed,  and  the  name 
of  Bethel  was  dropped. 

The  Church  in  Fayette  Street  erected  a  house  of  worship,  in  1795,  on 
the  corner  of  Henry  Street.  It  being  too  small,  it  was  rebuilt  five 
years  afterward,  and  again  in  1S19.  It  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1813, 
and  rebuilt.  In  1S21  the  name  of  the  street  was  changed  to  Oliver,  and 
the  name  of  the  society  was  changed  to  Oliver  Street  Church.  It  be- 
came very  flourishing,  for  it  preserved  peace,  harmony,  and  Christian 
charity  within  its  borders. 

Of  the  remainder  of  the  Baptist  churches  founded  in  the  city  of  New 
York  during  the  first  quarter  of  this  century,  the  most  conspicuous  Avas 
the  Mulberry  Street,  afterward  the  Tabernacle  Church.  The  former 
was  organized  in  1S09,  under  the  name  of  James  Street  Church,  with 
thirty-seven  members,  and  it  continued  under  the  ministry  of  the  Rev. 


558 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOKE  CITY. 


Archibald  Maclay,  D.D.,  from  that  time  until  1838,  a  period  of 
twenty-nine  years.  It  was  very  flourishing  for  many  years.  It  finally 
became  involved  in  pecuniary  difficulties,  and  the  church  was  dissolved 
in  L839.  A  new  church  was  organized  by  the  old  members  and  a  large 
colony  from  the  Oliver  Street  Church,  when  the  society  took  the  name 
of  the  Tabernacle  Church.  Very  soon  the  church  received  large  acces- 
sions to  its  membership,  which  in  18-12  numbered  nearly  one  thousand. 
It  was  then  thought  proper  to  divide  the  church,  and  in  December  of 
that  year  a  colony  of  over  one  hundred  left  and  formed  the  Laight 
Street  Baptist  Church.  The  Rev.  Edward  Lathrop  was  called  to  the 
pastorate  of  the  Tabernacle  Church.  At  the  close  of  the  second  decade 
it  had  in  communion  eight  hundred  members.  The  colony  from  the 
Tabernacle  bought  the  Laight  Street  Presbyterian  Church  edifice,  and 
in  184!)  it  numbered  about  tinea  hundred  and  fifty  members. 

A  "Welsh  Baptist  Church  was  organized  in  180T,  consisting  chiefly  of 
"Welsh  people.  It  lived  about  six  years,  when  it  was  dissolved.  An- 
other Welsh  Church  was  founded  in  1833.  In  184-4  they  erected  a 
small  brick  meeting-house  in  Christopher  Street,  where  they  were  wor- 
shipping at  the  close  of  the  second  decade. 

In  1841  the  Rev.  Job  Plant,  a  Baptist  from  England,  established  a 
Particular  Baptist  Society  in  the  city.  He  left  it  with  a  membership 
of  less  than  forty  members  in  1844,  when  it  was  dissolved.  A  few  of 
the  members  continued  to  hold  prayer-meetings,  and  in  the  summer  of 
1845  four  persons  covenanted  together  as  a  church,  calling  it  the  Chris- 
tian Baptist  Church. 

So  early  as  1809  a  colony  of  colored  members  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church  in  (J  old  Street  formed  a  separate  congregation  called  the 
Abyssinian  Church.  They  finally  procured  a  place  of  worship  in 
Anthony  Street,  and  in  1824  they  had  a  stated  pastor.  The  church 
passed  through  many  trials  because  of  pecuniary  embarrassments,  their 
house  of  worship  once  having  been  sold  at  auction.  They  now  (1883) 
have  a  meeting-house  in  AVaverley  Place. 

At  the  close  of  the  second  decade,  fifteen  Baptist  churches  once 
formed  had  become  extinct.  In  1888  there  were  thirty-eight  Baptist 
churches  in  the  city,  many  of  them  elegant  structures.  The  finest  of 
these  edifices  is  Calvary  Church,  lately  completed,  on  Fifty -seventh 
Street  near  Sixth  Avenue,  of  which  Rev.  Dr.  Mac  Arthur  is  pastor.  The 
Fifth  Avenue  Church.  Rev.  Thomas  Armitage,*  pastor,  and  Madison 
Avenue  and  Park  Avenue  churches,  are  beautiful  temples  of  worship. 

*  Thomas  Armitage,  D.D.,  was  born  in  England  in  1S19,  and  caine  to  America  before 
he  was  nineteen  years  of  age.    He  is  of  the  family  of  Sir  John  Armitage,  who  was  ere- 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


559 


MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 

In  1730  Bishops  Spangenberg  and  Mtsohman,  of  the  Moravian 
Church,  landed  at  New  York  while  on  their  way  to  their  co-religionists 
in  Pennsylvania.  They  made  the  acquaintance  of  -John  Noble,  a 
wealthy  merchant  and  ruling  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Wall 
Street.  He  became  a  convert  to  the  Moravian  faith,  and  at  his  house, 
while  the  bishops,  tarried,  meetings  were  held  for  social  worship.  His 
house  became  a  rallying  place  for  other  Moravian  missionaries  who 
came  from  Germany,  including  Count  Zinzendorf,  the  founder  of  the 
modern  Moravian  Church  in  Germany,  and  who  arrived  at  New  York 
with  a  considerable  body  of  Moravians  in  1741. 

Late  in  17-18  Bishop  Wattivel  came  to  New  York  from  Germany, 
and  while  he  tarried  there  he  effected  the  lirst  organization  of  a  Mora- 
vian church  in  that  city,  and  administered  the  Lord's  Supper.  The 
number  of  the  congregation  was  nearly  one  hundred.    For  two  years 

ated  a  baronet  by  Charles  I.  in  1G40.  His  mother  was  a  pious  Methodist,  who  died  when 
this  her  eldest  son  was  six  years  old.  It  was  her  earnest  prayer  that  he  should  be 
converted  in  his  youth  and  "  become  a  good  minister  of  Christ."  Her  prayer  was  answered. 
Banyan's  "  Pilgrim's  Progress  "and  some  sermons  which  he  read  made  a  deep  impression 
on  his  mind,  and  at  twelve  years  of  age  he  was  converted.  At  fifteen  he  was  authorized 
to  exhort  at  Methodist  meetings.  Before  he  was  sixteen  he  was  licensed  by  the  confer- 
ence a  local  preacher,  and  he  entered  upon  the  ministry  with  great  success,  displaying 
at  that  early  age  the  fluency  of  speech  and  peculiar  eloquence  and  persuasive  powers 
which  have  distinguished  him  in  later  life.  His  first  sermon  was  remarkable  in  many 
respects,  and  was  the  instrument  of  several  conversions. 

After  laboring  as  a  local  preacher  until  he  was  almost  nineteen  years  old,  he  came  to 
America,  and  was  stationed,  first  in  Suffolk  County,  L.  I.,  then  at  Watervliet,  a  few 
miles  from  Albany,  and  finally  in  Albany.  In  all  of  these  places  he  inaugurated  fruitful 
revivals.  Impressed  with  the  method  of  baptism  used  by  the  Baptists,  his  mind  became 
much  exercised  by  the  question,  What  is  true  baptism?  Satisfied  that  immersion  was 
the  method  prescribed  by  Scripture,  after  a  long  struggle  with  his  convictions  lie  yielded, 
and  withdrawing  from  the  Methodist  Church,  he  was  immersed  by  the  Bev.  Dr.  Welch, 
of  Albany,  and  was  ordained  a  Baptist  minister  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine  years.  He  was 
called  to  the  Norfolk  Street  Church,  in  New  York  City,  where  he  labored  with  great  zeal 
and  success.  The  congregation  removed  to  Forty-sixth  Street,  near  Fifth  Avenue,  in  I860, 
and  assumed  the  name  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Church.  There  he  has  ministered  ever  since. 
The  degree  of  A.M.  was  conferred  upon  him  by  Madison  University,  and  that  of  D.D. 
by  Georgetown  College,  Kentucky,  when  he  was  thirty-four  years  of  age. 

In  185(5  Dr.  Arniitage  was  chosen  president  of  the  American  Bible  Union  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church.  In  all  religious  and  benevolent  works  in  which  lie  is  engaged,  he  labors 
with  untiring  zeal,  energy,  and  efficiency.  A  late  writer  said  of  Dr.  Armitage  :  "  Endowed 
with  the  greater  gifts  of  eloquence,  a  man  of  extensive  learning  and  soul  culture,  he 
justly  holds  a  front  place  among  the  earnest  expounders  of  the  truth,  and  in  the  ranks 
of  upright  and  popular  men." 


560 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


they  met  for  worship  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Noble.  In  1751  the 
Moravian  congregation  built  a  modest  house  of  worship  in  Fair  (now 
Fulton)  Street,  between  William  and  Dutch  streets.  It  was  dedicated 
by  Bishop  Spangenberg  in  the  summer  of  1752.  In  that  house  they 
worshipped  nearly  eighty  years.  It  was  rebuilt  of  brick  in  1820.  The 
congregation  sold  the  property  after  Fulton  Street  was  widened,  in 
1843,  and  eight  feet  of  their  building  had  been  cut  off  by  the  operation. 
They  erected  a  new  and  substantial  house  of  worship  on  the  corner  of 
Mott  and  Houston  streets  in  1845.  The  number  of  communicants  in 
islit  was  about  one  hundred  and  thirty. 

METHODIST  CHUBCH. 

The  first  Methodist  Church  in  America  was  founded  in  the  city  of 
X<>\v  York  in  17<it'».  In  that  year  a  few  Irish  families  who  were 
Methodists  arrived  in  this  city,  among  whom  was  Philip  Embury,  a 
well-to-do  local  preacher,  who  made?  his  residence  in  Augusta  Street, 
afterward  known  as  City  Hall  Place.  lie  gathered  his  countrymen  at 
his  house  for  social  worship,  and  preached  to  them  there.  After  a 
while  a  room  was  hired  adjoining  the  soldiers'  barracks  at  Chambers 
Street,  and  a  church  was  organized,  of  which  Mr.  Embury  was  the 
minister. 

Very  soon  this  seed  of  the  great  Methodist  Church  in  America  was 
watered  by  the  ministration  of  Captain  Thomas  Webb,  barrack-master 
at  Albany,  who  preached  to  the  little  congregation  in  his  regimentals. 
This  was  a  novelty  which  drew  a  multitude  of  people  to  the  meeting, 
and  many  who 

"...  came  to  scoff  remained  to  pray." 

The  congregation  rapidly  increased,  and  the  rigging-loft  where  the 
Baptists  had  held  their  meetings  was  hired  and  fitted  up  for  public 
worship.  It  was  a  high-roofed,  one-story  building,  the  gable  at  the 
street,  in  the  fashion  of  the  old  Dutch  houses.  This  building  was  on 
the  east  side  of  William  Street,  about  half  way  between  Fulton  and 
John  streets.  The  congregation  worshipped  there  about  two  years, 
when  a  church  edifice  was  completed  on  a  lot  purchased  on  the  south 
side  of  John  Street,  east  of  Nassau  Street.  It  was  GO  feet  in  length 
and  42  in  breadth,  and  was  called  Wesley  Chapel.  It  is  more  famil- 
iarly known  as  the  John  Street  Church.  The  first  sermon  preached  in 
it  was  delivered  by  Mr.  Embury  on  October  30,  1768. 

The  following  year  Messrs.  Boardman  and  Fillmore  came  from  Eng- 
land and  labored  for  the  Methodist  Church  in  Xew  York,  and  founded 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840  1850. 


561 


one  in  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Pill  more  became  the  first  rector  of  Christ 
(Episcopal)  Church,  in  Ann  Street,  in  1794. 

The  John  Street  Church  was  the  mother  of  over  fifty  Methodist 
churches  in  New  York  in  1SS3  The  first  edifice  was  taken  down  in 
1817,  and  another  was  erected  on  the  spot.  John  Street  was  widened 
in  1840,  when  the  church  was  again  taken  down  and  another  was  built 
in  its  place,  spacious  enough  to  accommodate  a  large  congregation.  In 
1840  the  communicants  of  that  church  numbered  over  four  hundred. 

The  Second  Methodist  congregation  formed  in  New  York  City  was 
the  Forsyth  Street  Church,  in  1790.  They  first  built  a  small  edifice  of 
wood,  near  Division  Street.  This  was  taken  down  in  1833,  and  a  sub- 
stantial brick  building  was  erected  on  its  site.  This  church  seemed 
always  to  be  in  a  flourishing  state.  Before  the  close  of  the  second 
decade  two  churches  had  colonized  from  it. 

The  third  Methodist  Church  in  the  city  was  founded  in  1797.  They 
built  a  house  of  worship  in  Duane  Street,  near  Hudson  Street,  and  were 
always  a  flourishing  congregation.  In  1847  nearly  six  hundred  and 
fifty  communicants  were  on  its  list  of  membership. 

At  a  very  early  period  the  Methodists  began  to  plant  the  seeds  of 
church  organizations  among  the  scattered  population  on  the  island. 
Xear  the  close  of  the  last  century  Philip  I.  Arcularius  and  John 
Spruson,  earnest  members  of  the  John  Street  Church,  established  a 
weekly  prayer-meeting  in  the  north-easterly  part  of  the  city,  on  the 
road  leading  to  Harlem,  now  the  Bowery  and  Third  Avenue.  It  was 
near  the  two-mile  stone,  and  to  designate  this  station  from  others  it 
was  called  the  Two-Mile  Stone  Praver-Meetin"1.    It  was  continued 

v  O 

several  years,  and  quite  a  large  number  of  the  inhabitants  became 
attached  to  the  Methodists.  A  class  was  formed,  preaching  was 
obtained  occasionally,  and  about  the  year  1800  a  church  was  organized 
— the  fourth  in  the  city  of  the  Methodist  denomination. 

For  some  years  this  society  was  known  as  the  Two-Mile  Stone 
Church,  but  after  1830  it  was  the  Seventh  Street  Church.  The  con- 
gregation first  occupied  as  a  place  of  worship  an  old  building  in 
Nicholas- William  (near  St.  Mark's)  Place,  which  was  hired  on  a  long 
lease.  In  1830,  before  the  lease  expired,  the  owner,  wishing  to  use  the 
land,  gave  them  a  longer  lease  of  a  lot  on  Seventh  Street.  To  that  lot 
the  old  building  was  transferred.  Again  the  owner  wanted  the  land, 
and  he  gave  the  church  a  lot  in  fee  on  the  other  side  of  Seventh  Street, 
where  they  built  a  substantial  brick  edifice  in  1836.  The  old  building 
was  removed  to  Yorkville,  where,  after  two  migrations,  it  served  a 
Methodist  congregation  as  a  place  of  worship  for  several  years. 


562 


HISTORY  OF  .NEW   YORK  CITY. 


A  Methodist  church  was  built  in  Allen  Street  in  1810  — a  substantial 
stone  building,  which  was  replaced  by  a  more  spacious  brick  edifice. 
From  the  beginning  this  congregation  flourished  exceedingly.  In  the 
same  year  (1810)  a  Methodist  church  was  organized  on  the  westerly 
side  of  the  city,  among  the  scattered  population  there.  At  first  they 
worshipped  in  a  private  house.  At  length  they  erected  a  small  wooden 
building  on  the  corner  of  (present)  Bedford  and  Morton  streets.  The 
congregation  increased  rapidly.  Twice  they  enlarged  their  place  of 
worship,  and  in  1840  they  erected  a  large  and  substantial  brick  edifice 
on  the  site.  The  church  was  then,  and  for  years  afterward,  overflow- 
ing with  communicants. 

In  ls2i»  a  Methodist  church  was  organized  in  the  sparsely  populated 
district  along  the  Hudson  River  above  Greenwich,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Eighteenth  Street.  Other  churches  rapidly  sprang  up  in  other  portions 
of  the  city,  and  at  the  close  of  the  second  decade  there  were  -40 
Methodist  church  organizations,  with  31  houses  of  worship,  and  an 
aggregate  of  over  13,000  members  of  various  nationalities.  There 
were  eight  churches  composed  of  white  and  colored  persons,  and  seven 
composed  exclusively  of  colored  persons. 

The  history  of  the  organization  of  colored  Methodist  churches  in 
New  York  may  be  briefly  told.  Late  in  1787  the  colored  Methodists 
in  Philadelphia,  considering  the  disabilities  they  were  fjubjected  to  in 
connection  with  their  white  brethren,  determined  to  form  a  separate 
and  distinct  ecclesiastical  organization.  In  1703  Richard  Allen,  a 
colored  preacher,  built  for  his  race  a  house  of  worship  on  his  own 
grounds,  and  it  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Asbury,  with  the  title  of 
the  Bethel  Church.  The  white  Methodists  claimed  both  the  house  and 
the  congregation.  The  colored  people  resisted,  and  a  long  and  bitter 
controversy  ensued.  At  length  a  general  convention  of  colored 
Methodists  assembled  in  Philadelphia  in  181 0,  and  formed  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  They  elected  the  Rev.  Richard  Allen 
bishop,  and  he  was  regularly  consecrated. 

Within  this  ecclesiastical  organization  there  soon  appeared  four  dis- 
tinct and  separate  church  organizations — namely,  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church,  the  Asbury  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  African  Methodist 
Union.  In  their  doctrines,  discipline,  and  practices  these  four  bodies 
were  substantially  alike. 

A  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  congregation  was  the  first  colored 
Methodist  church  founded  in  the  city  of  New  York.  It  was  organized 
about  the  year  1800.    The  same  year  a  house  of  worship  was  built  for 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-lSoO. 


563 


it  on  the  corner  of  Church  and  Leonard  streets.  A  branch  of  this 
church  was  afterward  established  at  Harlem. 

In  the  year  IS  13  an  Asbury  African  Methodist  Episcopal  church 
was  founded.  It  could  not  stand  alone,  and  in  1820  it  was  connected 
with  the  Zion  Church.  In  182(3  a  Methodist  African  Union  church 
was  organized  as  an  independent  body  of  seven  persons.  They  con- 
tinued their  meetings  with  increasing  numbers  until  1S35,  when  the 
building  where  they  met,  on  Seventh  Avenue  near  Eighteenth  Street, 
was  burned.  In  1840  they  erected  a  brick  building  on  Fifteenth  Street, 
near  Sixth  Avenue,  where  they  still  worshipped  at  the  close  of  this 
decade. 

The  Methodist  Harlem  Mission  was  b3gu:i  in  1830.  It  was  a  circuit 
established  by  the  denomination.  There  were  six  principal  stations — ■ 
namely,  Harlem,  Yorkville,  Manhattanville,  Fort  Washington,  Forty- 
first  Street  on  the  Hudson  River,  and  Twenty-seventh  Street  toward 
the  East  River.  Out  of  this  missionary  effort  grew  several  flourish- 
ing Methodist  churches. 

There  was  a  German  Methodist  Mission  church  established  in  1811, 
and  a  German  Evangelical  Methodist  church  was  gathered  the  same 
year  in  the  city  of  Xew  York.  The  former  had  their  place  of  worship 
in  Second  Street,  the  latter  in  Sixteenth  Street,  near  Sixth  Avenue. 
In  each  the  services  were  conducted  in  the  German  language.  There 
was  also  a  Welsh  Methodist  church  organized  in  New  York  about 
1828. 

A  Mariners'  Methodist  Episcopal  church  was  founded  in  18-11,  and  a 
house  of  worship  was  erected  in  Cherry  Street,  near  Rutgers  Place. 
The  next  year  a  Floating  Bethel  was  established  at  the  foot  of  Rector 
Street  by  the  Methodists.  These  were  the  immediate  fruits  of  the 
Asbury  Society,  which  had  been  established  for  the  special  purpose  of 
increasing  the  number  of  Methodist  churches  in  the  city  of  Xew  York. 

Methodism,  as  established  in  the  city  of  Xew  York  in  the  last 
century,  has  undergone  modifications.  In  1820  members  of  that 
denomination  in  this  city,  dissatisfied  with  what  they  conceived  to  be 
an  assumption  of  power  by  the  bishops  and  the  conference,  and  prefer- 
ring a  congregational  form  of  government,  organized  what  they  termed 
the  Methodist  Society,  for  effecting  a  reform.  They  opened  a  place  of 
worship  in  Chrvstie  Street.  There  were  continual  accessions  to  their 
numbers.  In  May,  1820,  a  division  took  place,  some  preferring  the 
entire  independence  of  each  church  and  a  permanent  ministry,  and 
others  preferring  a  connection  of  churches  and  an  itinerant  ministry. 

This  society  was  followed  by  the  establishment,  about  1830,  of  a 


564 


HISTORY  OF  XEW  YORK  CITY. 


Methodist  Protestant  Church,  which  protested  against  the  authority  of 
the  conference  and  the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishops.  At  about  the  same 
time  a  small  congregation  of  Primitive  Methodists  was  formed  in  New 
York,  who  desired  to  bring  the  Church  back  to  its  primitive  simplicity. 
In  18S3  there  were  fifty-five  Methodist  churches  in  the  city. 

ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH. 

So  powerful  and  implacable  were  the  religious  prejudices  existing 
between  the  Roman  Catholics  and  the  Protestants  at  the  period  of  the 
European  emigration  to  America  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries,  that  these  antagonistic  religionists  could  not  harmonize  in 
the  business  of  building  up  a  new  empire  in  the  virgin  hemisphere. 
The  Protestants,  having  occupied  the  field  north  of  the  Carolinas 
earlier  and  in  far  greater  numbers  than  the  Roman  Catholics,  compara- 
tively few  of  the  latter  were  in  the  English- American  colonies  at  the 
time  of  the  old  war  for  independence,  excepting  in  Maryland,  because 
they  were  everywhere  subjected  to  disabilities  if  not  absolute  persecu- 
tion. 

The  first  settlement  of  Roman  Catholic  families  in  the  city  of  New 
York  was  during  the  administration  of  Governor  Dongan,  late  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  Dongan  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  a  generous 
and  enlightened  man.  ilis  successors  under  royal  rule  were  Prot- 
estants, and  the  Roman  Catholics  were  frequently  subjected  to  the 
operations  of  very  oppressive  laws.  There  was  even  a  law,  at  one 
time,  on  the  New  York  statute-books  providing  for  the  hanging  of  any 
Roman  Catholic  priest  who  should  voluntarily  come  into  the  province, 
but  it  was  never  enforced. 

Until  the  establishment  of  the  political  independence  of  the  United 
States  no  Roman  Catholic  priest  was  allowed  to  perform  the  functions 
of  his  sacred  office  publicly  in  the  city  of  Xew  York  ;  but  immediately 
after  the  evacuation  of  that  city  by  the  British  troops,  in  November, 
1783,  a  congregation  was  formed  under  the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Farmer,  who  came  from  Philadelphia  occasionally  for  the  comfort  of 
the  people.  They  worshipped  in  a  building  in  Yauxhall  Garden,  which 
was  on  the  margin  of  the  Hudson  River,  extending  from  Warren  to 
Chambers  Street.  Tradition  says  mass  had  been  celebrated  so  early  as 
1781-82  in  a  loft  over  a  carpenter's  shop  in  Barclay  Street,  then  in  the 
suburbs  of  the  city.  The  first  regularly  settled  priest  in  New  York 
was  the  Rev.  Charles  Whelan.  He  was  unpopular,  and  was  soon  suc- 
ceeded by  the  Rev.  Andrew  Nugent. 


5-ECOXD  DECADE,  lSKMSiJ. 


565 


The  first  Roman  Catholic  church  on  Manhattan  Island  was  incor- 
porated June  11,  17ST»,  by  the  nanie  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  the  City  of  New  York.  They  applied  for  the  use 
of  the  court-room  in  the  Exchange,  situated  at  the  lower  part  of  Broad 
Street,  as  a  place  for  public  worship,  but  failed  to  secure  it.  when  steps 
were  immediately  taken  to  erect  a  church  edifice.  Lots  were  bought 
on  the  corner  of  Church  and  Barclay  streets,  and  on  them  a  brick 
building  was  erected.  IS  by  SI  feet  in  sire.  It  was  completed  late  in 
17Stf.  The  first  mass  in  it  was  performed  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Nugent 
on  November  -1th.  assisted  by  the  chaplain  of  the  Spanish  minister  and 
the  Rev.  Jose  Phelan.  In  the  following  spring  the  name  was  changed 
to  St.  Peter's  Church.  Charles  III..  King  of  Spain,  was  a  munificent 
contributor  to  the  fund  for  the  erection  of  this  church. 

Mr.  Nugent  left  the  charge  in  17>S.  and  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev. 
W.  O'Brien,  who  filled  the  position  until  his  death,  in  1S1G.  He 
established  a  free  school  in  the  year  1400.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  A.  Set  on. 
afterward  the  founder  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  in  the  United  States, 
was  received  into  St.  Peter's  Church,  and  look  her  first  communion 
there  in  March.  1m»5.  St.  Peter's  Church  was  rebuilt  of  granite,  and 
was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Hughes  in  February.  1S3S. 

For  more  than  thirty  years  St.  Peter's  was  the  only  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  the  city  of  New  York.  The  denomination  in- 
creased rapidly,  and  the  want  of  another  place  of  public  worship 
becoming  a  necessity,  a  very  spacious  stone  building  was  erected  on 
the  corner  of  Mott  and  Prince  streets  in  1>K».  and  called  St.  Patrick's 
CathedraL  It  was  120  feet  in  length  and  SO  feet  in  width,  but  not 
many  years  passed  before  the  increasing  number  of  the  congrega- 
tion compelled  an  enlargement  of  the  building,  extending  it  through 
the  block  from  Mott  Street  to  Mulberry  Street.  It  afforded  sitting 
room  for  two  thousand  persons.  This  cathedral  became  the  seat  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Episcopate  in  New  York.  The  Cathedral  was  then 
on  the  outskirts  of  the  city. 

Ten  years  after  the  Cathedral  was  built  another  church  edifice  was 
demanded  by  the  increase  of  the  Roman  Catholic  population,  and 
toward  the  close  of  l>2«i  a  building  in  Sheriff  Street.  l>etween  Broome 
and  Delancey.  was  bought  of  Presbyterians  who  had  worshipped 
there.  In  that  small  frame  building  the  Church  of  St.  Mary  wor- 
shipped for  six  years,  when  it  was  destroyed  by  fire  A  large  and 
convenient  edifice  was  immediately  built  in  Grand  Street,  corner  of 
Ridge  Street.  It  was  opened  in  1S33,  and  dedicated  as  the  Church  of 
St.  Mary. 


566 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  Roman  Catholics  bought  of  the  Episcopalians,  as  we  have 
observed,  Christ  Church,  in  Ann  Street,  and  adopted  that  name  for  the 
church  they  established  there.  When  it  was  burned,  in  1834,  two 
churches  were  established,  as  the  congregation  had  become  numerous. 
A  part  of  the  congregation  erected  a  large  edifice  in  James  Street,  near 
Chatham  Street,  and  named  it,  St.  James's  Church,  while  the  re- 
mainder of  the  Ann  Street  congregation  erected  a  house  of  worship  in 
Chambers  Street,  near  Centre  Street,  and  called  it  the  Church  of  the 
Transfiguration. 

The  Roman  Catholic  population  increasing  rapidly  in  the  north- 
western part  of  the  city,  it  became  necessary  to  provide  for  their 
spiritual  wants.  St.  Joseph's  Church  was  erected  on  Sixth  Avenue, 
corner  of  Barrow  Street,  and  opened  in  1833. 

During  the  first  and  second  decades  there  was  a  large  German 
immigration  to  New  York  City.  The  immigrants  were  mostly  Roman 
Catholics,  and  between  1835  and  1850  no  less  than  four  churches  were 
erected  for  them.  Another  was  built  for  French  Roman  Catholics  in 
1843,  on  the  site  of  the  Church  of  the  Ascension,  in  Canal  Street. 

A  large  Roman  Catholic  population  had  settled  at  Harlem,  and  a 
church  was  budt  for  them  there  in  1S35.  St.  Andrew's  Church  was 
established  in  an  abandoned  Universalist  Church  in  Duane  Street,  near 
Chatham,  in  1840,  and  within  five  years  afterward  four  other  Roman 
Catholic  churches  were  established.  Among  these  was  the  church  of 
St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  consisting  of  French  people  chiefly. 

The  history  of  the  marvellous  growth  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  the  city  of  New  York  during  the  half  century  ending  in  1850  is 
exceedingly  interesting  and  important  in  several  aspects.  That  rapid 
growth  was  owing  chiefly  to  the  steady  flow  of  the  tide  of  immigration 
from  Europe,  especially  from  Ireland,  after  1830. 

The  comparatively  rapid  increase  of  the  Church  in  New  York  from 
the  beginning  of  the  century  demanded  an  authoritative  ecclesiastical 
force  at  that  point  for  its  better  government.  Until  1808  the  Church 
in  New  York  formed  part  of  the  Diocese  of  Baltimore,  the  only  one  in 
the  United  States.  In  that  year  Pope  Pius  VII.  erected  Baltimore 
into  an  archiepiscopal  see,  with  Bishop  Carroll  at  its  head,  and  divided 
the  rest  of  the  diocese  into  four  sees,  of  which  one  comprised  the  State 
of  New  York  and  a  part  of  New  Jersey.  Over  the  latter  the  Rev. 
Luke  Concanen,  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic,  was  appointed  the  first 
bishop.  He  was  consecrated  at  Rome  on  April  24,  1808,  but  died  at 
Naples  before  he  embarked  for  New  York.  No  other  bishop  was  ap- 
pointed until  1814,  after  the  Pope  returned  to  Rome  from  exile.  The 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


567 


diocese  remained  until  that  time  under  the  spiritual  guidance  of 
vicars. 

Meanwhile  an  important  question  had  been  settled.  A  citizen  had 
been  robbed  of  goods,  and  he  had  a  man  and  his  wife  arrested  on  a 
charge  of  being  the  thieves.  Very  soon  afterward  the  goods  were 
restored  to  him  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  confessional,  exer- 
cised by  the  Rev.  Anthony  Kohlman,  a  Roman  Catholic  priest  then 
officiating  in  New  York.  The  latter  was  cited  before  a  justice  of  the 
peace  to  testify  as  to  the  name  of  the  real  thief.  He  refused  to  do  so, 
pleading  that  his  church  strictly  forbade  him  to  make  such  revelations 
concerning  matters  at  the  confessional,  which  were  known  only  to 
himself  and  the  penitent.  The  case  was  sent  to  the  grand  jury,  be- 
fore whom  the  priest  made  the  same  plea  in  support  of  his  refusal  to 
testify,  and  begged  to  be  excused. 

The  trial  was  held  in  June,  1813,  before  a  court  composed  of  De 
"Witt  Clinton,  mayor  of  the  city  of  New  York  ;  Josiah  Ogden  Hoffman, 
recorder,  and  two  sitting  aldermen.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Kohlman  held 
firmly  to  his  position  when  called  upon  to  testify.  Richard  Riker  and 
Counsellor  Sampson  had  volunteered  their  services  in  behalf  of  the 
priest.  Mr.  Riker  argued  the  case  with  great  ability,  and  showed 
that,  under  the  Constitution  of  the  State  of  New  York,  which  allowed 
the  fullest  toleration,  every  principle  of  any  religious  denomination  was 
fully  protected  which  did  not  "lead  to  licentiousness,  or  to  practises 
inconsistent  with  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  State."  Counsellor 
Sampson  made  an  eloquent  plea  on  the  same  broad  premises.  Mayor 
Clinton  gave  his  decision  in  the  case  in  favor  of  the  priest. 

The  principle  of  this  decision  was  afterward  embodied  in  a  statute 
of  the  State  of  Xew  York  (1828),  which  declared  that  "  No  min- 
ister of  the  gospel,  or  priest  of  any  denomination  whatsoever,  shall 
be  allowed  to  disclose  any  confession  made  to  him  in  his  professional 
character,  in  the  course  of  discipline  enjoined  by  the  rules  or  practice 
of  such  denomination." 

In  181-1  the  Rev.  John  Connelly,  an  Irish  Dominican  priest,  was 
appointed  bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York.  lie  was  consecrated 
at  Rome  in  November,  and  reached  Xew  York  early  in  1816.  He 
was  an  active  and  energetic  prelate,  but,  worn  out  by  overwork  and 
anxieties,  he  occupied  the  see  only  about  nine  years,  dying  in  1825. 
He  was  buried  under  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  near  the  altar.  During 
his  episcopate  Sisters  of  Charity  first  appeared  in  New  York,  sent 
thither  at  his  request  from  Emmittsburg,  in  Maryland,  to  take  charge 
of  an  orphan  asylum  established  in  1817. 


568  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

The  See  of  New  York  now  remained  vacant  nearly  two  years,  Dr. 
John  Powers,  appointed  vicar-general  by  Bishop  Connelly,  administering 
its  spiritual  affairs.  In  October,  1S20,  Dr.  John  Dubois  was  consecrated 
bishop.  There  were  then  nearly  150,1)00  Roman  Catholics  in  the  diocese, 
over  34,000  of  whom  were  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  yet  there 
were  only  four  or  five  priests  in  the  city  to  administer  the  sacraments. 
He  was  compelled  to  perform  the  duties  of  parish  priest,  confessor, 
catechist,  and  bishop,  There  were  but  nine  church  edifices  in  all  his 
vast  diocese.  Even  so  remote  from  New  York  as  Buffalo,  there  were 
between  TOO  and  SOU  Roman  Catholics  in  that  city  and  its  immediate 
vicinity.  He  was  relieved  in  1S37  by  the  appointment  of  the  Rev. 
John  Hughes,  pastor  of  St.  John's  Church,  as  coadjutor,  who  was  con- 
secrated on  January  8,  1838,  when  he  immediately  entered  upon  his 
duties.  A  fortnight  after  that  consecration  Bishop  Dubois  was 
attacked  by  paralysis,  from  which  he  never  recovered,  lie  lived  until 
December,  1*42.  Bishop  Hughes  had  been  appointed  by  the  Pope 
administrator  of  the  diocese. 

Bishop  Hughes  was  a  remarkable  man.  He  possessed  wonderful 
physical  and  mental  energy,  an  indomitable  will,  and  the  courage  to 
act  in  obedience  to  his  convictions.  He  was  a  man  of  great  business 
ability,  and  during  his  episcopate  he  did  more  for  the  advancement  of 
the  interests  of  his  Church  in  his  diocese  than  any  man  had  done 
before.  He  promoted  every  means  for  the  elevation  of  the  intellec- 
tual, moral,  and  spiritual  character  of  his  people. 

The  holding  of  church  property  by  trustees  had  been  a  great  annoy- 
ance and  real  trouble  to  his  predecessors  in  office,  and,  it  was  alleged, 
was  the  chief  cause  of  extravagant  expenditures  which  had  burdened 
the  churches  with  crushing  debts.  Not  doubting  his  authority  and 
power  in  the  case,  Bishop  Hughes  boldly  took  the  church  property  into 
his  own  exclusiva  control,  adopted  wise  measures  of  economy  in  expen- 
diture, and  a  successful  plan  for  relieving  the  burdened  churches 
through  the  instrumentality  of  a  Church  Debt  Association.  He  was 
chiefly  instrumental  in  establishing  St.  John's  College  and  a  Theolog- 
ical Seminary  at  Fordham,  and  the  Community  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
for  educational  purposes.  The  latter  made  its  permanent  home  at 
Manhattan ville.  * 

*  The  community  was  composed  of  Sisters  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  from  France,  and 
founded  a  school  for  girls  which  has  since  become  famous.  They  were  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Madame  Elizabeth  Galitzen,  a  Russian  princess. 

The  Academy  of  the  Sacred  Heart  is  now  one  of  the  oldest  and  best  known  convent 
schools  in  the  country.    The  buildings  are  large  and  on  high  ground,  at  One  Hundred 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


Bishop  Hughes  took  effectual  measures  against  the  secret  societies 
formed  for  political  and  other  purposes  among  his  countrymen — the 
Irish.  Desirous  of  assimilating  the  discipline  and  customs  of  the  dio- 
cese as  far  as  possible  to  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  he  called 
a  synod  of  the  Church,  the  first  ever  convened  in  the  diocese.  It  met 
near  the  close  of  August,  1K4±  Twenty-three  decrees  were  put  forth, 
mostly  propositions  by  the  bishop  in  regard  to  the  sacraments,  the  bap- 
tism of  infants  in  private  houses,  the  management  of  church  property, 
regulating  secret  societies,  etc.  These  were  all  enforced  by  a  pastoral 
letter,  dated  September  8th.  Meanwhile  the  public  mind  had  been 
Vehemently  excited  by  the  discussions  of  the  School  Question,  in  which 
Bishop  Hughes  took  a  conspicuous  parti  This  topic  will  be  considered 
presently. 

In  1847  the  sees  of  Albany  and  Buffalo  were  created,  and  Bishop 
McCloskey,  the  coadjutor  of  Xew  York,  was  transferred  to  the  first- 
mentioned  diocese.  In  1850  New  York  was  created  an  Archiepiscopal 
or  Metropolitan  See,  with  the  sees  of  Boston,  Hartford,  Albany,  and 
Buffalo  as  suffragans.  Bishop  Hughes  was  created  archbishop.  He 
sailed  for  Europe  in  November  and  received  the  pallium  from  the 
hands  of  Pope  Pius  IX. 

Early  in  the  same  year  (1850)  the  Jesuit  Fathers  began  the  erection 
of  a  college  in  Xew  York.  It  was  built  in  Fifteenth  Street,  between 
Fifth  and  Sixth  avenues,  and  was  completed  and  opened  in  September 
with  the  title  of  the  College  of  St.  Xavier.  It  was  dedicated  by  the 
archbishop  in  July,  1851. 

Such,  in  brief  outline,  is  the  history  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  the  city  of  Xew  York  from  its  first  implantation  to  the  close  of  the 
second  decade,  in  1849.*  In  1883  there  were  fifty-seven  Roman  Cath- 
olic churches  in  the  city. 

and  Twenty-fifth  Street,  near  Eighth  Avenue.  They  are  constructed  of  light-colored 
stone,  and  stand  in  the  midst  of  a  large  and  beautifully  wooded  park.  The  language  of 
the  school  is  French.    The  number  of  scholars  is  usually  about  two  hundred. 

*  John  Hughes,  a  distinguished  prelate  of  the  Koman  Catholic  Church  in  America, 
was  the  third  son  of  Patrick  Hughes,  a  well-to-do  and  highly  respected  farmer  of 
Tyrone  County,  Ireland.  His  mother,  Margaret  McKenna,  was  a  devout,  sweet-tempered 
woman,  and  these  qualities  were  inherited  by  this  son,  who  was  born  near  Clogher  in 
1797,  and  died  in  New  York  January  3,  1864.  Evincing  a  passion  for  learning,  he  was 
sent,  for  a  time,  to  a  Latin  school.  In  1810  his  father  came  to  America,  and  in  181!)  the 
whole  family  settled  near  Chambersburg.  Pa.  John  obtained  admission  to  the  College  of 
Mount  St.  Mary,  at  Emmittsburg,  Md.  There  he  superintended  the  garden  as  a  compen- 
sation for  his  expenses,  until  he  might  become  a  teacher,  at  the  same  time  prosecuting 
his  studies  under  a  private  tutor.  Toward  the  close  of  1825  he  was  ordained  priest  and 
placed  in  charge  of  a  small  mission  at  Bedford,  Pa.    A  few  weeks  afterward  he  was  trans- 


570 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


ferred  to  the  pastorate  of  St.  Joseph's  Church,  Philadelphia,  and  soon  became  distin- 
guished as  a  pulpit  orator  and  a  skilful  man  of  affairs.  His  bold  utterances  in  behalf  of 
his  faith  brought  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Breckenridge,  a  distinguished  Presbyterian  clergy- 
man, a  challenge  to  discuss,  through  the  press,  the  question,  "  Is  the  Protestant  religion 
the  religion  of  Christ  V  The  challenge  was  accepted,  and  the  discussion,  able  on  both 
sides,  took  place  in  1830.  The  next  year  Mr.  Hughes  built  St.  John's  Church  in  Phila- 
delphia, of  which  he  was  rector  until  he  was  appointed  coadjutor  bishop  of  the  Diocese 
of  New  York,  in  1837.  Meanwhile  he  had  accepted  (1834)  a  second  challenge  from  Dr. 
Breckenridge  to  an  oral  discussion  of  the  question,  "  Is  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
hostile  to  liberty  ?"  This  discussion  created  wide  interest,  but  led  to  no  satisfactory 
conclusion. 

Mr.  Hnghes  was  consecrated  coadjutor  of  the  bishop  on  January  7,  1838,  and  became 
administrator  of  the  diocese  in  183'.),  which  then  comprised  the  entire  State  of  New  York 
and  a  part  of  New  Jersey,  with  a  Roman  Catholic  population  of  about  200,000,  with  only 
forty  clergymen.  Then  he  set  about  reform,  as  we  have  observed  in  the  text  ;  also  the 
founding  of  a  college  and  a  theological  seminary.  In  furtherance  of  these  objects  and 
for  obtaining  aid  for  religious  communities  in  his  diocese,  he  visited  Europe  in  1839. 
During  his  absence  the  Roman  Catholics  of  New  York  began  an  organized  opposition 
to  the  public-school  system  of  that  city,  of  which  he  took  the  lead  on  his  return.  This 
movement  is  noticed  in  the  text. 

After  the  death  of  Bishop  Dubois  in  1842,  Bishop  Hughes  succeeded  him  as  titular 
bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York,  and  in  August  of  that  year  he  convened  the  first 
diocesan  synod.  In  March,  1844,  he  consecrated  the  Rev.  John  McCloskey,  D.D.,  his 
coadjutor.  During  that  spring  and  summer  he  calmed  the  violence  of  an  anti-Roman 
Catholic  spirit  in  New  York  by  a  judicious  letter  addressed  to  Mayor  Harper.  He  made 
a  second  visit  to  Europe  on  behalf  of  the  Roman  Catholic  cause  in  his  diocese  in  1845, 
and  on  his  return  President  Polk  desired  him  to  go  on  a  peace  mission  to  Mexico,  but  he 
declined.  At  the  request  of  both  houses  of  Congress  in  1847  he  delivered  an  address  in 
the  hall  of  the  Representatives  on  "  Christianity,  the  only  Source  of  Moral,  Social,  and 
Political  Regeneration."  In  1850  the  See  of  New  York  was  raised  to  a  metropolitan  rank, 
and  Bishop  Hughes  was  created  an  archbishop.  He  presided  over  the  first  provincial 
council  of  New  York  in  1854.  In  that  year  he  had  a  famous  controversy  with  Hon. 
Erastus  Brooks.  The  next  year  he  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the  new  cathedral  on  Fifth 
Avenue. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  in  1801  Archbishop  Hughes  hastened  to  Washing- 
ton to  proffer  to  the  government  the  aid  of  his  priests,  Sisters  of  Charity,  and  Sisters  of 
Mercy.  Late  in  that  year  he  was  sent  by  President  Lincoln  on  a  peace  mission  to 
Europe,  as  we  shall  observe  hereafter.  The  archbishop  had  contracted  Blight's  disease  of 
the  kidneys,  which  gradually  undermined  his  constitution.  His  last  public  address  wan 
made  in  July,  1803,  to  quell  the  draft  riot  in  New  York  City.  His  strength  now  rapidly 
failed  until  his  death,  a  few  months  afterward.  His  remains  were  buried  under  the  high 
altar  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  in  Mott  Street,  where  they  lay  undisturbed  for  nineteen 
years.  At  the  dose  of  January,  1883,  they  were  placed  in  a  new  coffin  made  of  polished 
red  cedar  and  borne  to  the  new  Cathedral,  where  the  sister  of  the  archbishop  (Mrs. 
Rodrigue)  and  his  niece  (Mrs.  Eugene  Kelly)  were  waiting  to  receive  them.  The  coffin 
was  placed  on  a  catafalque  erected  in  front  of  the  high  altar.  On  the  following  day 
(January  31st)  funeral  services  were  conducted  in  the  Cathedral,  with  impressive  cere- 
monies, in  the  presence  of  about  four  thousand  people,  among  them  a  large  number  of 
clergymen.  These  services  were  closed  by  the  solemn  ceremony  of  absolution  by  Cardi- 
nal McCloskey,  when  the  coffin  was  placed  in  a  vault  under  the  high  altar,  with  no  other 
ceremony  than  the  singing  of  the  chant  for  the  repose  of  the  soul  of  the  dead. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


TP1E  establishment  of  a  church  of  Univkrsalists  in  New  York  City 
was  done  in  a  peculiar  manner.  A  few  discourses  in  advocacy  of 
the  doctrine  of  universal  salvation  had  been  preached  in  the  city  by  the 
Rev.  John  Murray  (who  had  been  a  Methodist  class-leader)  for  several 
years,  but  nothing  permanent  in  the  form  of  a  church  organization  had 
been  effected.  At  length,  in  the  spring  of  1796,  Abraham  E.  Brouwer, 
Richard  Snow,  John  Degrauw,  William  Palmer,  Jacob  Clinch,* 
Edward  Mitchell,  and  two  or  three  others,  who  were  prominent  and 
earnest  members  of  the  John.  Street  Methodist  Church,  having  adopted 
a  belief  in  the  final  salvation  and  happiness  of  all  men,  withdrew  from 
the  church.  They  organized  an  association  entitled  the  Society  of 
United  Christian  Friends  in  the  City  of  New  York,  consisting  of  four- 
teen persons.  Their  constitution  provided  for  the  annual  election  of  an 
elder,  who  was  to  perform  the  functions  of  a  pastor  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Lord's  Supper  and  other  matters. 

In  this  simple  way  the  society  worshipped  for  several  years.  They 
gradually  increased  in  numbers,  and  in  1803  they  ordained  Mr.  Mitchell 
(who  possessed  peculiar  gifts)  for  the  ministry,  and  made  him  their 
regular  pastor.  After  worshipping  in  different  places  they  built  a 
church  edifice  of  brick  in  Augusta  Street,  now  City  Hall  Place,  in  1818. 
Unhappily,  dissensions  arose  among  them  concerning  matters  of  disci- 
pline and  faith.  A  rigid  rule  was  adopted  and  enforced,  requiring 
every  member  to  abstain  from  worshipping  elsewhere  whenever  there 
were  services  in  their  own  church.  This  abridgment  of  personal 
liberty  caused  members  to  fall  away.  A  portion  of  the  congregation 
were  Trinitarians,  and  another  portion  were  Unitarians.  This  state  of 
things  bore  the  fruit  of  contentions  and  alienations,  and  the  society 

*  Mr.  Clinch  became  in  after  years  the  father-in-law  of  the  great  merchant,  A.  T.  Stew- 
art. When  the  latter  came  to  New  York  from  Ireland  he  brought  letters  of  introduction 
to  Mr.  Mitchell,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  First  Universalist  Church  in  New  York,  and 
was  then  its  pastor.  It  used  to  be  said  Stewart  was  "consigned  to  Mitchell."  He 
attended  his  church  in  City  Hall  Place,  and  there  he  first  became  acquainted  with  Miss 
Clinch,  whom  he  afterward  married. 


572 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITT. 


gradually  dwindled.  They  rented  their  place  of  worship  and  retired  to 
a  hall  in  Forsyth  Street.  Mr.  Mitchell  being  a  Trinitarian,  the 
majority  of  the  First  Universalist  Church  were  of  that  faith,  and  when, 
in  1845,  they  ceased  to  hold  meetings,  they  joined  the  Fpiscopalians. 

There  were  more  bitter  prejudices  against  tie  Universalists  than 
against  the  Roman  Catholics  among  ''orthodox"  Christians  of  that 
day.  The  I  nivei-salists  were  regarded  as  the  most  hopeless  heretics, 
and  suffered  social  ostracism.  "  When  I  went  to  school  I  was  hooted 
at  by  the  other  boys,  and  treated  as  if  I  were  an  Indian,1"  says  the 
now  venerable  John  W.  Degrauw,  "  because  my  father  was  a  Univer- 
salist," and  one  of  the  seceders  from  the  John  Street  Church.  There 
were  also  as  blind  prejudices  among  the  Universalists  of  that  day. 
When  the  Rev.  "William  E.  Channing  first  visited  Xew  York,  there 
was  no  Unitarian  church  there,  and  a  request  was  made  for  the  use  of 
Mr.  Mitchell's  church  for  him  to  preach  in.  It  was  refused,  on  the 
ground  of  Mr.  Channing's  heterodoxy,  and  he  preached  in  the  Acad- 
emy of  Physicians  in  Barclay  Street.  There  were  as  strong  preju- 
dices against  the  Methodists.  A  Calvinistic  minister  would  not  sit 
beside  a  Methodist  even  at  a  funeral  !  Eappily,  those  days  of  dark- 
ness are  overpast,  with  the  exception  of  some  lingering  shadows,  and 
we  are  sitting  in  the  warm  morning  sunlight  of  a  brighter  era,  in 
which  "  pure  and  undeliled  religion,"  defined  by  St.  James  as  this, 
"  To  visit  the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their  affliction,  and  to  keep 
himself  unspotted  from  the  world,"  is  regarded  as  true  orthodoxy. 

In  1824  a  second  Universalist  church  was  organized.  They  built  a 
boose  of  worship  on  the  corner  of  Prince  and  Marion  streets.  Their 
second  minister  was  the  notorious  Abner  Kneeland,  whose  impious 
utterances  soon  scattered  the  congregation,  and  the  church  was  sold  to 
the  Union  Presbyterians  in  1830.  At  about  the  same  time  the  Rev. 
Thomas  J.  Sawyer  gathered  a  congregation  in  Grand  Street.  They 
purchased  a  house  of  worship  in  Orchard  Street,  and  there  a  large  and 
flourishing  congregation  was  permanently  established.  Mr.  Sawyer 
left  the  charge  in  1845. 

In  1832  a  fourth  Universalist  church  was  organized,  and  in  183»> 
erected  a  substantial  meeting-house  on  the  corner  of  Bleecker  and 
Downing  streets.  It,  too,  soon  became  a  large  and  flourishing  congre- 
gation. Two  other  churches  were  organized,  one  worshipping  in  Eliza- 
beth Street  and  the  other  in  Houston  Street.  The  latter  built  a  neat 
church  edifice  in  Fourth  Street,  near  Avenue  C,  in  1843.  At  the  close 
of  this  decade  there  were  six  Universalist  churches  in  New  York  ;  in 
1883  there  are  only  four. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


573 


CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH. 

The  first  Congregational  church  in  New  York  City  was  organized  in 
1804  by  the  Rev.  John  Townley,  a  Congregational  minister,  who 
labored  in  an  old  frame  building,  where  he  gathered  about  him  fully 
one  hundred  members.  He  was  assisted  occasionally  by  the  Rev. 
Archibald  Maclay,  who  was  then  a  Congregationalist.  This  society 
erected  a  house  of  worship  in  Elizabeth  Street,  between  Walker  and 
Houston  streets,  which  they  first  occupied  in  1809.  Pecuniary  embar- 
rassments followed,  and  their  house  was  sold  four  or  five  years  after- 
ward to  the  Asbury  (eolored)Metkodists. 

In  1816  J.  S.  C.  F.  Frey,  a  converted  Jew  and  an  Independent  or 
Congregational  minister,  came  from  England  to  New  York.  He 
began  preaching  in  a  school-house  in  Mulberry  Street  in  1817,  where  a 
Congregational  church  was  organized.  Mr.  Frey  was  installed  pastor 
of  the  church  in  1818  by  the  "Westchester  and  Morris  County  Presby- 
tery. In  October,  1821,  the  form  of  government  was  changed  to 
Presbyterian.  About  1817  another  Congregational  church  was  formed, 
and  worship  was  regularly  held  in  a  building  on  Broadway,  near 
Anthony  Street,  but  it  was  soon  scattered.  Another  church  was 
formed  in  1819,  which  built  a  house  of  worship  on  Thompson  Street, 
near  Broome  Street.  This  church  was  in  existence  at  the  close  of  this 
decade.  Another,  known  as  the  Broome  Street  Congregational 
Church,  was  organized  about  1820,  but  it  lived  only  two  or  three 
years.  A  Welsh  Congregational  church  was  founded  about  1825,  and 
first  worshipped  in  a  building  in  Mulberry  Street.  In  1833  they 
changed  their  form  of  government  to  Presbyterian.  They  were  Welsh 
Calvinists. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Finney,  the  famous  Presbyterian  "revivalist,"  left 
the  Chatham  Street  Chapel  in  1836,  and  with  a  large  portion  of  his 
congregation  formed  a  free  Congregational  church  at  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle.  Those  who  remained  at  the  chapel  adopted  the  Congre- 
gational form  of  government.  They  finally  erected  a  brick  edifice  in 
Chrystie  Street,  and  were  worshipping  there  at  the  close  of  this 
decade,  with  nearly  three  hundred  communicants. 

During  the  second  decade  several  Congregational  churches  were 
organized  and  experienced  vicissitudes.  Of  these  the  most  eminent 
and  enduring  was  the  Church  of  the  Puritans,  of  which  the  Rev. 
George  B.  Cheever  was  the  founder  and  pastor.  On  Sunday  evening, 
March  15,  1846,  he  began  preaching  in  the  chapel  of  the  New  York 


574 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


University,  and  in  April  he  had  gathered  a  sufficient  congregation  to 
warrant  a  church  organization,  which  at  first  consisted  of  about  sixty 
members.  In  May  Mr.  Cheever  was  installed  as  their  pastor,  and 
ground  was  purchased  on  the  corner  of  Fifteenth  Street  and  Union 
Square,  on  the  west,  on  which  an  elegant  structure  was  soon  erected. 
At  the  close  of  this  decade  there  were  eight  living  Congregational 
churches  in  the  city.  Nine  others  had  become  extinct.  In  1883  there 
were  only  five. 

NEW  .TKRISAI.EM  CHURCH. 

Emanuel  Swedenborg  was  the  founder  of  a  new  church.  His 
followers  in  New  York  City,  known  as  Swedenborgians,  organized  a 
congregation  there  in  1808.  They  met  for  religious  purposes  in  a 
school-house  in  James  Street  for  some  years.  About  181t!  they  adopted 
a  constitution,  styling  themselves  the  Association  of  the  City  of  New 
York  for  the  Dissemination  of  the  Heavenly  Doctrine  of  the  New 
Jerusalem.  They  bought  a  house  of  worship  in  1821  in  Pearl  Street, 
between  Chatham  and  Cross  streets.  The  society  decreasing,  the 
building  was  sold,  but  the  organization  survived,  and  in  1840  they 
chose  the  Rev.  R.  F.  Barrett  to  be  their  pastor.  He  filled  that  station 
until  a  few  years  ago.  The  society  now  (1*S3)  has  a  house  of  worship 
in  Thirty-fifth  Street. 

A  second  New  Jerusalem  church  was  organized  in  1S41,  composed  of 
thirteen  members.  They  assembled  in  the  chapel  of  the  New  York 
University. 

UNITARIAN'  CHURCH. 

The  first  religious  service  in  New  York  City  by  a  Unitarian  preacher 
was  held  by  the  Rev.  William  Ellery  Channing  in  a  private  house  in 
April.  1S11».  On  May  loth  he  preached  in  the  Academy  of  Physicians 
or  Medical  College  in  Barclav  Street.  The  first  Unitarian  CongTeea- 
tional  church  was  founded  on  the  24th  of  that  month,  and  was  incor- 
porated in  November  of  that  year.  In  the  following  spring  a  hand- 
some church  edifice  was  begun  in  Chambers  Street,  west  of  Broadway, 
and  was  dedicated  in  January,  1821.  The  sermon  on  that  occasion 
was  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Edward  Everett  (the  statesman)  of  Roston, 
then  twenty -seven  years  of  age.  The  Rev.  William  "Ware  was  its  first 
pastor.  He  resigned  in  1836,  after  which  the  church  was  destitute  of 
a  pastor  for  two  or  three  years.  The  late  Rev.  Henry  "W.  Bellows, 
D.D.,  was  ordained  its  pastor  in  January,  1839.  He  was  then  only 
twenty-five  veal's  of  age.    So  rapidly  did  the  congregation  increase 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


575 


that  a  few  years  afterward  a  new,  spacious,  and  elegant  structure  was 
erected  on  Broadway,  between  Spring  and  Prince  streets,  at  a  cost  of 
silo, 000.  It  was  capable  of  seating  1:500  persons.  It  was  dedicated 
in  October,  1845,  under  the  name  of  the  Church  of  the  Divine  Unity, 
and  was  in  a  flourishing-  condition  at  the  close  of  the  second  decade. 
A  new  church  edifice  was  afterward  built  on  the  corner  of  Fourth 
Avenue  and  Twentieth  Street,  and  dedicated  with  the  name  of  All 
Souls'  Church.  In  that  church  Dr.  Bellows  labored  until  his  death, 
early  in  1  vv± 

Soon  after  the  church  edifice  in  Chambers  Street  was  erected,  it 
became  so  crowded  that  members  living  "  up  town"  concluded  to  form 
a  second  congregation.  A  house  of  worship  was  built  in  Prince  Street, 
west  of  Broadway,  and  opened  for  service  in  December,  182(5,  under 
the  name  of  the  Church  of  the  Messiah.  The  sermon  on  that  occasion 
was  preached  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Channing.  The  first  pastor  was  the 
Rev.  W.  Lunt,  who  was  ordained  in  June,  1828.  He  resigned  in  1833, 
and  within  a  few  years  afterward  the  late  Rev.  Orville  Dewey  filled 
the  position.  lie  was  installed  its  pastor  in  1835.  The  church  edifice 
was  destroyed  by  fire  in  November,  1837.  The  site  of  the  building 
was  sold,  and  a  large  and  substantial  place  of  worship  was  built  of 
rough  granite  on  the  east  side  of  Broadway,  near  Washington  Square, 
and  dedicated  in  1839,  under  the  old  name  of  the  Church  of  the 
Messiah.  It  now  (1883)  has  a  spacious  church  edifice  on  the  corner  of 
Thirty-fourth  Street  and  Park  Avenue,  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  CoHyer 
as  pastor.    In  1S83  there  were  three  Unitarian  churches  in  the  city. 

TOE  CHRISTIAN*  CHURCH. 

An  organization  bearing  the  simple  title  of  the  Christian  Church 
was  formed  in  New  York  in  the  year  1829,  under  the  preaching  of  the 
Rev.  Simon  Clough.  They  built  a  house  of  worship  on  the  corner  of 
Broome  and  Norfolk  streets.  The  church  was  soon  involved  in 
pecuniary  embarrassment,  their  house  of  worship  was  sold,  and  the 
organization  was  dissolved.  A  few  active  members  formed  a  new 
church  in  1841.  In  1844  they  began  the  erection  of  a  new  church 
edifice  in  Suffolk  Street.    It  was  opened  in  1814. 

This  sect  hold  to  baptism  by  immersion,  and  reject  infant  baptism 
and  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  They  discard  all  written  creeds  and 
confessions  of  faith,  taking  the  Bible  simply  as  the  rule  of  faith  and 
church  government,  making  Christian  character  only  the  test  of  fellow- 
ship. 


576 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Such  is  the  brief  history  and  such  the  condition  of  the  churches  in 
Xew  York  City  at  the  close  of  the  second  decade,  in  1S49.  More  than 
sixty  once  formed  were  then  extinct.* 

Allusion  has  been  made  to  excitements  in  New  York  caused  by  the 
discussions  of  the  School  Question  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
decade.  This  question  had  been  a  cause  of  much  controversy  for 
fifteen  years,  because  it  involved  antagonisms  of  religious  faiths  and 
ecclesiastical  organizations.  Various  religious  denominations  had  par- 
ticipated in  or  had  been  refused  participation  in  the  benefits  of  the 
public  money  placed  under  the  control,  first  of  the  Free  School  Society 
and  then  of  the  Public  School  Society.  The  latter  used  these  moneys 
in  accordance  with  a  system  different  from  that  which  prevailed  in 
other  parts  of  the  State. 

The  Public  School  Society  was  a  close  corporation,  and  had  supreme 
control  of  money  intrusted  to  it.  The  subject  had  been  before  the 
Legislature  for  decision  as  to  the  distribution  of  the  school  fund  in 
the  city  of  New  York.  That  body  finally  passed  an  act  transferring 
the  whole  subject  of  the  local  distribution  of  the  school  fund  to  the 
common  council  of  the  city  of  !Ne\v  York,  with  full  power  to  make 
such  an  assignment  as  they  might  deem  just  and  proper.  This  led  to 
important  debates  in  that  body,  and  the  appearance  of  some  of  the  best 
talent  in  the  city  in  arguments  before  the  city  legislators. 

Early  in  1S-M)  the  trustees  of  the  Roman  Catholic  free  schools  applied 
to  the  common  council  for  a  proportionate  share  in  the  distribution  of 
the  school  fund.  The  number  of  their  schools,  the  certainty  of  their 
rapid  increase,  and  the  powerful  influence  of  the  applicants  made  the 
matter  one  of  serious  consideration.  The  Public  School  Society  sub- 
mitted a  remonstrance  against  the  application,  and  the  common  council 
chamber  became  the  arena  for  the  display  of  the  most  remarkable 
talent  on  both  sides.  As  indicated  by  the  personal  recollections  of  the 
writer,  the  utterances  of  the  public  press,  the  pulpit,  and  at  public 
meetings  of  citizens  called  to  consider  and  to  act  upon  what  was  felt  to 
be  a  question  of  the  first  importance,  the  public  excitement  in  the  city 
was  almost  universal  and  most  intense.  Lawyers  like  Hiram  Ketcham, 
employed  by  the  Public  School  Society,  and  clergymen  like  Dr.  Spring, 
who  volunteered  their  services  in  support  of  the  Protestant  view  of  the 
case,  appeared  in  arguments  before  the  common  council,  and  were  met 

*  For  a  brief  but  more  elaborate  sketch  of  the  churches  in  New  York,  see  a  little  volume 
entitled,  "  A  History  of  the  Churches  of  all  Denominations  in  the  City  of  New  York,"  by 
the  Rev.  Jonathan  Greenleaf.  1S4C. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


577 


by  the  astute  Bishop  Hughes,  who  appeared  in  behalf  of  the  Roman 
Catholics. 

The  latter  had  complained  that  the  books  used  in  the  public  schools 
abounded  with  misrepresentations  of  the  faith  and  practices  of  the 
Roman  Catholics,  and  alleged  that  no  alternative  was  left  the  latter 
but  to  withdraw  their  children  from  the  schools  or  to  change  the 
system.  To  the  latter  task  Bishop  Hughes  and  his  confreres  applied 
themselves  with  great  vigor.  The  bishop  gave  lectures  in  Carroll  Hall 
to  immense  audiences  previous  to  the  discussions  before  the  common 
council. 

Careful  investigation  had  shown  that  the  complaints  of  the  Roman 
Catholics  concerning  the  books  in  the  schools  were  well  founded.  The 
society  had  done  what  it  might  to  correct  the  evil.  A  committee  of 
revision  and  expurgation  at  once  freed  the  books  of  objectionable 
sentences.  Taking  this  fact  into  consideration,  the  common  council, 
by  unanimous  vote,  sustained  the  remonstrance  of  the  Public  School 
Society. 

The  Roman  Catholics  appealed  to  the  Legislature,  but  a  decision  was 
not  reached  until  1S42.  The  governor  recommended  as  a  remedy  the 
extension  of  the  State  system  to  the  wards  of  the  city.  In  this  view 
the  Legislature  concurred,  and  by  act  the  common-school  system  which 
had  prevailed  in  the  State  for  thirty  years  was  extended  to  the  city  of 
New  York.  The  management  of  the  schools  was  placed  in  the  hands 
of  inspectors,  trustees,  and  commissioners  elected  by  the  people.  The 
Public  School  Society  and  other  corporations  were  allowed  to  continue 
their  schools  and  participate  in  the  public  funds  according  to  the 
number  of  their  scholars,  but  such  participation  was  prohibited  to  any 
school  in  which  any  religious  sectarian  doctrine  or  tenet  should  be 
taught,  inculcated,  or  practised. 

Both  the  contestants  were  disappointed.  The  friends  of  the  Public 
School  Society  considered  that  the  cause  of  public  education  had 
received  a  serious  if  not  a  fatal  blow.  The  Roman  Catholics  regarded 
the  new  arrangement,  excluding  all  religious  instruction  from  the 
schools,  as  most  fatal  to  the  moral  and  religious  principles  of  their 
children,  and  said,  "  Our  only  resource  is  to  establish  schools  of 
our  own." 

The  first  board  of  education  under  the  new  act,  passed  April  11, 
1S12,  was  speedily  organized.  For  about  ten  years  afterward  the 
Public  School  Society  kept  up  its  organization  and  its  schools.  Satis- 
fied at  length  of  the  superior  excellence  of  the  new  system,  the  Public 
School  Society  dissolved  in  1853,  and  some  of  its  members  took  seats 


578 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


in  the  board  of  education.  That  board  has  ever  since  had  control  of 
public  instruction  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  board  of  education  has  carried  on  the  great  work  of  public 
instruction  in  the  metropolis  with  singular  ability  and  success.  Public- 
school  buildings  with  admirable  appointments  have  risen  in  all  parts  of 
the  city,  and  school  accommodations  have  kept  pace  with  the  growth 
and  wants  of  the  population.  At  length  the  important  necessity  of 
providing  a  sufficient  corps  of  trained  teachers  for  the  public  schools 
led  to  the  establishment  of  a  daily  normal  school  for  such  a  purpose,  in 
1856,  but  it  was  sustained  for  only  about  three  years.  For  many 
years  only  a  Saturday  normal  school  attempted  to  meet  the  pressing 
demand.  After  the  reorganization  of  the  board  of  education,  in  1809, 
it  was  resolved  to  establish  a  daily  normal  school  for  the  training  of 
female  teachers  on  an  adequate  scale.  A  block  of  ground  bounded  by 
Fourth  and  Lexington  avenues  and  Sixty-eighth  and  Sixty-ninth  streets 
was  secured,  anil  thereon  a  magnificent  building  was  erected.  It  was 
completed  in  the  summer  of  1873,  and  opened  in  September.  It  is 
known  as  the  New  York  Normal  College.  Its  career  until  now  (1883) 
has  been  a  perfect  success.  At  the  close  of  1882  there  were  1135 
students  in  the  college.* 

The  rapid  growth  of  the  city  of  New  York  and  the  crowded  state  of 
the  churchyards  which  were  the  receptacles  for  the  dead,  presented  to 
the  inhabitants  the  necessity  for  an  extensive  burial-ground  outside  the 
city  limits  and  beyond  the  line  of  its  probable  growth.  Care  for  the 
well-being  of  the  living  and  respect  for  the  dead  alike  ui'ged  the  duty 
which  such  a  necessity  implied. 

The  idea  of  a  rural  public  cemetery  appears  to  have  been  first 
developed  at  Boston,  near  which  city  Mount  Auburn  burial-place  w  as 
opened  in  1831.  In  that  cemetery  humanizing  and  elevating  influences 
were  displayed  in  the  form  of  landscape  gardening,  and  so  'not  only 
relieving  the  burial-ground  of  its  unpleasant  features  and  associations, 
but  rendering  it  attractive  to  the  eye  and  delightful  to  the  heart  and 
understanding. 

In  1832  Mr.  Henry  E.  Pierrepont,  of  Brooklyn,  visited  Mount 
Auburn  Cemetery.    Impressed  with  its  idea,  and  charmed  by  its 

*  The  Normal  College  is  under  the  direct  control  of  a  committee,  of  which  William 
Wood  is  chairman.  The  president  of  the  college  (1883)  is  Thomas  Hunter,  Ph.D.,  with 
a  full  and  efficient  faculty  and  a  large  corps  of  teachers.  All  of  the  teachers  outside  the 
faculty  are  women.  Miss  Isabella  Parsons  is  superintendent  of  the  training  department 
of  the  college,  which  comprises  about  six  hundred  pupils.  The  whole  number  taught  in 
that  department  during  1882  was  1C92.  The  building  is  elegant  in  design,  four  stories  in 
height,  and  perfectly  adapted  to  the  work  carried  on  within  it. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


579 


promises  of  beauty  and  moral  influence,  he  resolved  to  urge  upon  the 
citizens  of  Hew  York  and  the  then  rapidly  growing  village  of  Brooklyn 
the  necessity  of  a  simdar  burial-place  in  their  vicinity.  The  next  year 
he  visited  Europe,  and  the  impressions  he  received  from  the  sight  of 
beautiful  cemeteries  there  heightened  those  made  by  bis  visit  to  Mount 
Auburn. 

In  1834  Brooklyn  was  incorporated  a  city.  Its  growth,  like  that  of 
New  York,  had  been  quite  marvellous  for  three  or  four  years.  Mr. 
Pierrepont  was  one  of  the  commissioners  chosen  to  lay  out  new  streets. 
"While  engaged  in  that  duty  he  proposed  a  plan  for  a  rural  cemetery 
among  the  Gowanus  hills,  with  which  he  bad  been  familiar  from  his 
childhood.  At  that  time  Major  D.  B.  Douglass,  who  bad  been  an 
officer  in  the  United  States  Army  and  was  a,  distinguished  engineer, 
was  a  resident  of  Brooklyn.  Having,  in  1835,  completed  the  survey 
for  the  Croton  Aqueduct,  and  not  then  professionally  engaged,  he  was 
induced  by  Mr.  Pierrepont  to  consider  the  project  of  a  rural  cemetery 
for  the  two  cities.  In  a  lecture  which  he  gave  in  Brooklyn  not  long 
afterward,  Major  Douglass  first  presented  the  project  to  the  public  for 
consideration.  His  lecture  seems  not  to  have  borne  any  visible  fruit  at 
that  time. 

Speculation  in  village  and  city  lots  was  rife  soon  afterward,  and 
absorbed  public  attention.  The  project  of  a  cemetery  was  allowed  to 
slumber.  The  financial  troubles  of  1837  paralyzed  enterprise  and  busi- 
ness for  a  time,  and  it  was  not  until  1838  that  the  project  of  a  rural 
cemetery  was  again  brought  to  the  public  consideration.  Mr.  Pierre- 
pont and  Major  Douglass  had  quietly  explored  the  ground  on  the 
Gowanus  hills,  selected  the  portion  which  seemed  best  suited  to  the 
purpose  of  a  cemetery,  and  mapped  the  same  with  the  names  of  aU  the 
proprietors  of  the  land.  A  petition  was  presented  to  the  Legislature 
in  the  winter  of  1838,  and  on  the  11th  of  April  in  that  year  an  act  of 
incorporation  was  passed  creating  a  joint  stock  company,  under  the 
name  of  the  Greenwood  Cemetery,  with  a  capital  of  $300,000,  and  the 
right  to  hold  200  acres  of  land.* 

*  The  pioneers  in  this  enterprise  who  were  the  petitioners  for  the  charter  were  : 
Samuel  Ward,  John  P.  Stagg,  Charles  King,  David  B.  Douglass,  Russell  Stebbins,  Joseph 
A.  Perry,  Henry  E.  Pierrepont,  and  Pliny  Freeman.  Mr.  Ward  was  of  the  eminent 
banking-house  of  Prime,  Ward  &  King.  Mr.  Pierrepont  is  now  (1883)  the  only  survivor 
of  these  corporators  of  Greenwood  Cemetery  forty-five  years  ago. 

The  ground  selected  and  purchased  for  the  cemetery  lay  a  little  back  from  Gowanus 
Bay,  and  comprised  178  acres.  Until  its  hills  resounded  with  the  roar  of  battle  between 
the  Americans,  British,  and  Hessians,  at  the  close  of  August,  177C>,  it  had  been  a  quiet, 
secluded,  and  wooded  spot.    When  the  land  was  purchased  an  old  mill  was  standing  on 


580 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  Greenwood  Cemetery  project  was  not  popular  at  first,  and  its 
managers  were  annoyed  by  pecuniary  embarrassments  ;  but  these 
were  ended  in  1S43.  Through  all  its  subsequent  progress  after  its 
relief  from  financial  troubles,  the  cemetery  has  been  watched  and 
nurtured  with  unwearied  care  and  unremitting  interest  untd  it  has 
attained  to  a  magnitude  and  value  far  beyond  any  other  institution  of 
the  kind.  * 

Calvary  Cemetery,  now  the  chief  burial-place  for  the  dead  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  in  New  York,  was  established  during  this 
decade.  The  first  burial-ground  for  this  denomination  was  at  St. 
Peter's  Church,  in  Barclay  Street.  The  second  was  in  the  grounds 
around  and  in  the  vaults  under  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  and  the  third 
was  in  Eleventh  Street.  The  latter  having  become  filled,  and  intra- 
mural burials  being  forbidden,  a  farm  was  purchased  on  Newtown 
Creek,  L.  I.,  and  a  portion  of  it  was  first  consecrated  for  burial  pur- 
poses in  August,  184S.  This  great  cemetery  is  situated  about  two 
miles  from  Greenpoint  and  Hunter's  Point  ferries.  It  is  also  accessible 
by  the  Long  Island  Railroad. 

"When  the  city  limits  were  extended  into  Westchester  County,  Wood- 
lawn  Cemetery,  at  Woodlawn  Station,  on  the  Harlem  Railroad,  was 
brought  within  the  corporation  limits.    It  is  a  beautiful  and  well-kept 

Gowanus  Creek,  at  the  head  of  Gowanus  Ray,  the  shores  of  which  had  been  very  little 
changed  since  the  battle  that  raged  near  them  more  than  sixty  years  before. 

The  Greenwood  Cemetery  Association  was  organized  near  the  close  of  1838  by  the 
election  of  a  board  of  directors,  who  soon  afterward  chose  Major  Douglass  the  first  presi- 
dent of  the  corporation.  Already  there  had  been  made  an  addition  to  the  original  pur- 
chase of  thirty-three  acres  of  land  bought  from  a  farmer,  which  included  Sylvan  Water, 
"  the  brightest  gem"  in  the  cemetery. 

To  secure  the  grounds  from  invasion  by  city  streets  it  was  necessary  to  have  an  outline 
plan  of  the  selected  territory  in  the  hands  of  the  city  commissioners  before  the  first  of 
January,  1839.  This  desirable  act  was  accomplished  through  the  unwearied  exertions  of 
Mr.  Pierrepont,  and  thus  was  secured  immunity  from  such  invasion  for  all  time.  An 
amendment  of  the  charter  changed  the  title  of  the  managers  from  directors  to  trustees. 

*  In  1841  a  colossal  statue  of  De  Witt  Clinton  in  bronze,  by  H.  K.  Brown,  was  erected 
in  Greenwood.  It  was  the  first  of  the  kind  ever  cast  in  this  country.  Since  that  time 
statues  and  beautiful  monuments  have  arisen  in  various  parts  of  the  cemetery,  and  add 
much  to  its  attractiveness  for  \  isitors.  These,  with  the  skill  of  the  landscape  gardener  con- 
stantly applied,  have  made  Greenwood  Cemetery  (greatly  enlarged  in  size)  one  of  the 
most  interesting  and  beautiful  receptacles  for  the  dead  in  the  world.  Its  seal  bears  the 
beautiful  device  of  Memory  strewing  flowers  on  the  graves.  The  officers  for  1882  were  : 
Henry  E.  Pierrepont,  president  ;  A.  A.  Low  vice-president  ;  C.  M.  Perry,  comptroller 
and  secretary.  The  trustees  were  Henry  E.  Pierrepont,  James  R.  Taylor,  Benjamin  H. 
Field,  A.  A.  Low,  J.  Carson  Brevoort,  Arthur  W.  Benson,  Alexander  M.  White,  J.  W.  C. 
Leveridge,  Benjamin  1).  Silliman,  Henry  Sanger,  Royal  Phelps,  Gerard  Beekman, 
Frederick  Waleott,  James  M.  Brown,  Charles  M.  Perry. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


581 


cemetery,  comprising  nearly  four  hundred  acres.  It  is  undenomina- 
tional. It  has  become  the  selected  burial-place  by  many  wealthy  New 
York  families,  who  have  erected  vaults  and  handsome  monuments 
there.  Trains  on  the  Harlem  Iload  run  to  it  from  the  Grand  Central 
Depot  every  hour  of  the  day. 

During  the  second  decade  several  benevolent  and  charitable  institu- 
tions were  established  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  most  important  of 
which  were  St.  David's  Benevolent  and  St.  David's  Benefit  socie- 
ties, New  York  Association  for  the  Improvement  of  the  Condition  of 
the  Poor,  Women's  Prison  Association,  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  Prison 
Association  of  New  York,  Roman  Catholic  House  of  Mercy,  and  Hos- 
pital of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul. 

St.  David's  Benevolent  Society  is  an  association  composed  of  natives 
of  Wales  or  their  descendants.  It  was  established  in  1841,  and  was 
incorporated  in  1848.  It  was  really  formed,  by  informal  action,  so 
early  as  1835.  The  objects  of  the  society  are  to  afford  pecuniary  relief 
to  the  indigent  and  reduced  members  of  the  society,  to  all  distressed 
Welsh  men  and  Welsh  women,  and  to  those  who  have  recently  emi- 
grated to  this  country,  as  well  as  to  those  who  have  resided  here  for  a 
longer  period  ;  also  to  coUect  and  preserve  information  respecting 
Wales  and  the  Welsh  people  and  their  descendants  in  this  country  ; 
to  cultivate  a  knowledge  of  the  history,  language,  and  literature  of 
Wales,  and  to  promote  social  intercourse  among  the  members  of  the 
society.  A  committee  on  benevolence  has  charge  of  all  matters 
pertaining  to  charitable  ministrations  and  of  the  burial-grounds  of  the 
society.* 

A  Welsh  society,  formed  a  few  years  earlier,  is  called  The  St. 
David's  Benefit  Society  of  the  City  of  New  York.  It  was  insti- 
tuted in  1835,  incorporated  in  1838,  and  reorganized  in  1859.  The 
object  of  this  association  is  the  mutual  relief  of  the  members  of  the 
corporation  when,  by  reason  of  sickness  or  infirmities,  any  member 
shall  require  pecuniary  relief.  Welshmen  and  their  descendants,  and 
persons  married  to  Welsh  women,  over  the  age  of  eighteen  and  under 
forty  years,  are  eligible  to  membership.  They  must  be  residents  within 
ten  miles  of  the  City  Hall,  New  York.f 

*  The  officers  of  the  St.  David's  Benevolent  Society  in  1882  were :  Hugh  Roberts, 
president  ;  Evan  Williams  and  John  R.  Price,  vice-presidents  ;  John  Thomas,  treasurer  ; 
W.  H.  Williams,  recording  secretary  ;  T.  C.  Powell,  corresponding  secretary  ;  Richard  J. 
Lewis,  counsel,  and  the  Rev.  D.  Davies,  chaplain. 

\  The  officers  of  the  society  in  1882  were  :  Henry  Perry,  president  ;  John  Hughes, 
vice-president  ;  John  Morgan,  treasurer  ;  W.  H.  Williams,  secretary. 


562 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  ISTew  York  Association  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the 
Poor  was  organized  in  1843,  and  incorporated  in  1848.  It  was  founded 
largely  for  the  purposes  of  practically  controlling  the  evils  growing  out 
of  almsgiving  without  question,  which  often  encouraged  idleness  and 
led  to  crime  •,  also  to  more  effectually  respond  to  the  necessities  of  the 
really  needy.  It  was  acknowledged  that  the  alms  of  charitable  institu- 
tions and  of  private  liberality  were  often  injudiciously  distributed  for 
want  of  information  concerning  the  character  of  the  recipient.  To 
guard  against  this  evil  a  system  of  minute  and  careful  investigation 
was  devised,  and  the  labor  was  so  divided  among  many  that  it  would 
not  be  burdensome. 

The  general  plan  of  operations  of  the  society  is  as  follows  :  First,  a 
general  division  of  the  city  and  county  into  districts  ;  next,  a  sub- 
division of  the  districts  into  numerous  sections,  and  the  appointment  of 
a  visitor  to  each  section,  when  the  field  of  labor  is  thus  made  so  limited 
that  he  can  easily  give  his  personal  attention  to  all  the  needy  in  his 
section.  By  this  system  the  society  embraces  every  street,  lane,  and 
alley  in  its  quest  and  in  its  benevolent  work.  "  It  penetrates  every 
cellar  and  garret  and  hovel,  where  the  needy  are  found,  and,  irre- 
spective of  creed,  color,  or  country,  ministers  to  all  not  otherwise 
provided  for,  in  a  way  to  benefit  the  recipient  and  jwomote  the  best 
interests  of  the  community."  * 

This  society  at  the  outset  was  far-reaching  in  its  labors  for  the  poor, 
not  confining  its  work  to  merely  temporary  relief  from  hunger  or  cold. 
It  has  labored  to  ameliorate  the  general  condition  of  the  laboring 
classes.  It  was  mainly  instrumental  in  the  establishment  of  the  Juve- 
nile Asylum  in  1851,  and  the  Demilt  Dispensary  the  same  }rear  ;  the 
North-western  Dispensary  in  1852  ;  a  public  washing  establishment  in 
1S53  ;  gave  impetus  to  the  movement  which  established  the  Children's 
Aid  Society  in  1851  ;  in  founding  the  "Workingmen's  Home  in  1855, 
and  in  the  creation  of  other  charities  equally  beneficent. 

The  visitors  of  the  society  are  required  to  give  only  in  small  quanti- 
ties, in  proportion  to  immediate  needs  ;  to  require  each  beneficiary  to 
abstain  from  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage  ;  such  as 
have  young  children  of  suitable  age  that  they  be  kept  in  school,  and  to 
apprentice  those  of  suitable  years  to  some  trade  or  send  them  out  to 
service,  thus  encouraging  the  poor  to  be  a  party  to  their  own  improve- 
ment and  elevation.  The  first  board  of  managers  of  the  institution 
were  leading  citizens,  who  were  active  in  various  vocations.  James 


*  "  The  Charities  of  New  York,"  by  Hugh  N.  Camp,  p.  447. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


583 


Brown,  of  the  banking-house  of  Brown  Brothers  &  Co.,  was  the  pres- 
ident ;*  George  Griswold,  J.  Smyth  Rogers,  M.D.,  James  Boorman, 
William  B.  Crosby,  and  James  Lenox  were  vice-presidents  ;  Robert  B. 

*  James  Brown  was  born  at  Ballymena,  Antrim  County,  Ireland,  on  February  4,  1791. 
He  died  in  New  York  City  on  November  1,  1877.  His  father,  Alexander  Brown,  who  was 
a  prominent  auctioneer  oi'  linens  at  Belfast,  came  to  America  in  the  year  1800  and  settled 
in  Baltimore  with  his  wife  and  eldest  son,  William,  leaving  the  three  younger  sons,  of 
whom  James  was  the  youngest,  in  school  in  England. 

In  1811  the  commercial  house  of  Alexander  Brown  &  Sons  was  established  in  Balti- 
more, where  it  still  exists.  The  previous  year  William,  who  had  gone  to  England  for  the 
benefit  of  his  health,  established  a  commercial  house  in  Liverpool.  James  visited  him 
in  1815,  and  soon  afterward  the  brothers  formed  a  partnership,  under  the  name  of  Will- 
iam &  James  Brown,  which  subsequently,  at  the  introduction  of  Mr.  Joseph  Shepley,  of 
Wilmington,  Delaware,  became  the  eminent  firm  of  Brown,  Shepley  &  Co. 

In  1862  William  was  created  a  baronet.  He  died  in  18(54,  so  that  the  two  brothers 
were  partners  for  about  half  a  century. 

In  18G4  this  firm  opened  a  house  .under  the  same  name  in  London,  which  still  exists. 
The  tie  of  relationship  between  the  eldest  and  the  youngest  brothers  was  strengthened 
by  the  marriage-  of  a  son  of  Sir  William  with  a  daughter  of  James.  The  present  baronet 
is  a  grandson  of  both  Sir  William  and  James  Brown.  Two  of  the  baronet's  brothers 
have  been  members  of  Parliament. 

After  the  war  of  1812-15  internal  improvements  caused  a  rapid  growth  in  and  concen- 
tration of  business  at  Philadelphia,  and  in  1818  John  A.  Brown,  another  brother,  estab- 
lished a  branch  house  in  that  city  under  the  name  of  John  A.  Brown  &  Co.  For  a 
time  James  took  his  brother  John's  place  in  Philadelphia,  while  the  latter  was  obliged 
to  return  to  Baltimore  for  a  few  years,  but  in  1825  he  settled  in  New  York  City, 
and  established  the  since  famous  house  of  Brown  Brothers  &  Co.,  a  house  which  has  been 
associated  with  the  most  important  financial  operations  in  our  country — a  house  distin- 
guished for  its  strength  in  all  the  elements  which  constitute  a  model  business  concern. 
In  1838  John  A.  Brown  retired  from  the  firm,  and  James,  the  youngest  of  the  house  of 
Brown  Brothers,  became  its  head,  and  so  remained  until  his  death.  The  name  of  each  of 
the  Brown  brothers  is  associated  with  all  that  is  honorable,  enterjirising,  and  upright  in 
business,  exemplary  in  religion,  and  beneficent  in  good  works.  The  linen  trade  was  for 
years  their  principal  biisiness,  but  from  the  beginning  of  their  operations  in  Baltimore 
they  were  dealers  in  exchange.  After  about  1832  their  business  was  wholly  confined  to 
dealing  in  exchange  and  banking.  As  an  example  of  the  financial  strength  and  high 
character  of  the  house,  it  maybe  mentioned  that  in  the  commercial  revulsion  in  1837  the 
firm  held  nearly  $4,000,000  of  American  protested  paper,  besides  other  large  amounts, 
and  at  the  same  time  had  to  meet  engagements  in  England  amounting  to  nearly  $10,000,- 
000.  Their  own  resources  were,  to  a  considerable  extent,  locked  up  in  American  securi- 
ties and  not  immediately  available.  The  English  house  effected  a  loan  from  the  Bank  of 
England  for  the  whole  amount  of  its  engagements  in  that  country,  depositing  securities 
to  the  amount  of  $25,000,000,  all  of  which  was  redeemed  within  six  months. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  in  connection  with  the  history  of  the  firm  of  Brown  Brothers 
&  Co.  that  when  Alexander  Brown  came  to  this  country  cotton  was  not  manufactured, 
and  Baltimore  was  the  great  mart  for  the  linen  trade.  The  people  of  the  Southern 
States  were  at  that  time  the  chief  customers  for  linen. 

James  Brown  was  twice  married —first  to  Laura  Kirkland  Benedict,  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  Joel  Benedict,  of  Plainfield,  Conn.,  who  died  in  1828.    Her  living  children  aro 


584 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Minturn,  treasurer  ;  R.  M.  Hartley,  corresponding  secretary  and  agent, 
and  Joseph  B.  Collins,  recording  secretary.* 

At  the  middle  of  the  second  decade  public  attention  in  the  city  of 
New  York  had  been  directed  in  a  special  and  earnest  manner  to  the 
condition  of  prisoners  of  both  sexes  while  in  confinement  and  after 
their  discharge.  "While  in  prison  little  was  done  or  thought  of  outside 
the  prison  walls  for  their  moral  and  spiritual  improvement,  and  there 
prevailed  in  society  an  unchristian  spirit  which  made  the  discharged 
convict,  though  ever  so  penitent  and  earnestly  desirous  of  leading  a 
better  life,  a  hopeless  outcast  from  the  better  social  life,  and  denied  the 
means  for  procuring  a  livelihood.  Many  a  poor  creature  emerging 
from  his  or  her  cell,  after  imprisonment  for  the  first  time,  filled  with 
hope  and  high  resolves,  was  crushed  on  the  threshold  by  the  im- 
placable heel  of  social  ostracism.  Millions  of  dollars  were  spent  in 
laudable  efforts  to  better  the  moral  and  spiritual  condition  of  benighted 
people  in  foreign  lands,  but  not  one  dollar  to  help  the  darkened  soul 
coming  out  from  prison  Avails  and  eloquently  pleading  for  mercy  and 
help  to  do  well  at  our  own  doors,  t 

Sarah  Benedict,  widow  of  Alexander  Brown,  Jr.,  of  London  ;  Louisa,  wife  of  Howard 
Potter,  and  Margaretta,  widow  of  James  Cooper  Lord.  In  1831  Mr.  Brown  married  Eliza 
Coe,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Coe,  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  who,  with  two  sons,  George  Hunter 
and  John  Crosby  Brown,  survive  him. 

Mr.  Brown  was  a  most  exemplary  man  in  his  domestic  and  social  relations,  and  of 
marked  personal  characteristics.  From  his  childhood  he  was  a  devout  worshipper  of 
God  and  a  lover  of  the  sanctuary.  This  predominant  feeling  he  impressed  upon  his 
entire  household.  To  the  deserving  person  or  institution  or  cause  which  commanded 
his  attention  and  his  favor,  he  was  always  an  abiding  and  munificent  helper,  and  in  this 
his  children  have  followed  his  example.  He  was  personally  connected  with  the  principal 
charitable  institutions  of  the  city.  The  most  severe  domestic  afflictions  tried  his  faith  and 
his  fortitude,  but  they  never  wavered  for  a  moment,  and  he  passed  through  a  long  life 
with  the  serenity  of  a  firm  Christian  believer  and  worker,  ever  doing  good  in  the  service 
of  his  fellow-men  and  of  his  Divine  Master  and  Friend. 

*  The  officers  of  the  association  in  18X2  were  :  Howard  Potter,  president  ;  R.  B.  Min. 
turn,  treasurer  ;  John  Bowne,  secretary. 

\  A  single  example  will  suffice  to  illustrate  the  effects  of  this  social  ostracism.  The 
incident  occurred  in  England  many  years  ago.  Two  college  students  at  Oxford,  a  noble- 
man and  a  commoner,  hired  a  horse  and  gig  and  rode  to  Bristol,  where  they  found  them- 
selves without  money  or  means  to  communicate  with  their  friends.  They  sold  their 
conveyance  and  started  for  the  college,  intending  to  pay  the  owner  so  soon  as  they  should 
receive  funds.  They  were  delayed,  and  on  their  return  were  arrested  for  theft.  The 
rank  of  the  nobleman  shielded  him  from  punishment,  the  commoner  was  transported  to 
the  penal  colony  of  New  South  Wales  for  a  term.  When  it  expired  he  went  to  work 
there,  married,  amassed  a  fortune,  and  became  eminent  in  society.  More  than  forty 
years  after  his  sentence  he  went  to  England  on  business.  Chance  brought  him  into 
court  as  a  witness.    He  was  about  to  step  from  the  witness  stand  when  one  of  the  law- 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


585 


Wise  and  benevolent-minded  men  and  women  in  New  York  had  long 
commiserated  the  condition  of  discharged  convicts.  Finally  they  took 
action  in  their  behalf.  Late  in  18-tfc  Eleazer  Family,  an  eminent 
dentist,  invited  a  few  friends  to  his  house  to  consider  the  matter. 
They  issued  a  circular,  in  response  to  which  a  meeting  was  held  at  the 
Apollo  Rooms  on  December  6th,  with  the  Hon.  W.  C.  McCoun  in  the 
c  hair.  Hon.  J.  W.  Edmonds  offered  a  resolution  that  it  was  expedient 
to  form  in  the  city  of  New  York  a  prison  association,  and  to  nominate 
suitable  officers  therefor. 

At  the  same  time  and  place,  Isaac  T.  Hopper,  one  of  the  most  active 
philanthropists  in  the  city,  offered  the  following  resolutions,  which 
were  adopted  : 

"  Resolved,  That  to  sustain  and  encourage  discharged  convicts  who  give  satisfactory 
evidence  of  repentance  and  reformation  in  their  endeavors  to  lead  honest  lives,  by 
affording  them  employment  and  guarding  them  against  temptation,  is  demauded  of  us, 
not  only  by  the  interests  of  society,  but  by  every  dictate  of  humanity. 

"  Resolved,  That  in  the  formation  of  such  a  society  it  would  be  proper  to  hav  e  a  f emalo 
department,  to  be  especially  regardful  of  the  interest  and  welfare  of  prisoners  of  that  sex." 

An  association  was  formed,  but  it  soon  embraced  the  whole  State  in 
its  organization,  having  a  committee  of  correspondence  in  every 
county.  It  is  therefore  not  a  city  institution,  though  most  of  its  ex- 
ecutive officers  reside  in  the  metropolis,  and  its  headquarters  are  there. 

Mr.  Hopper  was  one  of  the  most  efficient  members  of  the  Prison 
Society,  and  although  then  seventy -four  years  of  age,  he  accepted  and 
performed  the  duties  of  agent  of  the  association  with  great  energy  and 
acceptance,  in  which  he  was  essentially  aided  by  his  daughter,  Mrs. 
Abby  Gibbons.  In  all  the  meetings  in  public  his  voice  was  always 
eloquent  and  impressive  in  its  utterances. 

The  formation  of  a  woman's  association  was  a  project  that  more 
deeply  concerned  the  mind  and  heart  of  Mr.  Hopper,  for  he  well  knew 
how  superior  would  be  women's  work  in  the  enterprise.  Simultane- 
ously with  the  organization  of  the  other  prison  association,  he  formed, 
at  his  own  house,  the  Woman's  Prison  Association  of  the  City  of  Xkw 

yers  said  to  him  in  sharp  tones,  ''  Were  you  ever  transported  ?"  The  witness  turned  pale, 
and  with  quivering  lips  replied,  "  Yes,  forty-three  years  ago,  under  circumstances 
which  I  can — " 

"  Never  mind  the  circumstances,  sir,"  replied  the  lawyer.  "  The  fact  is  all  I  want  to 
know.    I  have  no  further  questions  to  ask  this  witness,  my  lord." 

The  witness  left  that  court-room  a  ruined  man.  Society,  which  had  just  courted  him, 
shunned  him.  His  credit  and  business  were  ruined,  and  in  three  months  he  died 
broken-hearted. 


586 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


York  (yet  in  active  operation),  with  the  same  objects  in  view.  An  act 
of  incorporation  was  passed  in  the  spring  of  1845,  and  in  June  they 
took  a  house,  appointed  matrons,  and  organized  a  committee  of  ladies 
for  the  management  of  the  concerns  of  the  society.  In  honor  of  the 
founder  the  asylum  was  called  the  Isaac  T.  Hopper  Home,  which  name 
it  still  bears. 

The  society  began  its  labors  with  great  zeal  and  vigor,  in  the  face  of 
many  difficulties,  for  the  salvation  of  unfortunates  of  their  sex,  by 
giving  them  shelter  when  discharged  from  prison,  by  leading  them  to 
a  better  life,  and  finding  means  for  them  to  gain  an  honest  livelihood. 
They  established  a  sewing  department  and  a  school,  and  later  a 
laundry,  and  so  made  the  institution  partially  self-supporting.  They 
visited  the  prisons,  sought  out  those  who  were  desirous  of  leading 
better  lives,  and  offered  them  shelter  and  aid  when  they  should  be  dis- 
charged. At  the  close  of  the  first  thirty  years  of  their  labors  (1876) 
the  society  reported  that  they  had  given  shelter  to  7221)  women,  sent 
to  service  3857,  while  others  had  been  employed  by  the  day  or  week  as 
seamstresses  or  in  household  work.  According  to  the  report  of  the 
association  for  1882,  the  numl>er  admitted  to  the  home  during  the  year 
was  386,  of  whom  21!)  were  sent  to  service.  Who  can  estimate  the 
vast  benefits  to  society  of  an  institution  like  this,  which  stood  alone  in 
its  benevolent  work  for  many  years  I* 

The  Woman's  Prison  Association  has  never  received  aid  from  the 
State.    The  city  authorities  have  from  time  to  time  made  small  dona- 

*  An  illustration  has  been  given  of  the  sad  effects  of  social  ostracism  on  a  discharged 
convict.  Victor  Hugo,  in  his  "  Les  Mi  sc  rabies,"  gives,  in  a  picture  of  the  meeting  of 
Jean  Valjean  and  the  bishop,  an  illustration  of  the  effects  of  kindness  toward  the  unfort- 
unates, which  the  Woman's  Prison  Association  exercises. 

Valjean  stole  a  loaf  of  bread  to  appease  hunger,  and  was  sent  to  prison  for  five  years. 
Several  times  he  attempted  to  escape,  and  was  resentenced  until  he  had  been  confined 
nineteen  years.  When  he  was  discharged  he  was  given  a  passport  that  stigmatized  him 
as  a  discharged  convict,  and  every  honest  man's  door  was  closed  against  him  until  a  good 
old  bishop,  to  his  great  surprise,  gave  him  welcome,  food,  and  shelter.  The  bishop's 
silver  plate  tempted  him,  and  he  stole  this  treasure  from  his  benefactor  and  fled.  He  was 
captured  and  led  into  the  presence  of  the  bishop,  when  the  old  prelate  greeted  him 
kindly,  and  said  : 

"  Ah  !  Valjean,  I'm  glad  to  see  you.  But  I  gave  you  the  candlesticks  too,  which  aro 
also  of  silver.    Why  did  you  not  take  them  with  the  rest  ?" 

The  bishop  then  bade  the  officers  to  retire,  for  they  had  made  a  mistake,  and  address- 
ing the  trembling  thief  while  he  laid  his  hand  on  his  shoulder,  said  : 

"  Jean  Valjean,  my  brother  !  you  no  longer  belong  to  evil,  but  to  good.  I  withdraw 
your  soul  from  black  thoughts  and  the  spirit  of  perdition  and  give  it  to  God.  Never 
forget  that  you  are  to  employ  this  silver — your  silver  now — in  becoming  an  honest  man  .'" 

Isaac  T.  Hopper  was  the  good  bishop  to  many  a  poor  shivering  soul. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


587 


tions.  The  society  has  depended  for  support  on  private  annual  sub- 
scriptions and  gifts.  In  1865  the  Home  received  a  legacy  of  §50,000 
from  Mr.  Charles  Burrall,  of  Hoboken,  New  Jersey.* 

There  was  a  wide  field  of  labor  open  to  the  Woman's  Prison  Asso- 
ciation at  near  the  close  of  this  decade,  for  in  the  Tombs  and  in  the 
Penitentiary  of  Blackwell's  Island  there  were,  in  1848,  1040  convicts, 
of  whom  over  400  were  women. 

*  The  officers  of  the  association  for  1882  were  :  Mrs.  Jaines  S.  Gibbons,  first  direct- 
ress ;  Mrs.  Frederick  Billings,  second  directress  ;  Mrs.  A.  M.  Powell,  corresponding 
secretary  ;  Mrs.  William  Evans,  Jr.,  recording  secretary  ;  Mrs.  James  M.  Halstead,  treas- 
urer, and  nineteen  ladies  comprising  an  executive  committee. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


THE  late  Rev.  Dr.  Muhlenberg,  rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Communion,  lamenting  the  neglect  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  to  make  adequate  provision  for  its  sick  poor,  said  to  his  con- 
gregation, on  the  Festival  of  St.  Luke,  in  lS-tfi,  that,  with  their  per- 
mission, he  would  appropriate  a  portion  of  their  offerings  on  that  day 
to  the  beginning  of  a  hospital  that  would  afford  medical  and  surgical 
aid  and  nursing  to  sick  and  disabled  persons;  also  to  provide  them  while 
in  the  establishment  with  Gospel  ministrations  according  to  the  ritual 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  ;  also  to  provide  for  the  instruc- 
tion and  training  of  persons  in  the  art  of  nursing  and  attending  upon 
the  sick.  Thirty  dollars  of  the  collection  on  that  day  were  laid  aside 
for  the  purpose. 

For  three  or  four  years  nothing  more  was  contemplated  than  a 
parochial  institution,  but  when  its  purpose  became  generally  known, 
its  appeals  were  so  generously  responded  to  that  the  managers  deter- 
mined to  enlarge  its  sphere.  It  had  received  a  charter  of  incorporation 
in  the  spring  of  L850,  with  the  title  of  St.  Luke's  Hospital.  The  man- 
agers asked  for  a  subscription  of  $loo,o0<>.  A  meeting  of  Episcopalians 
was  held  at  the  Stuyvesant  Institute,  when  a  committee  on  subscrip- 
tions was  appointed.  The  desired  sum  was  soon  raised.  Ground  was 
procured  on  Fifth  Avenue,  between  Fifty-fourth  and  Fifty-fifth  streets, 
and  thereon  the  corner-stone  of  the  present  buildings  was  laid  in  May, 
1854.  A  further  subscription  of  $100,000  was  obtained.  The  chapel 
was  first  opened  in  May,  ls57,  and  on  Ascension  day  (May  13th), 
1858,  the  hospital  was  dedicated  and  opened  for  patients. 

So  early  as  1845  some  ladies  had  associated  themselves  as  a  Church 
Sisterhood,  and  were  formally  organized  as  such  in  1851.  It  was 
simply  an  association  of  Protestant  Christian  women  for  comforting 
the  sick.  Xo  vows  of  any  kind  bound  the  Sisters  to  their  work  or  to 
each  other,  but  after  a  trial  of  six  months  they  engaged  for  three  years, 
after  which  they  might  renew  the  engagement  or  not  at  their  pleasure. 

On  the  opening  of  the  hospital  the  managers  requested  the  Sisters 
attached  to  the  infirmary  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Communion  to 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


589 


take  charge  of  the  wards.  This  they  did,  and  very  soon  the  charge  of 
the  entire  house  was  committed  to  them,  under  the  advice  and  direction 
of  the  founder.  This  sisterhood,  however,  is  entirely  independent  of 
the  hospital,  both  as  regards  its  organization  and  its  means  of  support. 
A  separate  home  was  provided  for  them.  Tlus  was  done  through  the 
liberality  of  John  II.  Swift.  The  ground  on  which  it  stands  was  given 
by  Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Rogers.  So  strong  were  the  prejudices  against  this 
sisterhood,  which  was  regarded  as  an  imitation  of  Roman  Catholic 
conventual  life,  that  no  money  could  have  been  collected  for  the  purpose 
of  building  them  a  home.  They  had  established  an  infirmary  with 
fifteen  beds,  in  a  hired  house  near  by,  so  early  as  1854,  and  this  was  the 
real  beginning  of  St.  Luke's  Hospital.  The  infirmary  was  transferred 
to  St.  Luke's  in  1858. 

Dr.  Muhlenberg,  the  founder  of  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  was  its  pastor 
and  superintendent,  and  lived  in  the  hospital  as  the  house-father  until 
his  death.* 

The  general  plan  of  St.  Luke's  Hospital  building  is  an  oblong  paral- 
lelogram, with  wings  at  each  end.  It  is  three  stories  in  height.  No 
institution  in  the  world  is  better  adapted  and  equipped  for  its 
work  than  St.  Luke's  Hospital.  +    It  administers  relief  to  sufferers 

*  William  Augustus  Muhlenberg,  D.D.,  was  born  in  Philadelphia  in  1790,  and  died  in 
New  York  in  1877.  He  graduated  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1814,  and  was 
ordained  a  minister  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  1817.  From  that  time  until 
1821  he  was  assistant  rector  of  Christ  Church  in  Philadelphia,  under  Bishop  White. 
From  1821  to  1828  he  was  rector  of  St.  James's  Church,  Lancaster,  where  be  took  an 
active  part  in  establishing  the  first  public  school  in  the  State  outside  of  Philadelphia. 
He  founded  St.  Paul's  School  at  Flushing,  L.  I.,  in  1828,  of  which  he  was  principal  until 
1846,  when  he  was  called  to  the  rectorship  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Communion  in  New 
York  City.  It  was  the  earliest  free  Episcopal  Church  in  the  city.  He  had  organized  the 
year  before  the  first  Protestant  sisterhood  in  the  United  States.  In  the  latter  years  of 
his  life  he  was  instrumental  in  founding  an  industrial  Christian  settlement  at  St.  John- 
land,  L.  I.,  not  far  from  New  York,  which  is  still  flourishing  with  most  beneficent  results. 
Liberal  in  his  views,  he  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  Christian  union.  He  mingled  prac- 
tical philanthropy  with  earnest  piety  and  devotion.  Dr.  Muhlenberg  was  the  author 
of  several  popular  hymns—-'  I  would  not  live  alway,"  "  Like  Noah's  Weary  Dove," 
"  Shout  the  Glad  Tidings,"  and  "  Saviour  who  Thy  Flock  art  Feeding."  His  noblest 
monument  is  the  hospital  which  he  founded. 

f  The  officers  of  St.  Luke's  Hospital  in  1882  were  :  John  H.  Earle,  president  ;  James 
M.  Brown  and  Percy  R.  Pyne,  vice  presidents  ;  Gordon  Norrie,  treasurer,  and  George 
Macculloch  Miller,  secretary.  There  are  twenty- five  managers,  besides  six  ex-officio 
managers,  namely  :  the  mayor  of  the  city,  the  president  of  each  board  of  the  common 
council,  the  British  Consul,  and  one  warden  and  one  vestryman  of  the  Church  of 
St.  George  the  Martyr.  These  ex-officio  managers  may  be  accounted  for  from  the  fact 
that  the  land  on  which  the  hospital  was  erected  was,  for  certain  considerations  on  the 
part  of  Trinity  Church,  granted  to  the  Church  of  St.  George  the  Martyr,  on  the  condition 


590 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


without  distinction  of  race  or  creed,  in  the  loving  spirit  of  the  Church 
which  cherishes  it.  The  motto  on  its  seal — "  Corpus  sanare,  animam 
salvare"  (to  cure  the  body,  to  save  the  soul) — declares  its  twofold 
object. 

In  1882  there  were  treated  in  the  hospital  1574  patients,  of  whom 
1214  were  charity  patients. 

In  1846  the  late  Archbishop  Hughes  invited  Sisters  of  Mercy  to  come 
from  Ireland  and  establish  a  House  of  Mercy  in  New  York.  They 
came,  and  began  their  work  in  a  small  way  at  a  temporary  place  of 
abode,  No.  IS  Washington  Place,  confining  their  duties  to  visiting  the 
sick,  the  poor,  and  the  dying,  and  instructing  the  ignorant.  There 
were  seven  of  them.  They  enlarged  their  sphere  of  action,  and  in 
1850  a  residence  for  them  was  built,  and  they  have  ever  since  carried 
on  the  benevolent  work  with  efficiency  and  widespread  usefulness. 
The  institution  was  incorporated  in  1851. 

Another  benevolent  institution — another  organization  of  Sisters  of 
Charity  under  the  control  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church — was  founded 
in  1849.  Early  in  that  year  a  religious  community  of  women  was 
formed  in  New  York,  and  was  incorporated  (January  23,  1849)  under 
the  legal  title  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul.  Their 
pattern  and  design  were  similar  institutions  existing  in  Paris  and  Dublin. 
Their  primary  object  was  the  care  of  the  sick  and  the  abandoned 
poor,  administering  to  all  their  wants,  corporeal  and  spiritual,  as  far  as 
possible  ;  to  soothe  them  in  their  sufferings,  and  to  comfort  them  in  all 
their  sorrows. 

In  November,  1840,  these  Sisters  organized  the  Hospital  of  St.  Vin- 
cent de  Paul,  at  a  three-story  dwelling-house  in  Thirteenth  Street, 
fitted  up  to  accommodate  thirty  patients.  Very  soon  patients  flocked 
to  it,  not  only  from  the  city  but  from  adjacent  villages.  The  Sisters 
added  the  adjoining  dwelling  to  the  establishment,  and  thus  secured 
accommodations  for  seventy  patients.  They  remained  in  this  locality 
until  1856,  when  they  rented  the  building  they  now  occupy,  No.  195 
West  Eleventh  Street,  which  had  been  occupied  by  a  Roman  Catholic 
Half-Orphan  Asylum. 

The  first  director  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  was  the 
Rev.  William  Starrs,  Vicar- General  of  the  Church  in  New  York.  Dr. 
Valentine  Mott  was  the  consulting  surgeon  and  physician,  Drs.  W.  H. 
Van  Buren  and  Schmitz  were  visiting  surgeons,  and  Drs.  William 

that  there  should  be  erected  thereon  a  hospital  and  free  chapel  for  British  emigrants. 
That  church  conveyed  the  property  to  the  corporation  of  St.  Luke's  Hospital  on  the  con- 
ditions named. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


591 


Murray  and  William  Power  were  visiting  physicians.  Dr.  Mott  took 
a  lively  interest  in  the  institution,  and  held  the  position  he  first  assumed 
until  his  death,  a  period  of  sixteen  years.* 

Additions  have  been  made  to  the  building,  until  now  (1883)  it  has 
accommodations  for  at  least  two  hundred  patients,  having-  that  number 
of  beds.  It  also  has  private  rooms  wherein  persons  of  either  sex  tem- 
porarily in  the  city  and  stricken  with  sickness  may  find  accommoda- 
tions. Its  principal  means  of  support  is  the  revenue  derived  from 
paving  patients.  Its  doors  are  open  to  the  afflicted  of  every  creed  and 
countiy,  the  only  cause  for  exclusion  being  cases  of  violently  contagious 
diseases.  Patients  suffering  from  severe  accidents  may  be  admitted  at 
any  hour  during  the  day  or  night. 

Late  in  this  decade  an  important  institution  of  learning  was  estab- 
lished in  the  city  of  New  York  which  has  performed  service  of  incalcu- 
lable value  in  the  promotion  of  public  instruction  of  a  higher  order.  It 
is  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  of  which  General  Alexander 
S.  Webb,  LL.D.,  is  president,  f 

*  Valentine  Mott,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  was  born  at  Glen  Cove,  L.  I.,  August  20,  1785,  and  died 
in  New  York  City  April  '26,  1865.  He  graduated  in  medicine  at  Columbia  College  in  1806, 
and  afterward  studied  in  London  and  Edinburgh.  His  father  was  a  distinguished  phy- 
sician. Soon  after  his  return  from  Europe  he  was  appointed  professor  of  surgerj'  in 
Columbia  College,  which  chair  he  filled  with  eminent  ability  until  the  medical  department 
of  that  institution  was  united  with  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  1813,  and 
from  that  time  until  1826,  when,  with  others,  he  founded  the  new  Rutgers  Medical  Col- 
lege. At  its  demise,  four  years  afterward,  he  became  a  lecturer  in  the  College  of  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons  and  professor  of  surgery  and  relative  anatomy  in  the  medical 
department  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York,  of  which  he  was  president  for 
many  years. 

Dr.  Mott  became  noted  in  his  early  manhood  for  his  surgery.  So  early  as  1818,  when 
he  was  thirty-three  years  of  age,  he  performed  the  bold  surgical  operation  of  placing  a 
ligature  around  an  artery  within  two  inches  of  the  heart,  for  aneurism.  Not  long  after- 
ward he  exsected  the  entire  right  collar  bone  for  a  malignant  disease  of  that  bone,  apply- 
ing forty  ligatures— the  most  difficult  and  dangerous  operation  that  can  be  performed  on 
the  human  frame.  In  all  branches  of  operative  surgery  he  was  most  skilful  and  success- 
ful. He  was  the  first  surgeon  who  tied  the  primitive  iliac  artery  for  aneurism,  and  the 
first  who  removed  the  lower  jaw  for  necrosis.  He  performed  the  operation  of  lithotomy 
one  hundred  and  sixty-five  times,  and  amputated  more  than  one  thousand  limbs.  The 
great  English  surgeon,  Sir  Astley  Cooper,  said  Dr.  Mott  had  performed  more  of  the  great 
operations  than  any  man,  living  or  dead. 

In  1835  Dr.  Mott  went  abroad,  and  travelled  in  England,  on  the  Continent,  and  in  the 
East.  In  1842  he  published  in  one  volume  an  account  of  this  trip,  entitled,  "  Travels  in 
Europe  and  the  East."  He  translated  Velpeau's  "  Operative  Surgery,"  in  four  volumes. 
Dr.  Mott  was  not  a  voluminous  writer.  His  "  Cliniqaes"  were  reported  by  Dr.  Samuel 
W.  Francis,  now  of  Newport,  R.  I. 

|  Alexander  S.  Webb,  LL.D.,  is  a  sou  of  General  James  Watson  Webb.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  graduating  in  1855  as  a  lieutenant  of  artil- 


593 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Early  in  1847  a  committee  of  the  board  of  education  recommended 
that  body  to  apply  to  the  Legislature  for  a  law  authorizing-  the  found- 
ing in  the  city  of  New  York  of  a  free  college  or  academy  for  the 
benefit  of  pupils  who  had  been  educated  in  the  common  schools.  The 
application  was  made,  and  on  May  7,  1847,  the  Legislature  passed  an 
act  as  desired,  to  be  submitted  to  the  voice  of  the  electors  of  the  citj\ 
That  submission  was  made  on  June  9th.  The  result  was  19,404  votes 
in  favor  of  a  free  academy,  to  3499  against  it.  Under  that  title  it  was 
incorporated. 

A  spacious  building  of  brick,  four  stories  in  height,  a  peaked  roof 
with  dormer  windows,  and  admirable  internal  arrangements,  was 
erected  on  Twenty-third  Street,  corner  of  Lexington  Avenue.  It  was 
opened  and  the  first  class  entered  in  January,  1849,  which  completed 
its  course  in  1853  with  such  satisfactory  results  that  thousands  of  citi- 
zens who  had  heretofore  held  aloof  from  all  public  schools  now  sent 
their  children  to  them.  Very  soon  it  was  found  necessary  to  erect 
three  new  public-school  buildings,  on  a  new  order  of  structure  and 
much  greater  in  size  than  before.  They  were  made  to  accommodate 
two  thousand  c  hildren  in  each. 

The  requisites  for  admission  to  the  Free  Academy  were  :  that  an 
applicant  must  be  fourteen  years  of  age  and  a  resident  of  the  city, 
should  have  attended  the  common  schools  in  the  city  twelve  months, 
and  should  pass  a  good  exam i nation  in  spelling,  reading,  writing,  Eng- 
lish grammar,  arithmetic,  algebra,  geography,  history  of  the  United 
States,  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  elementary  book- 
keeping. The  pupils  of  the  Free  Academy  had  the  advantages  of 
instruction  of  the  highest  order  in  various  branches  of  learning  appli- 

lery.  He  served  against  the  Semiuoles  in  Florida  and  on  the  frontier,  and  for  four 
years  (1857-01)  he  was  assistant  professor  of  mathematics  at  West  Point.  In  May,  18(51, 
he  received  the  commission  of  captain  in  the  Eleventh  Infantry.  He  had  reached  the 
rank  of  brigadier-general  of  volunteers  in  1863.  At  the  beginning  of  the  war  he  gave 
efficient  aid  in  the  defence  ef  Fort  Pickens,  and  served  with  distinction  in  the  battle  of 
Bull  Run,  in  the  Peninsula  campaign  of  18(52,  and  was  chief  of  staff  in  the  battles  of 
South  Mountain  and  Antietam.  He  was  also  in  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville  in  1803. 
He  led  a  brigade  in  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  where  he  was  wounded.  In  18(51  General 
Webb  commanded  a  brigade  in  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness,  where  he  was  dangerously 
wounded.  Returning  to  the  service  early  in  1805,  General  Webb  was  made  General 
Meade's  chief  of  staff,  and  held  that  position  until  the  close  of  the  war.  In  March,  1865, 
he  was  breveted  brigadier-general  and  major-general  United  States  Army,  and  was  dis- 
charged from  service  in  December  following. 

In  1869  General  Webb  was  appointed  president  of  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York. 
Under  his  management  it  has  attained  a  high  rank  as  one  of  the  most  important  semi- 
naries of  learning  in  the  country. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


593 


cable  to  the  most  important  affairs  in  life,  omitted  altogether  or  nut 
practically  taught  in  the  colleges. 

In  the  year  1854  the  Legislature  passed  a  law  endowing  the  Free 
Academy  with  collegiate  powers  and  privileges,  so  far  as  pertained  to 
the  conferring  upon  its  graduates  the  usual  collegiate  degrees  and 
diplomas  in  the  arts  and  sciences.  Another  step  forward  was  made  by 
the  institution  in  1866,  when,  on  the  recommendation  of  the  hoard  of 
education,  the  Legislature  changed  the  name  to  that  of  the  College  of 
the  City  of  New  York,  and  conferred  on  the  institution  all  the  powers 
and  privileges  of  a  college  pursuant  to  the  llevised  Statutes  of  the 
State,  making  it  suhject  to  the  visitation  of  the  regents  of  the  Univer- 
sity in  like  manner  with  other  colleges  of  the  State,  and  making  the 
members  of  the  board  of  education  e.r-ojficio  the  trustees  of  tin;  college. 
Finally  the  Legislature  in  1882  repealed  so  much  of  the  statutes  relat- 
ing to  the  college  as  had  made  one  year's  attendance  at  the  public 
schools  of  the  city  a  requisite  for  admission,  thus  opening  the  college  to 
all  young  men  of  the  city  of  proper  age  and  sufficient  preparation. 
Instruction  is  free,  so  is  the  use  of  text-books,  and  there  is  no  expense 
whatever  to  be  borne  by  the  students.  There  is  a  post-graduate  course 
in  engineering,  occupying  two  additional  years. 

The  College  of  Xew  York  possesses  about  20,000  volumes  of  selected 
works,  valued  at  $45,000,  and  is  the  repository  of  15,400  volumes  for 
issue,  and  1900  not  issued,  valued  at  $13,5oo.  It  has  a  fine  cabinet  of 
natural  history,  and  the  scientific  department  is  equipped  with  appa- 
ratus valued  at  about  $18,000.  The  value  of  the  buildings  is  estimated 
at  $190,000.  The  institution  is  maintained  at  an  annual  cost  to  the 
city  of  $140,000. 

The  wise  and  liberal  designs  of  the  sagacious  founders  of  the  Free 
Academy  are  carried  out  in  its  curriculum  and  practices  to-day  more 
broadly,  liberally,  and  efficiently  than  at  the  beginning,  and  the 
College  of  Xew  York  exhibits  the  matured  strength  and  puissance  of 
the  young  institution  started  on  its  course  thirty-six  years  ago  in  the 
presence  of  Mayor  Ilavemeyer  and  under  the  care,  government,  and 
management  of  some  of  the  best  men  of  the  city.* 

*  The  board  of  trustees  for  1882-83  are  :  Stephen  A.  Walker,  LL.D.,  chairman  ;  Eufus 
G.  Beardslee,  William  Wood,  LL.D.,  James  Flvnn,  Bernard  Amend,  Henry  V.  West, 
Frederick  R.  Coudert,  Gilbert  H.  Crawford,  Isaac  Bell,  Edward  Patterson,  Jacob  H. 
Sehiff,  Eugene  Kelly,  Hubbard  G.  Stone,  Joseph  W.  Drexel,  David  Wet.more,  Ferdinand 
Traud,  Frederick  W.  Devoe,  William  Dowd,  William  Belden,  J.  Edward  Simmons,  W.  J. 
Welch,  and  Alexander  S.  Webb,  LL.D.  (ex-officio).  Lawrence  D.  Kiernan,  A.M.,  LL.B.,  is 
secretary.    Dr.  Webb  is  the  president  of  the  faculty  or  officers  of  instruction  and  govern- 


594 


HISTORY  OF  NEW*  YORK  CITY. 


At  about  the  time  of  the  founding  of  the  Free  Academy  in  Is~ew 
York  the  first  publishing  house  devoted  exclusively  to  the  issue  of 
school-books  was  established  in  that  city,  and  is  now  (1883)  one  of  the 
most  extensive  establishments  of  the  kind  in  the  world.  Its  publica- 
tions are  sold  by  the  million,  and  in  every  State  and  Territory  in  the 
Union,  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  and  even  in  China  and  Japan. 
Reference  is  made  to  the  house  of  Ivison,  Blakeman,  Taylor  ct  Co.,  of 
New  York  and  Chicago. 

This  great  school-book  publishing  house  was  founded  essentially  by 
Henry  Ivison,*  who  retired  from  business  in  January,  1*83,  leaving 
his  name  in  the  firm  in  the  person  of  his  son,  David  B.  Ivison.  Be- 
ginninif  in  a  small  wav  at  Xo.  T.»!»  Broadwav,  in  1*47.  the  firm  now 
occupies  two  stores  in  one  (7.~»:i~7.~>r> )  on  Broadway,  and  two  stores  in  one 
(117-110)  in  State  Street,  Chicago.  Their  catalogue  contains  the  titles 
of  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  distinct  elementary  books  published 
by  them  for  use  in  schools. 

ment,  assisted  by  fourteen  professors  and  sixteen  tutors.  The  whole  number  of  students 
•was  five  hundred  and  ninety-four. 

*  Mr.  Ivison  is  a  native  of  Glasgow,  Scotland,  where  he  was  born  in  1808.  Receiving 
an  academic  education,  he  came  to  this  country  in  early  life  (1820),  learned  the  business 
of  a  bookseller  with  William  Williams  int'tiea.  X.  Y.,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  began 
that  business  on  his  own  account  in  Auburn,  X.  Y,  in  1830.  Honest,  industrious, 
plodding,  of  keen  judgment  and  vigorous  physical  constitution,  he  began  business  life 
without  a  dollar  of  his  own,  but  was  successful  from  the  beginning,  for  he  deserved  and 
never  lacked  friends. 

Mr.  Ivison  was  in  business  in  the  interior  of  the  State,  before  railways  and  expresses 
were  established,  and  he  visited  the  city  of  Xew  York  twice  a  year  for  the  purpose  of 
purchasing  go.jds.  There  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mark  H.  Newman,  a  bookseller 
at  Xo.  199  Broadway,  and  a  most  estimable  man.  He  was  the  first  publisher  who  suc- 
ceeded in  making  a  connected  and  graded  series  of  school-books.  Mr.  Ivison  made  his 
store  a  depository  and  packing-place  for  his  goods  for  several  years.  To  it  he  carried 
his  parcels,  generally  with  his  own  hands.  In  1846  Mr.  Newman's  health  began  to  fail, 
and  he  said  to  Mr.  Ivison  : 

"  I  have  noticed  that  you  are  not  ashamed  to  carry  your  own  bundles.  Xow  I  want 
you  to  come  and  take  part  in  my  business  ;  the  opportunity  is  a  good  one." 

Mr.  Ivison  went  home  and  laid  the  matter  before  his  family  and  friends.  The  result 
was  the  acceptance  of  Mr.  Xewman's  proposal,  and  they  became  business  partners,  the 
connection  ending  only  with  the  life  of  the  latter,  seven  years  afterward.  Mr.  Ivison 
formed  other  business  connections  afterward,  and  was  always  blessed  in  having  excellent 
men  as  partners.  To  these  and  the  employes  he  was  like  the  head  of  a  family,  always 
Bunny  in  temper.  Indeed,  he  was  never  known  to  speak  harshly  to  a  partner  ;  he  was 
never  sued  by  or  sued  any  one,  and  always  paid  one  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar.  In  a 
word  he  was  always  a  model  business  man. 

Mr.  Ivison  has  been  twice  married  -  first  to  Miss  Sarah  R  Brinckerhoff.  and  second  to 
Miss  Harriet  E.  Seymour — and  has  been  blessed  with  six  children.  He  spends  a  greater 
portion  of  the  year  at  his  beautiful  country-seat  at  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  where  he  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  charming  domestic  and  social  circle. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1850. 


.V  few  years  before  the  establishment  of  the  Free  Academy  in  New 
York — a  people's  college — Bishop  Hughes  had  planted  the  seed  of  the 
famous  Roman  Catholic  St.  John's  College  at  Fordham,  now  within  the 
city  limits,  lie  saw  and  was  pleased  with  an  estate  known  as  Rose 
Hill,  on  which  were  an  unfinished  stone  house  and  an  old  wooden  farm- 
house. Behind  these  was  a  productive  farm,  and  through  a  wood  back 
of  that  flowed  the  little  river  Bronx.  In  front  of  the  houses  was  a 
beautiful  slope  of  nearly  twenty  acres,  fringed  with  elms.  The  bishop 
bargained  for  the  estate.  The  price  was  $30,000,  and  to  fit  the  build- 
ings for  students  would  cost  $10,000  more.  He  had  not  a  dollar  of  the 
purchase  money,  but  he  knew  his  constituency  and  had  strong  faith  in 
their  zeal.  He  was  not  disappointed.  The  money  was  soon  raised  by 
subscriptions,  at  home  and  abroad,  and  by  loans. 

The  college  was  opened  in  the  stone  building  in  June,  1S41,  with 
the  Rev.  John  McCloskey  (now  cardinal)  as  president.  A  large  building, 
the  first  of  the  structures  which  now  constitute  the  college  edifices,  and 
the  church  were  begun  in  184.").  The  buildings  of  the  college  are  not 
yet  completed  on  the  extensive  scale  contemplated,  but  even  now 
present  an  elegant  and  imposing  appearance.* 

Only  two  clubs  besides  the  Century  and  two  scientific  associations 
were  formed  in  New  York  during  the  second  decade.  The  clubs  were 
the  New  York  Yacht  and  the  Americus  clubs.  Both  appear  conspicu- 
ous in  the  social  history  of  the  city  of  Xew  York,  and  both  are  still  in 
existence.  The  scientific  associations  are  the  American  Ethnological 
Society  and  the  American  Numismatic  and  Archaeological  Society. 

The  Xkw  York  Yacht  Club  was  formed  in  18*4.  On  the  30th  of 
July  the  following  gentlemen  met  on  board  the  schooner  Gimcrack  for 
the  purpose  :  John  C.  Stevens,  Hamilton  Wilkes,  William  Edgar,  John 
C.  Jay,  George  L.  Schuyler,  Louis  A.  P.  Depau,  George  B.  Rollins, 
James  M.  Waterburv,  and  James  Rogers.  The  club  was  organized 
and  the  following  gentlemen  were  elected  its  officers,  at  a  meeting  at 
Windust's,  on  March  17,  184.")  :  John  C.  Stevens,  commodore  ;  Ham- 
ilton Wilkes,  vice-commodore  ;  George  B.  Rollins,  corresponding 
secretary  ;  John  0.  Jay,  recording  secretary,  and  William  Edgar, 
treasurer. 

The  first  regular  regatta  in  the  United  States  took  place  on  the  17th 
of  July,  1845,  in  which  the  following  yachts  participated  :  ('>/;/">■/,  45 

*  The  officers  in  1882-83  were  :  Rev.  Patrick  F.  Dealey,  president  ;  Rev.  Patrick  A. 
Halpin,  vice-president  :  Rev.  Nicholas  Hanrahan,  treasurer.  There  are  ten  professors 
and  fourteen  teachers.  All  of  the  former  and  most  of  the  latter  belong  to  the  order  of 
Jesuits. 


59G 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


tons  ;  Sibyl,  42  ;  Spray,  37  ;  La  Coquille,  27  ;  Minna,  30  ;  Newbury, 
33  ;  Gimcrack,  25  ;  Lancet,  20  ;  Ada,  17. 

From  that  time  until  the  present  a  regatta  has  been  sailed  every 
year,  with  the  exception  of  1S61,  and  for  the  last  twenty-six  years 
there  has  been  a  squadron  cruise  to  neighboring  ports. 

Men  of  wealth  and  leisure  having  a  taste  for  out-door  sports  Avere 
not  then,  as  now,  numerous  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  the  club 
struggled  for  popularity  a  long  time  before  it  won  the  prize.  Its 
vessels  were  models  of  elegant  naval  architecture,  and  attracted  the 
notice  of  public  men,  and  in  1848  Congress  instructed  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  to  permit  these  vessels  to  be  licensed  in  terms  allowing  them 
to  proceed  from  port  to  port,  provided  they  should  not  transport  goods 
and  passengers  for  pay.  The  Secretary  was  also  instructed  to  prescribe 
the  colors  of  the  flags  and  signals  of  the  yacht  fleet,  which  in  1850  did 
not  much  exceed  a  dozen  vessels. 

It  was  several  years  before  the  regattas  attracted  much  public  atten- 
tion. Finally  reporters  of  the  newspapers  made  these  occasions  sub- 
jects for  (juite  long  and  attractive  notices,  and  at  length  the  regattas 
became  very  popular,  and  have  remained  so. 

The  most  notable  event  in  the  history  of  the  New  York  Yacht  Club 
occurred  in  1807,  when  an  ocean  race  took  place  between  three  vessels 
of  the  fleet — namely,  the  LLenrietta,  belonging  to  James  Gordon 
Bennett,  Jr.  (who  entered  the  club  ten  years  before,  when  he  was  a 
lad)  ;  the  Yt-xtu,  owned  by  Pierre  Lorillard,  and  the  Fleetwing,  be- 
longing to  George  Osgood.  They  were  sailed  by  their  respective 
owners.  They  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  the  race.  The  Henrietta  was 
the  winner,  making  Bennett  famous  in  two  hemispheres.  Prophets  of 
evil  had  predicted  that  these  comparatively  tiny  craft  would  go  to  the 
bottom  of  the  sea  instead  of  sailing  to  the  coast  of  England. 

Mr.  Bennett  was  beaten  in  a  similar  race  in  1870.  His  vessel  was 
the  Dav/nUess,  and  his  competitor  was  Mr.  Ashbury,  of  the  Royal 
London  Club.  Mr.  Bennett,  for  certain  reasons,  took  the  longer  route, 
and  outsailed  his  competitor  by  several  hundred  miles,  it  is  said,  but 
Mr.  Ashbury  first  passed  the  stake-boat  and  Avon  the  race.  At  one 
time  the  racers  Avere  three  hundred  miles  apart. 

The  association  became  possessor  of  a  handsome  club-house  at 
Clifton,  Staten  Island,  in  1868,  where  it  has  a  restaurant  and  billiard- 
room. 

The  New  York  Yacht  Club  is  the  pioneer  of  yachting  in  America, 
and  nearly  all,  if  not  all,  the  notable  achieArements  of  American  yachts 
haAre  been  performed  under  its  auspices  and  by  the  yachts  of  the  club. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840  1850. 


59? 


In  1S55  Commodore  Stevens  resigned  because  of  ill-health,  old  age,  and 
the  wear  of  service  for  more  than  half  a  century.  So  early  as  1802  he 
•\vas  the  builder,  captain,  cook,  and  "  all  hands"  of  the  little  yacht 
Diver  J  he  ended  as  commodore  of  a  fleet  whose  flagship,  the  Maria, 
carried  her  pennant  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  surface  of  the 
sea. 

The  number  of  members  of  the  New  York  Yacht  Club  since  its 
organization  is  about  1S0O,  and  the  list  of  members  in  1888  numbered 
350.    The  fleet  numbers  about  130  vessels,  steam  and  sail.* 

Quite  different  has  been  the  history  of  the  other  famous  club,  the 
Ajcebictjs,  It  was  organized  in  1849  for  a  purpose  similar  to  that  of 
the  New  York  Yacht  Club.  It  finally  became  more  of  a  social,  con- 
vivial, and  political  club,  swaying,  at  one  time,  vast  influence  in  the 
politics  of  the  city  of  New  York  and  of  the  State.  It  was  modelled 
after  the  old  English  clubs,  and  sought  its  enjoyments  chiefly  in 
summer.  The  members  finally  fixed  their  headquarters  at  Indian 
Harbor,  Long  Island,  on  the  shore  of  the  Sound,  where  in  time  a  mag- 
nificent club-house  was  built.  There  they  held  their  annual  camps 
from  July  until  September. 

The  Americus  Club  owned  all  the  vessels  of  its  fleet  in  common  ; 
none  were  owned  by  individuals.  At  one  time  it  possessed  many  sail- 
ing vessels  and  several  steamboats.  The  latter  were  employed  in  con- 
veying members  and  guests  between  New  York  and  the  camping- 
ground.  In  the  winter  the  club  gave  a  ball  or  two  in  the  city,  but 
found  their  chief  fraternal  enjoyment  at  the  meetings  of  the  Blossom 
Club,  formed  in  1S04,  and  composed  of  congenial  spirits. 

The  Americus  Club  was  at  the  culmination  of  its  glory  in  1870-71, 
when  William  M.  Tweed,  the  notorious  plunderer  of  the  city  treasury, 
was  its  president  and  treasurer.  It  was  at  that  time  the  magnificent 
club-house  was  built,  at  a  cost  of  $300,000,  and  which  was  by  far  the 
finest  of  its  kind  in  the  country.  It  was  constructed  of  wood,  in 
Gothic  style.  The  grand  parlor  was  72  feet  long  and  30  feet  wide, 
and  the  reception-room,  known  as  the  Tweed  Room,  was  gorgeously 
furnished. 

The  entertainment.-;  at  the  club-house  were  on  a  scale  of  princely 
munificence.  The  cost  of  such  entertainments  was  not  less  than 
$40,000  a  season.  Some  called  the  club-house  "  Hotel  de  Tweed." 
The  average  number  of  guests  each  day — "elegant  loungers,"  politi- 

*  The  officers  for  1883  were  :  James  D.  Smith,  commodore  ;  Anson  Phelps  Stokes,  vies, 
commodore  ;  E.  M.  Drown,  rear-commodore. 


598 


HISTORY  OF  NEW"  YORK  CITY. 


cians  and  retainers — was  one  hundred  and  fifty,  all  partaking  gratui- 
tously of  the  hospitalities  of  the  club. 

But  there  soon  "  came  a  frost,  a  killing  frost."  The  Tweed  Ring, 
so  called,  was  broken  into  fragments  and  scattered  in  dishonorable 
exile.  "  To  discuss  the  Americus,"  says  Mr.  Fairfield,  "  is  to  discuss 
"William  M.  Tweed,  socially  and  politically.  lie  made  the  organization 
what  it  was  in  the  days  of  its  prosperity,  when  governors,  mayors, 
legislators  for  the  whole  State  of  New  York,  were  elected  at  Indian 
Harbor.    W  hen  he  fell,  it  fell. ' '  * 

The  Americas  Ethnological  Society  was  formed  in  the  city  of  New 
York  in  l  s42,  and  this  city  is  its  permanent  headquarters.  Its  founders 
were  Albert  Gallatin,  John  Russell  Bartlett,  George  Folsom,  Alexander 
I.  Cotheal,  the  Rev".  Francis  L.  Hawks,  Theodore  Dwight,  the  Rev. 
Edward  Robinson,  Charles  "Welford,  Dr.  "William  W.  Turner,  Henry 
R.  Schoolcraft,  Alexander  W.  Bradford,  John  L.  Stephens,  and 
Frederick  Catherwood.  The  two  gentlemen  last  named  had  just  com- 
pleted their  second  exploration  in  Central  America.  Their  explora- 
tions suggested  the  society. 

Mr.  Gallatin  was  chosen  the  first  president  of  the  society,  and 
continued  in  that  office  until  his  death  in  184!».  Mr.  Alexander  I. 
Cotheal  was  its  president  in  1883.  Mr.  Henry  T.  Drowne  has  been  its 
secretary  and  librarian  for  several  years. 

A  kindred  association  is  the  American  Numismatic  and  Archaeologi- 
cal Society,  founded  in  1858  and  incorporated  in  May,  1865.  +  The 
prime  objects  of  the  society  are  the  cultivation  of  the  science  of  numis- 
matology, the  promotion  of  the  study  of  American  archaeology,  and  the 
collection  of  coins  and  medals  and  specimens  of  archaic  remains.  The 
society  has  had  a  steady  and  healthful  growth  from  the  beginning. 
That  growth  has  been  rapid  for  two  or  three  years,  and  the  society  is 
assuming,  in  the  character  and  number  of  its  membership,  its  rightful 
place  among  the  most  honored  scientific  associations  of  the  day. 

One  of  the  very  important  institutions  working  for  the  benefit  of  the 

*  "  The  Clubs  of  New  York,"  by  Francis  Gerry  Fairfield,  p.  210. 

\  The  founders  were  Edward  Groh,  James  Oliver,  Dr.  Isaac  H.  Gibbs,  Henry  Whitmore, 
James  D.  Fosketti,  Alfred  Boughton,  Ezra  Hill,  Augustus  B.  Sage,  AsherD.  Atkinson,  M.D., 
John  Cooper  Vail,  W.  H.  Morgan,  Thomas  Dunn  English,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  and  Theophilus 
W.  Lawrence.  The  corporators  were  Frank  H.  Norton,  Isaac  J.  Greenwood.  John 
Hannah,  James  Oliver,  F.  Augustus  Wood,  Frank  Leathe,  Edward  Groh,  Daniel  Parish, 
Jr.,  and  William  Wood  Seymour.  The  officers  for  18H3  were  :  Daniel  Parish,  president  ; 
Bobert  Hewitt,  Jr.,  A.  C.  Zabriskie,  and  Algernon  S.  Sullivan,  vice-presidents  ;  William 
Poillon,  secretary  ;  Benjamin  Betts,  treasurer  ;  Bichard  Hoe  Lawrence,  librarian  ; 
Charles  H.  Wright,  curator. 


SECOND  DECADE,  1840-1  SoO. 


.199 


trading  classes  is  the  Mercantile  Agkncy.  With  the  rise  of  the  credit 
system  as  applied  to  the  sale  and  distribution  of  merchandise,  it  early 
became  evident  that  in  order  to  gain  information  regarding'  the  business 
standing  of  dealers  at  points  remote  from  the  great  centres  it  would  he 
necessary  to  carry  the  division  of  labor  still  further.  It  was  seen  that 
one  man  giving  his  entire  time  to  the  work  of  looking  after  the  stand- 
ing of  dealers  could  accomplish  more  with  greater  economy  and  thor- 
oughness than  was  possible  for  any  number  of  merchants  to  do  each  for 
himself. 

The  panic  of  1837  resulted  in  the  shattering  of  the  credit  system, 
and  the  need  of  a  mercantile  agency  such  as  had  been  established  in 
England  was  pressingly  felt.  The  underlying  principle  of  such  an 
agency  may  be  expressed  in  five  words— to  promote  and  protect  trade. 
By  its  admirable  machinery  it  obtains  marvellously  correct  information 
of  the  status  of  business  men  everywhere,  and  imparts  this  information 
to  all  proper  inquirers.  By  this  means  the  healthiness  of  the  credit 
system  is  promoted,  and  protection  against  fraud  and  loss  is  afforded. 

In  response  to  this  new  demand,  the  work  of  procuring  information 
as  to  the  standing  of  dealers  came  to  be  a  distinct  business,  and  in  the 
United  States  alone  has  the  mercantile  agency  reached  a  full  develop- 
ment, consequent  upon  the  wide  extent  of  the  country.  Lewis  Tappan, 
of  New  York,  was  the  first  man  who  carried  this  idea  into  practice. 
His  experience  as  a  dispenser  of  credits  in  the  house  of  Arthur  Tappan 
&  Co.,  silk  merchants,  did  much  to  fit  him  with  information  concerning 
the  status  of  merchants  far  and  near.  He  established  a  mercantile 
agency  in  1841,  and  was  a  pioneer  in  the  business. 

In  the  course  of  time  Mr.  Tappan  associated  with  himself  in  the 
business,  as  a  partner,  Benjamin  Douglass,  a  most  energetic  and 
sagacious  man,  and  a  few  years  later  Robert  G.  Dun  entered  the  firm, 
first  as  a  clerk  and  then  as  a  partner,  giving  it  great  additional 
strength.  The  business  and  power  of  this  agency,  working  for  good 
in  the  mercantile  world,  was  rapidly  developed  into  vast  proportions. 
The  house  of  Tappan  &  Douglass  was  succeeded  by  that  of  Robert  G. 
Dun  &  Co.  This  house  is  still  favored  with  the  controlling  wisdom, 
skill,  and  high  personal  character  of  Mr.  Dun,"  who  has  been  at  its 
head  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

*  Robert  Graham  Dnn  is  a  native  of  Chillieothe,  Ohio,  where  he  was  born  in  1820.  He 
is  of  Seoteh  descent.  His  education  was  as  liberal  as  the  locality  in  which  his  youth  was 
spent  conld  afford.  He  was  engaged  for  a  few  years  in  a  general  store.  About  1851  he 
went  to  New  York  and  became  a  clerk  in  the  mercantile  agency  of  Tappan  A  Douglass,  to 
the  latter  of  whom  he  was  related.    Very  soon  Mr.  Dun's  ability  and  influence  in  the 


GOO 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Several  veal's  after  Mr.  Tappan  established  his  mercantile  agency, 
John  M.  Bradstreet,  a  lawyer  of  Cincinnati,  came  to  Xew  York,  and 
engaged  in  the  same  business.  At  first  his  establishment  simply  gave 
opinions  concerning  the  business  standing  of  persons  inquired  about, 
and  its  reports  were,  a  comparatively  few  years  ago,  comprised  in  a 
circular  sheet  of  three  or  four  pages.  These  reports  in  1S83  occupied  a 
book  of  over  seventeen  hundred  pages.  Soon  after  the  establishment 
of  this  .agency,  Mr.  Bradstreet  admitted  his  son  to  an  interest  in  it. 
The  elder  Bradstreet  died  in  1863.  In  1S76  the  business  was  incorpo- 
rated, and  soon  afterward  Charles  F.  Clark  was  called  to  the  presidency 
of  the  new  organization,  which  position  he  yet  held  in  1883.  The 
company  occupies  spacious  apartments  on  Broadway,  near  Chambers 
Street. 

affairs  of  the  concern  were  felt  and  recognized,  and  in  1854,  on  the  succession  of 
B.  Douglass  A-  Co.  to  the  proprietorship,  he  became  a  member  of  the  firm.  On  the  retire- 
ment of  Mr.  Douglass  in  1859  the  firm  name  became  R.  G.  Dun  &  Co.,  and  so  remains. 

During  the  period  from  ISfiO  until  now,  the  progress  of  the  business  has  been  most 
remarkable.  It  has  kept  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  trade  of  the  country.  There  is  no 
city  in  the  Republic  of  any  importance  in  which  a  branch  establishment  of  Dun  &  Co.'s 
agency  ma}'  not  be  found,  and  everywhere  confided  in  by  the  beat  merchants  and 
bankers.  There  is  no  hamlet  so  remote  as  not  to  furnish  sources  of  information,  or  from 
which  to  derive  guidance  as  to  whom  it  is  safe  to  trust  or  wise  to  avoid. 

Facts  given  to  the  writer  concerning  the  operations  of  the  house  of  R.  G.  Dun  &  Co. 
will  illustrate  the  vast  increase  and  extent  of  the  mercantile  agency  business.  It  is  stated 
that  the  patronage  of  this  famous  house  has  grown  from  a  subscription  of  less  than  1000 
in  1853  to  20,000  in  1883,  and  the  value  of  its  services  are  so  appreciated  that  individual 
firms  pay  from  $100  to  S5000  a  year.  Tho  latter  amount  is  paid  by  firms  having  enor- 
mous business,  and  largely  dependent  for  guidance  in  their  transactions  upon  the  infor- 
mation derived  from  this  agency.  It  is  also  stated  that  the  names  reported  by  the 
agency,  inserted  in  a  book  and  published  four  times  a  year,  "  in  solid  column  of  agate 
type  would  measure  over  a  mile  and  a  half."  Also  that  the  postal  account  has  hitherto 
averaged  $100,000  a  year,  the  telegraph  account  $10,000  to  $50,000  a  year,  and  the 
number  of  employes  ami  correspondents  directly  engaged  in  contributing  to  the  compila- 
tion of  the  reports  is  not  less  than  25,000.  Also  that  the  inquiries  of  a  single  day 
answered  by  mail  or  telegraph  are  frequently  not  less  than  10,000.  These  facts  show 
how  powerful  is  this  institution  in  the  business  world.  They  tell  also  of  a  master  mind 
controlling  this  vast  machinery.  It  is  accomplished  by  a  man  of  method  and  great 
executive  ability  continually  exercising  the  virtues  of  patience,  right-doing,  fidelity  to 
engagements,  strict  integrity,  persistence,  and  frankness  and  manliness  in  all  things. 


THIRD   DECADE,  1850-1860. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  city  of  New  York  at  the  beginning  of  the  Third  Decade 
(1850-1860)  had  a  population  of  515,547,  an  increase  of  about 
200,000  in  ten  years.  The  population  had  considerably  more  than 
doubled  in  twenty  years. 

The  compact  part  of  the  city  had  greatly  extended  northward  in  the 
space  of  ten  years,  the  buildings  being  pretty  closely  packed  as  far 
north  as  Thirty-fourth  Street,  or  three  and  three  quarter  miles  from  the 
Battery.  The  old  country  road  that  passed  over  Murray  Hill  from 
Fourth  Avenue  and  Twenty-ninth  Street  to  Fifth  Avenue  at  Fortieth 
Street  was  not  yet  closed.  The  writer  remembers  walking  up  that 
road  in  1845  with  some  friends  from  the  country,  to  show  them  the 
distributing  reservoir  at  Fortieth  Street  (then  the  "  lion"  of  the  city), 
and  picking  blackberries  growing  by  the  side  of  the  highway  at  about 
the  intersection  of  (present)  Thirty-fifth  Street  and  Madison  Avenue. 
Nearly  opposite  the  reservoir  was  a  small  country  house  built  of  wood, 
painted  yellow,  and  surrounded  by  trees  and  shrubbery,  where  ice- 
cream and  other  refreshments  were  furnished  to  visitors  of  the  reser- 
voir. A  little  farther  south,  on  the  west  side  of  Fifth  Avenue,  stood 
the  grand  house  of  W.  Coventry  "Waddell,  solitary  and  alone,  in  the 
midst  of  fields,  and  attracting  much  attention  because  of  its  peculiar 
style  of  architecture. 

In  1850  constant  communication  was  kept  up  between  the  business 
portion  of  the  city  and  its  picturesque  suburbs  by  steam  ferry-boats, 
over  four  hundred  omnibuses,  and  the  city  section  of  the  New  York 
and  Harlem  Railroad,  which  extended  to  the  City  Hall  Park.  One 
line  of  omnibuses  took  passengers  to  near  the  Astoria  Ferry  on  the 
East  River,  and  another  to  Bloomingdale  and  Manhattanville  on  the 
Hudson  River.  Bloomingdale  was  then  a  pleasant  little  village  about 
five  miles  from  the  City  Hall,  and  Manhattanville  was  two  miles 
farther  north.  East  from  Bloomingdale,  near  the  centre  of  the  island, 
was  the  village  of  Yorkville,  and  near  it  was  the  receiving  reservoir  of 
the  Croton  water- works,  in  the  midst  of  a  rough,  sparsely  populated 
region. 


604 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


At  this  period  the  railways  of  the  country  had  greatly  multiplied 
and  expanded,  and  were  then  traversing  about  20,000  miles  in  various 
directions,  opening  vast  tracts  of  isolated  regions  to  the  influence  of 
traffic.  Of  these  roads  there  were  great  lines  converging  to  New  York 
City,  which  were  either  constructed  or  were  rapidly  a-building.  These 
were  the  New  York  and  New  Haven  Railroad,  then  recently  opened 
and  uniting  with  the  New  England  railways  ;  the  Hudson  River  and 
Harlem  railroads,  not  yet  extended  to  Albany,  which  was  their  final 
destination,  there  to  connect  with  the  Central  Railroad  penetrating  the 
West.  There  was  also  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  completed 
to  Port  Jervis,  and  beyond  which  would  tap  the  coal-fields  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  touch  the  borders  of  Lake  Erie  ;  also  the  Pennsylvania,  the 
Camden  and  Amboy,  and  the  Somerville  and  Easton  railroads,  all  cross- 
ing New  Jersey  into  Pennsylvania  from  the  city  of  New  York. 

These  railroads  were  already  pouring  immense  wealth  into  the  lap  of 
the  great  city  on  Manhattan  Island,  increasing  enormously  its  trade 
and  commerce  and  social  advancement.  In  the  course  of  this  decade 
its  population  was  increased  nearly  3oo,(KiO.  At  the  middle  of  the 
decade  (1855)  it  had  reached  nearly  (S.'50,000.  Its  foreign  commerce 
had  amazingly  increased.  The  total  value  of  the  exports  and  imports 
of  the  district  to  and  from  foreign  countries,  which  was  a  little  more 
than  si  14,000,000  in  1841,  amounted  in  1851  to  $260,000,000.  At  the 
middle  of  this  decade  it  amounted  to  $323,000,000. 

In  1850  there  were  numerous  steamboats  plying  between  New  York 
and  other  places  in  all  directions,  and  lines  of  ocean  steamships  con- 
necting Xew  York  with  many  foreign  ports  by  a  strong  social  and 
commercial  tie.  Steamboats  ascended  the  Hudson  to  the  head  of  tide- 
water and  intermediate  places,  went  eastward  as  far  as  Fall  River  and 
to  all  the  intermediate  New  England  ports  ;  also  to  points  on  the  New 
Jersey  coast  and  into  the  Delaware  River.  At  the  same  time  squad- 
rons of  sailing  vessels,  barges,  and  canal-boats  were  thronging  in  the 
slips  of  the  city,  and  beside  its  wharves  wen;  forests  of  masts  and  spars 
of  vessels  of  every  kind  and  nationality  intent  on  trade  of  every  con- 
ceivable variety.  The  harbor  meanwhile  was  alive  with  water-craft, 
and  there  was  a  continual  ebb  and  flow  of  a  tide  of  vessels  at  the  strait 
known  as  the  Narrows,  between  Long  and  Staten  islands,  the  open 
gate  between  the  harbor  and  the  ocean,  eight  miles  south  of  the  city. 
This  strait  is  guarded  by  fortifications  on  each  side  and  a  fort  (Lafay- 
ette) in  the  middle  of  the  passage,  while  "  watch  and  ward  "  is  kept 
over  the  harbor  within  by  fortifications  on  three  islands — Governor's, 
Ellis's,  and  Bedloe's.     The  harbor  is  twenty-five  miles  in  circum- 


THIRD  DECADE.  1850-1860. 


605 


ference.  Entrance  to  it  by  way  of  the  East  River  is  also  guarded  by 
fortifications. 

With  its  wonderful  growth  and  increase  of  business  the  city  had 
furnished  ample  facilities  for  carrying  on  trade  by  means  of  water- 
craft.  In  1850  it  possessed  one  hundred  and  thirteen  piers— fifty-eight 
on  the  East  River  and  fifty-five  on  the  Hudson  River.  The  piers  and 
shipping  on  the  two  rivers  are  separated  by  the  long  stretch  of  the  Bat- 
tery, at  the  southern  end  of  the  city  and  the  island.  To  accommodate 
the  rapidly  augmenting  population,  1618  buildings  were  erected  in  the 
city  in  1849.  That  was  1100  more  than  in  1839.  The  largest  number 
of  buildings  erected  in  one  year  previous  to  that  time  was  in  1836,  the 
year  after  the  great  fire,  when  1 SS2  buildings  were  put  up,  a  large 
proportion  of  them  in  the  "  burnt  district." 

In  1850  the  city  possessed  fifteen  public  markets  for  the  distribution 
of  food  among  the  inhabitants,  besides  almost  innumerable  private 
"  stalls"  all  over  the  city.  These  markets  were  :  the  Catharine,  at 
Catharine  Slip,  foot  of  Catharine  Street,  founded  in  1786  ;  Washington, 
in  Washington  Street,  between  Vesey  and  Fulton  streets  ;  Gouverneur, 
corner  of  Gouverneur  and  Water  streets,  East  River,  and  Greenwich, 
corner  of  Christopher  and  West  streets,  all  founded  in  is  12  ;  Centre, 
in  Centre  Street,  between  Grand  and  Broome  streets,  1817  ;  Es>ex,  in 
Grand,  between  Essex  and  Ludlow  streets,  1818  ;  Fulton,  at  the  foot 
of  Fulton  Street,  East  River,  and  Franklin,  at  Old  Slip,  East  River, 
1821  ;  Clinton,  between  Washington,  West,  Spring,  and  Canal  streets, 
and  Manhattan,  in  Houston,  corner  of  First  Street,  1821  ;  Chelsea,  on 
Ninth  Avenue,  at  Eighteenth  Street  ;  Tompkins,  on  Third  Avenue, 
between  Sixth  and  Seventh  streets,  founded  in  1828  ;  Jefferson,  on 
Sixth  Avenue,  corner  of  Greenwich  Avenue,  1832  ;  Union,  junction  of 
Houston  and  Second  streets,  1836  ;  and  Monroe,  junction  of  Monroe 
and  Grand  streets,  established  in  1836.* 

By  means  of  the  combined  agencies  of  railroads,  steamboats,  the 
canal,  express  companies,  and   the  electro-magnetic   telegraph — all 

*  For  a  minute  and  most  interesting  history  of  the  public  markets  of  the  city  down  to 
1860,  see  "  The  Market  Book,"  by  Thomas  F.  Devoe,  now  (1883)  and  for  many  years  the 
superintendent  of  markets.  Mr.  Devoe  was  born  at  Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  in  1811.  In  1815 
his  father  removed  to  New  York  City.  After  receiving  a  common-school  education  he 
was  apprenticed  to  a  butcher,  and  for  many  years  he  was  a  leading  business  man  ot  New 
York  in  that  line,  beginning  for  himself  in  1833.  Fond  of  the  military  profession,  he 
became  colonel  of  one  of  the  New  York  City  regiments.  During  the  Civil  War  he  was  an 
earnest  supporter  of  the  government  in  every  way  in  his  power.  Colonel  Devoe's 
"  Market  Book"  will  ever  rank  among  the  most  important  literary  contributions  to  the 
social  history  of  New  York  City. 


606 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


recent  products  of  restless  enterprise — the  inland  trade  of  the  city  of 
New  York  had  enormously  increased  in  1850,  at  which  time  it  was 
estimated  the  expresses  travelled  20,000  miles  daily  in  discharge  of 
orders.  The  telegraph,  speaking  from  distant  villages  and  cities, 
ordered  goods  which  were  swiftly  carried  by  express,  steamboat,  or 
railroad  from  the  seller  to  the  buyer.  The  merchant  of  Cincinnati 
who,  before  these  facilities  existed,  consumed  many  weeks  in  travelling 
to  and  from  New  York  twice  a  year  for  the  purchase  of  goods,  could 
now  be  supplied  in  the  course  of  a  few  days  without  the  fatigues  of  a 
long  journey.  "With  equal  facilities  the  products  of  the  great  West 
were  brought  to  the  seaboard  for  consumption  there  or  for  exportation 
beyond  the  seas,  and  so  the  "West  was  enriched  and  became  a  more 
valuable  customer  to  New  York. 

Witb  these  new  conditions  the  methods  of  trade  in  New  York  were 
changed.  Formerly  the  dry -goods  merchant,  for  example,  kept  a  full 
assortment  of  goods  in  that  line,  and  it  required  much  business  tact  to 
keep  each  line  full.  In  the  third  decade  the  change  alluded  to  began. 
One  house  was  engaged  in  trade  in  woollens  exclusivelv,  another  in 
cottons,  another  in  silks,  and  another  in  fancy  goods.  There  speedily 
appeared  another  subdivision  of  the  dry-goods  business.  For  example, 
one  merchant  dealing  in  woollens  kept  only  tailors'  goods,  another 
goods  for  women's  wear  ;  in  cotton,  one  confined  himself  to  prints, 
another  to  white  goods  ;  and  in  silks,  one  dealt  only  in  piece  goods,  and 
another  in  ribbons  and  smaller  articles.  Then  came  a  more  minute 
subdivision — a  dealer  in  hosiery,  a  dealer  in  lace,  in  pockethandker- 
chiefs,  and  shawls.  And  such  is  the  state  of  trade  in  New  York  to-day. 
Iu  trade  and  in  the  professions  specialties  are  the  order  of  the  day. 

At  this  period  (1850)  New  York  City  had  become  a  largely  manu- 
facturing town.  Almost  every  kind  of  mechanical  and  manufacturing 
industry  had  its  active  representatives  there.  According  to  the  census 
of  1850,  the  total  number  of  manufacturing  establishments  in  the  city 
was  3387,  with  s:U.  232,822  capital  invested,  and  employing  83,620 
persons.  The  annual  product  of  these  establishments  was  valued  at 
$105,218,308.  Of  the  persons  employed,  29,917  were  women  and 
children.  The  section  of  the  city  containing  the  largest  number  of 
these  establishments  (1851),  the  largest  amount  of  capital  invested 
( si 2,072,995),  the  greatest  number  of  persons  employed  (35,701),  and 
turning  out  products  of  the  greatest  value  ($31,310,642),  was  the  Second 
Ward,  the  smallest  in  the  city.  It  is  bounded  on  the  east  and  west  by 
the  East  River  and  Broadway,  on  the  south  by  Maiden  Lane  and 
Liberty  Street,  and  on  the  north  by  Ferry  and  Spruce  streets. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860.  607 
i 

The  citizens  had,  by  wise  forethought  and  generous  and  judicious 
expenditure,  provided  themselves  with  an  ample  supply  of  pure  and 
wholesome  water  ;  at  the  beginning  of  the  third  decade  they  were 
called  upon  to  consider  the  expediency,  not  to  say  necessity,  of  provid- 
ing themselves  and  their  posterity  with  a  spacious  breathing-place,  an 
area  of  healthful  enjoyment,  physical  and  social,  in  the  heart  of  the 
great  city — its  greatness  so  plainly  discerned  by  the  eye  of  faith  and 
sure  prophecy  in  the  near  future. 

The  hint  which  led  to  efficient  action  in  the  direction  of  providing  a 
great  public  park  for  the  city  of  New  York  was  given  by  that  devout 
Avorshipper  of  the  beautiful  in  nature  and  in  art,  the  late  A.  -I. 
Downing.  In  1850  he  made  a  summer  tour  in  England.  He  visited 
some  of  its  most  attractive  places,  especially  country  seats,  and 
inspected  and  studied  the  mediaeval  architecture,  and  the  landscape 
gardening  so  exquisite  in  many  places,  and  especially  the  great  parks 
of  London.  In  a  letter  written  to  the  Horticulturist  in  September, 
after  describing  the  London  parks,  he  remarked  :  "We  fancy,  not 
without  reason,  in  New  York  that  we  have  a  great  city,  and  that  the 
introduction  of  Croton  Avater  is  so  marvellous  a  luxury  in  the  way  of 
health  that  nothing  more  need  be  done  for  the  comfort  of  half  a  million 
of  people.  In  crossing  the  Atlantic,  a  young  New  Yorker,  who  was 
rabidly  patriotic,  and  who  boasted  of  the  superiority  of  our  beloved 
commercial  metropolis  over  every  other  city  on  the  globe,  was  our 
most  amusing  companion.  I  chanced  to  meet  him  one  afternoon,  a  few 
days  after  we  landed,  in  one  of  the  great  parks  in  London,  in  the 
midst  of  all  the  sylvan  beauty  and  human  enjoyment  I  have  attempted 
to  describe  to  you.  He  threw  up  his  arms  as  he  recognized  me,  and 
exclaimed  : 

' '  '  Good  Heavens,  what  a  scene  !  And  I  took  some  Londoners  to 
the  steps  of  the  City  Hall  last  summer  to  show  them  the  park  of  NeAV 
York  ! ' 

"  I  consoled  him  with  the  advice  to  be  less  conceited  thereafter  in 
his  cockneyism,  and  to  show  foreigners  the  Hudson  and  Niagara,  in- 
stead of  the  City  Hall  and  the  Bowling  Green.  But  the  question  may 
well  be  asked,  '  Is  New  York  really  not  rich  enough,  or  is  there  abso- 
lutely not  land  enough  in  America  to  give  our  citizens  public  parks  of 
more  than  ten  acres  ? '  "  * 

*  The  London  parks  at  that  time  -were  six  in  number,  containing  1442  acres — namely, 
St.  James's,  87  acres  ;  Green,  56  acres  ;  Hyde,  349  acres  ;  Regent's,  450  acres  ;  Green- 
wich, 200  acres,  and  Victoria,  300  acres.  In  addition  to  these  were  nnmerorts  "  squares, " 
as  large  as  the  largest  in  New  York,  and  near  the  city  were  nine  spacious  gardens 


608 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Mr.  Downing's  letter  describing  the  London  parks  and  the  significant 
question  and  suggestions  contained  in  it  made  a  deep  impression  on  the 
public  mind.  Indeed  Mr.  Downing  only  voiced  the  thoughts  of  a 
multitude  of  citizens.  The  matter  was  talked  up  in  social,  political, 
scientific,  and  art  circles,  and  in  the  spring  of  1851  Ambrose  C. 
Kingsland,  who  had  just  been  elevated  to  the  mayoralty  of  the  city, 
sent  a  communication  to  the  common  council  (May  5th),  in  which  he 
strongly  urged  them  to  make  some  suitable  provision  for  the  enjoyment 
and  health  of  the  citizens  in  the  upper  wards,  in  the  form  of  a  spacious 
public  park.  This  recommendation  was  supported  by  an  array  of 
weighty  reasons  in  favor  of  such  a  measure.  He  observed  that  there 
was  no  park  on  the  island  deserving  the  name.  He  concluded  by 
saying,  "  I  commend  this  subject  to  your  consideration  in  the  con- 
viction that  its  importance  will  insure  your  careful  attention  and 
prompt  action. ' ' 

The  common  council  took  speedy  and  favorable  action.  Under  au- 
thority conferred  by  the  State  Legislature,  the  common  council  pur- 
chased a  large  portion  of  the  land  now  included  in  the  Central  Park. 
In  the  autumn  of  1853  the  Supreme  Court  appointed  William  Kent, 
Michael  Ulshoeffer,  Luther  Bradish,  Warren  Brady,  and  Jeremiah 
Towle  commissioners  of  estimate  and  assessment  to  take  the  land  for 
the  Central  Park.  In  this  labor  the  commissioners  were  industriously 
engaged  for  almost  two  years.  It  involved  the  purchase  and  examina- 
tion of  the  titles  of  over  seven  thousand  lots  on  the  borders  of  a  large 
and  rapidly  growing  town,  the  adjustment  of  numerous  private  claims, 
and  the  reconciling  of  a  variety  of  interests.  The  Supreme  Court  un- 
hesitatingly confirmed  their  report,  and  on  February  5,  1856,  the  comp- 
troller announced  to  the  common  council  that,  as  by  the  act  of  1853 
the  payment  of  the  awards  to  the  owners  of  the  lots  and  of  the  ex- 
penses of  the  commissioners  must  be  made  immediately  on  the  confir- 
mation of  their  report,  it  had  become  the  duty  of  the  city  legislature 
to  make  an  appropriation  to  meet  those  charges.  Accordingly  an 
ordinance  was  passed  for  the  payment  of  $5,109,300.09,  of  which  sum 

namely,  Kensington,  75  acres  ;  Kew  Pleasure  Grounds,  130  acres  ;  Horticultural  Society's 
Garden,  Chiswick  ;  Royal  Botanic  Garden,  Regent's  Park,  18  acres  ;  and  the  Chelsea 
Botanic  Garden,  Temple  Gardens,  Hampton  Court  Gardens,  and  Beulah  Spa.  Numerous 
other  parks  were  in  the  vicinity  of  London,  such  as  Windsor,  and  various  "  commons," 
forming  a  sort  of  chain  around  the  city,  all  free  to  the  public,  and  comprising  several 
thousand  acres.  London  gave  to  every  100,000  inhabitants  500  acres  of  "  breathing 
space,"  while  all  the  parks  and  squares  of  New  York  City,  comprising  in  the  aggregate 
not  one  hundred  acres,  were  giving  to  each  100,000  of  its  inhabitants  only  16  acres  of 
breathing  space. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


GOO 


$1,057,590  was  to  be  paid  by  the  owners  of  lands  adjacent  to  the  Park, 
in  view  of  the  benefit  they  would  receive  from  their  neighborhood  to  it. 

The  superficial  area  proposed  to  be  included  in  the  Park  was  760 
acres.  The  plot  is  an  elongated  parallelogram  in  form,  about  two  and 
a  half  miles  in  length  and  half  a  mile  in  width.  Within  that  space 
were  the  receiving  reservoir  of  33  acres,  the  State  Arsenal  and  its 
grounds,  and  the  grounds  of  the  St.  Vincent's  Academy,  2-1  acres  ; 
ground  then  owned  by  the  corporation,  135  acres,  and  ground  for 
streets  and  avenues  according  to  the  city  survey,  leaving  an  area  of  370 
acres  to  be  bought. 

At  the  beginning  private  interests  cast  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
accomplishing  the  design  of  establishing  the  Central  Park  on  a  grand 
scale.  Owners  of  land  on  the  southern  borders  of  the  proposed  park 
made  strenuous  efforts  to  have  its  domains  curtailed  at  that  end,  but 
failed.  In  May,  1850,  the  common  council  appointed  the  mayor  and 
street  commissioner,  commissioners  of  the  Central  Park,  with  ample 
powers.  These  officers  invited  Washington  Irving,  George  Bancroft, 
James  E.  Coohyv,  Charles  F.  Briggs,  James  Phalen,  Charles  A.  Dana, 
and  Stewart  Brown  to  attend  their  meetings  as  a  consulting  board. 
The\-  accepted  the  invitation.  Washington  Irving  was  chosen  presi- 
dent of  the  Board,  and  after  a  long  and  critical  examination  of  fifteen 
plans  that  had  been  submitted  to  them  for  the  improvement  of  the 
Park,  they  unanimously  adopted  the  plan  presented  by  Egbert  L. 
Yiele,*  which,  with  slight  modifications,  has  been  carried  out  under 
successive  administrations. 

The  commissioners  were  dilatory.  A  new  board  was  appointed  by  the 
Legislature  in  1S57,  and  new  plans  for  laying  out  the  Park  were  solicited. 
On  the  first  of  April,  1S5S,  thirty-three  plans  wore  submitted.  One  by 
Frederick  Law  Olmsted  and  Calvert  Yaux  was  approved,  and  the 

*  Egbert  L.  Yiele,  now  (1883)  one  of  the  park  commissioners,  is  a  native  of  Waterford, 
N.  Y.,  where  he  was  born  June  17,  1825.  He  graduated  at  the  West  Point  Military 
Academy  in  1817,  and  served  through  a  portion  of  the  war  with  Mexico.  He  resigned 
in  1853  and  was  appointed  State  Engineer  of  New  Jersey.  He  was  appointed  chief  en- 
gineer to  the  Central  Park  (New  York)  commission  in  1857,  and  in  1800  of  Prospect  Park, 
Brooklyn.  Joining  the  army  in  1801,  he  was  made  brigadier-general  of  volunteers,  and 
accompanied  the  first  expedition  to  Port  Royal  Sound,  In  the  siege  of  Fort  Pulaski  ho 
was  in  command  of  the  investing  land  forces,  and  in  the  capture  of  Norfolk  in  1802  he 
led  the  advance.  He  was  appointed  military  governor  of  that  city  in  August,  1802,  and 
retained  that  position  until  his  resignation  in  October,  1803.  Since  that  time  he  has 
been  a  civil  engineer  in  the  city  of  New  York.  General  Yiele  is  the  author  of  a  "  Hand- 
book for  Active  Service  '"''Reports  on  the  Central  Park,"  "  Topographical  Survey  of 
New  Jersey,"  "  Topography  and  Hydrography  of  the  City  of  New  York,"  "  The  Trans- 
val  of  New  York,"  and  numerous  other  papers. 


G10 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


work  which  produced  such  grand  results  in  presenting  to  the  city  of 
New  York  a  magnificent  park  went  vigorously  on  under  the  super- 
vision of  these  gentlemen.*  It  has  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  Mayor 
Kings]  and,  that  it  would  "  prove  a  lasting  monument  to  the  wisdom, 
sagacity,  and  forethought  of  its  founders,"  f 

The  Central  Park  is  now  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  the  world. 
The  work  was  fairly  begun  less  than  twenty-five  years  ago,  and  now  it 
is  a  striking  monument  of  engineering  skill,  landscape  gardening,  and 
wise  expenditure  of  public  money.  It  is  the  pride  and  glory  of  New 
York.  It  has  eighteen  entrances,  styled  gates,  not  yet  finished. $ 
They  are  to  be  elegant  arches  of  various  styles  of  architecture  and 

*  Mr.  Olmsted  is  a  native  of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  where  lie  was  born  in  1822.  He 
was  educated  for  an  engineer  and  scientific  agriculturist,  and  became  a  farmer.  He 
made  a  pedestrian  tour  in  England  in  1850,  and  published  a  book  entitled  "Walks  and 
Tulks  of  an  American  Farmer  in  England"  He  travelled  extensively  in  the  Southern 
States  in  1852-53,  and  in  1850  published  a  book  entitled  "  A  Journey  in  the  Seaboard 
Slave  States."  Afterward  he  published  other  volumes  of  travels  in  the  region  of  the 
slave-labor  States,  and  was  appointed  architect  of  the  Central  Park  in  1859. 

Mr.  Vanx  is  an  Englishman  by  birth.  He  came  to  America  in  1852  on  the  invitation 
of  Mr.  Downing,  and  became  his  partner  at  Newburgh,  as  architect  and  landscape  gar- 
dener. He  succeeded  to  much  of  Mr.  Downing'*  business  on  the  death  of  that  gentleman 
in  the  same  year.  At  the  time  he  joined  Mr.  Olmsted  in  preparing  plans  of  Central 
1'ark  (which  were  approved  by  the  Commissioners),  Mr.  Vaux  had  written  and  published 
a  valuable  book  on  domestic  architecture.  Ho  has  ever  since  sustained  the  high  pro- 
fessional reputation  which  his  merits  command. 

f  In  connection  with  this  brief  account  of  the  origin  of  the  Central  Park,  it  seems 
appropriate  here  to  notice  the  topographical  atlas  of  the  city  of  New  York,  prepared 
under  the  direction  of  General  Egbert  L.  Viele,  exhibiting  the  elevations  and  de- 
pressions of  the  island  and  the  old  water-courses.  This  map  was  first  exhibited  and 
described  in  a  paper  read  by  Mr.  Viele  before  the  Sanitary  Association  of  the  city 
in  1850.  He  stated  that  nearly  one  half  the  deaths  occurring  on  the  earth  are  caused  by 
fevers  in  different  forms,  and  that  the  principal  cause  of  fever  is  a  humid  miasmatic 
state  of  the  atmosphere,  produced  by  the  presence  of  an  excess  of  moisture  in  the  ground 
from  which  poisonous  exhalations  continually  arise,  vitiating  the  purer  air. 

He  gave  a  rapid  account  of  many  small  streams  which  formerly  existed  in  the  lower 
part  of  Manhattan  Island,  but  which  had  been  filled  up  as  the  city  grew.  These,  he 
said,  had  not  been  deprived  of  their  power  in  sending  up  poisonous  exhalations  by  being 
smothered,  but,  on  the  contrary,  by  the  production  of  stagnant  water  under  the  surface, 
were  more  noxious  than  before.  Many  of  these  streams  had  produced  swampy  places, 
and  he  declared  that  five  of  the  little  parks  in  the  city— St.  John's,  Washington,  Tomp- 
kins, Madison,  and  Gramercy — were  located  entirely  or  in  part  in  swamps  created  by 
these  streams.  Some  of  the  streams  which  ran  through  Central  Park  have  been  util- 
ized or  smothered. 

X  These  gates  bear  the  names  of  the  Scholar's,  Artist's,  Artisan's,  Merchant's,  Woman's, 
Hunter's,  Mariner's,  Gate  of  All  Saints,  Boy's,  Stranger's,  Children's,  Miner's,  Engineer's, 
Woodman's,  Girl's.  Pioneer's,  Farmer's,  and  Warrior's  gates.  They  are  situated  between 
Fifth  and  Seventh  avenues  and  Fifty-ninth  and  One  Hundred  and  Tenth  streets. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1830-1800. 


611 


ornamentation.  It  has  extensive  and  beautiful  drives  and  walks,  mili- 
tary parade-grounds,  places  of  amusement  for  the  young,  lakes  and 
fountains,  a  magnificent  mall,  a  beautiful  terrace  at  the  northern  end 
of  the  mall  leading  down  to  a  lake  which  affords  water  for  boating  and 
ice  for  skating,  a  number  of  statues  *  of  eminent  men,  a  restaurant,  a 
zoological  garden  or  menagerie,  and  an  ancient  obelisk  from  Egypt. f 

Within  and  around  the  Central  Park  are  clustered  the  buildings  of 
important  institutions— the  Arsenal,  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art, 
the  Museum  of  Natural  History,  the  Lenox  Library,  the  Charlier 
Institute,  J  etc.  The  surface  of  the  Park  is  pleasingly  diversified  and 
the  drives  and  walks  present  agreeable  surprises  at  every  turn.  Within 

*  The  Ramble  is  one  of  the  most  charming  parts  of  the  Central  Park.  It  lies  on  the 
hillside,  between  the  north  shore  of  the  Lake  (retaining  reservoir)  and  the  old  reservoir. 
The  carriage-ways  or  drives  are  very  extended,  the  average  width  being  54  feet  and  the 
aggregate  length  about  9  miles.  The  bridle-paths  extend  about  5J  miles,  and  the  length 
of  the  walks  or  footpaths,  having  an  average  width  of  13  feet,  is  about  28A-  miles. 
There  are  about  30  buildings  of  all  kinds  in  the  Park,  and  outside  of  these  seats  are  pro- 
vided for  about  10,000  persons.  The  wooded  ground  covers  about  400  acres.  Of  this 
area  of  trees  about  500,000  have  been  set  out  since  the  opening  of  the  Park. 

In  the  Park  are  48  bridges,  archways,  and  tunnels,  12  of  them  over  transverse  roads. 
Some  of  these  are  beautiful  structures,  the  most  notable  oi  which  are  the  Terrace  and  the 
Warble  Arch,  at  the  southern  approach  to  the  Mall.  At  the  foot  of  the  Terrace  and  near 
the  shore  of  a  little  lake,  is  Bethesda  Fountain,  the  central  ornament  of  the  Park.  The 
figure  of  an  angel  stands  in  the  attitude  of  blessing  the  water,  surrounded  by  various 
appropriate  emblems,  with  four  figures  symbolizing  the  blessings  of  Temperance,  Health, 
Purity,  and  Peace.  ..The  Mall  is  a  broad  path  lined  with  trees  extending  from  the  Marble 
Arch  to  the  Terrace,  a  distance  of  about  one  third  of  a  mile.  The  Arsenal  is  a  castellated 
gray  brick  building,  and  is  the  location  of  the  menagerie,  which  in  winter  contains  the 
animals  of  travelling  shows. 

The  statues  in  the  Park  comprise  those  of  Burns,  Columbus,  Commerce  (an  ideal 
figure),  Farragut,  Fitz-Greene  Halleck,  Alexander  Hamilton,  Humboldt,  Indian  Hunter 
(an  ideal  figure),  Mazzini,  Morse,  Walter  Scott,  Shakespeare,  and  Webster.  There  is  a 
bronze  figure  of  a  private  soldier  of  the  New  York  Seventh  Regiment  erected  in  com- 
memoration of  those  members  who  fell  in  battle  during  the  late  Civil  War. 

f  The  obelisk  was  presented  to  the  city  of  New  York  through  the  Department  of  State, 
in  1877,  by  Ismail  Pacha,  then  khedive  or  pbaraoh  of  Egypt.  Its  removal  from  its 
ancient  foundation  was  intrusted  to  the  skill  and  judgment  of  LieTitenant-Commander 
H.  H.  (lorringe,  United  States  Navy,  who  performed  the  task  successfully.  It  is  a  mono, 
lith  covered  with  hieroglyphic  inscriptions  which  carry  us  back  many  centuries.  Its 
companion  is  now  erected  in  London.  They  were  taken  from  their  ancient  station  near 
Alexandria.  The  obelisk  in  New  York  stands  on  a  knoll  in  Central  Park  near  the 
Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art.    It  is  the  sixth  in  size  of  the  known  obelisks  of  Egypt. 

X  The  Charlier  Institute  was  founded  by  Elie  Charlier,  son  of  a  French  Protestant 
clergyman,  who,  educated  at  the  famous  college  of  Neuchatel,  where  Professors  Agassiz 
and  Guyot  began  their  career  as  teachers,  and,  breaking  away  from  the  restraints  of 
rigid  systems,  landed  in  New  York  in  1852  with  $36  in  his  pocket  and  a  few  letters  of 
introduction.    Among  the  latter  was  one  to  the  late  Mayor  Harper,  who,  when  he  had 


612 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


its  borders  are  two  reservoirs  of  Croton  water — the  retaining  reser- 
voir, capable  of  holding  1,030,000,000  gallons,  and  just  below  this  the 
receiving  reservoir,  which  holds  150,000,000  gallons  more.  There  are 
four  other  bodies  of  water  in  the  Park,  much  smaller  than  these,  the 
total  area  of  all  being  43£  acres.  The  most  romantic  in  scenery  of  all 
the  waters  of  the  Park  is  Harlem  Meer,  in  the  extreme  north-eastern 
corner.  The  Central  Park  is  visited  and  enjoyed  by  all  classes  of 
citizens,  and  is  a  perpetual  blessing  to  their  minds  and  bodies. 

The  principal  entrance  to  the  Central  Park  is  at  the  head  of  Fifth 
Avenue,  the  wonderful  street  of  palaces  and  churches,  club-houses  and 
the  abodes  of  professional  men.  A  pioneer  of  fashionable  "  settlers" 
on  Fifth  Avenue  was  W.  Coventry  Waddell,  whose  grand  house — 
grand  for  the  time — has  been  mentioned.  Mr.  Waddell  went  into  the 
"  wilderness"  to  build  it  in  1845,  for  Fifth  Avenue  then  was  little  more 
than  a  country  road,  with  farm-fences  here  and  there  above  Madison 
Square.  Mr.  WaddelTs  house  and  grounds  occupied  a  whole  square 
between  Fifth  and  Sixth  avenues  and  Thirty-seventh  and  Thirty- 
eighth  streets. 

read  it,  said  to  the  bearer,  "  Young  man,  in  this  country  we  are  all  busy,  and  we  all 
help  ourselves.    Use  my  name  as  a  reference,  if  you  wish,  and  go  ahead." 

The  suggestions  involved  in  this  remark  deeply  impressed  the  young  Frenchman,  who 
was  only  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  he  resolved  to  follow  the  advice.  He  ob- 
tained employment  as  an  instructor  of  his  native  tongue  in  a  leading  private  school  in 
the  city.  At  the  end  of  three  years  he  was  enabled  to  open  a  small' school  for  boarding 
and  day  scholars,  which  gradually  expanded  and  became  widely  known  as  the  "  Charlier 
Institute."  Mr.  Charlier  was  thoroughly  educated.  He  possessed  an  extraordinary 
aptitude  for  teaching  and  a  personal  attraction  which  drew  everybody  toward  him.  His 
success  is  probably  without  any  parallel  in  the  history  of  educational  institutions. 
"  Without  any  board  of  trustees  or  corporators, "  wrote  Dr.  Prime,  of  the  New  York 
Observer,  nine  years  ago,  "  with  no  funds  from  charity  or  the  State,  relying  only  on  Provi- 
dence and  his  own  exertions,  Mr.  Elie  Charlier  has  prospered  in  his  work,  adding  house 
to  house  for  his  purposes,  preparing  young  men  for  business  and  college,  and  command- 
ing the  attention  of  parents  in  the  city  and  distant  parts  of  the  country.  Nearly  two 
years  ago  (187'2)  he  determined  to  provide  himself  with  a  building  adequate  to  his  present 
and  future  wants.  Upon  the  sonth  front  of  the  Central  Park,  having  purchased  lots 
running  through  from  Fifty-ninth  to  Fifty-eighth  Street,  he  has  erected  an  edifice  of 
gigantic  proportions,  great  elegance,  solidity,  extent,  and  convenience,  covering  the  whole 
ground,  50  by  200  feet,  five  stories  in  height,  with  an  elegant  chapel,  spacious  school- 
rooms, beautiful  parlors  and  dormitories  and  refectory,  with  a  completion  of  detail, 
security  against  fire,  and  regard  to  ventilation  that  include  all  that  modern  science  and 
art  have  contributed  for  the  perfection  of  domestic  and  public  buildings.  And  this 
magnificent  structure,  an  ornament  to  the  Park  and  the  city,  he  has  reared  without  calling 
on  the  public  for  a  dollar,  and  without  making  any  noise.  The  cost  of  the  house  and 
lots  is  $400,000.  We  presume  that  no  parallel  to  this  enterprise  and  success  can  be 
found." 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-18(50. 


013 


When  Fifth  Avenue  was  graded  and  the  altitude  of  Murray  Hill  was 
diminished,  this  notable  mansion,  this  suburban  villa,  was  left  in  the 
air  several  feet  above  the  street,  to  which  the  lot  sloped  in  a  series  of 
grassy  banks.  Xot  long  afterward  the  building  was  taken  down,  when 
it  was  not  more  than  a  dozen  years  old,  and  on  its  site  was  erected  the 
massive  edifice  known  as  Dr.  Spring's,  or  the  Brick  Church.* 

*  It  is  said  that  when  Mr.  Waddell  went  to  buy  the  ground  on  which  he  built,  Mrs. 
Waddell  went  with  hiui,  and  sat  under  an  apple-tree  in  an  orchard  while  the  bargain  was 
in  progress.  When  the  mansion  was  completed  he  took  his  brother  to  see  it,  and  asked 
him,  "  What  shall  I  call  my  house?"  "  Waddell' s  Castor,"  was  the  prompt  reply. 
"  There  is  a  mustard-pot,  here  is  a  pepper-bottle,  and  there  is  a  vinegar-cruet,"  he  con- 
tinued, pointing  at  several  towers,  large  and  small,  that  arose  above  the  eaves  on  all  sides. 
It  had  oriels  and  gables  and  a  spacious  conservatory  of  plants,  native  and  exotic. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Waddell  were  leaders  in  fashionable  society  in  New  York.  He  was  a 
brilliant  man  and  a  confidential  friend  of  President  Jackson,  who  gave  him  public  employ- 
ments that  made  him  rich.  He  was  frank  and  generous,  and  always  displayed  a  princely 
hospitality.  His  house  was  the  scene  of  notable  entertainments.  At  Mrs.  Waddell' s 
parties  one  was  sure  to  meet  every  celebrity,  American  and  foreign,  who  chanced  to  be  in 
the  city  at  the  time.  The  house  was  sumptuously  furnished.  It  had  a  broad  marble 
hall  and  elegant  winding  stairs. 


CHAPTER  II. 


T  the  earlier  period  of  the  third  decade  the  famous  Crystal  Palace 


was  erected  near  the  distributing  reservoir,  between  that  struct- 
ure and  Sixth  Avenue.  It  was  built  of  iron  and  glass.  There  were 
in  it  twelve  hundred  and  fifty  tons  of  iron  and  thirty-nine  thousand 
square  feet  of  glass.  It  was  erected  for  the  purpose  of  an  exhibition  of 
the  industry  of  all  nations.  It  was  a  beautiful  edifice,  cruciform,  with 
lofty  galleries  and  a  spacious  translucent  dome  in  the  centre.  In  it  a 
World's  Fair  was  opened,  with  appropriate  ceremonies,  on  the  4th  of 
July,  1S53.  The  President  of  the  United  States  (Franklin  Pierce) 
was  the  chief  celebrant. 

In  that  Crystal  Palace  was  seen  the  largest  and  finest  collection  of 
sculpture  ever  gathered  in  Xew  York  ;  and  there,  too,  was  presented 
the  most  notable  exhibition  of  paintings  to  which  the  citizens  had  ever 
been  invited.  The  works  of  art  numbered  over  seven  hundred, 
executed  by  about  six  hundred  artists,  native  and  foreign. 

The  Palace  was  thronged  with  admiring  people  from  near  and  far  for 
several  months,  and  on  May  14,  1854,  it  was  reopened  with  impressive 
ceremonies  as  a  perpetual  exhibition.  The  attempt  failed,  and  on 
October  5,  1858,  the  beautiful  structure  was  totally  destroyed  by  fire 
while  the  American  Institute  was  holding  its  annual  fair  there.  The 
entire  loss  was  estimated  at  $2,000,000. 

The  exhibition  of  sculpture  and  paintings  in  the  Palace  gave  a  special 
impetus  to  a  growing  taste  and  cultivation  of  the  fine  arts  in  the  city 
of  New  York.  Already  men  of  wealth  and  refinement  had  begun  to 
make  collections  of  valuable  and  costly  paintings  and  to  form  choice 
private  galleries.  Among  the  earlier  and  most  conspicuous  of  these 
connoisseurs  was  Luman  Reed,  a  wealthy  merchant  in  the  grocery 
line,  who  had  built  a  fine  house  at  No.  13  Greenwich  Street,  and  in  it 
had  a  picture-gallery  more  extensive  and  valuable  than  any  in  the  city, 
which  was  open  to  public  view  one  day  in  each  week. 

Mr.  Reed's  house,  which  was  adjoining  the  famous  Atlantic  Garden, 
a  fashionable  resort  for  nearly  a  century,  was  a  wonder  at  that  day. 
It  was  considered  the  finest  dwelling  in  the  city.    Its  doors  were  of 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


615 


solid,  costly  dark  Santo  Domingo  mahogany,  so  rarely  seen  now.  His 
picture-gallery  was  in  the  upper  part  of  the  house.  The  great  flag- 
stones of  the  sidewalk  in  front  of  his  house  were  also  marvels  on 
account  of  their  dimensions.  They  cost  $250  each.  That  grand 
dwelling  is  now  (1883)  a  German  emigrant  boarding-house. 

Mr.  Reed  was,  as  Washington  AUston  wrote  to  Dunlap,  "  a  munifi- 
cent patron  of  art."  lie  was  a  valuable  customer  of  Paff,  an  eminent 
dealer  in  pictures  by  the  old  masters  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago,  whoso 
place  of  business  was  on  the  site  of  the  Astor  House.  Mr.  Heed  was  a 
still  more  generous  patron  of  American  artists,  as  his  gallery  fully 
attested.  He  sent  both  Thomas  Cole  and  George  Flagg  to  Europe  to 
complete  their  art  education,  paying  all  their  expenses.  He  was  a 
constant  patron  of  Cole,  and  possessed  some  of  his  finest  landscapes. 
He  commissioned  that  artist  to  paint  the  famous  series  of  five  pictures 
entitled  "  The  Course  of  Empire,"  which  are  now  in  the  gallery  of  the 
New  York  Historical  Society. 

Of  Mr.  Reed,  Dunlap  wrote,  so  early  as  1834  : 

"  I  have  spoken  of  the  munificent  patronage  Ltrman  Reed,  of  New  York,  has  be- 
stowed on  the  fine  arts,  and  his  friendship  for  our  distinguished  artists.  Mr.  Cole  has 
felt  as  if  he  were  prohibited  from  speaking  of  this  gentleman's  liberality.  I  am  free  to 
say  that  I  consider  him  as  standing  among  the  greatest  benefactors  to  the  fine  arts,  and 
the  most  purely  disinterested,  our  country  can  boast.  I  visited  Mr.  Reed's  gallery  some 
months  ago  and  saw  the  picture  of  Italian  scenery  which  Mr.  Cole  painted  for  him.  When 
it  was  finished  Mr.  Reed  asked  the  painter  what  price  he  put  upon  it. 

"  '  I  shall  be  satisfied,'  said  Cole,  '  if  I  receive  $300,  but  I  should  be  gratified  if  the 
price  is  fixed  at  $500.' 

"  '  You  shall  be  gratified,'  said  the  liberal  encourager  of  art,  and  he  commissioned  him 
to  paint  five  more  pictures  of  the  same  size  at  the  same  price  for  his  gallery." 

At  his  death,  in  1836,  Mr.  Reed  left  a  most  valuable  collection  of 
paintings,  principally  the  works  of  American  artists,  and  particularly 
of  residents  of  New  York  City.*    A  few  years  afterward  a  society  was 

*  Luman  Reed  was  bora  at  Austerlitz,  Columbia  County,  N.  Y.,  January  4,  1787.  His 
parents  were  both  natives  of  Xorwalk,  Conn.  Both  his  father  and  grandfather  were  labori- 
ous, frugal,  and  intelligent  farmers,  possessing  more  than  common  energy,  sagacity,  and 
perseverance,  and  subject  to  all  the  hardships  which  the  early  settlers  were  called  upon 
to  endure.  Luman  received  only  a  moderate  degree  of  education  at  a  district  school. 
Ho  inherited  the  upright  and  energetic  character  of  his  ancestors,  and  possessed  in  a 
remarkable  degree  the  qualities  of  self-reliance  and  self-denial  to  which  circumstances 
subjected  him.  At  a  very  early  age  he  began  to  work  at  anything  and  everything  that 
presented  itself —sometimes  on  the  farm,  sometimes  helping  to  clear  new  lands.  His 
family  moved  to  Coxsackie,  on  the  Hudson,  where  his  father  engaged  in  merchandising 
and  was  kindly  called  "  silver-head." 

When  young  Reed  was  twenty  years  of  age  he  went  to  Oswego,  on  Lake  Ontario,  where 
he  made  a  venture  in  the  lumber  business  for  himself.    He  had  been  for  two  or  three 


HISTORY  OF  NEW 


YORK  CITY. 


formed  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  this  collection  and  establishing  in 
the  city  a  permanent  gallery  of  fine  arts.  This  was  accomplished  by 
means  of  small  subscriptions,  the  constitution  of  the  society  declaiming 
that  "  every  person  paying  $1  shall  become  a  member  of  the  associa- 
tion and  shall  receive  a  certificate  of  membership  which  shall  entitle 
him  to  free  admission  to  the  gallery  for  life."  The  first  board  of 
trustees  of  this  New  York  Gallery  of  Fine  Arts  consisted  of  well- 
known  citizens.* 

The  association  was  incorporated  in  1S-J-5.  For  a  while  its  pictures 
were  exhibited  in  the  Rotunda,  in  the  Park,  which  had  been  granted 
by  the  corporation  with  a  view  to  the  establishment  of  a  permanent 
public  gallery  of  fine  arts,  but  it  did  not  receive  sufficient  support  to 
insure  its  continuance.  Finally,  through  the  liberality  and  untiring 
exertions  of  Mr.  Sturges,  the  business  partner  and  friend  of  Mr.  Reed, 
these  pictures  found  a  permanent  home  in  the  gallery  of  the  New  York 
Historical  Society.  Mr.  Sturges  had  been  chiefly  instrumental  in 
securing  their  preservation  as  a  unit. 

Mr.  Sturges,  like  Mr.  Reed,  was  a  most  generous  friend  and  patron 
of  artists  and  the  fine  arts,    lie  was  a  member  of  the  Sketch  Club  in 

years  a  clerk  in  a  store  in  Coxsackie.  He  soon  returned  to  that  village  and  became  a 
clerk  in  his  father's  store,  but  this  limited  sphere  of  action  did  not  satisfy  the  ambition 
of  the  young  man.  He  hired  out  on  a  sloop  that  traded  up  and  down  the  river,  and  in 
New  York  he  attracted  the  special  attention  of  his  uncle,  lloswell  Reed,  a  grocer,  and 
became  his  clerk.  He  was  bright,  energetic,  active,  and  a  good  judge  of  character  ;  he 
was  also  industrious,  economical,  persevering,  and  truthful. 

Tn  1815  Mr.  Reed  formed  a  partnership  with  his  uncle,  at  Coenties  Slip.  In  1821  R. 
<S:  L.  Reed  moved  to  Front  Street,  above  Wall  Street.  It  was  considered  a  bold  move  for 
a  grocer,  for  it  was  believed  a  grocer  could  not  do  business  away  from  Coenties  Slip. 

The  next  year  Roswell  Reed  withdrew  from  the  business,  and  Lunian  took  in  David 
Lee.  In  1N2N  he  had  Mr.  Hempstead  and  Jonathan  Sturges  (the  latter  had  been  a  clerk 
with  him)  as  partners.  Mr.  Hempstead  died  in  1829,  and  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Reed's  death, 
on  June  2,  1836,  at  the  age  of  not  quite  fifty  years,  the  firm  name  was  Reed  &  Sturges. 
The  latter  then  became  the  head  of  the  house,  and  so  remained  until  his  retirement  from 
business,  on  January  1,  18(58.    Mr.  Reed  left  three  children,  a  son  and  two  daughters. 

*  William  H.  Appleton,  Horatio  Allen,  John  H.  Austin,  James  Brown,  William  C. 
Bryant,  William  B.  Crosby,  Thomas  S.  Cummings,  William  S.  Conely,  Stephen  M. 
Chester,  Peter  Cooper,  J.  A.  Clark,  Orville  Dewey,  Charles  Denison,  Frederic  Depeyster, 
Nicholas  Dean,  Francis  W.  Fdmonds,  Robert  Elder,  Thomas  H.  Faile,  Walter  C.  Green, 
George  Grundy,  Richard  Irvin,  William  H.  Johnson,  William  Kent,  James  G.  King, 
Shepherd  Knapp,  Charles  M.  Leupp,  R.  E.  Lockwood,  Joseph  N.  Lord,  Charles  E. 
Minor,  William  B.  Mintuvn,  Henry  S.  Mulligan,  Stewart  C.  Marsh,  Hamilton  Murray, 
James  McCullough,  Lora  Nash,  Alfred  Pell,  Eleazer  Parmly,  J.  Smyth  Rogers,  Peter  A. 
Schermerhorn,  Jonathan  Sturges,  William  L.  Stone,  Benjamin  D.  Silliman,  Francis 
Skiddy,  Charles  A.  Stetson,  Moses  Taylor,  Thomas  Tileston,  James  Warren.  Jr., 
Frederick  A.  Wolcott,  John  Wiley,  Jacob  A.  Westervelt. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1 850-1860. 


017 


its  various  phases  of  existence,  and  of  the  Century,  its  successor.  The 
last  reunion  of  the  members  of  the  former  association  was  at  his  house, 
about  two  years  before  his  death.  lie  was  also  a  most  active  and 
efficient  member  of  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design,  and 
with  liberal  hand  and  sound  judgment  as  one  of  its  trustees  gave  it 
generous  assistance  in  seasons  of  financial  trouble.  So  thoroughly 
were  his  services  appreciated  that  on  his  retirement  from  the  trustee- 
ship in  1S63,  the  council  of  the  Academy  adopted  a  resolution  request- 
ing him  to  sit  for  his  portrait,  to  be  painted  by  any  Academician  he 
might  choose,  "  to  be  preserved  in  the  gallery  of  the  Academy  as  a 
lasting  testimony  of  [our]  respect  for  his  character,  and  gratitude  for 
his  services."  His  private  gallery  of  paintings,  at  his  decease,  was 
one  of  the  choicest  in  the  city. 

For  forty  years  Jonathan  Sturges  was  a  model  New  York  merchant, 
possessing  all  the  virtues  of  Mr.  Tieed.  On  his  retirement  from 
business  in  January,  1868,  he  was  invited  by  about  sixty  of  the  leading 
merchants  in  New  York  to  join  them  at  a  dinner  to  be  given  at 
Delmonico's  in  his  honor.  In  their  invitation  they  said  :  "  Your  life 
among  us  of  nearly  half  a  century,  in  the  same  localit}*-  in  Front  Street, 
we  can  truly  sa}r  has  been  such  as  commends  itself  to  every  one,  both 
old  and  young,  who  regard  that  which  is  true,  just,  and  noble  in 
mercantile  character. ' ' 

Mr.  Sturges  accepted  the  invitation.  At  the  sumptuous  banquet, 
A.  A.  Low,*  a  leading  merchant,  presided.    In  his  response  to  com- 

*  Abiel  A.  Low,  one  of  the  "  merchant  princes"  of  New  York,  was  born  in  Salem,  Mass., 
in  February,  1811.  He  is  one  of  the  twelve  children  of  Seth  Low,  whose  wife  was  Mary 
Porter,  a  descendant  of  John  Porter,  one  of  the  original  settlers  of  Salem.  He  received 
his  education  mainly  at  public  schools,  and  at  an  early  age  became  a  clerk  in  the 
mercantile  house  of  Joseph  Howard,  who  was  largely  engaged  in  the  South  American 
trade,  in  Salem.  Manifesting  remarkable  aptness  for  business,  he  soon  won  the  con- 
fidence and  esteem  of  his  employers.  His  father  removed  to  New  York  in  1828  and  com- 
menced business  as  a  drug  merchant.  Mr.  Low  remained  with  Mr.  Howard  and  his  suc- 
cessor, Mr.  James  Brown,  of  Danvers,  till  1829,  when  he  followed  his  father  to  New  York, 
and  entered  his  store  as  a  clerk.  Four  years  thereafter,  in  1833,  Mr.  Daniel  Low  afforded 
him  an  opportunity  to  go  to  China,  and,  at  Canton,  he  entered  the  service  of  Russell  & 
Co.  In  1837  he  was  made  a  partner  of  that  house,  and  soon  laid  the  foundation  of  an 
ample  fortune,  which  he  enjoys  in  his  later  years. 

Before  he  was  thirty  years  of  ago  Mr.  Low  returned  to  America  and  established  himself 
in  business  in  Fletcher  Street,  New  York,  making  Brooklyn  his  home,  where  his  parents 
were  living.  Soon  after  his  return  ho  married  Miss  Ellen  Almira  Dow,  a  daughter  of 
Josiah  Dow.  In  1850  he  was  permanently  located  in  Burling  Slip.  His  brother  Josiah 
had  become  his  partner  about  live  years  before,  and  in  1852  his  brother-in-law,  E.  H.  R. 
Lyman,  became  a  partner.  Afterward  sons  and  nephews  entered  the  firm.  They 
employed  many  ships  in  the  East  India  trade,  and  the  firm  of  A.  A.  Low  &  Brothers, 


618 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


plimentary  words  of  the  chairman  in  introducing  him  to  the  company 
as  their  chief  guest,  Mr.  Sturges  very  happily  related  some  incidents 
in  his  life  which  embodied  in  their  lessons  cardinal  virtues  of  a  success- 
ful business  career.* 

importers  of  tea,  maintains  tlie  high  reputation  for  strictest  integrity  and  for  the  largest 
and  most  enlightened  methods  of  mercantile  pursuit  and  dealing  established  by  tho 
founder  of  the  house.  Amid  all  the  reverses  and  fluctuations  of  the  commercial  com- 
munity for  more  than  a  generation,  it  has  been  a  tower  of  strength  in  maintaining 
the  good  name  of  the  city  of  New  York.  During  the  Civil  War  Mr.  Low  did  his  full 
share  in  assisting  in  the  defence  of  the  Republic  and  in  sustaining  the  national  credit. 
Two  of  the  ships  of  the  firm  were  burned  by  Confederate  privateers. 

For  more  than  a  generation  Mr.  Low  has  held  a  deservedly  high  position  among  tho 
merchants  of  the  metropolis.  He  was  ever  a  conspicuous  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Com . 
merce,  and  was  invested  with  its  presidency  for  several  years.  This  position  he  resigned  in 
1866,  when  with  some  of  his  family  he  started  on  a  tour  around  the  world.  On  his  return 
he  was  complimented  with  a  dinner  given  by  representative  merchants  of  New  York. 

Mr.  Low  has  ever  steadily  refused  political  office,  and  evtn  the  presidency  of  financial 
institutions  of  which  he  is  a  director.  His  statesmanlike  mind  and  his  broad  views, 
especially  on  commercial  matters,  have  caused  him  to  be  frequently  summoned  to  con- 
ferences with  Congressional  committees  at  Washington.  Always  a  wise  counsellor  and 
forcible  speaker,  he  has  been  frequently  called  upon  to  address  public  bodies.  He  has 
always  been  a  liberal  promoter  of  education  and  patron  of  every  good  enterprise  and 
institution  appealing  for  aid.  For  many  years  he  has  been  president  of  the  Packer 
Institute,  in  Brooklyn.  Losing  his  wife  many  years  ago,  he  married  Mrs.  Anne  D.  B.  Low, 
vre  Bedell,  and  has  four  children,  two  by  each  wife.  His  youngest  is  Seth  Low,  now  (188:5) 
the  popular  mayor  of  Brooklyn.  In  religion  Mr.  Low  is  a  Unitarian.  By  his  gentle  and 
affectionate  disposition,  his  stainless  purity  of  character,  and  his  fidelity  to  principle  in 
all  the  relations  of  life,  he  is  endeared  to  all,  and  greatly  beloved  by  his  family  and  friends. 

*  Jonathan  Sturges  was  born  in  Southport,  Conn.,  March  24,  1802.  His  father  was 
Captain  B.  L.  Sturges,  of  Southport,  adjoining  Fairfield.  Jonathan  Sturges,  his  grandfather, 
was  a  judge,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress,  also  of  the  National  Congress 
from  1789  to  1793.  His  uncle,  Lewis  Burr  Sturges,  was  a  well-known  member  of  Congress 
from  Connecticut,  early  in  the  present  century.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  came  to  New 
York  in  1821  and  entered  the  grocery  store  of  Reed  &  Lee  as  a  clerk.  In  1828  he  became 
a  partner  with  Mr.  Reed,  and  at  that  gentleman's  death,  in  1836,  as  we  have  observed,  he 
became  the  head  of  the  house,  in  which  position  he  continued  with  different  partners  un- 
til his  retirement  from  business  in  1868. 

Mr.  Sturges  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  when  quite  young. 
He  was  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Bank  of  Commerce  at  its  foundation.  Through  Mr. 
Reed  he  was  early  associated  with  the  artists  of  New  York.  His  friendship  for  Cole, 
Purand,  Ingham,  Huntington  and  a  few  others  was  warm  and  enduring,  and  his  inter- 
est in  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design  never  abated.  His  love  of  music  was 
equal  to  his  love  of  the  arts  of  design.  In  1844  he  became  a  member  of  the  New  York 
Historical  Society,  and  in  1856  was  appointed  upon  its  committee  on  fine  arts,  and 
served  as  its  chairman  until  his  death.  He  was  president  of  the  New  York  Gallery  of 
Fine  Arts,  and,  as  we  have  observed,  secured  it  a  place  in  the  art  collections  of  the 
Historical  Society.  For  some  time  he  was  a  director  of  the  Harlem  Railroad  Company, 
was  one  of  the  projectors  of  the  New  York  and  New  Haven  Railroad,  and  was  one  of  the 
first  board  of  directors  of  the  Elinois  Central  Railroad.    He  was  also  one  of  the  original 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1SGO. 


611) 


During  the  second  and  third  decades  much  more  active  interest  in 
the  subject  of  the  fine  arts  was  exhibited  in  New  York  than  had  ever 
before  been  seen.  Many  gentlemen  of  wealth  and  taste  gathered 
choice  picture  galleries,  and  all  the  exhibitions,  as  a  rule,  were  well 
attended. 

It  was  during  the  second  decade  that  the  association  known  as  The 
American-  Art  Union  was  established.  It  was  designed  for  the  benefit 
of  artists  by  establishing  for  them  a  sort  of  exchange,  and  to  cultivate 
the  public  taste  for  the  fine  arts  by  a  perpetual  and  free  exhibition  of 
paintings,  statuary,  and  engravings.  This  association  was  the  legiti- 
mate offspring  and  successor  of  the  Apollo  Gallery,  established  by 
James  Herring,  an  artist,  at  No.  410  Broadway,  in  1839,  for  the  same 
avowed  objects.  Of  that  institution  Dr.  John  W.  Francis  was  presi- 
dent. Pecuniary  embarrassment;  soon  crippled  it,  the  location  was 
abandoned,  and  the  association  was  reorganized  under  the  title  of  the 
American  Art  Union.  It  had  spacious  accommodations — a  gallery  150 
feet  long — at  No.  497  Broadway,  above  Broome  Street,  where  might 
be  seen,  day  and  evening,  a  large  collection  of  paintings  and  statuary, 
free  of  charge.  On  paying  an  annual  subscription  a  person  might 
become  a  member.  The  income  thus  derived,  after  paying  all  neces- 
sary expenses,  was  devoted  to  the  purchase  of  paintings  and  sculpture, 
and  to  the  production  of  fine  engravings.  Of  the  latter  each  mem- 
ber was  entitled  to  a  copy.  The  paintings  were  publicly  distributed 
among  the  members  by  lot  about  the  22d  of  December  each  year,  the 
meeting  for  the  drawing  being  usually  held  in  the  Tabernacle,  on 
Broadway. 

The  Art  Union  was  successful  for  several  years,  and  did  much  to 
improve  the  public  taste.  At  the  same  time,  by  its  system  of  sales, 
purchase,  and  distribution,  it  held  the  art  patronage  in  its  own 
hands,  creating  the  demand  and  furnishing  the  supply.  Its  inten- 
tions were  undoubtedly  good,  but  the  results  were  questionable,  as  to 

corporators  of  the  Society  for  the  Relief  of  the  Ruptured  and  Crippled,  was  its  treas- 
urer, and  one  of  the  most  liberal  subscribers  to  the  fund  for  the  erection  of  a  hospital 
tor  this  class  of  invalids.  Indeed,  the  liberal  hand  and  personal  interest  of  Mr.  Sturges 
■were  given  and  felt  in  all  the  leading  charities  of  the  city. 

During  the  Civil  War  Mr.  Sturges  was  a  stanch  supporter  of  the  government  at  all 
times,  and  gave  to  that  support  the  whole  weight  of  his  character  and  the  liberal  use  of 
his  purse.  He  was  an  active  and  efficient  founder  and  member  of  the  Union  League 
Club.*  He  was  also  a  prominent  member  of,  and  during  the  last  twelve  years  of 
his  life  an  elder  in  the  Collegiate  Dutch  Reformed  Church.  His  most  conspicuous 
personal  quality  was  a  persistent  and  untiring  devotion  to  the  accomplishment  of  any 
object  he  undertook.  Mr.  Sturges  died  of  pneumonia,  at  his  residence  in  New  York, 
on  November  28,  1874. 


020 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


benefit,  if  not  positively  injurious  to  art.  Overstimulation  is  not  in 
accordance  with  the  spirit  of  art.  It  must  have  a  normal  growth  to  be 
truly  successful.  Because  of  this  stimulation  there  came,  logically,  a 
reaction.  The  artists  began  to  feel  that  their  independence  was  in- 
fringed upon — that  the  Union  ruled  them.  The  feeling  of  dissatisfac- 
tion was  voiced  by  a  leading  morning  newspaper,  which  assailed  the 
Union  as  a  lottery  and  therefore  illegal.  A  judgment  against  it  under 
this  charge  was  procured  in  one  of  the  inferior  courts.  The  managers 
smiled  at  the  decision.  It  was  confirmed  by  a  higher  court,  and  the 
American  Art  Union  fell,  to  rise  no  more,  at  the  close  of  the  second 
decade.  Its  demise  was  honorable.  The  last  remnant  of  its  funds — 
proceeds  of  sales  of  its  works  of  art — for  which  there  were  no  claim- 
ants, was  transferred  to  the  use  of  the  Xew  York  Gallery  of  Fine  Arts. 

Among  the  later  distributions  of  the  Art  Union  was  the  series  of 
pictures  painted  by  Cole  known  as  "  The  Voyage  of  Life."  They 
were  painted  for  Samuel  Ward.  On  the  settlement  of  that  gentle- 
man's estate  they  were  bought  by  the  Art  Union  and  offered  as  a 
pi'ize,  in  1848.  Half  a  million  visitors  were  attracted  to  the  rooms  of 
the  Art  Union  to  see  these  pictures,  and  the  subscriptions  wei'e 
increased  to  10,000.  The  pictures  were  drawn  by  a  Binghamton 
editor,  and  were  afterward  bought  for  $4000  by  Gorham  D.  Abbott, 
LL.  D. ,  for  the  gallery  of  his  school  for  young  women,  known  as  the 
Spingler  Institute. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  third  decade  (1S50)  a  newspaper  enterprise 
of  a  new  and  peculiar  character,  which  had  been  inaugurated  a  few 
years  before,  had  been  established  upon  a  solid  foundation  by  the  tact, 
skill,  and  industry  of  two  very  young  men,  who  now  (1883)  carry  it  on, 
after  its  early  plan,  with  great  success  and  unabated  energy.  Through 
it  they  have  earned  and  acquired  fame  and  fortune.  The  enterprise 
alluded  to  was  a  weekly  newspaper  called  the  Scientific  American, 
devoted  exclusively  to  science,  inventions,  the  mechanic  arts,  manu- 
factures, and  cognate  subjects.  As  a  repertory  of  current  scientific 
discoveries,  inventions,  and  improvements  in  every  department  of  en- 
gineering and  mechanics,  it  forms  an  interesting  feature  in  the  history 
of  the  activities  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  Scir/ifific  Ann  rican  was  founded  by  Rufus  Porter.  He  did  not 
succeed,  and  the  establishment  was  purchased  of  him  by  Messrs.  Munn 
&  Co.  (Orson  D.  Munn  and  Alfred  E.  Beach),  young  men  who  had  been 
schoolmates,  the  former  just  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  the  latter 
only  nineteen  years  old.  There  was  not  much  to  buy  (for  the  circula- 
tion of  the  paper  was  less  than  three  hundred  each  week),  and  the  boys 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


621 


had  not  much  to  buy  with.  Young  Beach  was  a  son  of  Moses  Y.  Beach, 
then  the  proprietor  of  the  New  York  Sim,  and  had  been  employed  by 
his  father  in  taking  in  advertisements  and  selling  newspapers  over  the 
counter.* 

The  energy  and  sagacity  of  these  young  men  soon  began  to  make  the 
/Scientific  American  establishment  noticeable.  Soon  after  they  took 
possession  of  it  they  advertised  that  they  had  established  an  agency 
at  their  publication  office,  and  were  prepared  to  transact  all  business 
between  inventors  and  the  Patent  Office  at  Washington.  Thus  was 
first  established  in  the  city  of  New  York  this  important  branch  of 
business,  which  they  speedily  extended  to  various  other  countries. 
Before  the  close  of  the  third  decade  (1850-00)  they  had  spacious 
offices  for  carrying  on  the  business,  occupied  by  a  large  corps  of  engi- 
neers and  draughtsmen,  all  engaged  in  preparing  specifications  and 
drawings  for  the  patent  offices  of  the  United  States,  Great  Britain, 
France,  Austria,  Russia,  and  other  foreign  countries.  They  had  their 
offices  in  Washington,  London,  Paris,  and  Brussels.    Year  after  3Tear 

*  Orson  Desnix  Munn  is  a  native  of  Monson,  Hampden  County,  Mass.,  whose  ancestors 
were  among  the  first  settlers  in  that  region  and  gave  the  name  to  the  township.  His 
father,  a  thrifty  farmer,  gave  his  son  a  good  education  at  the  academy  in  his  native 
town,  which  is  yet  noted  in  that  region  for  its  excellence.  He  left  school  at  sixteen 
years  of  age,  and  entered  a  bookstore  in  Springfield,  the  county  seat,  as  an  under 
clerk.  Industrious  and  trustworthy,  he  very  soon  won  the  confidence  and  respect 
of  his  employer,  who  always  left  the  business  in  young  Munn's  charge  when  he  was 
absent.  The  business  having  changed  owners,  he  returned  to  his  native  town,  and  at 
the  age  of  eighteen  years  became  a  clerk  in  a  general  country  store  as  salesman  and  book- 
keeper. He  was  ambitious  to  enter  a  wider  field  of  labor.  He  had  asked  a  school- 
fellow (his  present  partner)  to  look  out  for  a  situation  for  him  in  New  York.  To  that 
schoolfellow  he  was  warmly  attached,  for  they  were  congenial  spirits,  and  had  been 
always  together  on  holidays  and  Saturday  afternoons,  in  their  school  days. 

Within  a  month  after  he  had  reached  the  lawful  age  of  manhood,  young  Munn  received 
a  letter  from  his  friend  informing  him  that  there  was  an  opportunity  for  him  to  under- 
take what  young  Beach  predicted  would  be  a  profitable  venture  in  the  city.  He  went 
immediately  to  New  York,  formed  a  copartnership  with  young  Beach,  and  purchased  the 
Scientific  American,  when  it  had  been  published  less  than  one  year. 

The  prediction  of  young  Beach,  that  the  business  he  had  invited  his  friend  to  join  him 
in  could  be  successful,  was  speedily  fulfilled.  They  made  that  fulfilment  possible  from 
the  start,  by  means  of  their  own  good  judgment,  industry,  and  indomitable  perse- 
verance in  a  fixed  purpose.  Salem  H.  Wales  became  a  member  of  the  linn  at  an  early 
period,  and  so  remained  until  1871.  Their  success  has  exceeded  their  expectations,  and 
the  name  of  Munn  A  Co.  obtained  an  enviable  reputation  at  home  and  abroad. 

Mr.  Munn  is  a  gentleman  of  fine  taste.  In  his  dwelling  in  the  city  he  has  a  col- 
lection of  pictures  of  the  highest  order.  They  have  been  selected  by  himself,  at  a  cost  of 
many  thousand  dollars.  There  is  probably  no  private  gallery  in  the  city  comprising  the 
same  number  of  pictures  which  contains  more  costly  and  exquisite  works  of  art.  Mr. 
Munn  has  a  beautiful  summer  residence  in  Llewellyn  Park,  Orange  Mountain,  N.  J. 


022 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


the  illustrations  in  the  Scientific  American  of  new  machinery,  inven- 
tions, and  subjects  pertaining  to  the  arts,  sciences,  and  new  discoveries, 
increased  in  number  and  beauty.  The  influence  of  the  Scientific  Amer- 
ican upon  the  various  industries  of  our  country  has  been  powerful  and 
salutary.  It  has  a  very  large  circulation  abroad  as  well  as  at  home. 
The  publishers  also  issue  a  weekly  journal  called  the  Scientific  Ameri- 
can Supplement,  of  the  same  form  and  size  as  the  regular  edition  ; 
also  an  Export  Edition,  which  is  issued  monthly,  for  foreign  circulation. 

Since  the  publishing  firm  of  Munn  A:  Co.  was  begun,  in  1845,  the 
number  of  applications  for  patents  prepared  by  that  establishment  and 
filed  in  the  United  States  Patent  Office  and  sent  abroad  and  filed  in 
foreign  patent  offices  had  aggregated  ninety  thousand  at  the  beginning 
of  1883. 

Early  in  this  decade  the  largest  fire-insurance  company  in  New  York 
was  formed.  The  fires  of  1835  and  1845  had  created  an  indisposition 
to  risk  much  capital  in  insurance  enterprises,  as  Ave  have  observed,  and 
Xew  York  was  behind  several  cities  in  this  respect,  where  companies 
were  existing  with  capitals  of  $500,000.  But  in  1852  a  number  of 
leading  merchants  on  comparing  views  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
growth  and  enterprise  of  the  city  demanded  something  more  substantial 
in  the  line  of  indemnity  than  the  small  local  insurance  companies  were 
able  to  furnish..  The  result  was  the  formation,  in  January,  1853,  of  a 
company  with  s5oo,ooo  capital.  There  was,  however,  a  seeming  reluc- 
tance on  the  part  of  the  new  company's  managers  to  enter  boldly  upon 
the  general  insurance  field,  and  the  object  originally  aimed  at,  as 
regarded  a  widely  scattered  business  and  a  liberal  underwriting  policy, 
appeared  to  have  failed  of  accomplishment. 

To  meet  what  was  manifestly  required,  another  company  of  large 
capital  with  more  progressive  scope  was  projected,  and  on  the  13th  of 
April,  1S53,  the  Home  Insurance  Compasy,  with  $500,000  capital,  all 
paid,  in,  entered  upon  its  career  of  honor  and  success.  It  was  wisely 
assumed,  at  the  outset,  that  a  Kew  York  company,  with  ample  capital, 
with  a  proper  spirit  of  enterprise  for  such  a  work,  if  conducted  judi- 
ciously, ought  to  and  must  succeed  in  a  general  agency  business.  It 
was  in  this  spirit  and  with  this  aim  that  the  projectors  of  the  Home 
began  to  la}T  the  foundations  of  an  institution  which  has  become  the 
largest  and  most  successful  insurance  company  on  this  continent  doing 
an  exclusively  fire  business. 

When  the  Home  began  its  work  only  one  Xew  York  company  was 
professing  to  do  any  agency  business  whatever.  By  many,  if  not 
most,  of  the  local  underwriters  the  new  enterprise  was  looked  upon  as 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1S60. 


623 


a  somewhat  daring  and  decidedly  doubtful  experiment.  The  managers 
of  the  Home,  however,  proceeded  promptly  to  the  establishment  of 
agencies  at  prominent  points  in  the  New  England,  Middle,  and  West- 
ern States.  Within  the  first  year  and  a  half  140  agents  Avere  actively 
engaged  in  cultivating  the  field.  The  entire  working  force  of  officers 
and  employes  of  all  the  New  York  and  Brooklyn  insurance  companies 
fifty  years  ago  did  not  outnumber  the  present  working  force  of  the 
head  office  of  the  Home  alone.  The  140  agents  of  1855  have  become 
an  army  of  more  than  4000,  inclusive  of  sub-agents  and  partners  in 
agency  firms. 

Meanwhile  the  capital  of  the  company  has  been  several  times  in- 
creased, to  keep  pace  with  the  growing  demand  for  its  policies,  until  in 
1875  it  reached  §3,000,000.  The  premium  income  rose  steadily  from 
about  $250,000  the  first  year  to  62,745,002  in  1S82.  The  total  income 
of  the  Home  in  the  latter  year  was  |3, 080, 8 17,  and  the  total  assets  of 
the  company  at  the  close  of  that  year  reached  the  amount  of  S7,2oX,4S(.) 
— a  sum  one  fifth  larger  than  the  combined  capital  of  all  the  fire-insur- 
ance companies  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn  fifty  years  ago.  Of  this 
aggregate  of  assets,  no  less  than  §1,774,001  represented  the  reserved 
profit  or  net  surplus  over  capital  and  all  liabilities,  including  among 
such  liabilities  an  ample  reinsui'ance  fund  ($2,110,S32)  to  meet  the 
contingent  claims  upon  unexpired  policies. 

During  the  thirty  veal's  of  the  existence  of  this  great  corpora- 
tion down  to  April,  1883,  its  total  premiums  received  have  been 
$r>7,2<>4. 1<>8  ;  amount  of  interest  received,  SO, 125, 111  ;  amount  of 
losses  paid,  $34,700,200  ;  number  of  losses,  60,964  ;  amount  of 
dividends  paid  (including  two  stock  dividends  of  $500,000  each), 
$0,905,000.  The  total  amount  covered  by  the  policies  of  the  company 
on  all  kinds  of  property  during  these  thirty  years  has  been  something 
more  than  $0,0()i),oi)i),oi)0,  -,i  sum  almost  startling  of  itself,  and  indicat- 
ing plainly  the  energetic  character  of  the  management  and  the 
unlimited  confidence  of  property-holders  all  over  the  country  in  the 
Home's  contracts  of  indemnity.  To  accomplish  such  results  despite 
the  many  large  fires  that  have  occurred  during  the  last  thirty  years, 
including  the  phenomenal  conflagrations  of  Chicago  in  1S71  and  of 
Boston  in  1872,  indicates  the  exercise  of  peculiar  managerial  skill. 

The  Home  entered  upon  its  work  of  prosecuting  an  agency  business 
fully  equipped  with  officers  who  believed  underwriting  to  be  a  profes- 
sion, and  who  were  experts  in  its  practice.  To  its  progressive  and  yet 
conservative  methods  of  management  the  insurance  business  of  the 
country  owes  much  of  its  honorable  position. 


624 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  president  of  the  Home  Insurance  Company  is  Charles  J.  Martin.,* 
who  has  been  with  it  from  its  foundation,  first  as  its  secretary,  and 
then  as  its  presiding  officer.  Its  vice-president  is  D.  A.  Heald  ;  its 
secretary  is  J.  H.  Washburn,  and  T.  13.  Greene  and  William  L.  Bigelow 

are  assistant  secretaries. 

*  Charles  J.  Martin  is  a  native  of  Middlesex  County,  N.  J.,  where  he  was  born  in 
November,  1815.  He  came  to  New  York  with  his  parents  when  between  five  and  six 
years  of  age,  and  was  a  resident  of  this  city  during  his  childhood  and  youth  and  until 
about  twenty-six  years  ago,  when  he  transferred  his  residence  to  the  mountain-side  at 
Orange,  in  his  native  State.  He  received  his  education  at  one  of  the  common  schools  in 
the  Eighth  Ward,  known  to  the  elder  residents  of  that  ward  as  the  Village  Academy, 
his  father  being  its  honored  and  respected  principal  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century. 

Leaving  school  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  with  a  creditable  record  in  reading,  writing,  and 
arithmetic,  he  entered  the  employ  of  a  respectable  retail  dry-goods  house  on  Hudson 
Street,  in  the  Fifth  Ward,  that  street  being  then  one  of  the  principal  retail  dry-goods 
marts  of  the  city.  There  he  remained  nearly  three  years,  when,  through  the  influence  of 
a  relative  who  was  an  officer  of  the  company,  a  clerkship  was  tendered  him  in  the  office 
of  the  Contiibutionship  Fire  Insurance  Company,  then  occupying  rooms  at  No.  44  (now 
No.  56)  Wall  Street.  His  main  object  in  making  the  change  was  to  escape  the  long 
hours  from  early  morning  iintil  late  at  night  and  the  drudgery  of  opening  and  sweeping 
out  the  store,  making  the  fires  in  winter,  carrying  out  packages  of  goods  sold,  etc.,  to 
which  the  younger  clerks  in  such  establishments  were  subjected  in  those  days.  This  was 
in  January,  1833.  In  this  office  during  the  six  years  following  he  received  his  first 
training  as  an  underwriter,  and  was  an  eye-witness,  during  all  that  terrible  night  of  the 
great  fire  of  December  1G,  1835. 

In  the  early  part  of  1839  young  Martin  left  his  clerkship  to  take  the  position  of  secre- 
tary of  a  new  company  then  being  organized,  which  had  been  tendered  him,  but  the 
enterprise  proved  an  injudicious  one  at  the  time,  from  the  fact  of  the  depressed  condition 
of  business  in  the  city  and  of  the  whole  country,  which  had  not  yet  recovered  from  the 
effects  of  the  general  revulsion  and  bankruptcy  of  1837.  After  a  brief  existence  the 
company  went  into  liquidation  and  wound  up  its  affairs,  returning  to  the  stockholders 
the  capital  which  had  been  paid  in,  with  the  loss  of  only  about  three  per  cent.  He  had 
the  charge,  under  a  committee  of  the  directors,  of  winding  up  the  affairs  of  the  institu- 
tion, after  which  for  a  short  period  he  had  partial  employment  only  in  his  profession 
until  the  winter  of  1813-44,  when  he  went  to  New  Orleans,  and  was  the  first  agent 
appointed  by  the  company  in  whose  service  had  been  his  clerkship  of  six  years.  Return- 
ing to  New  York  in  the  spring  of  1845.  Mr.  Martin  was  appointed  general  agent  of  that 
company,  with  authority  and  powers  such  as  had  probably  never  before  been  given  to  an 
employe  in  a  similar  position. 

The  great  fire  of  July,  1845,  which  ruined  many  companies  in  this  city  and  sadly 
crippled  many  others,  brought  the  necessity  for  discontinuing  business  in  April,  1S4C, 
and  winding  up  its  affairs,  the  charge  of  which  also  fell  into  Mr.  Martin's  hands  under  a 
receiver.  When  nearly  through  with  these  duties  he  became  associated  with  the  agent  in 
this  city  of  the  Franklin  Fire  Insurance  Company  of  Philadelphia,  and  after  a  few  months 
was  appointed  sole  agent.  Not  agreeing  with  the  then  head  of  the  company  in  regard  to 
the  management  of  the  business  of  its  New  York  agency,  he  resigned  the  position  in 
February,  1850,  and  within  thirty  days  thereafter  was  offered  the  secretaryship  of  the 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


625 


Commercial  Insurance  Company,  then  about  organizing.  He  accepted  the  position,  and 
soon  placed  the  company  among  the  first  of  its  class  at  that  time  in  this  city.  Early 
in  the  spring  of  1853  he  accepted  the  secretaryship  of  the  Home  Insurance  Company, 
■which  was  then  organized  for  the  purpose  of  doing  an  agency  business  throughout  the 
country  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  business  of  fire  insurance  in  the  city  and  vicinity. 

The  varied  experience  thus  obtained  had  eminently  fitted  Mr.  Martin  for  the  duties  of 
this  new,  and  as  was  thought  by  many  at  that  time  doubtful,  enterprise.  Filling  the 
position  of  secretary  for  about  twenty  months,  he  had  so  won  the  confidence  of  the  board 
of  directors  during  that  time  that  upon  the  retirement  of  the  chief  officer  he  was  called 
to  the  presidential  chair,  which  he  has  since  filled  with  the  result  which  is  shown  in  the 
brief  history  of  the  company  given  in  the  text. 

Mr.  Martin  is  one  of  the  veterans  in  fire  insurance,  not  only  in  this  city  but  in  the 
country,  having  just  completed  his  half  century  as  a  fire  underwriter  since  he  commenced 
his  clerkship  in  an  insurance  office  in  Wall  Street.  There  are  only  two  others  in  the 
business  who  antedate  him,  one  of  whom  is  the  venerable  president  of  the  North  River 
Insurance  Company  of  this  city,  who  commenced  his  career  in  that  company  in  1822,  and 
has  been  connected  with  it  until  the  present  time. 


CHAPTER  III. 


EAELY  in  the  third  decade  a  heroic  effort  was  made  to  purge  the 
city  of  one  of  its  most  corrupt  sinks  of  moral  impurity  and  crime, 
familiarly  known  as  the  Five  Points.  The  locality  derived  its  name 
from  an  area  of  open  land  containing  about  one  acre  of  ground,  into 
which  five  streets  entered  hke  five  rivers  entering  a  bay.  These 
streets  were  Little  Water,  Cross,  Anthony,  Orange,  and  Mulberry. 
In  the  centre  of  this  area,  surrounded  by  a  wooden  paling,  was  a  small 
triangular  space  known  as  Paradise  Square.  Opposite  this  park  was 
the  Old  Brewery,  so  famous  in  the  history  of  this  region.  Its  neigh- 
hoi's  were  miserable  tumble-down  buildings  swarming  with  squalid 
men,  women,  and  children  of  every  hue  ;  liquor-shops  were  every- 
where, and  nearly  every  house  was  a  brothel.  The  men,  as  a  rule, 
were  petty  criminals  ;  the  women  were  vile  and  disfigured  by  de- 
bauchery of  every  kind,  and  the  children  were  the  miserable  victims  of 
these  horrible  surroundings. 

Of  the  Five  Points,  Charles  Dickens,  who  visited  the  locality  in  1841 
with  two  police  officers,  wrote  : 

"  This  is  the  place  :  these  narrow  ways  diverging  to  the  right  and  left,  and  reeking 
everywhere  with  dirt  and  filth.  Such  lives  as  are  led  here  hear  the  same  fruit  here  as 
elsewhere.  The  coarse  and  bloated  faces  at  the  doors  have  counterparts  at  home  and  all 
the  wide  world  over..  Debauchery  has  made  the  very  houses  prematurely  old.  .  .  . 
Many  of  their  pigs  live  here.  Do  they  ever  wonder  why  their  masters  walk  upright  in 
lieu  of  going  on  all  fours  ?  and  why  they  talk  instead  of  grunting  ?  So  far  nearly  every 
house  is  a  low  tavern." 

After  describing  some  personal  adventures,  Mr.  Dickens  continued  : 

"  Here,  too,  are  lanes  and  alleys  paved  with  mud  knee  deep  ;  underground  chambers 
where  they  dance  and  game,  the  walls  bedecked  with  rough  designs  of  ships,  and  forts, 
and  flags,  and  American  eagles  out  of  number  ;  ruined  houses  open  to  the  street,  whence 
through  wide  gaps  in  the  walls  other  ruins  loom  upon  the  eye,  as  though  the  world  of 
vice  and  misery  had  nothing  else  to  show  ;  hideous  tenements,  which  take  their  name 
from  robbery  and  murder  ;  *  all  that  is  loathsome,  drooping,  and  decayed  is  here  !" 

*  One  was  called  Murderer's  Alley,  another  the  Den  of  Thieves,  and  so  on.  Thera 
were  underground  passages  connecting  blocks  of  houses  on  different  streets. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-18G0. 


627 


Such  was  the  loathsome  place — more  loathsome  than  the  stables  of 
Augeas — which  pious  and  benevolent  women,  with  herculean  strength 
of  purpose,  attempted  to  cleanse.  The  seemingly  hopeless  task  was 
begun  with  prayer  and  faith  ;  it  was  sustained  by  prayer  and  faith  ; 
the  workers,  few  in  number  and  feeble  in  resources  at  first,  wrought 
with  courage  and  fidelity,  stimulated  by  faith,  and  they  finally 
acliieved  a  victory.  They  turned  into  this  abode  of  the  sirens  the  pure 
waters  of  religious  instruction,  moral  suasion,  human  charity  and 
kindness,  and  intellectual  and  spiritual  aliment,  and  it  was  cleansed  to  a 
great  extent,  and  remains  so.  The  bulk  of  the  population  has  changed 
in  nationality  and  character.  The  chief  denizens  of  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Five  Points  are  now  Italian  organ-grinders,  bootblacks,  peanut- 
venders,  many  beggars,  receivers  of  goods  stolen  by  petty  thieves, 
Chinese  cigar  and  opium  peddlers,  and  others  with  no  '*  visible  means'' 
of  earning  a  livelihood.  Open  vice  and  immorality  are  no  more  seen 
there.  Business  houses  are  yearly  coming  nearer  and  nearer  to  that 
once  vile  locality,  and  the  time  seems  not  to  be  far  distant  when  the 
renovation  and  purification  of  the  Five  Points  will  be  completed. 

The  story  of  the  cleansing  of  this  foul  locality  forms  an  exceedingly 
interesting  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  may  be 
briefly  told. 

The  work  was  really  instituted  two  years  before  the  opening  of  this 
decade.  For  several  years  the  New  York  Ladies'  Home  Missionary 
Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  had  been  anxious  to  include 
the  Points  within  the  sphere  of  their  labors.  In  their  report  for  1848 
they  said  : 

"  We  intend  to  make  a  new  point  on  Centre  or  Elm  streets,  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Tombs.  The  deepest  interest  was  manifested  by  the  board  respecting  this  effort.  Sev- 
eral members  pledged  their  personal  labors  to  the  Sunday-school,  and  all  feel  that  this  is 
emphatically  '  mission  ground.'  We  plead  for  the  children — for  we  commence  with  the 
Sabbath-school — the  children,  because  through  them  we  hope  to  reach  the  parents  ;  the 
children,  because  ere-long  they  will  hold  the  destiny  of  our  city  within  their  hands.  We 
expect  to  employ  a  missionary  there  who  will  avail  himself  of  every  providential  opening 
for  usefulness.  If  there  is  a  spot  in  this  crowded  city  where  vice  reigns  unchecked, 
surely  all  will  admit  it  to  be  in  that  vicinity  ;  and  who  can  think  of  the  hundreds  born  in 
sin,  nurtured  in  misery,  with  no  earthly  prospect  but  the  prison  and  the  gallows,  with- 
out a  deep,  unutterable  yearning  to  snatch  them  from  the  fearful  vortex?"  . 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  visit  the  neighborhood.  Xo  suitable 
place  could  then  be  found  to  open  a  mission,  and  the  work  was  delayed 
until  1850.  The  society  asked  the  Conference  to  send  them  a  mission- 
ary for  the  Five  Points — a  dreadful  plague-spot — a  focus  of  moral  con- 
tagion.    To  this  request  the  Conference  cheerfully  responded.  The 


628 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Rev.  L.  M.  Pease  was  sent.  He  was  soon  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  J. 
Luckey. 

The  devoted  women  engaged  in  this  work  were  encouraged  by  the 
sympathy  and  interest  of  their  husbands,  brothers,  and  friends,  and 
they  selected  a  number  of  gentlemen  of  the  highest  respectability  and 
social  and  business  standing  to  act  as  an  advisory  committee,  for  the 
difficulties  of  the  task  were  foreseen.  This  committee  was  empowered, 
in  conjunction  with  the  missionary,  to  find  a  suitable  place  and  make 
all  arrangements  for  the  opening  of  the  Sabbath-school.  A  room  was 
found  at  the  corner  of  Little  Water  and  Cross  streets,  about  20  by  40 
feet  in  size.  It  was  thoroughly  cleaned  and  seated,  and  made  capable 
of  accommodating  about  two  hundred  persons  comfortably.  There  a 
Sabbath-school  was  first  opened,  composed  of  seventy  pupils. 

Such  a  school  !  It  was  never  equalled  in  quality  before  nor  since. 
Neglected  children,  emaciated,  half  naked,  and  filthy  ;  hardened  and 
reckless  adults  encased  in  filth  and  rags  ;  young  women  with  linea- 
ments of  former  beauty  scarred  and  marred  by  the  fangs  of  vice  ;  half- 
grown  hoys,  already  victims  of  intemperance  and  licentiousness  ;  and 
half-grown  girls,  some  reckless  in  demeanor,  and  some  modest  and 
anxious.  "  I  never  imagined  a  more  vivid  representation  of  hell,"  said 
a  lady  who  was  present  at  this  first  Sunday-school  at  the  Five  Points. 
The  pioneers  in  this  work,  men  and  women,  sang  and  prayed,  and 
exhorted  their  hearers  to  lead  better  lives,  specially  urging  the  im- 
portance of  personal  cleanliness.  Such  words  and  such  music  had  prob- 
ably never  before  been  heard  by  a  large  majority  of  the  listeners. 

For  a  few  Sabbaths  the  school  was  a  sort  of  pandemonium — a  circus 
rather  than  a  Sabbath-school.  The  children  were  unruly,  for  they  had 
never  been  taught  lessons  of  self-restraint.  This  lack  was  one  of  the 
most  painful  features  to  be  considered,  for  the  anxious  question  would 
arise,  To  what  will  all  this  lead  ?  The  boys  would  perform  somersets, 
play  leap-frog,  quarrel,  fight,  and  swear,  or  follow  any  other  inclina- 
tion which  arose.  But  it  was  not  long  before  the  exercise  of  good 
judgment  and  extreme  kindness  transformed  the  school  into  an  orderly 
organization,  and  gave  the  projectors  pleasing  hopes  for  the  future. 

The  urgent  necessity  for  an  every-day  school  was  apparent  at  the 
outset,  for  weekly  impressions  on  the  mind  so  indurated  by  vice  and 
poverty  were  too  evanescent  to  be  of  much  benefit,  to  the  children 
especially.  Preparations  were  made  for  the  organization  of  a  school  : 
a  teacher  was  selected,  donations  of  maps,  books,  slates,  etc.,  were 
received,  and  tin;  ladies  were  rejoicing  in  the  prospect  of  a  wider 
field  of  usefulness,  when  the  school  was  placed  in  other  hands  and 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1800. 


f,29 


removed  entirely  from  the  control  and  much  of  the  influence  of  the 
mission. 

One  of  the  greatest  obstacles  to  the  work  of  the  mission  was  the 
prevalence  of  intemperance  in  the  neighborhood.  To  remove  this 
obstacle  in  some  degree  stated  temperance  meetings  were  held  at  the 
mission-rooms,  at  which  temperance  addresses  were  made,  temperance 
songs  sung,  and  earnest  exhortations  to  sobriety  delivered.  The  effect 
of  this  effort  was  wonderful.  In  the  first  year  one  thousand  persons 
had  signed  the  temperance  pledge.  Among  the  signers  were  some  of 
the  worst  denizens  of  the  Five  Points.  In  a  large  majority  of  cases 
the  pledge  was  faithfully  adhered  to. 

During  the  first  year  a  successful  effort  was  made  to  find  employ- 
ment for  those  who  were  willing  to  work.  After  much  effort  an 
establishment  was  formed  in  which  fifty  or  sixty  men  and  women  found 
constant  employment.  They  boarded  in  the  house  of  the  missionary, 
and  generally  attended  the  religious  meetings,  and  the  children  the 
Sabbath-school.  The  same  adverse  influence  which  removed  the  day- 
school  from  the  control  of  the  society  also  operated  here  in  a  similar 
way. 

The  mission-room  becoming  too  small  for  the  number  of  men, 
women,  and  children  who  gathered  there,  a  large  building  known  as 
the  Old  Brewery  was  purchased  and  converted  into  a  mission-house. 
It  was  a  large,  dilapidated  structure  situated  on  Paradise  Square.  It 
was  a  resort  and  a  shelter  for  the  most  active  and  depraved  of  the  dan- 
gerous classes.  Low,  dark,  winding  passages  ran  through  the  building, 
and  thereby  thieves  and  murderers  were  enabled,  the  first  to  conceal 
their  plunder  and  the  second  to  make  way  with  their  victims.  It  was 
a  fortress  of  crime,  and  in  it  dark  deeds  were  almost  nightly  committed 
with  impunity.  The  society  appealed  to  the  public  for  help  to  pur- 
chase this  building  in  order  to  change  it  from  a  pest-house  of  sin  to  a 
school  of  virtue.  The  response  was  immediate  and  generous,  and  in 
less  than  six  months  §13,000  of  the  $16,000  needed  to  complete  the 
purchase  of  the  building  was  subscribed.  The  Old  Brewery  was 
bought  in  March,  1852,  and  the  remaining  s^iion  were  soon  subscribed. 

In  November  of  the  same  year  the  children  of  the  Five  Points 
enjoyed  their  first  Thanksgiving  dinner.  The  gathering  there  on  that 
occasion  was  a  memorable  scene.  The  guests  were  the  children  of  the 
Sabbath-school  and  hopeful  candidates.  In  upper  rooms  were  tubs  of 
water  and  attendant  women.  There  the  children  were  scrubbed, 
aiiaved  in  clean  suits  of  clothes,  and  each  furnished  with  a  badge. 
These  were  then  gathered  in  the  mission-room.    At  half  past  tour 


030 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


o'clock  an  orderly  procession  of  370  children  was  formed  and  marched 
to  the  mammoth  tent  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  sixty  feet  in 
diameter,  which  was  pitched  in  Paradise  Square.  They  entered  the 
tent  singing  : 

"  The  morn  of  hope  is  breaking, 
All  doubt  now  disappears  ; 
The  Five  Points  now  are  waking 
To  penitential  tears." 

The  tables  were  spread  in  the  tent,  and  the  abundant  provisions  were 
transferred  to  them  from  the  office  in  the  Old  Brewery.  The  eager, 
hungry  throng  cheered  each  of  the  sixty  turkeys,  as  well  as  the  chick- 
ens and  geese  and  ornamental  pyramids,  as  they  passed  into  the  tent— 
a  sight  marvellous  to  behold  to  many  of  the  bright  eyes  dancing  with 
unwonted  joy. 

"  It  was  touching,"  wrote  an  eye-witness,  "  to  see  those  httle  ones, 
rescued  from  infamy  and  admitted  to  the  possibilities  of  virtue,  stand 
with  folded  hands  before  the  table  while  the  Doxology  was  sung  and  a 
blessing  asked." 

The  evening  entertainment  was  closed  at  an  early  hour  with  an 
illumination  of  the  Old  Brewery,  emptied  of  its  sin,  and  for  three  or 
four  nights  it  was  thrown  open  to  the  public,  and  thousands  of  people 
with  lighted  candles  groped  through  its  dark  recesses. 

The  Old  Brewery  was  demolished  in  December,  1852,  to  make  room 
for  a  new  mission-house  to  be  erected  on  its  site.  After  its  demolition 
a  well-known  journalist  wrote  of  the  old  fortress  of  Satan  : 

"  What  no  legal  enactment,  what  no  machinery  of  municipal  government  could  effect, 
Christian  women  have  brought  about  quietly,  but  thoroughly  and  triumphantly.  From 
henceforth  the  Old  Brewery  is  no  more.  The  great  problem  of  how  to  remove  the  Five 
Points  had  engaged  the  attention  of  both  the  legislative  and  executive  branches  of  the 
city  government,  and  both  had  abandoned  the  task  in  despair.  It  is  to  the  credit  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  that  they  were  the  first  to  enter  the  then  unpromising  field, 
and  it  will  be  an  imperishable  honor  to  the  Ladies'  Home  Missionary  Society  of  that 
Church  that  with  them  the  idea  originated,  and  by  them  has  been  so  successfully  carried 
out." 

On  the  27th  of  January,  1853,  the  corner-stone  of  the  new  mission- 
house  was  laid.  On  that  occasion  the  Rev.  Dr.  De  Witt,  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church,  delivered  an  address,  and  the  secretary  of 
the  American  Bible  Society  read  a  brief  history  of  the  operations  of 
that  society  at  the  Five  Points.  Bishop  Janes,  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  in  laying  the  corner-stone,  remarked  : 

"Education  is  to  be  promoted,  therefore  here  is  to  be  a  free  school-room  ;  virtue  and 
temperance  are  to  be  advanced,  and  here  we  have  a  lecture-room  :  the  salvation  of  im- 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


631 


mortal  souls  is  our  end  in  view,  find  there  will  be  a  chapel  in  the  edifice  ;  and  as  tem- 
poral blessings  will  be  an  object,  here  will  be  accommodations  for  the  sick  and  needy." 

On  the  18th  of  June  following  the  mission-house  was  dedicated  to  its 
sacred  uses — the  promotion  of  education,  virtue,  and  religion.  It  Avas 
a  substantial  edifice  of  brick,  five  stories  in  height,  seventy-five  feet  in 
length  on  the  street,  and  forty-five  feet  in  depth.  It  contains  a  chapel, 
in  which  500  persons  may  be  comfortably  seated,  and  in  which  services 
are  held  three  times  each  Sunday.  Next  to  the  chapel  is  the  dwelling- 
house  of  the  missionary  and  his  family.  The  ground  floor  had  school- 
rooms, and  in  the  upper  stories  were  twenty  tenements  for  poor  and 
deserving  families,  who,  as  an  equivalent  for  their  rent,  were  to  keep 
the  building  clean.  The  original  cost  of  the  building  was  $36,000. 
Extensive  additions  have  been  made  to  it — large  school-rooms  in  the 
rear  and  a  four-story  building  on  the  street,  which  is  used  for  various 
purposes.    The  institution  was  incorporated  in  1S56. 

According  to  the  report  of  the  managers  *  for  1SS2,  these  buildings 
were  all  free  of  debt,  and  nineteen  families  occupied  the  upper  part. 
They  had  given  away  during  the  year  517,834  rations,  and  assisted  and 
relieved  5146  persons.  They  had  given  away  during  the  year  a  large 
quantity  of  garments  of  every  kind — 11,806  pieces.  To  the  children 
who  attend  the  day-school  they  give  a  hot  dinner  every  day — beef  soup 
with  vegetables,  mutton  stew,  fish,  hominy,  rice,  and  bread.  It  is 
really  the  only  substantial  meal  the  400  children  have  each  day. 
There  had  been  only  two  deaths  among  the  887  children  who  had  been 
taught  in  the  school  during  the  year.  "Within  the  ten  years  (1S72-82) 
over  6000  children  had  been  cared  for  by  the  mission.  They  have  a 
sewing-school  wherein  the  girls  are  taught  the  useful  art  very 
thoroughly. 

The  Five  Points  House  of  Industry  is  an  early  outgrowth  of  the 
efforts  of  the  Xew  York  Ladies'  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  establish  a  mission  at  the  Five  Points. 
As  we  have  observed,  the  Rev.  L.  M.  Pease  was  appointed  the  first 
missionary  by  the  Xew  York  Annual  Conference.  He  entered  upon 
the  task  with  great  energy  and  zeal,  but  soon  differing  with  the  origi- 

*  The  officers  for  the  year  1882  were  :  Mrs.  Joseph  A.  Wright,  first  directress  ;  Mrs. 
John  A.  Kennedy,  second  directress  ;  Mrs.  William  Ryer,  third  directress  ;  Mrs.  F. 
Holsten,  fourth  directress  ;  Mrs.  William  B.  Skidmore,  treasurer  ;  Mrs.  J.  Grayden, 
corresponding  secretary  ;  Miss  E.  Burling,  recording  secretary  ;  Mrs.  E.  B.  Heydecker, 
assistant  recording  secretary.  The  board  of  managers  consist  of  members  of  the  forty 
Methodist  churches  in  the  city.  The  Bev.  R.  I.  Ferguson  is  the  superintendent,  and 
editor  of  a  monthly  publication  called  Voire  from  the  Old  Brewery. 


632 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOKK  CITY. 


nators  of  the  enterprise  as  to  the  principles  upon  which  it  should  be 
carried  on,  an  unfortunate  controversy  arose.  The  result  was  an  alien- 
ation, and  Mr.  Pease  severed  his  connection  with  the  society  with  a 
determination  to  prosecute  the  work  according  to  his  own  views,  rely- 
ing upon  the  religious  community  to  sustain  him. 

With  characteristic  energy  Mr.  Pease,  no  longer  connected  with  any 
association,  and  assisted  by  his  devoted  wife,  hired  two  houses  at  the 
Five  Points,  on  his  own  responsibility,  for  $700  a  year.  With  the  aid 
of  the  police  he  soon  cleared  them  of  their  depraved  inmates,  and  with 
his  family  took  up  his  abode  in  them.  lie  believed  that  the  wretched 
creatures  he  wished  to  serve,  the  outcast  women  of  the  Five  Points, 
were  not  so  from  choice,  but  from  the  force  of  circumstances.  He  be- 
lieved that  as  a  rule  they  desired  to  escape  from  their  mode  of  life,  but 
were  debarred  by  the  ban  of  society.  The  world  did  not  believe  as 
he  did,  and  this  was  the  kernel  of  the  controversy  to  which  allusion  has 
been  made.  Put  he  had  heard  from  their  lips  the  cry,  "  Don't  tell  us 
how  innocent  and  happy  Ave  once  were,  and  how  wicked  and  miserable 
and  infamous  we  now  are  ;  don't  talk  to  us  of  death  and  retribution 
and  perdition  before  us  ;  we  want  no  preacher  to  tell  us  that  ;  but  tell 
us,  oh,  tell  us  some  way  of  escape  !  Give  us  work  and  wages  !  Do 
but  give  us  some  other  master  than  the  Devil,  and  we  will  serve 
him." 

In  response  to  that  pitiful  cry  Mr.  Pease  acted.  He  sought  to 
relieve  their  moral  and  bodily  wants,  but  was  not  unmindful  of  their 
intellectual  and  spiritual  needs.  He  took  them  at  their  word.  He 
first  became  their  employer  and  then  their  father.  He  became  a  man- 
ufacturer, and  gave  them  shirts  to  make.  Next  he  gave  them  a  home, 
and  became  the  head  of  a  family.  He  began  in  July  with  thirty  or 
forty  Avomen  seAving  by  day  in  the  Methodist  Mission  Chapel.  He 
took  a  house  near  by  in  August.  In  September  a  day-school  AAras 
started.  It  Avas  taken  under  the  patronage  of  Mr.  James  Donaldson 
and  Mrs.  Bedell,  the  mother  of  Dr.  Bedell  (now  Bishop  of  Ohio), 
rector  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  the  Ascension  and  the 
members  of  that  communion.  In  October  another  house  was  taken, 
and  the  inmates  Avere  increased  to  about  sixty.  In  February,  1851, 
another  house  Avas  taken,  and  in  May  four  houses  more,  the  whole 
accommodating  about  one  hundred  and  twenty. 

For  ten  months  the  enterprise  came  under  the  control  of  the  National 
Temperance  Society.  A  bakery  and  coarse  basket-making  had  been 
added  to  its  industries.  The  control  reverted  to  Mr.  Pease  in  May, 
1852,  and  the  next  spring  three  more  houses  were  added  to  the  number. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


633 


Finally  a  house  was  taken  in  Broome  Street,  and  appropriated  as  a 
home  for  very  small  children,  invalids,  and  others. 

According  to  a  report  in  April,  1854,  the  establishment  had,  during 
the  past  six  months  supported,  in  doors  and  out,  a  daily  average  of  at 
least  five  hundred  persons  by  their  labor  there  and  by  the  benefactions 
of  the  charitable.  At  that  time  the  average  number  of  inmates  was 
about  three  hundred,  of  whom  one  half  were  children.  There  were 
twenty-five  men.    Two  hundred  children  were  in  the  school. 

Through  the  spontaneous  liberality  of  ten  individuals,  a  farm  was 
purchased  in  Westchester  County,  sixteen  miles  from  the  city,  in  1853. 
To  this  healthful  spot  and  labor  many  were  sent,  and  efforts  were 
always  made  to  assist  suffering  families  without  impairing  their  domes- 
tic ties  or  responsibilities.  The  grand  object  of  the  managers  of  the 
Five  Points  House  of  Industry  was  the  temporal,  social,  and  moral 
improvement  of  outcasts,  and  the  cultivation  of  their  spiritual  natures. 
The  institution  was  incorporated  in  185-4,  on  the  application  of  thirty 
conspicuous  citizens  of  Xew  York.  The  trustees  for  the  first  year 
were  :  Charles  Ely,  Henry  R.  Remsen,  George  Bird,  Edward  G. 
Bradbury,  Archibald  Russell,  Thomas  L.  Eells,  Charles  B.  Tatham, 
William  W.  Cornell,  and  George  G.  Waters. 

The  trustees  purchased  a  plot  of  ground  in  Anthony  (now  Worth) 
Street,  not  far  from  Centre  Street,  on  which  they  erected  a  building, 
completed  in  1856.  To  this  they  were  enabled,  by  generous  donations 
and  otherwise,  to  make  additions  of  land  and  buildings  comprising  a 
chapel.  The  farm  was  placed  under  the  management  of  Mr.  Pease, 
where  he  endeavored  to  make  a  self-sustaining  farm-school. 

The  establishment  of  the  school  of  the  Five  Points  House  of  Industry 
was  an  arduous  task.  The  boys  and  girls,  unaccustomed  to  discipline, 
were  extremely  unruly.  They  were  filthy  in  their  habits  and  conver- 
sation, and  profoundly  ignorant  Mr.  Pease  allured  them  into  the 
school  by  joining  them  in  their  plays  and  games,  and  retained  them  by 
giving  them  food.  For  three  years  Mr.  Donaldson  labored  with  him 
efficiently.  When  failing  health  compelled  this  good  man  to  relinquish 
his  charge  it  was  transferred  to  the  Church  of  the  Ascension.  The 
rector  appointed  six  members  of  the  congregation  to  be  a  school  com- 
mittee, who  discharged  their  duty  with  zeal.  This  was  before  the  in- 
corporation of  the  institution.  When  the  now  building  was  completed 
the  schools,  now  become  orderly,  were  transferred  to  it.  But  the 
church  continued  the  responsibility  of  carrying  on  this  reformatory 
work  at  the  Five  Points.  In  fifteen  years  (1855-70)  over  twenty  thou 
sand  four  hundred  children  were  taught  in  that  school. 


634 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  children  of  the  institution  who  receive  its  benefits  are  those 
chiefly  who  are  abandoned  by  their  parents  or  surrendered  on  account  of 
their  inability  to  support  them.  The  Legislature  has  given  the  institu- 
tion power  to  indenture  them  as  apprentices.  The  institution  has  gone 
on  steadily  and  healthfully  in  its  holy  work  under  successive  superin- 
tendents, and  thousands  of  respectable  young  men  and  women  scat- 
tered over  the  land  can  attest  that  what  they  are  they  owe  to  the 
fostering  care  of  the  Five  Points  House  of  Industry.* 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  establishment  of  the  reformatory 
institutions  at  the  Five  Points  just  mentioned,  there  was  organized  in 
the  city  another  public  charity,  far-reaching  in  its  aims  and  since  mar. 
vellous  in  its  operations  and  influence.  It  appears  more  important  as 
a  minister  of  good  than  any  other  society  in  the  social  history  of  the 
city  of  New  York  during  the  last  sixty  years,  because  it  stands  as  a 
preventive  agency  and  a  purifier  at  the  sources  of  crime  and  pauperism 
— the  neglected  children.  It  took  hold  of  the  bad  or  ignorant  boy 
when  he  was  a  child,  and,  instead  of  waiting  until  he  was  mature  to 
imprison  or  hang  him,  transformed  him,  by  the  gradual  influences  of 
education,  labor,  and  religion,  into  an  honest  and  industrious  young 
man.  This  institution  is  Tin-:  Ciiii.dukx's  Aid  Socikty,  founded  in 
1852,  and  which  is  still  doing  its  holy  work  with  increased  vigor  and 
effect  under  the  guidance  of  its  chief  founder. 

In  the  year  1S53  the  then  chief  of  police,  George  W.  Matsell,  put 
forth  a  report  concerning  the  street  children  of  Xew  York  which 
created  universal  anxiety  among  thoughtful  citizens,  and  called  forth 
much  compassion  for  the  class  described.  At  that  time  a  young  man, 
a  graduate  of  Yale  College  who  had  recently  completed  his  studies  in 
Europe  and  was  prepared  for  the  Christian  ministry,  was  laboring  as  a 
missionary  of  reform  among  the  adult  criminals  on  BlackweH's  Island 
and  the  wretched  denizens  of  the  Five  Points,  where  Mr.  Pease  was 
then  grappling  with  the  giant,  "the  social  evil,"  with  a  mighty  yet 
gentle  hand.    This  young  man  was  Charles  L.  Brace,  f 

*  According  to  a  report  for  1882  there  were  remaining  and  admitted  during  the  official 
year  847  inmates.  Of  these,  144  women  were  sent  to  service,  and  30G  restored  to  their 
friends.  Of  the  whole  number,  386  were  boys  and  237  were  girls.  The  total  number 
admitted  to  the  institution  since  its  organization  was  23,729  ;  whole  number  of  children 
in  the  day-school  during  that  time,  33,975  ;  total  sum  of  money  spent  in  its  support, 
$l,029,G8o.  The  officers  for  the  year  1882  were  :  Morris  K.  Jesup,  president  ;  George 
F.  Betts,  secretary  ;  Hugh  N.  Camp,  treasurer,  and  Charles  Elv,  D.  Lydig  Suydam, 
William  W.  Astor.  Charles  Lanier,  David  S.  Eggleston.  Oliver  Ilarriman,  trustees. 
William  F.  Barnard  is  the  superintendent. 

f  Charles  Loring  Brace  was  born  in  Litchfield,  Conn.,  in  182G.  His  father,  John  P. 
Brace,  was  a  distinguished  and  successful  teacher  of  youth. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1830. 


635 


While  Mr.  Brace  was  abroad  he  had  studied  the  character  of  chari- 
table institutions  founded  for  the  benefit  of  neglected  children.  These 
studies  and  his  personal  observation  in  his  then  missionary  work  satis- 
lied  him  that  a  system  of  prevention  would  be  more  puissant  than  one 
of  cure  in  the  work  of  securing  permanent  social  reform.  lie  was 
satisfied  too  that  the  work  must  begin  with  the  plastic  child. 

Mr.  Brace  was  deeply  impressed  with  the  immense  number  of  boys 
and  girls  floating  and  drifting  about  the  streets  of  New  York  without 
apparent  homes  or  occupations — the  fruitful  materials  out  of  which 

Mr.  Brace  is  descended  from  Puritan  stock  on  both  his  father's  and  his  mother's  side. 
On  that  of  the  latter  are  found  some  of  the  most  distinguished  families  of  New  England, 
among  them  that  of  the  eminent  Sofas  King. 

After  Mr.  Brace's  graduation  at  Yale  College  in  1846,  he  studied  theology  in  seminaries 
in  New  York  and  New  Haven,  and  went  abroad  in  1850,  where  he  remained  two  years  to 
complete  his  education.  He  studied  in  Germany,  and  made  a  trip  into  Hungary  in  1851, 
where  he  was  arrested  in  Groswardcin  by  the  Austrian  authorities  on  the  suspicion  of 
being  an  agent  of  the  Hungarian  exiles  in  America,  seeking  to  arouse  another  revolution. 
He  was  confined  for  a  mouth  in  a  dungeon  of  the  old  castle  in  that  city,  and  was  tried 
twelve  times  by  an  Austrian  court-martial.  At  length  he  succeeded  in  sending  secret 
information  of  his  arrest  and  imprisonment  to  the  Hon.  Charles  J.  McCurdy,  the  Ameri- 
can charge  d'affaires  at  Vienna,  who  demanded  the  immediate  release  of  Mr.  Brace.  This 
demand,  being  seconded  by  the  arrival  at  that  time  of  two  American  ships  of  war  at 
Trieste,  was  instantly  complied  with.  Mr.  Brace  was  sent  to  Pesth,  thence  to  Vienna, 
and  thence  to  the  Austrian  frontier,  escorted  by  Austrian  government  officials.  That 
government  subsequently  apologized  for  the  arrest,  but  made  no  pecuniary  reparation. 

After  his  return  in  1851,  Mr.  Brace  published  a  volume  in  New  York  and  London 
entitled,  "  Hungary  in  1851,"  and  subsequently  another  volume  entitled,  "  Home  Life  in 
Germany." 

As  we  have  observed,  Mr.  Brace  became  interested  while  in  Europe  in  institutions 
devoted  to  the  benefit  of  children,  and  on  his  return  began  labors  in  the  city  of  New 
York  in  behalf  of  the  unfortunate.  Determined  to  attempt  to  purify  the  tide  of  vice 
sweeping  over  the  city  by  working  at  the  fountain  of  the  polluted  and  polluting 
stream,  he  and  others  formed  the  Children's  Aid  Society  in  1853.  He  was  the  origi- 
nator of  the  distinctive  features  of  that  society— the  emigration  plan,  the  boys'  lodging- 
houses,  and  the  industrial  schools.  In  1854  he  founded  the  first  boys'  lodging-house, 
securing  funds  for  the  purpose  from  personal  friends.  This  was  subsequently  accepted 
by  the  society  and  became  a  great  part  of  the  work  of  this  charity.  His  time  was  constantly 
employed  thereafter  in  speaking  and  writing  for  the  society,  managing  its  affairs,  and 
laboring  among  the  poor  and  in  literary  work.  In  1854  he  married  Miss  Letitia  Neill,  of 
Belfast,  Ireland,  by  whom  he  has  four  children.  In  1857  he  visited  Norway  and  Sweden, 
and  published  a  work  on  "The  Norse  Folk."  He  subsequently  wrote  and  published 
"  Short  Sermons  to  Newsboys,"  "  Races  of  the  Old  World,"  and  after  a  visit  to  California 
in  1867  he  published  "  The  New  West."  In  1872  he  published  "  The  Dangerous 
Classes  of  New  York,"  revisited  Hungary  the  same  year,  and  in  1882  he  published  his 
"  Gesti  Christi,  or  History  of  Human  Progress  under  Christianity."  The  Children's 
Aid  Society,  of  which  he  has  been  the  executive  officer  and  mainspring  since  it  was 
formed,  has  grown  to  one  of  the  grandest  and  most  useful  charities  in  the  United  States, 
as  its  statistics,  given  in  the  text,  demonstrate. 


636  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

were  fashioned  the  multitude  of  ■  criminals  and  lewd  women  who 
infested  the  city.  "With  others  he  devised  a  plan,  crude  at  first,  for 
arresting  the  attention  of  these  street  wanderers,  particularly  the  hoys, 
and  perad venture  persuading  them  to  better  living.  Boys'  meetings 
were  held.  These  were  addressed  by  earnest  men  and  women,  some- 
times wisely,  sometimes  foolishly.  These  boys  were  keen  and  prac- 
tical, and  were  impatient  of  sentimentality.  When  a  pious  Sunday- 
school  teacher  asked  : 

"  My  dear  boys,  when  your  father  and  mother  forsake  you,  who 
will  take  you  up  ?" 

"  The  purlice,  sir,  the  purlice  I"  was  the  prompt  and  sincere  reply. 

At  first  these  street  Arabs  were  irrepressible.  Their  coarse  jests, 
their  don't-care  manners,  and  often  indecent  expressions  were  difficult 
to  correct,  hut  it  was  soon  found  that  kind  words  which  came  up  from 
the  depths  of  the  heart  of  a  man  or  woman  would  touch  some  hidden 
chord  in  them.  Pathos  and  simple  eloquence,  the  expression  of 
earnestness,  always  found  in  these  ungoverned  children  of  misfortune 
vibratory  strings  that  gave  back  responsive  tones  of  feeling. 

The  generous  philanthropists  persevered  in  the  good  work.  They 
provided  entertainments  for  the  boys  at  their  gatherings,  such  as  magic- 
lantern  exhibitions,  and  very  soon  these  boys'  meetings  became  quite 
orderly  assemblages.  But  these  could  not  be,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
a  permanent  success.  This  was  pioneer  work  only,  a  clearing  away  of 
the  covering  and  a  revealing  of  the  fearful  nature  of  the  work  to  be 
done.  It  was  seen  that  more  heroic,  organized  work  had  to  be  done  in 
order  to  secure  permanent  footing  in  the  terrible  conflict  with  the  great 
evil. 

At  length,  early  in  1S53,  a  society  was  organized.  It  was  composed 
of  earnest  men  then  engaged  in  laboring  for  the  reformation  of  the 
dangerous  classes  in  the  city.  Though  representing  different  religious 
denominations,  and  each  ardently  attached  to  his  own,  there  was  not 
at  the  beginning  and  never  has  been  the  slightest  ripple  of  disturbance 
on  account  of  views  on  sectarian  topics. 

The  association  happily  adopted  the  comprehensive  and  significant 
title  of  the  Children's  Aid  Society.  They  appointed  Charles  L.  Brace 
as  its  chief  executive  officer,  with  the  title  of  secretary,  which  position 
he  has  held  for  thirty  consecutive  yeai-s."    They  hired  a  small  room  in 

*  The  society  issued  an  admirable  circular  letter,  in  which,  after  defining  their  objects 
and  proposed  methods,  and  alluding  to  the  immense  throng  of  wretched  children  to  be 
benefited,  most  vividly  set  forth  the  condition  and  needs  of  the  class  for  whose  benefit 
the  society  had  been  founded.    It  declared  its  intention  not  to  conflict  with  any  exist- 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


637 


Amitj  Street  for  an  office,  and  therein  was  begun  by  the  secretary, 
with  a  small  lad  in  attendance,  the  great  work  since  accomplished. 
The  association  was  incorporated  in  1856. 

ing  institutions,  but  to  render  them  a  hearty  co-operation.  They  proposed  to  give  to  the 
vagrant  children  of  the  city  opportunities  for  receiving  moral  and  religious  instruction, 
and  to  afford  them  means  preliminary  to  their  earning  a  livelihood  by  honest  labor  by 
founding  industrial  schools.  In  fine,  they  proposed  at  the  beginning  to  do  precisely 
what  the  society  has  done  so  nobly  and  with  such  good  results. 

In  that  circular  was  presented  the  following  sad  picture  of  the  condition  of  a  class  of 
boys  and  girls  in  the  city  :  "  For  the  most  part  the  boys  grow  up  utterly  by  themselves. 
No  one  cares  for  them,  and  they  care  for  no  one.  Some  live  by  begging,  by  petty  pilfer- 
ing, by  bold  robbery  ;  some  earn  an  honest  support  by  peddling  matches,  or  apples,  or 
newspapers  ;  others  gather  bones  and  rags  in  the  streets  to  sell.  They  sleep  on  steps,  in 
cellars,  in  old  barns,  and  in  markets,  or  they  hire  a  bed  in  filthy  and  low  lodging-houses. 
The}' cannot  read  ;  they  do  not  go  to  school  or  attend  church.  Many  of  them  have  never 
seen  a  Bible.  Every  cunning  faculty  is  intensely  stimulated.  They  are  shrewd  and  old 
in  vice  when  other  children  are  in  leading-strings.  Few  influences  which  are  kind  and 
good  ever  reach  the  vagrant  boy.  And  yet,  among  themselves,  they  show  generous  and 
honest  traits.    Kindness  can  always  touch  them. 

"  The  girls,  too  often,  grow  np  even  more  pitiable  and  deserted.  Till  of  late  no  one 
has  ever  oared  for  them.  They  are  the  cross-walk  sweepers,  the  little  apple-peddlers 
and  candy-sellers  of  our  city  ;  or  by  more  questionable  means  they  earn  their  scanty 
bread.  They  traverse  the  low,  vile  streets  alone,  and  live  without  mother  or  friends,  or 
any  share  in  what  we  should  call  a  home.  They  also  know  little  of  God  or  Christ,  except 
by  name.  They  grow  up  passionate,  ungoverned,  with  no  love  or  kindness  ever  to  soften 
the  heart.  We  all  know  their  short  wild  life,  and  the  sad  end.  These  boys  and  girls,  it 
should  be  remembered,  will  soon  form  the  great  lower  class  of  our  city.  They  will  influ- 
ence elections  ;  they  may  shape  the  policy  of  the  city  ;  they  will,  assuredly,  if  unre- 
claimed, poison  society  all  around  them.  They  will  help  to  form  the  great  multitude  of 
robbers,  thieves,  vagrants,  and  prostitutes  who  are  now  such  a  burden  upon  the  law- 
respecting  community." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE  circular  letter  of  the  Children's  Aid  Society,  widely  distrib- 
uted, excited  universal  attention  and  sympathy,  and  called  forth 
generous  responses  from  the  fortunate  classes.  The  first  considerable 
contribution  was  from  Mrs.  William  B.  Astor  (a  daughter  of  General 
Armstrong),  wife  of  the  principal  property-holder  in  the  city.  She 
sent  $50.  It  was  the  pioneer  of  ample  funds  which  came  in  time  to 
sustain  the  institution.  The  scenes  at  the  office  of  the  secretary  soon 
after  it  was  opened  were  exceedingly  interesting. 

"  Most  touching  of  all,"  wrote  Mr.  I5race,  "  was  the  crowd  of  wandering  little  ones 
who  immediately  found  their  way  to  the  office.  Ragged  young  girls  who  had  nowhere 
to  lay  their  heads  :  children  driven  from  drunkards'  homes  ;  orphans  who  slept  where 
they  could  find  a  box  or  a  stairway  ;  boys  cast  out  by  stepmothers  or  stepfathers  ;  news- 
boys whose  innocent  answer  to  our  question,  '  Where  do  you  live  ? '  rang  in  our  ears, 
1  Don't  live  nowhere  !  '  little  bootblacks,  young  peddlers,  '  canawl-boys '  who  seemed  to 
drift  into  the  city  every  winter  and  live  a  vagabond  life  :  pickpockets  and  petty  thieves 
trying  to  get  honest  work  :  child-beggars  and  flower-sellers  growing  up  to  enter  careers  of 
crime — all  this  motley  throng  of  infantile  misery  and  childish  guilt  passed  through  our 
doors,  telling  their  simple  stories  of  suffering,  and  loneliness,  and  temptation,  until  our 
hearts  became  sick." 

The  first  special  effort  made  by  the  society  was  the  finding  of  work 
for  the  children.  A  workshop  was  established  in  Wooster  Street.  It 
was  a  failure.  It  was  soon  found  that  benevolence  could  not  compete 
with  selfishness  in  business.  They  could  and  did  provide  means  for 
earning  a  livelihood  for  girls  by  sewing. 

The  newsboys  of  the  city  soon  attracted  their  special  attention.  As 
a  class  they  were  shrewd,  reckless,  jolly,  and  heathenish  ;  social 
Ishmaelites,  for  their  hands  were  against  every  man's  pocket,  and 
every  one  considered  a  newsboy  his  natural  enemy,  intent  onl}r  on 
plunder.  Their  life  was  extremely  hard.  They  slept  in  boxes,  alleys, 
doorways,  under  stairways,  on  hay-barges,  in  the  coldest  weather,  so 
as  to  be  near  the  printing-offices  early  in  the  morning.  As  a  rule  they 
did  not  "  live  nowhere."    They  were  pushed  about  by  the  police,  and 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


639 


there  was  not  a  single  door  in  the  city  open  to  welcome  them  or  give 
them  food  and  shelter.  Mr.  Brace  frequently  saw  ten  or  a  dozen  on  a 
cold  night  piled  together  to  keep  warm  under  a  printing-office  stairs. 
His  heart  was  touched,  and  he  resolved  to  help  the  poor  souls,  and  with 
the  pecuniary  aid  of  some  personal  friends  he  established  the  first  lodg- 
ing-house for  newsboys  ever  known  in  this  country.  A  loft  in  the  old 
Sum  building  was  secured  and  fitted  up.  in  March,  1S54,  and  placed  in 
charge  of  C.  C.  Tracy,  a  carpenter.  There  they  were  furnished  with 
a  supper  for  five  cents,  and  a  bed  for  six  cents,  and  a  bath  thrown  in. 
For  six  cents  they  had  a  breakfast  in  the  morning. 

The  experience  of  the  first  night  established  the  popularity  of  the 
Newsboys'  Lodging- House.  The  boys  were  too  much  excited  to  sleep 
much.  "  I  say,  Jim,'"  cried  one,  "  this  is  ravther  better  'an  bummin' 
— eh  ?"  "  My  eyes  !  what  soft  beds  these  is  !"  said  another.  "  Tom, 
it's  'most  as  good  as  a  steam-gratin',  and  there  ain't  no  M.  P.'sto 
poke,  nuther  !"  said  a  third. 

Very  soon  an  evening  school  was  opened,  and  Sunday  meetings  were 
regularly  held.  Gradually  these  "  institutions"  had  a  powerful  effect. 
The  Lodging-House,  taken  in  charge  by  the  society,  is  now  one  of  its 
chief  engines  of  reform.  In  the  course  of  a  year  the  population  of  a 
large  town,  in  numbers,  passed  through  it.  In  1872  the  Shakespeare 
Hotel,  on  the  corner  of  Duane  and  Chambers  streets,  was  purchased 
and  fitted  up  as  a  permanent  Lodging-House  for  Homeless  Boys. 

At  an  early  period  in  the  history  of  this  society  Mr.  Brace  founded 
an  Industrial  School  for  Girls,  the  first  institution  of  the  kind  ever 
established.  That  first  seed  is  now  the  AYilson  Industrial  School. 
Similar  schools  have  been  established  by  the  society,  and  now  number 
twenty-one.  These  have  proved  to  be  among  the  best  preventives  of 
crime  among  children.  Girls'  lodging-houses  Avere  subsequentlv 
provided,  with  incalculable  benefit,  and  at  the  very  beginning  the 
emigration  plan — the  sending  of  children  of  both  sexes  to  good  homes 
remote  from  the  city — was  instituted.  In  a  special  manner  this  plan  has 
succeeded  in  the  "Western  States,  to  Avhich  thousands  of  poor  children 
have  been  sent  and  blessed. 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  history  of  the  origin  and  pioneer  work  of  this 
great  charity,  which  has  done  so  much  for  the  elevation  and  salvation 
of  neglected  children  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  therein'  conferred 
an  inestimable  boon  on  society  there.    Let  us  glance  at  the  results. 

The  annual  report  of  the  society  (Xovember  1,  18S2)  showed  that 
in  the  lodging-houses  of  the  society,  now  six  in  number,  during 
twenty-nine  years,  more  than  250,000  different  boys  and  girls  had 


640 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


been  sheltered  and  partly  fed  and  instructed.  In  the  industrial  schools 
probably  over  100,000  poor  little  girls  had  been  instructed,  and  of 
these  it  is  not  known  that  even  a  score  have  entered  on  criminal  courses 
of  life,  or  have  been  drunkards  or  beggars,  though  four  fifths  were 
children  of  drunkards.  Among  the  187,952  boys  who  had  been, 
during  twenty-nine  years,  in  the  Newsboys'  Lodging-House,  there  has 
been  no  case  of  any  contagious  or  foul-air  diseases,  not  even  ophthalmia, 
and  only  one  death  had  occurred. 

During  the  year  ending  November  1,  1882,  14,122  different  boys  and 
girls  had  been  sheltered,  fed,  and  taught  in  the  six  lodging  houses, 
these  having  supplied  305,524  meals  and  23o,!»<!S  lodgings.  In  the 
twenty-one  day  and  thirteen  evening  schools  of  the  society,  13,966,  chil- 
dren were  taught  and  partly  fed  and  clothed,  3957  were  sent  to  homes, 
mainly  in  the  West,  and  2340  were  aided  with  food,  medicine,  etc., 
throujdi  the  sick  children's  mission.  In  the  Girls'  Lod<Hn<>--IIouse  and 
in  the  industrial  schools  4S4  girls  were  taught  the  use  of  the  sewing- 
machine.  In  the  lodging-houses  during  the  year  were  7613  orphans. 
A  penny  savings-bank  had  been  established,  and  in  it  $10,380.84  were 
deposited  during  the  year.  The  total  number  of  children  in  charge  of 
the  society  during  the  year  was  36,971.  Among  the  14,122  boys  and 
girls  in  the  lodging-houses  no  death  had  occurred  during  the  year. 
This  healthful  state  was  secured  mainly  by  watchfulness,  scrupulous 
cleanliness,  proper  ventilation,  and  wholesome  food. 

Through  the  munificence  of  Mr.  A.  13.  Stone,  one  of  the  trustees, 
the  society  is  possessed  of  a  charming  seaside  home  for  the  children,  at 
Bath,  Long  Island.  There  are  four  and  a  half  acres  of  ground  which 
Mr.  Stone  presented.  The  spot  is  known  as  Bath  Park.  There,  in 
the  summer  of  lss2,  upward  of  4000  children  (averaging  about  300  a 
week)  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  salubrious  air. 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  work  the  society  had  furnished  (to 
November  1,  1882)  1,343,166  lodgings  and  1,359,728  meals,  14,832 
wandering  boys  have  been  returned  to  their  relatives  and  friends,  and 
it  has  sent  to  homes  in  the  West  and  South  67,287  boys  and  girls. 
Benevolent  individuals  have  also  sent  many  at  their  own  expense  under 
the  care  of  the  society.  Within  four  years  Mrs.  J.  J.  Astor  has  sent 
over  1000.* 

*  It  having  been  publicly  asserted  that  homeless  children  sent  West  by  the  Children's 
Aid  Society  were  "  crowding  the  Western  prisons  and  reformatories,"  and  that  their 
prisons  and  houses  of  refuge  were  "  half  full  of  these  children,"  a  special  agent  was  sent 
to  the  prisons  of  Michigan,  Illinois,  and  Indiana  to  make  a  thorough  investigation  The 
agent  reported  that  in  Michigan  and  Illinois,  where  over  ten  thousand  children  had  been 


THIUn  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


041 


The  good  results  of  reformatory  efforts  of  various  institutions  in  Xew 
York  City,  of  which  the  Children's  Aid  Society  is  the  most  efficient,  is 
conspicuously  shown  by  the  police  reports  in  1860  and  1880.  In  1860 
the  population  of  the  city  was  814,^24,  and  the  number  of  commit- 
ments of  girls  and  women  that  year  was  58S0.  The  population  in  1880 
was  over  1,200,000,  and  the  number  of  such  commitments  was  only 
1854 — that  is,  the  commitments  in  1S60  were  1  in  every  138|  of  the 
population  ;  in  1880  the  commitments  were  1  in  647. 

The  old  associations  of  criminal  youths  of  Kew  York,  such  as  Dead 
Babbits,  Short  Boys,  Nineteenth  Street  Gang,  and  others  of  a  score 
of  years  ago,  have  been  broken  up  and  have  not  reappeared.  They 
have  been  broken  up  or  prevented,  not  by  punishment  but  by  associa- 
tions of  reform  and  education.  Organized  crime  has  been  met  and 
checked  by  organized  virtue.* 

The  ^Yilsox  Industrial  School  for  Girls,  planted  by  Mr.  Brace 
and  nurtured  into  vigorous  life  by  a  few  earnest  women,  was  opened  in 
a  small  upper  room  at  No.  118  Avenue  D,  in  April,  1853.  Its  plan 
was  simple  and  has  been  adhered  to  in  its  essential  elements.  It  con- 
sisted of  a  morning  session  for  instruction  in  the  common  English 
branches,  a  warm  dinner  at  midday,  and  an  afternoon  session  for 
sewing.  The  work  supplied  was  in  the  form  of  garments  for  the  pupils, 
which  they  were  to  earn  by  a  system  of  credit-marks.  The  institution 
was  incorporated  in  May,  1854.  It  was  named  in  honor  of  Mrs.  James 
P.  "Wilson,  who  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  establishing  it. 

Voluntary  contributions  soon  enabled  the  managers  to  purchase  a 
building  on  Avenue  A  for  the  accommodation  of  the  rapidly  increasing 
school.  A  dressmaking  department  was  added  to  the  curriculum, 
under  the  charge  of  an  expert  dressmaker.  Wages  were  paid  to  the 
pupils  after  they  had  attained  a  certain  degree  of  skill  in  the  art.  This 
silenced  the  objections  of  parents,  who  found  in  the  simple  intellectual 
education  of  the  children  no  source  of  revenue.  Classes  were  formed 
for  training  in  housework  of  various  kinds,  with  a  view  to  exerting  a 
reflex  influence  upon  the  homes  of  the  children  as  well  as  to  fit  them 
for  family  service.  An  outfitting  department  was  established,  which 
provided  instruction  in  the  more  difficult  kinds  of  needlework  and  also 

sent,  not  a  single  boy  or  girl  sent  from  the  society  could  be  found  in  all  the  prisons,  and 
that  in  Indiana,  where  sis  thousand  had  been  sent,  one  girl  was  found  in  a  reformatory, 
and  four  boys  had  been  sentenced  for  vagrancy  only. 

*  The  officers  of  the  Children's  Aid  Society  in  1882  were  :  William  A.  Booth,  presi- 
dent ;  George  S.  Coe,  treasurer  ;  Charles  L.  Brace,  secretary.  The  trustees  were  :  Eobert 
Hoe,  Jr.,  Howard  Potter,  E.  P.  Fabbri,  W.  B.  Cutting,  A.  B.  Stone,  William  A.  Booth, 
G.  Cabot  Ward,  Eobert  J.  Livingston,  D.  W.  James,  and  Lucius  Tuckerman. 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


remunerative  employment.  It  was  designed  also  to  draw  in  girls  from 
the  street  whose  ages  excluded  them  from  the  regular  school  classes. 

A  flourishing  Sunday-school  has  heen  in  operation  in  connection  with 
the  institution  from  the  beginning,  and  in  February,  1866,  prayer- 
meetings  on  Sunday  and  Wednesday  evenings  were  established.  With 
all  this  enlarged  work  the  accommodations  became  too  straitened,  and 
the  managers  erected  a  spacious  building,  four  stories  and  a  high  base- 
ment in  height,  on  the  corner  of  St.  Mark's  Place  and  Avenue  A.  It 
was  completed  in  1869,  and  there  the  good  work,  constantly  enlarging, 
has  been  carried  on  ever  since.  A  refuge  was  offered  there  for  home- 
less girls  at  any  hour  ;  also  a  nursery,  in  which  babies  may  be  cared 
for  while  their  mothers  are  out  at  service  during  the  day.  Kinder- 
garten instruction  was  opened  with  abundant  success.  The  idea  was 
caught  by  Miss  Emily  Huntington,  its  matron  in  1883,  and  applied  to 
housework  instruction.  It  was  elaborated  into  an  admirable  system 
under  the  name  of  Kitchen-Garden.  That  department  has  realized  the 
most  sanguine  hopes  of  its  originator  and  superintendent.  There  is 
also  a  boys'  club,  which  is  very  popular.  It  comprises  about  fifteen 
hundred  members.  In  the  basement  is  a  reading-room  and  library, 
Avhere  amusing  and  instructive  games  are  furnished  to  the  children. 
There  is  also  a  hall,  in  which  the  more  studious  boys  may  read  in  quiet.* 

At  the  beginning  of  this  decade  Henry  Grinnell,  an  opulent  mer- 
chant of  New  York,  touched  by  feelings  of  humanity  and  moved  by 
most  generous  impulses  characteristic  of  his  nature,  undertook  a  noble 
task  which  excited  universal  admiration.  That  task  was  a  search  for 
Sir  John  Franklin  (an  English  arctic  explorer)  and  his  party,  who 
sailed  from  England  with  two  vessels,  the  Ereht*  and  Terror,  in  May, 
1845,  in  an  attempt  to  make  a  north-west  passage  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
The  two  vessels  were  seen,  sixty-eight  days  later,  moored  to  an  iceberg 
in  the  middle  of  Baffin's  Bay,  and  were  never  heard  of  afterward. 

In  18-18  anxiety  about  Sir  John  and  his  party  was  painfully  excited 
in  England,  and  the  British  Government  and  Lady  Franklin  sent  fruit- 
less expeditions  in  search  of  them.  In  1850  Mr.  Grinnell  fitted  out 
two  of  his  own  vessels,  at  his  own  expense,  to  proceed  in  the  holy 
quest,  and  when  ready  for  the  task  they  were  proffered  to  our  govern- 
ment gratuitously,  for  use  in  the  search.  Congress  took  the  expedition 
under  its  charge,  and  Lieutenant  De  Haven,  of  the  United  States 
Xavy,  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  expedition.  It  consisted  of  the 
two  vessels,  named  Advance  and  Rescue,  strengthened  for  war  with 

*  Mrs.  Jonathan  Sturges  is  the  president  or  first  directress  of  the  Wilson  Industrial 
School,  and  Miss  H.  W.  Hubbard  is  secretary. 


THIRD  DECADE,  I80O-I8GO. 


643 


pack-ice  and  polar  storms.  They  left  New  York  harbor  on  May  22<l. 
The  pilot-boat  W«.shiit<jton ,  with  Mr.  Grinnell  and  his  two  sons  on 
board,  bore  them  company  far  out  to  sea,  and  bade  them  farewell  on 
the  25th.  The  expedition  re-entered  the  harbor  of  New  York  on  the 
last  day  of  September,  1851,  and  Henry  Grinnell  was  the  first  to  wel- 
come the  returned  heroes,  on  the  pier-head. 

Though  the  explorers  did  not  succeed  in  the  accomplishment  of  the 
main  object  of  their  efforts,  they  were  fortunate  in  making  important 
additions  to  existing-  geographical  knowledge  of  the  polar  regions. 
They  discovered  the  extensive  tract  of  land  divided  by  Smith's  Sound 
from  Greenland.  A  British  expedition  had  discovered  the  same  terra 
fixma  and  named  it  Prince  Albert's  Land.  A  sharp  controversy  arose 
with  English  geographers  and  explorers  as  to  priority  of  discovery.  It 
was  finally  decided  in  favor  of  the  American  expedition,  and  the  name 
of  "  Grinnell  Land  "  was  permanently  affixed  to  maps  and  charts  in 
place  of  "  Prince  Albert's  Land." 

In  1853  Mr.  Grinnell,  with  the  aid  of  George  Peabody,  fitted  out 
the  Advance  for  another  searching  expedition  under  the  command  of 
Dr.  Kane.  It  did  not  find  Sir  John  Franklin  and  his  crews,  but  it 
accomplished  more  than  any  expedition  which  had  preceded  it,  for  it 
discovered  the  first  trustworthy  evidence  of  an  open  polar  sea,  defined 
the  coast-line,  and  explored  the  interior  of  hitherto  unknown  lands. 

Out  of  the  interest  in  geographical  studies  and  discoveries  created  by 
the  Grinnell  expeditions  sprang  the  American  Geographical  Society, 
incorporated  in  1854,  of  which  Henry  Grinnell  was  one  of  the  active 
founders.  He  was  a  native  of  Xew  Bedford,  Mass.,  where  he  was 
born  in  1799.  Having  acquired  an  academic  education,  he  entered 
upon  a  mercantile  career  in  early  life.  With  his  brother,  Moses  H., 
and  his  brother-in-law,  Robert  B.  Minturn,  he  formed  the  great  com- 
mercial house  of  Grinnell,  Minturn  &  Co.  It  took  that  title  in  1829, 
though  the  house  was  founded  in  1815  by  their  elder  brother  Joseph 
and  Preserved  Fish,  under  the  firm  name  of  Fish  &  Grinnell.* 

*  Mr.  Fish  when  a  baby  had  been  picked  up  at  sea  by  a  Xew  Bedford  whaling  vessel, 
and  from  that  circumstance  was  named  Preserved  Fish.  Joseph  Grinnell,  who  returned  to 
New  Bedford  when  he  withdrew  from  active  mercantile  life  in  New  York,  represented  his 
district  in  Congress  from  18-14  to  1852.  He  had  previously  served  as  a  member  of  the 
council  of  the  governor  of  Massachusetts.  He  was  living  in  1882,  at  the  age  of  ninety- 
four  years. 

Moses  H.  Grinnell  was  born  in  New  Bedford,  Mass.,  in  March,  1803.  He  was  educated 
at  private  schools  and  at  the  Friends'  Academy.  Bred  a  merchant,  ho  frequently  went 
abroad  as  supercargo  until  he  became  a  partner  in  the  firm  of  Grinnell,  Minturn  A-  Co., 
in  New  York,  in  1820,  with  his  brother  Henry  and  brother-in-law  Robert  B.  Minturn. 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  American  Geographical  Society  was  incorporated  in  April,  1854, 
by  the  Legislature  of  New  York,  under  the  title  of  the  American 
Geographical  and  Statistical  Society,  for  the  purpose  of  "  collecting 
and  diffusing  geographical  and  statistical  information."  The  name  of 
the  corporators  mentioned  in  the  charter  were  :  George  Bancroft, 
Henry  Grinnell,  Francis  L.  Hawks,  John  C.  Zimmerman,  Archibald 
Russell,  Joshua  Leavitt,  William  C.  II.  Waddell,  Ridley  Watts,  S.  De 
Witt  Bloodgood,  M.  Dudley  Bean,  Iliram  Barney,  Alexander  I. 
Cotheal,  Luther  B.  Wyman,  John  Jay,  J.  Calvin  Smith,  Henry  V. 
Poor,  Cambridge  Livingston,  Edmund  Blunt,  and  Alexander  W. 
Bradford. 

This  charter  was  amended  by  act  of  April  8,  1871,  when  the  title 
w  as  changed  to  the  American  Geographical  Society,  and  its  objects  were 
more  minutely  defined,  as  follows  :  kt  The  advancement  of  geographical 
science  ;  the  collection,  classification,  and  scientific  arrangement  of 
statistics,  and  their  results  ;  the  encouragement  of  explorations  for  the 
more  thorough  knowledge  of  all  parts  of  the  North  American  conti- 
nent, and  of  all  other  parts  of  the  world  which  may  be  imperfectly 
known  ;  the  collection  and  diffusion  of  geographical,  statistical,  and 
scientific  knowledge,  by  lectures,  printed  publications,  or  other  means  ; 
the  keeping  up  of  a  correspondence  with  scientific  and  learned  societies 
in  every  part  of  the  world,  for  the  collection  and  diffusion  of  informa- 
tion and  the  interchange  of  books,  charts,  maps,  public  reports,  docu- 
ments, and  valuable?  publications  ;  the  permanent  establishment  in  the 
city  of  New  York  of  an  institution  in  which  shall  be  collected,  classi- 
fied, and  arranged,  geographical  and  scientific  works,  voyages  and 
travels,  maps,  charts,  globes,  instruments,  documents,  manuscripts, 
prints,  engravings,  or  whatever  else  may  be  useful  or  necessary  for 
supplying  full,  accurate,  and  reliable  information  in  respect  to  every 
part  of  the  globe,  or  explanatory  of  its  geography,  physical  and  de- 
scriptive ;  and  its  geological  history,  giving  its  climatology,  its  produc- 
tions, animal,  vegetable,  and  mineral  ;  its  exploration,  navigation,  and 
commerce  ;  having  especial  reference  to  that  kind  of  information 
which  should  be  collected,  preserved,  and  be  at  all  times  accessible  for 
public  uses  in  a  great  maritime  and  commercial  city." 

This  ample  definition  of  the  purposes  of  the  American  Geographical 
Society  is  a  fair  epitome  of  its  work.  The  society  from  the  beginning 
has  been  marked  by  extraordinary  zeal  and  energy  in  every  depart- 

Mr.  Grinnell  represented  a  district  of  the  city  of  New  York  in  Congress  one  term 
(1839-4U,  and  in  1856  he  was  chosen  a  Republican  presidential  elector.  Mr.  Grinnell 
died  in  November,  1877. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


045 


ment.  It  receives  as  guests  the  most  eminent  travellers  and  scientists 
who  visit  the  great  metropolis.  The  papers  read  before  it  from  time 
to  time  by  learned  and  scientific  men  are  of  the  highest  order  and 
interest.  It  owns  the  building  it  now  occupies  (No*  il  West  Twenty- 
ninth  Street),  and  has  there  a  library  containing  over  14,000  geograph- 
ical and  statistical  works,  over  6000  that  are  not  strictly  geographical, 
and  a  superb  collection  of  maps  and  charts,  more  than  8000  in  number. 
Many  of  its  books  and  charts  are  of  the  rarest  character  and  value. 
The  publications  of  the  society,  in  a  series  of  bulletins,  are  very  valuable. 
The  American  Geographical  Society  has  had  but  three  presidents— 
namely,  George  Bancroft,  LL.D.,  the  Eev.  Francis  L.  Hawks,  D.D., 
LL.D.,*  and  the  present  incumbent  of  the  office,  Chief-Justice  Charles 
P.  Daly,  LL.D.,  who  has  filled  the  position  since  the  death  of  Dr. 
Hawks  in  1866.    Judge  Daly  is  one  of  the  most  studious,  learned,  and 

*  Francis  Lister  Hawks,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  was  born  in  New  Berne,  N.  C,  in  June,  1798, 
and  died  in  New  York  City  in  September,  18G6.  He  was  graduated  at  the  University  of 
North  Carolina  in  1815,  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  when  he  was  twenty- 
one  years  of  age.  He  practised  a  few  years  in  North  Carolina,  was  a  member  of  his  State 
Legislature,  and  was  ordained  a  minister  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  1827,  in 
which  he  served  as  an  able  and  eloquent  preacher  the  remainder  of  his  life.  For  a  while 
he  was  the  assistant  of  the  Eev.  Harry  Crosswell,  D.D.,  of  New  Haven,  Conn.  In  L829 
he  was  chosen  assistant  minister  of  St.  James's  Church,  Philadelphia,  and  was  rector  of 
St.  Stephen's  in  1831,  when  he  was  called  to  the  rectorship  of  St.  Thomas's  Church,  New 
York,  where  he  remained  from  1832  to  1843.  He  was  authorized  by  the  General  Con- 
vention of  his  Church  to  go  to  England  and  obtain  copies  of  important  papers  in  rela- 
tion to  the  early  history  of  the  Church  in  America.  In  1837,  in  connection  with  Dr. 
C.  S.  Henry,  he  founded  the  New  York  Review,  and  was  for  some  time  its  editor  and 
principal  contributor.  He  founded,  at  Flushing,  L.  I.,  St.  Thomas's  Hall,  a  school  for 
boys,  which  was  an  unsuccessful  enterprise,  and  the  founder  was  deeply  involved  in 
debt.  For  two  years  (1840-42)  he  conducted  the  Church  Review,  in  which  much  of  the 
historical  matter  he  had  collected  in  Europe  was  printed.  In  1843  he  made  his  abode 
in  Mississippi,  and  was  elected  bishop  of  the  diocese,  which  office  he  declined.  The 
next  year  he  became  rector  of  Christ  Church  in  New  Orleans,  and  remained  there  five 
years,  duriug  which  time  he  was  chosen  president  of  the  University  of  Louisiana. 

In  1849  Dr.  Hawks  returned  to  New  York  and  became  rector  of  the  Church  of  the 
Mediator.  A  subscription  of  $15,000  relieved  him  from  pecuniary  embarrassment.  His 
church  was  afterward  merged  into  Calvary  Church,  of  which  he  was  rector  several  years. 
In  1854  he  was  elected  bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  Rhode  Island,  but  declined.  His  sym- 
pathies being  with  the  Southern  people  when  the  rebellion  broke  out  in  18G1,  he  resigned 
the  rectorship  of  Calvary,  and  had  charge  of  a  parish  in  Baltimore  during  the  Civil  War. 
In  1805  he  was  recalled  to  New  York,  and  became  rector  of  the  Chapel  of  the  Holy 
Saviour. 

Dr.  Hawks  was  an  able  and  prolific  writer,  and  left  behind  him  numerous  contribu- 
tions t  >  the  literature  of  his  country  in  its  various  departments,  historical,  ecclesiastical, 
scientific,  and  educational.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  preparing  a  work  on  the 
"Ancient  Hounds  of  Central  and  Western  America"  and  a  physical  geography.  His 
valuable  library  forms  a  part  of  the  rich  collections  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society. 


646 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


efficient  workers  in  the  field  of  human  knowledge  in  our  country,  and 
he  imparts  to  the  members  of  the  Geographical  Society  much  of  his 
own  enthusiasm.* 

Perhaps  the  greatest  achievement  in  physical  science  was  accom- 
plished by  the  enterprise  of  citizens  of  New  York  at  about  the  middle 
of  the  third  decade,  in  the  successful  establishment  of  an  electro- 
magnetic communication  between  Europe  and  America.  The  belief 
that  such  a  communication  might  and  could  be  effected  was,  as  we 
have  seen,  expressed  by  Professor  Morse  in  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  so  early  as  August,  1843,  nine  months  before  the  comple- 
tion of  the  first  land  telegraph  line  between  Baltimore  and  "Washington. 
Almost  a  dozen  years  afterward  an  attempt  was  first  made  to  establish 
such  a  communication  by  means  of  an  insulated  metallic  cable  stretched 
between  the  continents  under  the  sea. 

To  the  enterprise  and  energy  of  Cyrus  "W.  Field,  an  eminent 
merchant  of  New  York  City,  the  world  is  chiefly  indebted  for  this 
wonderful  achievement,  this  incalculable  boon.  Submarine  telegraphy 
was  first  conceived  and  accomplished  by  Professor  Morse.  Its  feasi- 
bility was  tested  by  him  in  1842,  by  means  of  a  cable  stretched  be- 
tween Castle  Garden  and  Governor's  Island.  Ten  years  later  the 
Newfoundland  Telegraph  Company  was  formed  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
necting that  island  with  the  American  main  by  means  of  a  submarine 
telegraph.  It  (ailed,  and  its  chief  officer,  F.  N.  Gisborne,  came  to 
New  York  in  January,  1854,  and  tried  to  interest  Matthew  D.  Field, 
an  engineer,  in  the  project.  Matthew  laid  the  matter  before  his 
brother  Cyrus  "W.,  who  invited  Gisborne  to  his  house.  An  evening 
was  spent  in  the  discussion  of  the  subject. 

After  Mr.  Gisborne  had  left  his  house,  Mr.  Field  took  a  terrestrial 
globe,  and  while  studying  it  in  reference  to  the  practicability  of  con- 
necting Newfoundland  with  the  American  main  and  New  York,  the 

*  The  membership  of  the  society  now  numbers  about  twelve  hundred,  including 
honorary  and  corresponding  members  and  fellows.  There  are  also  ex-offido  members, 
composed  of  all  foreign  diplomatic  representatives  and  consuls  resident  in  the  United 
States,  and  United  States  diplomatic  representatives  and  consuls  abroad.  The  fellows 
are  the  paying  members  of  the  society.  The  list  of  honorary  members  is  headed  by  the 
name  of  Dom  Pedro,  Emperor  of  Brazil,  and  followed  by  men  of  great  distinction  in  the 
scientific  world.  The  society  is  in  correspondence  with  about  140  foreign  and  domestic 
geographical  and  other  scientific  bodies. 

The  officers  of  the  society  for  1883  were  :  Charles  P.  Daly,  president  ;  George  W. 
Culluin,  Francis  A.  Stout,  Roswell  D.  Hitchcock,  -vice-presidents  ;  J.  Carson  Brevoort, 
foreign  corresponding  secretary  ;  James  ML  Bailey,  domestic  corresponding  secretary  ; 
Elial  F.  Hall,  recording  secretary  ;  George  Cabot  Ward,  treasurer  ;  Robert  Curren,  chief 
clerk,  and  fifteen  councillors. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


647 


question  flashed  across  his  mind  like  an  inspiration,  Why  not  cross  the 
ocean  as  well,  and  connect  Europe  and  America  ?  The  idea  took  com- 
plete possession  of  Mr.  Field's  mind,  lie  wrote  to  Professor  Morse 
(then  in  Poughkeepsie)  and  Lieutenant  Maury  for  their  opinions. 
Morse  responded  that  he  had  perfect  faith  in  the  feasibility  of  such  an 
enterprise,  and  Maury  wrote  of  a  discovery  of  a  plateau  extending 
from  Newfoundland  to  Ireland  which  deep-sea  soundings  had  disclosed. 
He  said,  "  On  that  plateau  a  cable  would  lie  as  quietly  as  on  the  bot- 
tom of  a  miUpond."  This  settled  the  question  in  the  mind  of  Mr. 
Field,  who  with  his  usual  pluck  and  energy  at  once  proceeded  to, 
act.  lie  engaged  his  brother,  David  Dudley  Field,  as  legal  adviser,  and 
invited  four  other  gentlemen  to  a  conference  on  the  subject.  These 
were  Peter  Cooper,  Moses  Taylor,  Marshall  O.  Roberts,  and  Chandler 
AVhite.  They  first  met  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Field,  in  Gramercy  Park, 
on  the  evening  of  March  7th,  1854,  around  a  table  in  his  dining-room, 
covered  with  maps,  charts,  and  plans,  and  for  four  successive  even- 
ings the  whole  subject  was  discussed  and  careful  estimates  of  cost  sub- 
mitted and  examined.  There  these  gentlemen  signed  an  agreement 
to  form  a  company  to  carry  out  the  project,  which  they  called  the 
New  York,  Newfoundland,  and  London  Telegraph  Company. 

To  begin  the  enterprise,  Messrs.  Cyrus  Field,  Cooper,  Taylor,  and 
Roberts  each  put  in  $20,000  ;  Mr.  White  somewhat  less.  Afterward 
Messrs.  Cyrus  Field,  Cooper,  Taylor,  and  Roberts  each  paid  very  much 
more,  Mr.  Field  more  than  any  other  one.  The  brothers  Field  and 
Mr.  White  proceeded  to  Newfoundland  from  Boston  in  a  small  steamer 
late  in  March,  encountered  a  heavy  gale,  and  landed  at  St.  John's,  .in  a 
terrific  snow-storm.  They  were  heartily  received  by  Mr.  Archibald 
(afterward  British  consul-genei*al  at  Xew  York),  then  attorney-general 
of  the  colony.  They  procured  from  the  Colonial  Assembly  a  charter 
with  the  exclusive  right  to  land  cables  on  the  shores  of  the  island  for 
fifty  years,  and  fifty  square  miles  of  land.  Twenty-five  years  after- 
ward five  of  the  six  of  these  pioneers  in  submarine  telegraphy  (Mr. 
White  having  died  in  1855)  met  round  the  same  table,  in  Mr.  Field's 
dining-room.  Since  then  all  but  two  of  them  (the  Messrs.  Field)  have 
died. 

To  build  a  line  across  half-desert  Newfoundland  swallowed  up  vast 
sums  of  money.  When  completed,  Mr.  Field  went  to  England  for  a 
cable  to  span  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  from  Newfoundland  to  the 
main.  One  was  sent  over  in  1855,  and  was  lost  in  the  attempt  to  lay 
it.  A  new  cable  was  manufactured  and  successfully  laid  the  next 
year.    Up  to  this  time  not  a  dollar  had  been  received  out  of  the  United 


G48 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


States,  and  little  out  of  the  city  of  New  York,  in  aid  of  the  enterprise. 
Mr.  Field  went  to  England  again.  At  first  he  was  met  with  general 
incredulity  among  the  highest  scientific  authorities  of  Great  Britain. 
Yet  there  were  some  who  believed,  among  them  the  great  Faraday. 
Mr.  Field  pleaded  his  cause  with  such  enthusiasm  that  he  made  con  - 
verts among  capitalists  and  government  otticers,  and  succeeded  in  form- 
ing the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company,  with  a  capital  of  j&350,00Q. 
To  show  his  faith  by  his  works,  he  took  one  fourth  of  the  stock  him- 
self. The  British  Government  guaranteed  £14,000  a  year  in  payment 
•for  messages  sent,  the  interest  on  the  capital  at  four  per  cent,  on  con- 
dition of  a  cable  being  laid  and  worked  successfully.  The  American 
and  British  governments  also  furnished  vessels  for  laying  the  cable, 
and  in  1S57  the  first  attempt  was  made,  but  the  cable  broke  three 
hundred  miles  from  the  coast  of  Ireland.  The  next  year  the  attempt 
was  renewed,  and,  after  one  failure,  when  they  were  almost  at  the  point 
of  despair,  a  second  attempt,  made  in  the  face  of  overwhelming 
discouragements,  proved  successful.  The  cable  was  laid  the  whole 
distance  between  Trinity  Bay,  Newfoundland,  and  Valentia,  on  the 
west  coast  of  Ireland,  a  distance  of  1  95< I  miles,  in  water  two  thirds 
of  the  distance  over  two  miles  in  depth.  This  success  was  announced 
to  the  Associated  Press  by  Mr.  Field  on  the  morning  of  August 
5,  1858. 

Congratulations  were  exchanged  between  Queen  Victoria  and  Presi- 
dent Buchanan.  The  country  was  wild  with  delight.  The  ocean  had 
been  abolished  as  a  barrier  to  intercourse.  New  York  and  London 
could  converse  with  each  other  with  almost  the  facility  of  two  friends 
talking  face  to  face.  The  public  mind  seemed  disposed  to  apotheosize 
Mi-.  Field.  £k  Since  the  discovery  of  Columbus,1'  said  the  London 
Times,  ,£  nothing  has  been  done  in  any  degree  comparable  to  the  vast 
enlargement  which  has  thus  been  given  to  the  sphere  of  human 
activity." 

New  York,  the  birthplace  of  the  enterprise,  and  in  which  its  com- 
mercial interests  were  so  deeply  involved,  responded  to  the  announce- 
ment of  the  wonderful  news  by  a  hundred  guns  fired  in  the  Park 
at  daybreak  on  the  morning  of  August  17th.  The  salute  was  repeated 
at  noon.  Flags  were  flung  out  above  all  the  public  buildings,  the  bells 
were  runs\  and  at  nijdit  the  citv  was  illuminated.  The  fireworks  at 
the  City  Hall  were  intensified  in  brilliancy  by  the  accidental  burning 
of  the  cupola  of  that  building  and  the  adjoining  roof. 

The  first  of  September  was  set  apart  for  a  public  ovation  by  the 
municipal  authorities  to  Mr.  Field  and  his  associates  in  the  enterprise. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860.  04!) 

A  thanksgiving  service  was  held  in  Trinity  Church  in  the  morning,  at 
which  two  hundred  clergymen  officiated.  At  noon  Mr.  Field  and  the 
officers  of  the  ships  landed  at  Castle  Garden  and  were  received  with  a 
national  salute  A  procession  was  formed  at  the  Battery  and  marched 
to  the  Crystal  Palace,  where  the  mayor  presented  Mr.  Field  the  free- 
dom of  the  city  in  a  gold  l>ox,  with  the  thanks  of  the  citizens.  At 
night  the  firemen  had  a  brilliant  torchlight  procession  in  his  honor. 
All  over  the  country  were  heard  cannon-peals  and  the  voice  of  eulogy, 
with  bonfires  and  illuminations,  when,  at  almost  the  same  moment, 
the  mighty  pulse  of  the  great  evangelist  of  peace  and  good-will 
began  to  flutter,  and  very  soon  ceased  to  beat  at  all.  The  expens<  s 
up  to  that  date  had  been  $1,834,500. 

There  was  now  a  sudden  revulsion  in  the  public  feeling.  Some 
believed  the  evangelist  had  never  lived — that  it  was  a  huge  impostor. 
The  popular  idol  was  forsaken  for  the  moment  as  a  "  false  god  " 
indeed.  The  telegraph  cable  remained  in  a  state  of  suspended  anima- 
tion for  nearly  seven  years.  In  1861  the  great  Civil  War  in  America 
broke  out  and  absorbed  all  thoughts.  But  Mr.  Field  was  neither 
discouraged  nor  idle.  While  the  Atlantic  was  traversed  by  incendiary 
pirate  ships,  he  crossed  and  recrossed  the  ocean  many  times  and 
preached  to  chambers  of  commerce,  to  public  gatherings,  and  to 
capitalists  in  England  and  the  United  States,  with  so  much  earnestness 
that  in  1SG4  his  converts  furnished  sufficient  capital  to  renew  the 
attempt  to  lay  the  great  cable.  An  improved  one  was  coiled  on  board 
the  leviathan  of  the  merchant  marine  of  England,  the  Great  Eastern. 
She  sailed  in  1865,  and  when  over  1200  miles  of  the  cable  were  paid 
out,  it  snapped  in  twain,  and  the  great  enterprise  was  once  more  "  in 
the  deep  bosom  of  the  ocean  buried." 

The  attempt  was  not  renewed  that  year.  But  still  Mr.  Field  was 
not  disheartened.  Returning  to  London,  he  rallied  his  associates,  and 
with  them  organized  the  Anglo- American  Telegraph  Company,  with  a 
capital  of  $3,000,000,  to  provide  means  for  manufacturing  and  laying 
another  cable,  and  in  the  summer  of  1866  was  again  on  •  board  the 
Great  Eastern,  when  at  last  the  attempt  to  connect  the  two  worlds, 
which  he  had  pursued  for  nearly  thirteen  years,  Avas  to  be  rewarded 
with  victory.  The  gigantic  coil  was  unrolled  without  a  break  across  the 
ocean,  and  the  Eastern  and  Western  Hemispheres  were  at  last  firmly 
linked  together.  But  one  triumph  did  not  satisfy  the  gallant  project- 
ors :  they  remembered  the  cable  of  the  year  before  lying  with  its 
broken  end  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  A  few  days  after  the  new  cable 
was  landed,  the  Great  Eastern  returned  to  mid-ocean  to  search  for  the 


650 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


lost  treasure,  and  after  groping  for  a  whole  month  at  a  depth  of  two 
miles,  recovered  it  and  carried  it  safely  to  the  shores  of  Newfoundland. 
Thus  two  cables  were  laid  in  one  year  (1866)  without  a  flaw.  Perfect 
and  permanent  electrical  communication  between  America  and  Great 
Britain  was  established  on  July  27,  1S6(>.* 

Honors  were  showered  upon  the  leaders  in  this  marvellous  achieve- 
ment in  both  countries.  Several  of  the  English  participants  were 
knighted.  The  Prime  Minister  of  England,  in  conferring  these  honors, 
declared  that  it  was  only  the  fact  that  Mr.  Field  was  a  citizen  of 
another  country  that  prevented  his  receiving  high  honors  from  the 
British  Government.  He  had  honors  in  abundance  at  home.  Con- 
gress voted  him  thanks  and  a  gold  medal,  and  he  received  numerous 
other  testimonials  for  what  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able achievements  of  the  age.  .At  the  French  Exposition  in  1SGT  he 
received  the  Grand  Medal,  given  only  to  those  who  were  recognized  as 
great  public  benefactors.  Mr.  Field  crossed  the  ocean  more  than  fifty 
times  in  the  prosecution  of  the  great  enterprise.  + 

*  The  capital  stock  of  the  Anglo-American  Telegraph  Company  is  $35,000,000.  They 
have  now  (1883)  in  good  working  order  four  cables  across  the  Atlantic,  besides  several 
other  cables  connecting  Newfoundland  with  Nova  Scotia. 

f  Cyrus  West  Field  is  a  native  of  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  wh<?re  his  father,  the  Rev. 
David  Dudley  Field,  D.D.,  was  settled  as  a  pastor  at  the  time  of  his  birth,  November  30, 
1819.  His  mother  was  Submit  Dickinson,  a  daughter  of  Captain  Noah  Dickinson,  who 
had  served  with  Putnam  in  the  French  and  Indian  war.  The  parents  were  both  of 
English  Puritan  stock,  the  father  tracing  his  ancestry  back  to  the  Norman  Conquest,  in 
10GC.    (See  biographical  sketch  of  Benjamin  H.  Field.) 

Cyrus  W.  Field  is  the  eighth  of  ten  children  of  his  parents.  He  was  of  a  delicato 
physical  organization  that  seemed  little  fitted  to  bear  the  inevitable  burdens  of 
active  life.  As  a  boy  he  was  noted  for  great  activity — a  characteristic  of  his  whole  life. 
He  was  rleet  of  foot  and  a  leader  in  out-door  sports.  Choosing  a  business  life  instead  of 
a  professional  one,  he  did  not  receive  a  collegiate  education,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
years  he  became  a  clerk  with  A.  T.  Stewart  in  New  York.  He  began  business  on  his  own 
account,  as  a  wholesale  paper  merchant,  when  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  at 
about  the  same  time  he  married  Miss  Mary  Bryan  Stone,  of  Guilford,  Connecticut.  They 
have  had  seven  children,  three  sons  and  four  daughters. 

Mr.  Field's- only  capital  with  which  he  started  in  life  as  a  merchant  was  great  aptitude 
for  business,  quickness  of  perception,  power  of  organization,  and  indefatigable  perse- 
verance in  whatever  he  undertook.  These  qualities  have  distinguished  his  whole 
career.  In  the  course  of  a  dozen  years  he  was  at  the  head  of  a  large  mercantile  house, 
fully  established  and  very  prosperous  ;  and  though  only  thirty-three  years  of  age  at  that 
time,  he  contemplated  withdrawing  from  active  business.  He  had  acquired  what 
was  then  considered  a  handsome  fortune,  but  he  found  it  easier  to  enter  upon  business 
than  to  retire  from  it,  especially  for  a  man  of  his  active  temperament.  He  tried  the 
experiment  wisely  by  making  a  tour  of  six  months  in  South  America.  He  climbed  the 
Andes  to  Bogota,  crossed  the  mountains  to  Quito,  and  descended  to  Guayaquil  in 
Ecuador.    He  returned  to  New  York  at  the  end  of  October,  1853.    On  this  journey  Mr. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


651 


Such,  in  brief,  is  the  story  of  the  origin  in  the  city  of  New  York  of 
the  wonderful  system  of  submarine  telegraphy,  by  which  the  deeds 
and  the  thoughts  of  men  are  conveyed  from  continent  to  continent, 
and  from  island  to  island,  through  the  throbbing  bosom  of  the  sea, 
day  and  night.* 

Early  in  1854  a  powerful  anti-slavery  movement  was  begun  in  New 
York  City  by  the  Hon.  John  Jay  and  others,  in  consequence  of  a  viola- 
tion of  the  pledge  given  by  President  Pierce  in  his  inaugural  address  in 
1853,  that  during  his  administration  the  quiet  of  the  country  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  which  had  succeeded  the  compromise  of  Mr.  Clay  in 
1850,  should  not  be  disturbed.  This  violation  was  in  the  form  of  a 
proposal  by  Senator  Dixon,  of  Kentucky,  to  repeal  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, and  a  bill  to  that  effect  offered  in  January,  1854,  by  Senator 
Douglas,  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Territories.  That  act,  known 
as  the  Kansas-Xebraska  bill,  was  passed  in  May  following. 

Mr.  Jay,  who  inherited  a  reverence  for  human  rights  from  his  father, 
Judge  Jay,  and  his  grandfather,  Chief-Justice  Jay,  had  been  keenly 
watching  the  tendency  of  events  at  the  National  capital,  and  as  soon 

Field  was  accompanied  by  the  artist,  Frederick  E.  Church,  who  brought  home  with  him 
the  studies  from  which  he  painted  his  famous  picture,  "  The  Heart  of  the  Andes." 

On  his  return  Mr.  Field  attempted  to  settle  down  as  a  retired  merchant.  "  But  it  was 
the  hardest  task  he  had  ever  undertaken,"  wrote  his  brother,  the  Rev.  H.  M.  Field,  in 
1880.  "  I  never  saw  him  so  uneasy  as  when  trying  to  keep  still.  What  would  have  been 
the  consequence  is  hard  to  say,  if  just  at  this  moment  there  had  not  presented  itself  an 
enterprise  which  was  to  engage  his  interest,  and  to  furnish  full  scope  for  his  activity, 
and  to  prove  in  its  issues  the  greatest  achievement  of  his  life." 

The  enterprise  alluded  to  was  the  connecting  of  the  two  hemispheres  by  an  electro- 
magnetic telegraph,  which  has  been  fully  set  forth  in  the  text.  In  that  enterprise  he  had 
an  arduous  struggle  of  thirteen  years  before  he  attained  to  success.  Since  that  enterprise 
was  successfully  carried  out  he  has  been  largely  interested  in  submarine  telegraphy 
and  rapid  transit  in  the  city  of  New  York.  In  18CA  he  went  to  Egypt,  as  the  delegate 
of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  to  be  present  at  the  preliminary  or  experimental 
opening  of  the  Suez  Canal.  In  1874  he  made  a  voyage  to  Iceland,  to  participate  in  tho 
commemorative  proceedings  of  the  one  thousandth  anniversary  of  the  European  settle- 
ment of  that  island.  In  1880  he  left  New  York  with  his  wife  for  San  Francisco,  whence 
they  made  a  voyage  to  Japan  and  thence  to  India,  and  circumnavigated  the  world.  An 
ever-present  dream  of  his  life  is  the  laying  of  a  telegraphic  cable  across  the  Pacific 
Ocean  by  way  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  which  would  complete  the  circuit  of  the  globe. 
By  this  last  link  he  would  indeed  "  put  a  girdle  round  the  earth  in  forty  minutes." 

*  The  directors  of  the  Anglo-American  Telegraph  Company  in  1882  were  :  The  Bt. 
Hon.  Viscount  Monck,  chairman  ;  Sir  James  Anderson,  William  Barber,  and  Francis  A. 
Bevan,  of  England  ;  Charles  Crapelet,  of  Paris  ;  Cyrus  W.  Field,  of  New  York  ;  Sir 
Daniel  Gooch,  M.P.,  the  Hon.  Robert  Grimston,  L.  M.  Rate,  and  the  Most  Hon.  the 
Marquis  of  Tweeddale,  of  England.  The  managing  director  is  H.  Weaver  ;  Joshua  Dean 
and  Francis  Glass  are  the  auditors,  and  T.  H.  Wells  is  the  secretary. 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


as  lie  observed  this  violation  of  plighted  faith,  with  all  the  promises  of 
fearful  consequences,  he  drew  up  a  call,  which  was  signed  by  himself 
and  others,  for  a  meeting  of  conservative  men  of  both  parties,  at  the 
Broadway  Tabernacle,  to  declare  their  determination  to  resist  all  inter- 
ference with  the  old  landmark,  the  Missouri  Compromise.  The  call 
was  headed,  "  No  Violation  of  Plighted  Faith  !  No  Repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  !" 

The  meeting  was  presided  over  by  Shepherd  Knapp,  one  of  the  best- 
known  merchants  and  financiers  of  New  York,  and  at  one  time  city 
chamberlain.  It  was  earnestly  addressed  by  the  late  James  W.  Gerard 
and  others.  Decided  resolutions  drafted  by  Mr.  Jay  were  adopted  by 
unanimons  acclamation.  An  association  had  been  previously  formed 
called  the  Democratic  Free  Club,  of  which  Mr.  Jay  was  president.* 

*  John  Jay  was  born  in  New  York  City  Juno  23,  1817.  He  is  a  son  of  the  Hon.  William 
Jay.  He  lived  in  the  family  of  his  grandfather,  Chief-Justice  Jay,  until  the  death  of  the. 
latter  in  1829.  He  was  graduated  at  Columbia  College,  second  in  his  class,  in  1836  ; 
studied  law  with  Daniel  Lord,  having  William  M.  Evarts  as  a  fellow-student.  In  1837 
Mr.  Ja\  marrii  >1  Eli  anor,  daughter  of  Hicks  >n  W.  Field,  an  eminent  New  York  merchant 
He  practised  his  profession  until  1858,  when  on  the  death  of  his  ,'ather  he  made  his 
abode  at  Bedford,  Westchester  County,  the  family  country-seat. 

Mr.  Jay  began  an  anti-slavery  career  while  in  college  in  1834,  when  he  became  a  man- 
ager of  the  New  York  Young  Men's  Anti-slavery  Society,  and  was  an  ardent  worker  in  the 
cause  so  long  as  slavery  existed.  He  was  an  actor  in  the  scenes  attendant  upon  the 
anti-slavery  riot  in  New  York  in  1834,  and  as  we  have  observed  in  the  text,  was  an  effi- 
cient promoter  of  a  victorious  anti-slavery  movement  in  New  York  and  throughout  the 
country  twenty  years  afterward.  He  was  ever  a  bold,  conspicuous,  and  outspoken 
abolitionist,  and  suffered  a  portion  of  the  odium  these  philanthropists  bore.  He  was 
ever  busy  with  tongue  and  pen,  in  addresses,  newspaper  communication,  and  otherwise,  in 
the  cause  of  human  freedom,  and  was  always  foremost  in  public  meetings  and  other 
demonstrations  in  favor  of  the  freedom  of  the  slaves. 

Like  his  father,  Mr.  Jay  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  active 
in  its  charities  and  administration.  In  1848  he  visited  Enrope  with  his  wife,  where  he 
made  the  acquaintance  of  many  distinguished  statesmen,  authors,  scientists,  artists,  and 
others.  In  I860  he  earnestly  endeavored  to  have  the  Episcopal  Diocesan  Convention 
express  some  decided  sentiments  on  the  subject  near  his  heart,  and  then  agitating  the 
nation,  but  failed  to  overcome  the  conservatism  of  that  body.  During  the  Civil  War  that 
ensued,  he  labored  incessantly  for  the  salvation  of  the  Republic  from  destruction  by  dis- 
loyal men  everywhere,  and  was  one  of  the  most  vigilant  detectors  of  secret  machinations 
by  Northern  sympathizers  with  the  insurgents.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Union  League  Club  in  New  York,  of  which  he  was  elected  president  while  absent  in 
Europe  in  1805.  In  18G7  Governor  Fenton  appointed  Mr.  Jay  a  commissioner  on  the 
establishment  of  a  national  cemetery  on  the  battle-field  of  Antietam.  In  1809  he  was 
appointed  United  States  minister  to  Austria  by  President  Grant,  and  held  that  position 
until  1875,  filling  it  with  honor  to  his  country  by  his  social  and  political  life  at  Vienna. 
He  was  specially  helpful  to  Americans  during  the  Vienna  Exposition  in  1873.  At  home 
Mr.  Jay's  services  have  ever  been  in  demand  on  commissions,  in  investigations,  and  a 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


053 


The  potent  voice  of  this  meeting  resounded  over  the  land,  and  it  was 
responded  to  in  unison  in  multitudes  of  cities  and  villages  in  the  free- 
labor  States  of  the  North  and  West.    In  February  Mr.  Jay  organized 
another  meeting  at  the  Tabernacle,  composed  chiefly  of  mechanics.  It 
was  addressed  by  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  the  Hon.  John  P. 
Hale,  and  Joseph  Blunt.    A  third  meeting,  on  the  14th  of  March,  was 
presided  over  by  the  venerable  Abraham  Van  Ness,  on  the  nomination 
of  Moses  II.  Grinnell.    It  was  opened  with  prayer  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Vermilye  and  addressed  by  the  late  William  Curtis  Noyes.  Still 
another  meeting  was  held  in  the  City  Hall  Park,  on  May  llth, 
presided  over  by  the  Hon.  Benjamin  V.  Butler,  President  Jackson's 
Attorney-Creneral.    At  that  meeting  a  general  committee  composed  of 
125  leading  citizens,  embracing  all  the  officers  of  the  various  meetings 
which  had   been  held,   was  appointed,   with  power.     Under  their 
authority  a  resolution,  drawn  by  Mr.  Jay,  was  adopted,  inviting  the 
citizens  of  the  State  of  New  York,  without  distinction  of  party,  who 
were  "  disposed  to  maintain  the  rights  and  principles  of  the  North,  to 
stay  the  extension  of  slavery  to  the  Territories,  to  rescue  from  its 
control  the  Federal  Government,  and,  so  far  as  it  can  properly  be  done, 
to  kindly  aid  the  citizens  of  the  South  in  peacefully  hastening  its  end, 
as  a  system  unjust  in  itself  and  unworthy  of  our  Republic,  and  to 
assemble  in  convention  to  determine  what  course  patriotism  and  duty 
require  us  to  take.'1    The  citizens  of  the  free-labor  States  and  of  the 
border  States,  holding  such  views,  were  invited  to  hold  conventions. 

This  invitation  was  responded  to  favorably  by  the  people  of  several 
States,  and  this  anti-slavery  movement,  originating  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  speedily  led  to  the  format ioii  of  the  great  Republican  party,* 
which  has  been  dominant  in  the  Republic  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 

variety  of  other  public  duties,  State  and  national.  From  its  inception  he  has  been  an 
earnest  advocate  of  a  system  of  civil  service  reform,  and  in  1883  he  was  appointed  a 
member  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission.  He  has  been  for  many  years  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  New  York  Historical  Society  and  the  American  Geographical  Society.  His 
addresses,  essays,  reports,  and  controversial  papers  are  very  numerous,  and  form  im- 
portant contributions  to  our  literature. 

*  That  the  conception  of  the  Republican  party  was  in  the  city  of  New  York  cannot  bo 
successfully  disputed,  but  the  place  of  its  birth,  like  that  of  Homer,  is  claimed  by 
several  communities.  It  is  simply  a  matter  of  date  in  question.  Michigan  claims  that  it 
•was  at  a  State  convention  assembled  at  Jackson,  July  (>,  1854,  a  call  for  which  was  signed 
by  more  than  10,000  persons.  In  its  platform  the  extension  of  slavery  was  opposed,  and 
its  abolition  in  the  District  of  Columbia  was  agitated.  The  name  Republican  was 
adopted  by  the  convention  as  that  of  the  opposition  party.  Conventions  that  took  a 
similar  course  were  held  in  Ohio,  Wisconsin,  and  Vermont,  on  July  13,  and  in  Massa- 
chusetts on  July  19,  1854. 


654 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


century.  It  was  composed  essentially  of  the  anti-slavery  men  of  all 
parties.  The  success  of  this  party  in  electing  its  candidate  for  the 
Presidency  of  the  United  States  (Abraham  Lincoln)  in  1860  caused 
the  desperate  disunionists  of  the  nation  to  plunge  the  country  into  one 
of  the  most  dreadful  civil  wars  on  record,  the  fires  of  which  utterly 
consumed  the  system  of  slavery  and  purged  the  Republic  of  a  deathly 
disease.* 

*  "  The  platform  of  the  Republican  party  adopted  at  Chicago  in  May,  1SG0,  caused  the 
politicians  of  the  slave-labor  States  to  prepare  for  the  immediate  secession  of  these  States 
and  a  disruption  of  the  Union.  After  affirming  that  the  maintenance  of  the  principles 
promulgated  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  embodied  in  the  National  Consti- 
tution, is  essential  to  the  preservation  of  our  republican  institutions  ;  congratulating  the 
country  that  no  Re publican  member  of  Congress  had  uttered  or  countenanced  any  threats 
of  disunion,  '  so  often  made  by  Democratic  members  without  rebuke,  and  with  applause 
from  their  political  associates,'  and  denouncing  such  threats  as  '  an  avowal  of  contem- 
plated treason,'  the  resolutions  made  explicit  declarations  upon  the  topic  of  slavery,  so 
largely  occupying  public  attention.  In  a  few  paragraphs  they  declared  that  each  State 
had  the  absolute  right  of  control  in  the  management  of  its  own  domestic  concerns  ;  that 
the  new  dogma  that  the  Constitution,  of  its  own  force,  carries  slavery  into  any  or  all  of 
the  Territories  of  the  United  States,  was  a  dangerous  political  heresy,  revolutionary  in 
its  tendency,  and  subversive  of  the  peace  and  harmony  of  the  country  ;  that  the  normal 
condition  of  all  the  territory  of  the  United  States  is  that  of  freedom,  and  that  neither 
Congress,  nor  a  Territorial  legislature,  nor  any  individuals,  have  authority  to  give  legal 
existence  to  slavery  in  any  Territory  of  the  United  States  ;  and  that  the  reopening  of  the 
African  slave-trade,  then  recently  commenced  in  the  Southern  States,  under  the  cover  of 
our  national  flag,  aided  by  perversions  of  judicial  power,  was  a  crime  against  humanity, 
and  a  burning  shame  to  our  country  and  age." — Lossiivj's  Pictorial  Field-Book  of  the  Civil 
Wo". 


CHAPTER  V. 


MR.  CLAY'S  compromise,  alluded  to,  consisted  of  a  series  of  sup- 
posed conciliatory  measures  proposed  by  him  in  Congress,  in- 
tended to  soothe  the  irritated  feelings  of  disputants  on  both  sides  of 
the  slavery  question,  for  so  violent  were  the  threats  of  disunion  on  the 
part  of  politicians  in  the  slave-labor  States  that  the  integrity  of  the 
Republic  seemed  to  be  in  peril.  These  measures  were  presented  in 
what  was  termed  the  Omnibus  bill,  but  instead  of  allaying  they  soon 
intensified  the  mutual  irritation. 

One  of  the  measures  of  the  Omnibus  bill  was  the  iniquitous  Fugitive 
Slave  law,  framed  by  the  late  Senator  Mason,  of  Virginia,  for  the 
avowed  purpose  of  creating  the  intense  opposition  (as  it  did)  at  the 
North  which  would  provide  a  pretext  for  rebellion  and  disunion.*  It 
provided  that  the  master  (or  his  agent)  of  any  alleged  runaway  slave 
might  follow  him  into  any  State  or  Territory  unmolested,  arrest  him  or 
her,  and  by  the  fiat  of  a  commissioner  or  judge,  who  was  allowed  no 
discretion  in  the  matter,  take  the  fugitive  back  into  bondage.  It  also 
provided  that  any  citizen  might  be  compelled  to  assist  in  the  cap- 
ture and  rendition  of  the  alleged  fugitive. 

This  infamous  act  became  a  law.  Every  humane  heart  rebelled 
against  it.  Every  free  citizen  loathed  the  position  of  slave-catcher  in 
which  the  law  placed  him,  and  there  was  an  intense  desire  felt  every- 
where to  aid  the  poor  bondman  on  his  way  to  Canada  and  liberty.  As 
this  might  not  be  done  openly  for  fear  of  the  terrors  of  the  law,  it  was 
done  secretly.  The  "  Underground  Railway,1'  as  the  secret  aid  given 
to  the  fugitives  was  called,  was  established,  and  the  city  of  New  York 
became  one  of  the  most  important  stations  on  that  road.  The  anti- 
slavery  men  and  women  in  Xew  York  City  became  its  most  ardent 
operators,  and  it  was  a  "  city  of  refuge"  to  many  a  poor  fugitive  flying 
from  bondage  to  liberty. 

Because  of  this  active  sympathy  for  the  slave,  Southern  dealers 

*  This  fact  was  communicated  to  me  by  a  friend  of  Mason,  while  standing  among  the 
ruins  of  the  Senator's  home  at  Winchester,  Va.,  in  the  fall  of  1866. 


056 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


became  suspicious  of  New  York  merchants,  and  began  to  withdraw 
their  trade.  The  consequence  was  that  many  merchants  engaged 
in  the  Southern  trade  became  obedient  slaves  to  mammon  and  the 
slaveocracy,  though  at  the  sacrifice  of  self-respect.  "  I  am  ashamed 
to  own,1'  said  one  of  these  merchants  to  the  writer,  "  that  when  our 
Southern  customers  were  in  town,  I  felt  compelled  to  order  my  clerks 
not  to  let  the  Tribune  be  seen  in  the  store,  for  it  would  not  do  to  let 
such  customers  know  that  I  gave  any  countenance  to  that  abolition 
sheet.    From  the  bottom  of  my  heart  I  despised  myself."  * 

And  so  a  portion  of  the  merchants  of  Xew  York — high-minded,  hon- 
orable men — wen;  enslaved  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  in 
lSftl,  when  that  city  became  the  foremost  in  the  land  in  the  support  of 
the  National  Government  in  its  efforts  to  crush  the  slaveholders'  rebel- 
lion, as  we  shall  perceive  hereafter. 

Among  the  grand  institutions  founded  in  the  city  of  New  York 
during  the  third  decade,  the  Yorxo  Mi:.\'s  Ciiuisti.yn  Association  holds 
a  front  rank  in  salutary  social  influences  and  benevolent  work.  It  was 
formed  in  the  year  1S52.  Among  its  charter  members  are  found  the 
names  of  many  who  have  since  become  distinguished  in  various  forms 
of  religious  and  philanthropic  work  in  public  life  or  in  the  business 
community. f 

The  parent  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  was  formed  in 
London.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years  it  was  imitated  in  New 
Fork.    At  a  meeting  called  for  organizing  such  an  association  the 

*  The  Friends  or  Quakers  Lave  been  known  from  the  beginning  as  the  champions  of 
the  slave  everywhere,  but  so  completely  had  the  slave-power,  through  the  instrumentality 
of  mammon,  acquired  control  over  the  consciences  of  Quaker  merchants  in  New  York, 
largely  engaged  in  the  Southern  trade,  that  so  early  as  1842  the  Hicksite  or  Unitarian 
branch  of  that  society,  worshipping  in  Rose  Street,  actually  "disowned  "  or  excommuni- 
cated one  of  their  foremost  and  most  devoted  members,  Isaac  T.  Hopper,  because  he 
persisted  in  his  benevolent  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  bondmen. 

f  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  Austin  Abbott,  Hon.  Henry  Arnoux,  Charles  A. 
Davidson,  George  H.  Petrie,  Ralph  Wells,  Dr.  Howard  Crosby,  Edward  Austen, 
Theophilus  A.  Brown,  Samuel  W.  Stebbins,  A.  S.  Barnes,  Cephas  Brainerd,  James  B. 
Colgate,  Samuel  Colgate,  Professor  Elie  Charlier,  William  E.  Dodge,  Theodore  Dwight, 
Peter  Donald,  Francis  P.  Freeman,  L.  Hastings  Grant,  John  W.  Dayton,  James  C. 
Holden,  Rev.  Isaac  S.  Harkey,  Henry  B.  Hyde,  Lewis  E.  Jackson.  Morris  K.  Jesup,  D. 
Willis  James,  Robert  Jaffray,  Bryan  Lord,  Richard  C.  MeCormick,  Jr.,  George  D.  Morgan, 
John  H.  Osborne,  Rev.  Arthur  Potts,  John  H.  Parsons,  Rev.  Artlrur  I.  Pearson,  A.  D.  F. 
Randolph,  Gamaliel  G.  Smith,  Samuel  A.  Strang,  John  Sloane,  Rev.  Abel  Stevens, 
LL.D.,  J.  B.  Trevor,  A.  Y.  W.  Van  Vechten,  and  others  to  the  number  of  about  1200  of 
the  leading  young  men  in  the  city.  These  joined  the  association  during  the  first  year 
of  its  existence,  and  are  the  pioneers  of  all  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  in 
the  country. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


057 


Rev.  G-.  T.  Bedell,  then  rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Ascension, 
and  now  hishop  of  the  Diocese  of  Ohio,  presided.  The  Rev.  Isaac 
Ferris,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  then  pastor  of  the  Dutcli  Reformed  Church  in 
Market  Street,  afterward  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  the  City  of 
Xew  York,  delivered  an  address.  Great  interest  in  it  was  felt  from 
the  beginning,  as  attested  by  the  large  membership  the  first  year. 

Until  I860  the  association  had  no  permanent  home  of  its  own,  hut 
occupied  hired  rooms.  Then  a  fine  structure  for  its  use  was  erected 
on  the  south  west  corner  of  Twenty-third  Street  and  Fourth  Avenue, 
which  the  association  first  occupied  in  December,  1869.  The  cost  of  the 
building,  including  the  ground,  was  nearly  $5oo,000,  for  which  the 
association  is  largely  indebted  to  the  zeal,  personal  labors,  and  generous 
gifts  of  the  late  William  E.  Dodge,  who  was  its  president  for  eight 
years  ;  also  to  the  enthusiasm  and  munificence  of  Morris  K.  Jesup, 
John  Crosby  Brown,  Pierpont  Morgan,  and  others,  who  served  as  its 
early  directors.  The  building  is  constructed  of  freestone,  five  stories 
in  height.  Its  style  of  architecture  is  the  French  Renaissance.  It  is 
entirely  free  from  debt.  It  furnishes  to  young  men  who  avail  them- 
selves of  its  privileges  a  reception-room,  a  reading-room,  parlors, 
lecture-room  and  concert-hall  with  a  seating  capacity  of  1400,  class- 
rooms, a  library  with  over  25,000  volumes,  a  gymnasium,  bowling- 
alley,  and  baths.  The  reading-room  is  supplied  with  460  newspapers, 
from  all  parts  of  the  Republic  and  from  the  principal  cities  of  Europe. 

The  association  also  furnishes  instruction  to  evening  classes  in 
writing,  bookkeeping,  German,  French,  Spanish,  and  vocal  music, 
and  in  these  over  1500  young  men  were  pursuing  studies  in  1882.  The 
educational  advantages  of  the  association  have  proved  a  great  boon  to 
young  men  who  may  not  have  possessed  or  who  have  neglected  means 
for  acquiring  education  in  early  life.  Many  such  have  secured  promo- 
tion in  business  by  the  knowledge  they  have  acquired  in  the  rooms  of 
the  association  in  the  evening. 

Any  young  man  with  fair  moral  character  and  over  sixteen  years  of 
age  may  become  entitled  to  all  the  benefits  above  mentioned,  on  the 
payment  of  $7.  Young  men,  whether  they  are  members  of  the  associ- 
ation or  not,  are  heartily  welcomed  to  the  spacious  reception-room  and 
library.  The  latter  is  largely  indebted  to  the  late  William  Xiblo,  from 
whom  the  association  received,  by  bequest,  for  the  use  of  the  library 
exclusively,  over  $150,000,  besides  his  private  collection  of  books  on 
art.  This  collection  is  considered  the  most  complete  in  the  city.  The 
library  is  also  rich  in  works  on  manufactures — wood,  stone,  and  textile 
fabrics. 


658 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  work  of  the  association  is  carried  on  by  its  committees  chiefly  in 
the  evenings.  Special  attention  is  given  to  the  promotion  of  the 
temporal  welfare  of  young  men,  while  their  spiritual  well-being  is  not 
overlooked.  ( 'ommittees  are  in  attendance  at  the  rooms  to  welcome 
visitors,  to  assist  young  men  in  finding  employment,  and  directing 
them  to  suitable  boarding-houses.  In  the  year  1882  employment  was 
found  for  64J  young  men. * 

The  association  has  occupied  important  relations  to  other  interests  in 
the  city.  With  it  originated  the  United  States  Christian  Commission, 
the  Society  for  the  Suppression  of  Vice,  and  the  Christian  Home  for 
Intemperate  Men.f 

One  of  the  important,  if  not  the  most  important,  of  the  financial 
institutions  in  the  city  of  New  York  is  the  Clearing-I louse  Association. 

The  Clearing- 1  louse  system  has  been  in  use  in  London,  England, 
since  1790. 

The  Hon.  Albert  Gallatin,  as  early  as  1841,  realizing  the  crudeness 
of  the  methods  then  in  use,  suggested  a  plan  to  facilitate  the  exchanges 
between  the  banks  and  a  method  for  simplifying  the  settlement  of 
balances.  But  little  attention  was  paid  to  his  suggestions,  and  it  was 
not  until  1853  that  a  concerted  action  was  made  to  put  them  into  prac- 
tical operation. 

On  the  11th  of  October  of  that  year  (1853)  it  commenced  business  in 
the  basement  of  No.  14  Wall  Street,  with  a  membership  of  fifty -two 
banks,  representing  a  capital  of  $46,721,262.  This  number  was  soon 
reduced  to  forty -seven  by  the  retirement  and  closing  up  of  five  of  them 
by  their  inability  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  association. 

By  this  system  the  banks  of  large  cities  became  in  certain  operations 
as  one  individual,  thus  enabling  them  by  united  action  to  aid  and 
strengthen  each  other  in  times  of  financial  excitement  and  danger,  and 
to  exert  by  their  combined  power  a  salutary  influence  upon  the  bank- 

•  The  association  maintains  a  branch  in  the  Bowery  for  a  less  fortunate  class  of  young 
men  than  that  reached  at  the  central  building,  and  it  is  preparing  to  erect  a  commodious 
structure  there  for  the  use  of  this  class.  In  the  branch,  lodgings  are  provided.  During 
1882,  5718  lodgings  and  48,000  meals  were  furnished  to  young  men  in  destitute  cir- 
cumstances. It  has  also  a  branch  at  Harlem,  and  it  provides  room  for  railroad  em- 
ployes at  the  Grand  Central  and  Thirtieth  Street  depots  ;  also  a  branch  for  German- 
speaking  young  men.  In  every  way  the  association  faithfully  carries  out  its  objects 
declared  in  its  constitution— namely,  measures  "  for  the  improvement  of  the  physical, 
social,  mental,  and  spiritual  condition  of  young  men." 

f  The  trustees  for  the  management  of  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  association  in  1882 
were  :  William  E.  Dodge,  Jr.,  Percy  R.  Pyne,  James  M.  Brown,  Robert  Lenox  Kennedy, 
Gilbert  B.  Monroe,  Samuel  Sloan,  John  H.  Deane,  Bowles  Colgate,  and  William  H. 
Hoppin. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1S60. 


659 


ing  business  of  the  country  at  large.  It  is  doubtful  if,  without  the  aid 
of  the  banks  of  the  city  of  New  York,  the  United  States,  upon  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  in  1S61,  could  have  raised  the  loans 
necessary  to  carry  on  the  war  in  time  to  have  prevented  the  success  of 
the  enemies  of  the  Union.  It  is  certain  that  without  the  Clearing- 
House  Association  the  banks  could  not  have  furnished  the  funds  w  hich 
at  once  established  the  credit  of  the  government,  and  enabled  it,  by 
the  restoration  of  confidence,  to  negotiate  its  bonds  to  the  enormous 
amount  of  over  $2, 500,000, 000.  During  the  late  war  the  machinery 
of  the  Xew  York  Clearing- House  worked  with  exact  regularity,  the 
banks  being  united  as  one,  and  daily  equalizing  their  resources. 

The  panic  of  1873  was  checked  by  similar  action  :  the  Clearing-House 
Association  acted  with  promptness  in  combining  their  entire  resources, 
by  the  use  of  loan  certificates  to  the  extent  of  over  §25,000,000,  thus 
sustaining  themselves  against  panic  and  the  serious  results  which 
naturally  would  have  followed. 

The  Clearing-IIouse  Association  occupies  and  owns  the  building 
Ko.  14  Pine  Street,  corner  of  Nassau  Street.  The  first  floor  contains 
the  cashier's  department,  the  bank  offices,  and  the  manager's  rooms. 

The  second  floor  is  a  spacious,  high-ceiled  hall,  plainly  yet  elegantly 
fitted  up,  and  provided  with  four  lines  of  desks,  sixty-four  in  number, 
one  for  each  bank,  each  bearing  the  name  and  number  of  the  bank  by 
which  it  is  occupied,  the  banks  being  numbered  according  fo  the  date 
of  their  organization,  the  oldest  (the  Bauk  of  Xew  York)  being  Xo.  1, 
etc.  Each  bank  is  represented  each  morning  by  two  clerks,  one  a 
messenger  who  brings  with  him  the  checks,  drafts,  etc.,  that  his  bank 
has  received  the  day  previous  upon  the  other  banks,  which  arc  called 
"  exchanges,'*  and  are  assorted  for  each  bank  and  placed  in  envelopes  ; 
on  the  outside  of  each  envelope  is  a  slip  on  which  is  hsted  the  various 
items  which  it  contains. 

These  envelopes  are  arranged  in  the  same  order  as  the  desks  for  the 
several  banks.  The  messengers  take  their  place  in  a  line  outside  of  the 
desks,  each  one  opposite  the  one  assigned  to  his  bank,  while  on  the 
inside  of  the  desk  is  a  clerk  (called  the  settling  clerk)  with  a  sheet  con- 
taining the  names  of  all  the  banks  arranged  in  the  same  order,  with  the 
aggregate  amounts  his  messenger  has  against  each  bank. 

Exactly  at  ten  o'clock  a.m.  the  manager  *  takes  his  position  on  an 

*  The  manager,  Mr.  William  A.  Camp,  to  whose  courtesy  we  are  indebted  for  the  facts 
and  figures  of  this  article,  was  born  in  Durham,  Conn.,  in  September,  1822.  He  has 
been  connected  with  the  association  for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century.  His  executive 
ability  is  manifest  by  the  manner  in  which  the  details  and  labor  are  performed,  this 


660 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


elevated  platform,  calls  the  clerks  to  order,  and  at  a  signal  from  a  bell 
each  messenger  moves  forward  to  the  desk  next  to  his  own,  and 
delivers  the  envelopes  containing  the  checks,  drafts,  etc.,  for  the  bank 
represented  by  that  desk  to  the  clerk  on  the  inside,  together  with  a 
printed  list  (called  porter's  sheet)  of  the  banks  in  the  same  order,  with 
the  amount  opposite  each  bank.  The  clerk  receiving  it  signs  and 
re  turns  it  to  the  messenger,  who  immediately  passes  to  the  next  desk, 
and  so  on  until  he  has  made  the  circuit  of  the  room  and  reached  his 
own  desk,  the  starting-point,  having  delivered  to  each  bank  the  ex- 
changes he  has  for  it,  and  consequently  delivering  his  entire  exchanges 
for  all  the  banks.  Every  other  messenger  does  likewise,  all  moving  on 
at  the  same  time.  In  other  words,  each  messenger  has  visited  every 
bank  and  delivered  everything  his  bank  has  received  on  each  during 
the  previous  day,  and  taking  a  receipt  for  the  same.  Consequently  the 
entire  exchanges  are  delivered,  while  each  clerk  upon  the  inside  has  of 
course  received  from  every  other  hank  the  amounts  each  had  against  it. 

This  operation  occupies  about  nine  minutes,  and  accomplishes  that 
which  could  not  otherwise  be  done  in  many  hours,  with  a  larger  clerical 
force  and  untold  risks.  Besides  the  saving  of  time  gained  by  this 
method,  each  bank  is  enabled  to  know  the  exact  balance  for  or  against 

immense  daily  volume  of  financial  transactions  having  been  conducted  without  a  single 
discoverable  error  or  any  loss  to  the  bank.  It  is  also  worthy  of  remark  that  as  much  as 
fifteen  and  a  half  tons  of  gold  coin  have  been  received  in  one  day  in  settlement  of 
balances.  Mr.  Camp's  career  in  the  Clearing-House  is  signalized  by  the  great  suc- 
cess of  that  institution,  which  has  proven  itself  one  of  the  most  valuable  financial 
auxiliaries  ever  originated.  In  all  important  operations  between  the  New  York  City 
banks  and  the  United  States  Government  during  the  Civil  War,  the  machinery,  so  to 
speak,  of  the  Clearing-House  was  brought  into  timely  requisition,  and  enabled  the 
banks  to  carry  out  transactions  in  aid  of  the  general  government  that  would  otherwise 
have  been  utterly  impossible.  In  the  management  of  a  business  of  such  magnitude 
Mr.  Camp  has  acquired  an  experience  the  equal  of  which,  it  is  safe  to  say,  no  one  else 
ever  before  had.  Few  men  are  more  familiar  than  he  with  the  principles  on  which  tho 
finances  of  the  country  are  grounded,  and  fewer  still  possess  a  more  critical  knowledge 
of  tho  varied  financial  interests  of  the  nation.  The  statistics  of  the  office  under  his 
management  and  direction  are  most  complete  and  comprehensible. 

Mr.  Camp  has  been  for  a  number  of  years  a  prominent  member  of  the  New  England 
Society,  and  for  four  years  a  member  of  its  board  of  officers.  He  is  likewise  a  member  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  a  leading  member  of  the  Union  League  Club,  and  served  at 
one  time  on  the  art  committee  of  that  club,  and  also  on  the  auditing  committees.  He 
was  also  chairman  of  the  art  committee  of  the  Palette  Club,  and  has  been  actively  and 
especially  interested  in  patronizing  the  advancement  of  American  art.  He  is  connected 
with  a  number  of  charitable  institutions  in  New  York,  and  is  deeply  interested  in  all  that 
pertains  to  the  moral  and  material  prosperity  of  the  city.  Mr.  Camp  is  a  gentleman  of 
broad  culture,  liberal  views,  and  is  widely  known  and  esteemed  for  those  many  qualities 
of  head  and  heart  that  go  to  make  up  the  able  official  and  the  worthy  citizen. 


TY  PARKS 

1882 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1800. 


C(51 


it  at  once,  as  the  clerks,  after  receiving  the  envelopes  containing-  the 
checks,  drafts,  etc.,  immediately  enter  from  the  slips  upon  their  own 
sheets  the  aggregate  amount  from  each  bank,  the  differences  between 
the  total  amount  thev  have  received  and  the  total  amount  brought  bv 
them  being  the  balance  either  due  to  or  from  the  Clearing-IIouse  to 
each  bank.  The  messengers  then  receive  from  their  several  clerks  tha 
various  envelopes  containing  the  exchanges,  and  return  to  their  banks, 
reporting  their  condition,  debtor  or  creditor,  as  the  case  may  be.  The 
clerks  (settling  clerks)  then  report  to  the  assistant  manager  the  amount 
they  have  received  (on  a  ticket  called  debit  ticket),  they  having 
reported  the  amount  brought  (on  a  ticket  called  credit  ticket)  upon  first 
entering  the  room. 

These  amounts  are  entered  in  separate  columns  on  what  is  called  a 
"  proof-sheet,"  and  if  no  error  has  been,  made  the  manager,  finding  the 
four  columns  to  agree,  announces  that  "  proof  is  made,"  and  the  clerks 
then  return  to  their  respective  banks.  If,  however,  any  error  has 
been  made  by  any  of  the  sixty-four  clerks,  it  is  indicated  on  the  proof- 
sheet,  and  all  the  clerks  are  then  required  to  examine  and  revise  their 
work,  and  not  until  every  error  has  been  discovered  and  corrected  are 
the  settling  clerks  allowed  to  leave. 

The  clerks  are  allowed  until  quarter  of  eleven  a.m.  to  enter,  report, 
and  prove  their  work.  If  any  errors  are  discovered  or  exist  after  that 
time,  fines  are  imposed  for  each  error,  which  are  collected  monthly  by 
drafts  on  the  banks  fined. 

Various  and  ingenious  methods  are  resorted  to  for  discovering'  errors, 
and  the  manager,  from  long  experience,  generally  is  enabled  to  antici- 
pate the  nature  of  the  error,  whether  in  entry,  footing,  or  transposi- 
tion, and  thereby  facilitates  its  discovery  by  instantly  applying  the 
best  methods  of  examination.  When  it  is  remembered  that  there  are 
sixty-four  sheets,  each  containing  128  entries — in  all  8192 — the  diffi- 
culty in  discovering  where  the  error  is  in  the  shortest  space  of  time  is 
apparent. 

The  business  of  making  exchanges  and  proof  is  usually  accomplished 
in  less  than  one  hour,  as  the  banks  make  but  one  entry  of  the  aggregate 
of  amount  brought  to  the  Clearing- House  and  credit  the  amount  they 
have  received.  Keeping  no  accounts  with  each  other,  the  settlement 
of  balances  is  accomplished  as  follows  :  The  debit  banks  (those  which 
brought  less  than  they  have  received)  are  required  to  pay  to  the 
manager  of  the  Clearing-House  before  half-past  one  o'clock  the  same 
day,  in  legal  tenders  or  gold,  their  debit  balance,  and  upon  the  proof 
of  the  whole  amount  of  debit   balances  being  paid  in.  the  credit 


662 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


banks  (those  which  brought  more  than  they  received)  receive  the 
amount  due  them  respectively,  thus  by  one  process  settling  the  entire 
transactions  of  all  the  banks  of  the  day  previous. 

The  Clearing-House  Association  requires  of  its  members  weekly 
reports  to  the  manager  of  their  transactions,  in  a  statement  of  the 
loans,  legal  tenders,  deposits,  specie,  and  circulation,  so  that  the  move- 
ments of  each  bank  can  be  determined  and  its  condition  pretty  accu- 
rately estimated. 


CAPITAL  AND  TRANSACTIONS,  NEW  YORK  ASSOCIATED  BANKS. 


Years 
Ending 
Sept.  30. 

No.  of 
Banks. 

Capital. 

Exchanges. 

Balances. 

Average  Daily 
Exchanges. 

1 

Average  Daily 
Balances. 

Ratios 

1854 

50 

47.044.nnn 

5.750.455.987.06 

297.411.493.69 

19.104,504.94 

988,078.06 

5.2 

1855 

48 

48.884.180 

5,362.012,098.38 

289,694.137.14 

17,412,052.27 

940.565.38 

5.4 

is.->ti 

50 

52.883.700 

6,906.213.328.47 

331.714.489.33 

22.278,107.51 

1,079,721.16 

4.8 

1857 

50 

64,420.200 

8.333.226,718.06 

365,313.901.09 

26.968,371.26 

1.182,245.64 

4.4 

1858 

46 

67,146,018 
67.1121.714 

4,756.6l>4,.i86.09 

814288,910  60 

15.393.7:15.88 

1,016.9.54.40 

6.6 

1S59 

47 

6.448.005.956  01 

363.9H4.ti82.56 

20.867  333.19 

1,177.943.96 

5.6 

1860 

50 

69.007,435 

7.231.143,056  69 

380.093.438.37 

23,401.757.47 

1,888,017.00 

5.3 

1S61 

60 

6"  ,900,6(0 

5.915.742.758.05 

353,383.944.41 

19  269,520.38 

1.151,087.77 

6.0 

1862 

50 

68.375.820 

6,871,448.591  20 

415.530.331.46 

22.237,681.53 

1,344,758.35 

6.0 

1863 

50 

IIS  972.508 

1 1. 867.507.8)8.  IK) 

677.626.482  61 

48.428,657.49 

2.207,252.39 

4.6 

1864 

49 

68  596.763 

24,097. 196.655  92 

885,719,204.93 

77.984.455.20 

2  866,405.19 

3.7 

1865 

55 

80,868,01? 

26.032.384.341.89 

1,035,765.107.68 

84.796.040.i0 

3.373.827.71 

4.0 

1866 

58 

82,870,900 

28.717.146.914.119 

1.066, 135, 106.35 

93,541,195.16 

3.472.752.79 

3.7 

1867 

58 

81.770.2IH) 

28,675.159,472.20 

1,144,963,451.15 

98,101,167.11 

3.717.413.80 

4.0 

1S68 

59 

82.270.200 

28,484.288. 686  92 

1.125.455,236.68 

92.182.163.87 

3,642,249.95 

4.0 

1869 

59 

82.720,200 

37.407.028  9S6  55 

1.120.318,307.87 

121.451.392.81 

3.637.397.10 

3.0 

1870 

61 

8S.620.200 

27.804.539. 105.75 

1,036.484.821.79 

!:0.274.478."9 

3.365,210.46 

3.7 

1871 

62 

84.420.200 

88,800,986  682.21 

1.209.721.029.47 

95.188.078.64 

3,927,665.68 

4.1 

1872 

61 

84,420.2011 

33.844. 319,568  39 

1,428,582.707. 53 

109.884.310.78 

4.636.632.16 

4.2 

1873 

59 

88,87)1,200 

35.461.052.825.70 

1,474.508.024.95 

115,885.793.55 

4,818.653.67 

4.1 

1874 

59 

81.635,200 

22.855.927.636.26 

1.286.753.176.12 

74,692,573.98 

4.205.075.74 

5.7 

1875 

59 

80,485,900 

25.061.237.902.09 

1.468.608,776.68 

81.899,470.26 

4.603,296.05 

5.6 

1876 

59 

81.731.200 

21,597.274.217  04 

1  295,042,028.82 

70,349,427.52 

4.218.377.95 

5.9 

1877 

58 

71,085,200 

23.289.243. 701.99 

1,878,996,801.68 

76.358,176  07 

4.504.905.90 

5.9 

1878 

67 

63.611.50) 

22.508.438  441.75 

1,307.843,857.24 

73,555,988.37 

4.278,999.54 

5.8 

1879 

59 

6tl.MIO.2tK) 

25,178  770.700.50 

1, 400.1 11,062.86 

82.015,539.74 

4.5ti0,622.35 

5.0 

1880 

57 

60,475.200 

37.182.128,621.09 

1,516,538,631.29 

121 ,510,224.25 

4.956,008.60 

4.1 

1881 

60 

61.162.700 

48.565.818,212.31 

1.776.018,161.58 

159.232,190.86 

5.823.010.36 

3.5 

1882 

61 

61.462.700 

46,552,846.161.34 

1,595.000.245.27 

151.637,935.38 

5.195,440.54 

3.4 

18S3 

63 

61,162,700 

40,293,165,257.65 

1,568,983,196.15 

132,543,306.77 

5,161,128  93 

The  system  in  use  by  the  Xew  York  Clearing-Ilouse  is  so  perfect 
that  of  the  enormous  transactions  made  through  it,  no  error  or  differ- 
ence of  any  kind  exists  in  any  of  its  records  ;  neither  has  any  bank 
belonging  to  the  association  sustained  any  loss  in  its  connection  by  the 
failure  of  any  bank,  or  otherwise,  while  a  member.  Its  operations 
amount  to  over  sixty-five  per  cent  of  the  total  exchanges  of  the  twenty- 
three  clearing-houses  of  the  country.  It  has  proved  of  great  service 
during  financial  emergencies,  notably  the  great  business  revulsion  of 
1857  and  the  panic  of  1873.  In  the  latter  case,  by  combining  the 
resources  of  the  members  through  the  machinery  of  the  Clearing- 
House,  they  were  enabled  to  greatly  modify  the  dangers  which  so  seri- 
ously threatened  the  whole  country. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


663 


The  financial  revulsion  of  1857  was  fearful  in  the  city  of  ]Sew  York, 
while  the  panic  it  caused  lasted.  The  country  had  heen  prosperous  for 
several  years,  or  at  least  seemed  prosperous.  Business  of  every  kind 
was  remunerative,  commerce  was  flourishing,  credit  was  on  an  appar- 
ently sound  basis,  though  it  was  stretched  to  its  utmost  limits,  and 
there  was  scarcely  a  sign  of  an  approaching  tempest  before  it  broke  in 
fury  upon  the  business  community. 

Late  in  August,  1S.">7,  the  Ohio  Life  and  Trust  Company,  an  institu- 
tion which  had  been  regarded  as  safe  beyond  suspicion,  suspended  for 
the  enormous  sum  of  $7,000,0(10.  This  suspension  fell  like  a  thunder- 
bolt from  an  unclouded  firmament.  It  shook  the  financial  community 
to  its  very  centre.  A  month  later  the  banks  of  Philadelphia  suspended 
specie  payments.  The  other  banks  in  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  Rhode  Island  soon  followed  suit.  A  fearful 
panic  seized  the  business  community  everywhere.  The  wheels  of 
industry  were  stopped.  As  in  1837,  the  credit  system  suddenly  fell 
with  a  crash.  Confidence  was  destroyed,  and  merchants  and  manu- 
facturers were  driven  into  bankruptcy. 

Thousands  of  people,  dependent  upon  their  daily  labor  for  daily 
bread,  were  deprived  of  employment.  The  destitute  in  Xew  York 
City,  influenced  by  demagogues,  as  in  the  case  of  the  flour  riots,  assem- 
bled in  the  City  Hall  Park,  and  clamored  for  bread,  accusing  specula- 
tors as  the  authors  of  their  distress,  and  threatening  to  procure  food  at 
all  hazards.  The  municipal  government  came  to  their  relief  as  far  as 
possible.  Many  laborers  were  put  to  work  on  the  Central  Park  and 
other  public  works.  Soup-houses  were  speedily  opened  throughout  the 
city,  and  private  associations  were  formed  for  the  relief  of  the  suffer- 
ing. Food  was  in  abundance  in  the  West,  drain  lay  mouldering  for 
want  of  money  to  move  it  to  the  seaboard.  Money,  too,  was  plentiful, 
but  the  holders  of  it,  alarmed,  would  neither  lend  nor  invest,  but  kept 
their  coffers  locked. 

Early  in  October  there  was  a  1  un  on  the  Xew  York  City  banks,  and 
they  all  soon  suspended  specie  payments.  The  country  banks  of  the 
State  followed,  so  also  did  the  banks  of  Massachusetts.  The  panic 
among  the  bank  managers  for  a  few  days,  as  the  pressure  for  specie 
increased,  was  very  great.  The  effect  of  the  suspension  in  Xew  York 
was  quite  remarkable.  There  was  a  sense  of  relief  felt  everywhere. 
Bankers  and  merchants  and  other  business  men  met  each  other  with 
smiling  faces.  They  felt  as  if  there  had  been  a  tremendous  thunder- 
clap, but  nobody  was  hurt.  "With  a  sigh  of  relief,  they  acquired  confi- 
dence.   Matters  in  money  circles  immediately  improved.    As  spring 


684 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


advanced,  business  revived.  Manufacturers  resumed  work,  but  the 
scars  of  the  wounds  received  in  the  general  crash  were  many,  and  long- 
continued  to  irritate  and  annoy.  The  failures  in  business  for  the  year 
ending  in  the  summer  of  1858  numbered  5123,  and  the  liabilities 
amounted  to  over  $291,000,000. 

A  curious  episode  in  the  social  history  of  the  city  of  New  York 
occurred  during  this  great  business  revulsion.  Indeed,  it  seems  to  have 
been  a  product  of  that  event.  In  June  the  consistory  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church  was  led  to  employ  a  suitable  person  to  visit  families  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  Xorth  Church,  corner  of  Fulton  and  William  streets, 
to  induce  them  to  attend  the  church  and  bring  their  children  into  tho 
Sunday-school.  For  this  service  a  pious  and  earnest  layman,  J.  C. 
Lanphier,  was  employed.  lie  entered  upon  the  important  duties  with 
great  zeal.  lie  visited  from  house  to  house,  and  was  generally  success- 
ful, lie  finally  conceived  the  idea  of  having  noonday  prayer-meetings 
in  the  Consistory  Building.in  the  rear  of  the  church,  for  business  men, 
mechanics,  and  laborers.  It  was  a  general  habit  for  all  to  have  one 
hour  for  dinner,  between  twelve  and  one  o'clock. 

It  was  at  first  intended  to  have  the  day  prayer-meeting  once  a 
week,  and  a  handbill  to  that  effect  was  circulated  throughout  the 
city,  inviting  persons  to  the  Consistory  Building  at  twelve  o'clock 
on  September  23,  1857.  At  that  hour  Mr.  Lanphier  took  his  seat 
to  await  the  response.  Gradually  one  after  another  came  in,  and  six 
composed  the  first  gathering.  The  next  week  there  were  twenty, 
and  on  October  7  there  were  forty.  The  panic  was  then  at  its 
height.  Many  persons  were  out  of  employment,  and  many  were 
earnestly  seeking  relief  from  distress  of  mind  and  body.  Such  was 
the  interest  manifested  that  it  was  resolved  to  hold  a  daily  prayer- 
meeting  at  the  same  hour,  Sundays  excepted,  and  a  placard  to  that 
effect,  printed  in  large  letters,  was  hung  at  the  door  of  entrance  to  the 
consistory-rooms,  in  Fulton  Street. 

The  first  daily  prayer-meeting  was  held  at  noon  on  October  8,  1857. 
It  was  numerously  attended.  Merchants  and  other  business  men, 
teamsters,  porters,  merchants'  clerks,  laboring  men,  and  working  and 
other  women  in  the  neighborhood  filled  the  room  day  after  day. 
Persons  of  both  sexes  from  all  parts  of  the  city  and  strangers  from  the 
country  were  soon  attracted  to  these  meetings. 

This  social  phenomenon  appealing  in  the  midst  of  the  most  active 
business  portion  of  the  city  continued  to  interest  the  community  month 
after  month,  and  year  after  year.  It  is  no  longer  a  phenomenon,  but 
seems  to  be  a  fixed  institution,  for  the  Fulton  Street  Xoon  Prayer- 


THIRD  DECADE,  !f85(M!860. 


Meeting1  has  been  continued  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  under 
the  charge  of  the  same  earnest  layman,  Mr.  Lanphier.  Requests  for 
prayers  for  persons  have  been  a  feature  of  these  noon  prayer-meetings, 
and  almost  every  day  such  requests  are  made  orally,  or  by  letters,  some 
of  which  come  from  over  the  sea. 

The  year  1S57  was  notable  in  the  history  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
not  only  for  the  great  financial  disturbance  in  the  autumn,  but  for 
other  conspicuous  events — the  demolition  of  one  of  its  ancient  land- 
marks, the  erection  of  the  first  statue  out  of  doors  in  the  city,  the 
amendment  of  the  city  charter,  and  scenes  of  riot  and  disorder  growing 
out  of  conflicting  claims  to  the  exercise  of  municipal  power. 

The  first-mentioned  event  was  the  taking  down  of  the  old  Brick 
Church  edifice,  which,  with  its  adjuncts,  occupied  the  acute  triangular 
piece  of  ground  on  Beekman  and  Nassau  streets  and  Park  Row.  It 
had  stood  there  for  nearly  a  century,  a  witness  of  stirring  historic 
scenes  when  the  Park  near  by  was  The  Fields.  The  last  service  held 
in  it  was  on  May  26,  1856.  On  the  northern  portion  of  its  site  now 
stands  the  fine  publishing  house  of  the  New  York  Dai///  Times. 

The  work  of  art  alluded  to  was  the  equestrian  statue  of  Washington 
in  Union  Square,  executed  in  bronze  by  Henry  Kirke  Brown,  now 
(1883)  living  at  Newburgh.  It  is  confessedly  the  finest  work  of  the 
kind  in  the  city,  as  it  was  the  first. 

The  amendment  of  the  city  charter  alluded  to  was  made  by  act  of 
the  Legislature  passed  April  11,  1857.  The  growing  abuses  hi  the 
city  government  had  for  some  time  called  for  an  amendment 
of  the  charter.  It  was  painfully  apparent  to  all  observers  that 
the  city  was  absolutely  controlled  by  the  votes  of  the  unlearned, 
the  landless,  and  often  vicious  citizens,  who  were  largely  of  foreign 
birth,  with  scarcely  any  knowledge  of  the  privileges  and  value  of 
American  citizenship.  This  class  elected  the  public  officers,  and 
naturally  chose  men  who  would  pander  to  their  greed  or  their  vices, 
while  men  of  property,  of  education,  of  moral  and  intellectual  worth, 
virtuous  and  religious — men  who  constitute  a  state — were  made  politi- 
cally subordinate  to  the  other  class.  Hitherto  the  charter  and  State 
elections  had  been  held  on  the  same  day  ;  by  the  amended  charter  in 
the  spring  of  1857  these  were  separated,  and  the  day  for  the  charter 
election  was  fixed  on  the  fii-st  Tuesday  in  December.  It  was  provided 
that  the  mayor  and  common  council  and  the  comptroller  were  to  be 
elected  by  the  people,  the  common  council  or  city  legislature  to  consist 
of  a  board  of  aldermen  and  six  councilmen,  elected  from  each  senatorial 
district,  to  be  elected  annually.    The  almshouse  and  fire  departments 


666 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


remained  unchanged,  but  the  superintendence  of  the  Central  Park  was 
given  to  a  board,  to  be  appointed  by  the  State  authorities. 

These  amendments  were  acquiesced  in,  yet  not  without  some  protest 
concerning  the  management  of  the  Central  Park  ;  but  a  law  known  as 
the  Metropolitan  Police  act,  which  transferred  the  police  department 
of  the  city  of  Xew  York  to  the  control  of  the  State,  produced  intense 
excitement  in  the  city.  The  necessity  for  this  innovation  was  the 
alleged  inefficient,  partisan,  and  corrupt  character  of  the  police  under 
the  management  of  venal  politicians.  That  act  created  a  police 
district,  comprising  the  counties  of  New  York,  Kings,  Westches- 
ter, and  Richmond.  A  board  of  commissioners  was  also  created, 
to  be  appointed  for  five  years  by  the  governor,  with  the  consent  of  the 
Senate,  they  to  have  the  sole  control  of  the  appointment,  trial,  and 
management  of  the  police  force,  which  was  not  to  number  more  than 
two  thousand  at  any  time,  and  to  appoint  the  chief  of  police  and  minor 
police  officers.  It  was  the  prescribed  duty  of  these  commissioners  to 
secure  the  peace  and  protection  of  the  city,  to  insure  quiet  and  order  at 
the  elections,  and  to  supervise  arrangements  for  the  public  health.* 

Now  came  a  struggle  for  "  municipal  independence — for  home  rule. " 
Fernando  Wood  was  then  mayor  of  the  city  of  Xew  York.  lie  had 
strenuously  opposed  the  bill  while  it  was  before  the  Legislature  ;  now 
he  determined  to  resist  its  operation,  and  to  test  its  constitutionality  to 
the  uttermost,  lie  refused  to  relinquish  his  control  of  the  city  police, 
and  for  a  while  there  was  the  curious  spectacle  of  a  dual  government  in 
one  part  of  the  municipal  system — the  Metropolitan  Police  under  the 
commissioners,  and  the  Municipal  Police  under  the  mayor.  These 
contended  for  the  mastery.  After  exhausting  all  resources  to  evade  the 
act,  the  mayor  and  the  city  government  referred  the  matter  to  the 
Court  of  Appeals.  Before  a  decision  came  down,  violent  scenes  had 
occurred  in  the  city. 

Governor  King  had  appointed  D.  I).  Conover  a  street  commissioner 
to  fill  a  vacancy  caused  by  death.  When  he  attempted  to  take  posses- 
sion of  his  office,  on  June  16,  he  was  met  by  an  appointee  of  the 
mayor,  who  had  possession,  and  who  refused  to  give  up  the  place,  and 
Conover  was  violently  ejected  from  the  City  Hall.  Conover  immedi- 
ately procured  a  warrant  from  the  recorder  for  the  arrest  of  the  mayor 
on  a  charge  of  inciting  a  riot,  and  another  from  Judge  Hoffman  for  the 

*  The  board  of  commissioners  appointed  under  this  law  consisted  of  Simeon  Draper, 
James  W.  Nye,  and  Jacob  Caldwell,  of  New  York  ;  James  S.  T.  Stranahan,  of  Kings 
County,  and  James  Bowers,  of  Westchester  County.  The  mayors  of  New  York  and  Brook- 
lyn were  ex-officio  members  of  this  board. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


violence  offered  him  personally.  The  mayor  had  filled  the  City  Hall 
with  armed  policemen  under  his  control,  and  when  an  officer  attempted 
to  gain  access  to  the  mayor  to  serve  the  warrant,  and  Conover  was  at 
the  City  Hall  with  his  documents  and  fifty  Metropolitan  Police,  they 
Avere  attacked  by  the  mayor's  force  inside.  A  fierce  affray  ensued,  in 
which  a  dozen  policemen  were  seriously  injured. 

Meanwhile  a  large  crowd  of  the  disorderly  classes,  who  were  parti- 
sans of  the  mayor,  had  assembled  in  the  Park  and  the  neighboring 
streets,  and  a  serious  riot  was  threatened.  A  more  noisy,  riotous,  and 
desperate  mob  was  never  seen  in  the  streets  of  New  York. 

At  this  critical  moment  the  Seventh  Regiment  National  Guard  was 
passing  down  Broadway  on  its  way  to  Boston.  By  order  of  General 
Hall,  it  marched  into  the  Park  and  soon  forced  its  way  through  the 
mob  to  the  steps  of  the  City  Hall.  A  wholesome  remembrance  of  the 
lesson  taught  the  mob  at  the  Astor  Place  Riot  in  1840  restrained  the 
crowd. 

General  Sandford,  accompanied  by  the  sheriff  and  Conover,  now 
entered  the  City  Hall,  remonstrated  with  the  mayor  upon  his  revolu- 
tionary conduct,  and  told  him  that  unless  he  immediately  submitted 
to  arrest,  the  whole  military  force  of  the  city  would  be  used,  if  neces- 
sary, to  secure  his  submission.  The  mayor,  seeing  further  resistance  to 
be  futile,  submitted.  On  the  first  of  July  the  Court  of  Appeals  decided 
that  the  Metropolitan  Police  act  was  constitutional.  The  mayor 
seemed  disposed  to  acquiesce,  and  it  was  supposed  there  would  be  no 
more  disturbance. 

Not  so.  The  dangerous  classes,  who  keenly  perceived  the  weakness 
of  the  police  force,  proceeded  to  act  without  fear  of  restraint,  filling 
the  whole  city  with  alarm  and  anxiety.  Organized  gangs  of  rowdies 
patrolled  the  streets  that  evening,  and  opposing  roughs  had  a  fearful 
fight  the  next  morning  in  Bayard  Street,  near  the  Bowery.  Tiie  pave- 
ments were  torn  up,  and  stones,  clubs,  and  firearms  were  freely  used. 
They  seized  drays,  trucks,  and  whatever  else  they  could  lay  their  hands 
on,  to  make  barricades.  A  small  police  force  sent  to  quell  the  disturb- 
ance was  driven  away,  and  the  rioters  ceased  their  infernal  sport  only 
when  they  became  exhausted,  late  in  the  afternoon.  Six  men  had  been 
killed  and  about  one  hundred  wounded. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day  (Sunday)  mob  violence  broke  out 
furiously  at  the  Five  Points.  All  attempts  of  the  Metropolitan  Police 
to  quell  the  disturbance  were  in  vain.  The  Seventh  Regiment  was 
summoned  to  arms.  The  bare  knowledge  of  its  approach  frightened 
away  the  rioters,  and  when  it  reached  the  arsenal  on  Elm  Street  the 


G68 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOUK  CITY. 


mob  had  dispersed.  But  the  riotous  clement  in  the  city  was  still  ram- 
pant, and  a  week  later  the  regiment  was  called  upon  to  quell  a  danger- 
ous mob  in  Mackerelville,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  city,  where  a  fierce 
attack  had  been  made  on  the  Metropolitan  Police.  At  ten  o'clock  in 
the  evening  it  was  assembled  in  Lafayette  Hall,  but  its  services  were 
not  needed.  Before  it  was  summoned  several  persons  had  been  killed 
and  many  wounded.  The  peace  of  the  city  was  gradually  restored, 
and  from  Is.") 7  to  1SG3  military  assistance  was  not  required  to  preserve 
order. 

The  Potter's  Field — "a  place  to  bury  strangers  in,"  otherwise 
paupers — first  occupied  (present)  Washington  Square.  In  1823  the 
remains  in  that  field  were  removed  to  the  site  of  the  distributing  reser- 
voir, Fifth  Avenue  and  Fortieth  and  Forty-second  streets.  After- 
ward, when  this  site  was  selected  for  the  reservoir,  they  were  again 
removed  to  a  new  Potter's  Field,  between  Fourth  and  Lexington 
avenues,  in  the  vicinity  of  Fiftieth  Street.  This  ground  was  granted 
to  the  Woman's  Hospital  by  the  corporation.,  and  in  ls.37  the  remains 
of  100,000  paupers  and  strangers  were  transferred  from  the  city  limits 
to  Ward's  Island,  where  seventy-five  acres  had  been  set  apart  for  a 
pauper  cemetery. 

The  Woman's  Hospital,  above  mentioned,  was  incorporated  in  1855, 
and  is  among  the  noble  institutions  founded  during  this  decade.  The 
incorporators  were  seven  benevolent  ladies  of  New  York  City,  and  its 
sole  object  was  the  treatment  of  those  diseases  only  that  are  peculiar  to 
women,  especially  the  surgical  cure  of  vesico-vaginal  fistula  discovered 
by  Dr.  J.  Marion  Sims,  which  had  been  previously  regarded  by  the 
medical  profession  as  incurable.  Dr.  Sims  was  the  chief  founder  of  this 
hospital.  He  died  in  Xew  York  in  November,  1883,  at  the  age  of 
nearly  seventy  years. 

This  hospital  is  not  designed  by  its  founders  as  a  free  institution,  but 
to  be  made  self-sustaining  from  the  board  and  washing  of  the  patients, 
the  beds  in  the  wards,  and  the  private  rooms.  For  these,  charges 
are  made  according  to  the  ability  of  the  patients  to  pay.  The  full 
capacity  of  the  establishment  was  one  hundred  and  thirty  beds. 

All  women,  of  every  grade  and  position  in  society,  the  humble  and 
the  exalted,  who,  from  pecuniary  disability  or  from  whatever  cause,  are 
unable  to  employ  a  surgeon  for  the  treatment  of  those  diseases  peculiar 
to  the  sex,  have  the  right  of  admission  to  the  institution  Avithout  any 
charge  for  surgical  or  medical  treatment,  their  whole  expenses  being 
limited  to  charges  for  board  and  washing  and  their  medical  supplies. 
To  this  great  privilege  women  of  every  nationality  are  admitted. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1800. 


669 


Its  board  of  surgeons  embrace  some  of  tbe  most  distinguished  of  their 
profession  in  this  specialty,  whose  services  are  rendered  gratuitously. 
The  clinics  are  open  to  invalids  every  day  excepting  Sunday.* 

*  The  officers  of  the  Woman's  Hospital  for  1882  were  :  Edwin  D.  Morgan,  president  ; 
George  T.  M.  Davis,  vice-president  ;  Charles  N.  Talbot,  secretary  ;  Clinton  Gilbert,  treas- 
urer ;  and  a  board  of  governors,  twenty-seven  in  number.  There  is  also  a  board  of  lady 
supervisors,  twenty-five  in  number,  and  of  managers,  sis  in  number.  Of  this  board  Mrs. 
Lewis  C.  Jones  is  president,  Mrs.  Joseph  M.  Cooper  vice-president,  Mrs.  Henry  Bay 
secretary,  and  Mrs.  Russell  Sage  treasurer. 

Dr.  Sims,  the  chief  founder  of  this  hospital,  was  bom  in  Lancaster  District,  South 
Carolina,  on  January  25,  1813.  He  graduated  at  the  South  Carolina  College,  Columbia, 
and  in  1835  he  was  graduated  at  the  Jefferson  Medical  College  at  Philadelphia.  He  settled 
as  a  physician  and  surgeon  in  New  York  City  in  1853.  Dr.  Sims  ranked  among  the  fore- 
most surgeons  of  our  time.  After  patient  study  and  many  experiments  he  made  the 
discovery  mentioned  in  the  text,  which  gave  him  very  great  reputation  in  both  hemi- 
spheres. Dr.  Valentine  Mott  once  said  to  Dr.  Sims  :  "  You  will  have,  in  all  time,  an 
enduring  monument  ;  that  monument  will  be  the  gratitude  of  women. "  Dr.  Sims's  death 
•was  very  sudden,  caused  by  a  disease  of  the  heart. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  Cooper  Union,  an  institution  specially  devoted  to  the  intellect- 
ual and  temporal  well-being  of  the  young  of  both  sexes  in  the 
meti-opolis,  was  founded  by  Peter  Cooper,  the  philanthropist.  It  was 
incorporated  on  February  IT,  1857,  with  the  title  of  The  Cooper  Union 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science  and  Art.  The  founder  erected  for 
this  institution  a  building  of  brown  freestone,  rhomboidal  in  shape, 
and  seven  stories  in  height.  It  is  situated  on  a  block  of  ground 
bounded  on  the  north  by  Astor  Place,  east  by  Third  Avenue,  south  by 
Seventh  Street,  and  west  by  Fourth  Avenue.  The  building  was 
erected  at  a  cost  of  $<'»:-}<>,  000,  and  the  institution  was,  at  the  beginning, 
endowed  with  $200,000  for  the  support  of  a  free  library  and  reading- 
room.  For  its  administration  and  government  a  body  corporate 
was  instituted  by  the  Legislature,  consisting  of  the  founder,  his 
son,  Edward  Cooper  ;  his  son-in-law,  Abram  S.  Hewitt  ;  Daniel  F. 
Tiemann,  Wilson  G.  Hunt,  and  John  E.  Parsons  ;  no  member  of  the 
board  to  receive  any  compensation  for  his  services.  These  trustees 
were  empowered  to  associate  with  themselves  other  persons,  if  they 
should  see  fit,  and  organize  a  society  with  the  title  of  The  Associates 
of  the  Cooper  Union  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  and  Art,  the 
purpose  of  which  should  be  the  encouragement  of  science,  arts,  manu- 
factures, and  commerce  ;  the  bestowal  of  rewards  for  useful  inventions 
and  improvements,  for  meritorious  works  in  various  departments  of  the 
fine  arts,  and  by  lectures  and  other  means  to  assist  in  the  practical 
application  of  every  department  of  science  in  connection  with  the  arts, 
manufactures,  and  commerce  of  the  country.  The  trustees  of  the 
Union  were  empowered  to  confer  degrees  and  diplomas  for  proficiency 
in  the  studies  pursued  in  the  institution,  and  its  graduates  should  con- 
stitute a  portion  of  the  membership  of  the  association.  By  a  deed  of 
trust,  executed  on  April  29,  1850,  Mr.  Cooper  and  his  wife  Sarah 
dedicated  the  institution,  with  all  its  property,  to  the  use  of  the  working 
classes  of  the  city  of  New  York  forever. 

The  general  plan  of  the  Cooper  Union  includes  free  schools  of  science 
and  ait,  and  a  free  reading-room  and  library.     There  are  evening 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


071 


schools,  attended  mostly  by  3roung  men  from  the  mechanical  trades 
and  other  occupations  in  the  city.  None  are  admitted  to  these  schools 
who  are  under  fifteen  years  of  age,  and  who  are  not  acquainted  with 
the  rudiments  of  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic.  Girls  and  women 
are  admitted  to  the  lectures  and  the  scientific  classes,  but  not  to  the  art 
classes,  as  a  special  art  school  is  provided  for  women  in  the  daytime.-" 

The  basement  of  the  building  is  occupied  by  a  large  hall,  in  which  a 
course  of  free  lectures  is  given  during  the  winter  months  every  Sat- 
urday night.  The  library  contains  about  15,000  volumes,  among 
which  is  a  complete  set  of  Patent  Office  reports,  which  are  constantly 
consulted.  The  average  number  of  readers  daily  is  about  2500.  The 
reading-room  contains  over  100  domestic  and  foreign  magazines,  and 
180  daily  and  weekly  newspapers. 

A  portion  of  the  Union  building  is  devoted  to  an  exhibition  of 
machinery  in  motion,  steam  being  the  motor.  The  income  of  the  insti- 
tution is  derived  from  the  rental  of  the  ground  floor  and  other  apart- 
ments for  business  purposes,  and  from  the  endowments  of  Mr.  Cooper,  f 

*  The  course  of  study  in  the  scientific  department  embraces  a  very  thorough  prelimi- 
nary course  of  mathematics.  The  regular  course  of  five  years  includes  algebra,  geometry, 
trigonometry,  analytical  and  descriptive  geometry,  differential  and  integral  calculus, 
natural  philosophy,  elementary  and  analytical  chemistry,  astronomy,  mechanics,  and 
mechanical  drawing. 

In  the  art  school  for  boys  and  young  men  are  taught  drawing  from  casts,  form,  per- 
spective, mechanical,  architectural,  industrial,  ornamental,  figure  and  mdimental  draw- 
ing, and  modelling  in  clay.  Several  prizes  have  been  instituted  by  individuals  in  the 
various  departments. 

In  the  women's  art  school  about  350  pupils  receive  gratuitous  instruction  every  year. 
The  pupils  are  divided  into  drawing,  photo-crayon,  photo-color,  oil-color  painting,  re- 
touching, normal  teaching,  wood-engraving,  and  pottery  painting.  In  these  in  the 
morning  hours  free  instruction  is  given.  The  pupils  are  able  to  earn  considerable  money 
by  their  labor  while  under  instruction.  The  aggregate  of  these  earnings  for  a  year,  in- 
cluding those  of  the  former  graduating  class,  ending  with  May,  1882,  amounted  to  about 
$29,001).  There  was  such  a  pressure  of  applicants  for  this  department  that  an  amateur 
class  has  been  formed  of  those  who  can  afford  to  pay  $15  for  a  course,  of  thirty  lessons  to 
be  given  in  the  space  of  ten  weeks.  These  and  a  pottery  class,  where  the  fee  is  $:l  for  a 
course  of  lessons,  are  the  only  classes  of  any  kind  in  this  institution  in  which  instruction 
is  not  absolutely  free. 

In  the  English  department  of  the  institution  instruction  is  given  in  belles-lettres, 
rhetoric,  and  elocution.    There  is  also  a  school  of  telegraphy. 

f  The  trustees  of  the  Cooper  Union  in  188:5  were  :  Peter  Cooper,  president  :  Wilson  G. 
Hunt,  treasurer  ;  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  secretary,  and  Peter  Cooper,  Daniel  F.  Tiemann, 
John  E.  Parsons,  Wilson  G.  Hunt.  Edward  Cooper,  and  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  trustees. 
There  is  an  advisory  council  of  the  School  of  Design  for  Women,  consisting  of  eighteen 
ladies.    The  curator  is  Dr.  J.  C.  Zachos,  and  the  clerk  is  W.  H.  Powell. 

Inventor,  manufacturer,  and  philanthropist.  These  are  titles  given  to  Peter  Cooper, 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  citizens  of  our  Republic,  whose  useful  life  extended  over 


672 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  private  and  public  buildings  in  the  city  of  New  York  nearly  two 
generations  ago  exhibited  the  sudden  flowering  of  a  kind  of  architecture 
which  was  a  feeble  imitation  of  the  Greek  temple.    This  style  became 

nearly  a  century  of  years.  These  characteristics  constitute  the  proudest  patent  o< 
genuine  nobility. 

Peter  Cooper  was  born  in  New  York  City  on  February  12,  1791.  His  father  was  ar> 
officer  in  the  Continental  Army  ;  his  mother  was  a  daughter  of  John  Campbell,  who  w 
also  an  officer  during  the  old  war  for  independence,  and  was  an  alderman  of  the  city  of 
New  York.  He  received  a  meagre  English  education,  and  at  an  early  age  began  to  learn 
hat-making  with  his  father.  He  was  industrious  and  studious,  ardently  seekiug  knowl- 
edge from  books  and  personal  observation.  He  grew  up  a  most  earnest  young  man.  Id 
very  early  life  experiencing  the  hindrances  of  a  lack  of  education,  he  resolved  that  if  he 
should  prosper  he  would  devote  a  portion  of  his  means  and  energy  to  the  assistance  of 
young  men  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen  years  Peter  Cooper  was  apprenticed  to  a  coachmaker.  During 
his  apprenticeship  he  invented  a  mortising-machine,  which  was  of  great  use  and  profit  to 
his  master.  Soon  after  his  majority  he  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  patent  machines 
for  shearing  cloth,  and  prospered  during  the  war  of  1812.  At  its  close  the  business  was 
broken  up,  when  young  Cooper  engaged  in  cabinet-making.  Not  being  successful  in  this 
he  became  a  grocer,  in  which  business  he  continued  about  three  years,  and  then  began 
the  manufacture  of  glue  and  isinglass.  This  business  he  carried  on  for  more  than  thirty 
years.  Meanwhile  his  attention  had  been  called  to  iron  manufacture,  and  about  1828  ho 
bought  a  large  tract  of  land  within  the  city  limits  of  Baltimore,  and  established  the  Can- 
ton Iron  Works.  There,  in  1830,  he  built,  after  his  own  design,  a  small  tractor  engine, 
which  drew  a  car  with  a  number  of  Baltimorcans  out  to  the  Relay  House  on  a  trial-trip. 
It  was  tho  first  American-built  locomotive  put  in  use  on  a  railroad,  and  this  track  was 
the  beginning  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad. 

In  1815  Mr.  Cooper  removed  his  iron  works  to  Trenton,  N.  J.,  where  he  established 
the  largest  rolling  mill  in  the  United  States,  and  manufactured  railroad  iron  and  iron 
beams  for  fire-proof  buildings.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  system  of  ocean  teleg- 
raphy, having  been  one  of  tho  six  capitalists  who,  at  the  house  of  Cyrus  W.  Field,  formed 
the  first  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company  in  1854.  Mr.  Cooper  was  its  first  president.  He 
also  became  deeply  interested  in  the  land  telegraph  of  the  country. 

In  his  native  city  Mr.  Cooper  was  always  active  in  the  promotion  of  every  good  work 
for  public  benefit.  He  served  in  the  common  council  in  both  branches,  was  an  earnest 
advocate  of  the  Croton  Aqueduct,  was  one  of  the  earliest  trustees  of  the  Public  School 
Society,  and  afterward  a  commissioner  of  education.  His  success  in  business  finally 
enabled  him  to  found  the  institution  which  bears  his  name,  for  the  benefit  of  the  work- 
ing classes  forever  of  New  York,  both  masculine  and  feminine,  and  to  erect  for  its  use  a 
costly  building.  Besides  large  expenditures  upon  the  institution  almost  every  year,  he 
gave  it,  on  the  occasion  of  his  golden  wedding,  in  1803,  $10,000  ;  on  his  eightieth  birth- 
day he  gave  it  $150,000  ;  and  on  his  ninetieth  birthday,  $10,000,  and  receipts  in  full  for 
$70,000  which  he  had  expended  upon  it.  The  Cooper  Union  is  the  crowning  glory  of 
Peter  Cooper's  long  life,  the  realization  of  a  dream  of  his  youth. 

Mr.  Cooper  steadily  refused  nominations  for  any  political  office  other  than  municipal, 
until  1870,  when  he  was  eighty-five  years  of  age.  He  then  accepted  a  nomination  for  the 
office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  from  a  party  in  a  hopeless  minority,  known  as 
the  Greenback  party,  an  organization  which  advocates  legal  tender  by  paper  currency. 
He  made  a  vigorous  canvass,  but  was  defeated,  of  course. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1859-1880. 


673 


a  craze  in  England  and  the  United  States,  and  town  and  country  alike 
were  dotted  with  these  structures.  This  craze  lasted  for  nearly  a  gen- 
eration, when  it  was  supplanted  by  another,  the  Mansard  style.  Now 
another  style,  highly  ornate,  called  the  Queen  Anne,  for  some  inexpli- 
cable reason,  is  "  all  the  rage."  It  may  be  seen  in  all  its  extravagance, 
its  beauties,  and  its  monstrosities,  as  specimens  of  art,  between  Fifty- 
second  Street  and  Central  Park,  and  the  fashionable  avenues. 

In  all  the  period  alluded  to  stood  the  classic  City  Hall — classic  and 
chaste  in  style  of  architecture — as  a  model  and  a  rebuke,  but  its  teach- 
ings and  its  censure  seem  to  have  been  little  heeded  for  a  long  time 
past.  The  buildings  in  New  York  City  have  appeared  to  be  largely 
under  the  control  of  uneducated  architects,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
erection  of  Trinity  Church,  after  designs  by  Mr.  Upjohn,  and  Grace 
Church,  after  designs  by  Mr.  Penwick,  in  1845,  that  the  genius  of  a 
truly  educated  architect  was  manifest  in  the  domestic,  commercial, 
and  ecclesiastical  architecture  of  the  city  for  many  years. 

Trinity  Church  edifice,  on  lower  Broadway,  is  the  third  building 
erected  on  that  site  for  the  congregation.  The  first  was  completed  in 
1697.  The  second  was  almost  an  entirely  new  one,  constructed  in 
1737,  and  stood  until  the  Revolution.  It  was  destroyed  in  the  great 
conflagration  of  1770.  It  was  not  rebuilt  until  17ss.  the  congregation 
worshipping  in  the  mean  time  in  St.  Paul's  ( 'Impel.  The  edifice  erected 
in  17SS  stood  until  1839,  when,  being  proved  unsafe,  it  was  taken  down, 
and  the  present  elegant  structure  was  erected  in  its  place.  It  was 
completed  in  1845. 

Trinity  Church  is  still  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  Gothic  archi- 

In  1813  Mr.  Cooper  married  Sarah  Bedell,  of  Hempstead,  L.  I.,  by  whom  he  had  six 
children.  Four  of  them  died  in  childhood  ;  the  other  two  (the  late  mayor,  Edward  S. 
Cooper,  and  Mrs.  Abram  Hewitt)  now  (lss:!)  survive  him.  Mrs.  Cooper  died  in  18(>7. 
She  was  followed  by  her  husband  on  April  4,  18S:3,  wlnse  death  was  sincerely  mourned 
by  every  class  of  citizens.  His  private  benefactions  for  tlie  relief  of  the  destitute  poor 
were  multitudinous.  He  was  a  Christian  in  the  highest  sense.  In  theology  he  was  a 
Unitarian,  and  he  was  a  member  of  All  Saints'  Church. 

Mr.  Cooper  was  a  continual  recipient  of  grateful  expressions,  either  orally  or  in  writing, 
from  the  beneficiaries  of  the  institution.  These  expressions  were  generally  accompanied 
by  statements  that  indicated  the  vast  benefits  which  the  institution  had  bestowed.  One 
or  two  examples  of  the  grateful  acknowledgments  of  pupils  of  the  art  school  for  women 
must  suffice.  "  I  have  come,' '  said  a  young  girl  who  called  on  Mr.  Cooper,  "  to  tell  you  I 
have  saved  $300  this  year  by  painting  photographs,  and  anything  else  I  could  get  hold  of, 
and  I  want  to  thank  yon  for  it."  "  My  daughter,"  said  a  plain  man  in  middle  life, 
"has  earned  $1300  in  a  year,  teaching  drawing  and  painting  in  a  Brooklyn  school.  I 
never  earned  $1200  in  a  year  in  my  life  "  A  young  woman  from  California  called  on  Mr. 
Cooper  and  said,  "  I  came  to  thank  you.  I  feel  as  rich  as  a  queen,  for  I  have  thirty 
pupils  in  wood-engraving." 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


tecture  in  the  city  of  Xew  York.  The  material  used  in  its  construc- 
tion, brown  freestone,  gives  a  fine  contrast — not  an  unpleasant  one — 
to  the  other  buildings  in  its  neighborhood.  Its  lofty  spire  rises  two 
hundred  and  eighty-four  feet  from  the  ground.  It  stands  at  the  head 
of  "Wall  Street,  and  through  that  arena  of  daily  conflict  between 
"  bulls"  and  "  bears,"  the  music  of  its  sweet  chimes  float,  it  is  hoped 
with  hallowing  influence.  Its  doors  are  almost  continually  open  in  the 
daytime.  In  the  space  of  a  few  minutes  the  weary  worker  may  escape 
from  the  bellowing  thunder  of  the  Stock  Exchange  into  the  sanctuary, 
where,  under  the  soft  gray  arches  of  the  interior  and  the  subdued  light 
of  the  windows,  reigns  a  solemn  silence  which  fills  the  soul  with  the 
thought  :  "  The  Lord  is  in  his  holy  temple,  let  all  the  earth  keep 
silence  before  him." 

Grace  Church  edifice  is  next  to  Trinity  Church  in  the  purity  of  its 
Gothic  style.  It  is  also  the  possessor  of  perhaps  the  wealthiest  congre- 
gation, next  to  Trinity,  among  the  Episcopal  churches  of  New  York 
City.  The  congregation  first  worshipped  in  a  building  erected,  as  we 
have  observed,  by  the  Lutherans,  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and 
Rector  Street,  and  therein  they  worshipped  until  they  took  possession 
of  their  new  edifice,  in  1S4.">.  The  architect  was  James  Renwick. 
The  design  was  furnished,  and  accepted  by  the  vestry,  when  he  was 
only  twenty-three  years  of  age.  He  made  all  the  designs  and  working 
drawings  with  his  own  hands.  This  was  the  excellent  beginning  of  his 
successful  career  as  an  architect.* 

*  James  Renwick,  son  of  Professor  James  Renwick,  of  Columbia  College,  was  born  at 
Bloomingdale,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  1810.  He  is  of  Scotch  descent,  deriving  his 
lineage  from  the  Rev.  James  Renwick,  one  of  the  last  of  the  martyred  Scotch  Covenanters. 
His  mother  was' a  daughter  of  Henry  Brevoort,  one  of  the  best  of  the  Knickerbocker 
stock.  Young  Renwick's  father,  in  addition  to  his  varied  acquirements,  had  mastered 
the  study  of  Creek  and  Roman  architecture,  and  had  furnished  plans  for  and  superin- 
tended the  building  of  edifices  for  his  friends.  Perceiving  in  his  son  a  genius  for  archi- 
tecture and  a  strong  desire  to  "  become  an  architect  and  to  build  a  cathedral,"  he  gave 
him  every  opportunity  to  gratify  his  wishes. 

At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  entered  Columbia  College  as  a  student,  lost  one  year  on 
account  of  an  accident  to  one  of  his  eyes  while  experimenting  in  his  fathers  laboratory, 
and  graduated  when  he  was  nineteen.  Having  served  as  an  engineer  for  a  short  time,  he 
accepted  the  position  of  assistant  engineer  on  the  Croton  Aqueduct.  He  superintended  the 
building  of  the  distributing  reservoir,  between  Fortieth  and  Forty-second  streets.  When 
property-owners  around  Union  Square  resolved  to  place  a  fountain  in  it,  Mr.  Renwick 
volunteered  to  furnish  a  plan  and  superintend  its  construction.  At  about  that  time  he 
was  informed  that  Grace  Church  intended  to  erect  a  new  edifice  \ip  town.  He  was  intro- 
duced to  the  vestry,  and  was  selected  as  one  of  the  competing  architects.  His  plans 
were  adopted,  and  this  young  architect  now  saw  with  joy  the  beginning  of  the  realization 
of  his  fondest  dreams.    The  completed  church  was  satisfactory  to  all  concerned,  and  he 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-  1800. 


The  materials  of  which  Grace  Church  edifice  is  built  is  white 
marble,  and  its  style  a  chaste  but  ornamental  Gothic.  Its  position  is 
the  best  of  any  church  in  the  city  to  show  its  architectural  beauties, 
standing*  at  the  point  where  Broadway  departs  from  a  straight  line,  at 
Tenth  Street,  and  turns  to  the  north-west.  The  porch  and  steeple 
completely  close  the  view  from  the  south.  The  rectory  of  the  church 
is  of  the  same  material  and  similar  in  design,  standing  back  from  noisy 
Broadway.  There  is  also  an  adjoining  building,  the  gift  of  Miss 
Catharine  Wolfe,  which  is  used  for  the  daily  service.  Another  building, 
erected  in  1880,  connecting  the  church  and  the  rectory,  is  used  as  a 
vestry,  robing-room,  and  study  by  the  rector  and  his  assistant.  Just 
back  of  the  church,  on  Fourth  Avenue,  is  a  day  nursery,  erected  by 
the  Hon.  Levi  P.  Morton,  in  memory  of  his  wife,  for  the  reception  of 
vouno-  children  durin<r  the  hours  their  mothers  are  at  work.  It  is 
known  as  Grace  Memorial  Home. 

Late  in  this  decade  the  most  beautiful,  chaste,  and  imposing  church 
edifice  in  this  country,  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  was  begun  on  Fifth 
Avenue.  Its  front  occupies  the  space  between  Fiftieth  and  Fifty-first 
streets,  on  the  east  side  of  the  avenue,  and  the  building  extends  nearly 
to  Madison  Avenue.  This  grand  edifice  is  also  from  the  designs  and 
working  drawings  of  Mr.  Renwick.  The  superintendence  of  its  con- 
struction was  at  first  intrusted  by  Mr.  Renwick  to  Mr.  Rodrigue,  but 

was  at  once  brought  into  a  large  and  lucrative  business.  He  was  selected  as  the  architect 
of  Calvary  Church,  on  Fourth  Avenue,  the  Church  of  the  Puritans,  on  Union  Square,  and 
many  domestic  and  business  edifices.  He  was  chosen  the  architect  of  the  building  of 
the  Smithsonian  Institution  at  Washington,  by  the  board  of  regents.  He  was  then  only 
twenty-seven  years  of  age.  Mr.  Renwick  was  also  appointed  architect  of  the  board  of 
charities  and  correction  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  remained  in  that  position  until  1871. 

In  1853  Mr.  Renwick  competed  for  the  plans  of  the  new  Roman  Catholic  Cathedral, 
and  he  was  successful.  Archbishop  Hughes  adopted  his  plans,  and  the  work  was  begun 
in  1858.  Now  the  ambitions  desires  of  his  youth  to  "build  a  cathedral"  were  fully 
gratified,  and  he  planned  one  of  the  most  beautiful  edifices  in  the  world.  The  selection 
of  Mr.  Renwick  as  the  architect  was  a  high  compliment  to  his  genius  and  to  the  wis- 
dom of  Archbishop  Hughes.  The  Cathedral  is  not  yet  (1883)  completed.  A  very  brief 
general  description  of  it  is  given  in  the  text  of  this  chapter. 

Among  Mr.  Renwick's  other  works  are  the  Corcoran  Gallery,  at  Washington  ;  the  City 
Hospital,  Small-pox  Hospital,  Workhouse,  and  Lnnatic  and  Inebriate  Asylums,  on  Ward's 
Island  ;  the  City  Foundling  Hospital,  on  Randall's  Island  ;  Vassar  College,  at  Pough- 
keepsie,  on  the  Hudson  ;  the  cardinal's  residence,  on  Madison  Avenue  ;  St.  Bartholomew's, 
and  the  church  on  Park  Avenue  and  Thirty-fifth  Street,  both  in  the  Byzantine  style  ;  the 
Second  Presbyterian  Church,  on  Fifth  Avenue;  St.  Ann's  Church,  in  Brooklyn;  the 
Congregational  Church  at  Chicago,  and  a  great  number  of  churches  throughout  the  United 
States.  In  connection  with  his  late  partner,  Mr.  Sands,  Mr.  Renwick  planned  the  build- 
ing of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  Booth's  Theatre,  Appletons'  store  in 
Broadway,  and  many  other  fine  buildings  in  the  city. 


676 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOKK  CITY. 


failing  health  compelled  the  latter  to  relinquish  the  task,  when  it  was 
given  to  William  Joyce,  who  still  holds  the  position,  for  the  structure 
is  not  yet  completed. 

This  cathedral  was  projected  by  Arehhishop  Hughes  about  the  year 
1850.  The  plans  were  drawn  soon  afterward  by  Mr.  Renwick,  and 
accepted  by  the  archbishop,  who  proceeded  cautiously  upon  wise  busi- 
ness principles.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  on  August  15,  1858,  in  the 
presence  of  a  multitude  of  people,  estimated  at  100,000  in  number.  At 
that  time  Fifth  Avenue  in  that  vicinity  was  almost  a  wilderness,  so  far 
as  fine  houses  are  concerned,  much  open  common,  and  unregulated 
streets.  There  was  no  house  to  be  seen  between  Fifth  and  Sixth 
avenues  in  that  vicinity  at  the  time  ;  now  the  ground  is  covered  with 
palatial  residences. 

The  ground  plan  of  the'  Cathedral  is  in  the  form  of  a  Latin  cross. 
Its  dimensions  are  as  follows  :  Exterior  length,  335  feet  ;  interior 
length,  306  feet  ;  breadth  of  nave  and  choir,  90  feet  without  the 
chapels,  and  12o  with  them  :  length  of  the  transept,  140  feet  ;  height 
in  centre,  ins  feet,  and  height  of  side  aisles,  54  feet.  With  the  Chapel 
of  Our  Lady,  which  is  embraced  in  the  design,  the  structure  will 
occupy  the  entire  square  between  Fifth  and  Madison  avenues. 

The  architecture  of  the  Cathedral  is  of  the  decorated  or  geometric 
style  which  prevailed  in  Europe  in  the  thirteenth  century,  such  as  the 
cathedrals  at  Kheims  and  at  Cologne  exhibit.  The  interior  architecture 
in  every  part  is  grand  and  beautiful.  The  high  altar  is  12  feet  in 
length.  The  table,  or  altar  proper,  is  of  the  finest  marble,  made  in 
Italy,  and  is  the  gift  of  Cardinal  MeCloskev.  It  is  inlaid  with  semi- 
precious stones.  The  reredos,  of  Poitier's  stone,  is  50  feet  in  height 
and  32  feet  in  width,  and  is  the  gift  of  the  clergy  of  the  diocese.  There 
are  three  other  altars,  rich  and  beautiful  in  structure,  the  whole  costing 
about  $100,000.  The  archbishop's  throne  is  on  the  right  side  of  the 
sanctuary,  and  is  of  Gothic  design. 

The  seating  capacity  of  the  Cathedral  is  20(H),  in  4»»8  pews,  built  of 
ash,  and  the  aisles  will  afford  standing-room  for  nearly  as  many  more. 
The  Cathedral  is  lighted  by  To  windows,  37  of  which  are  memorial 
windows.  Most  of  these  were  made  in  France,  and  cost  about 
$loo,ooo.  The  windows  were  presented  by  parishioners  and  individ- 
uals throughout  the  country.  There  are  also  a  number  of  fine  paint- 
ings in  the  Cathedral.*    The  total  cost  of  the  new  Cathedral  up  to 

*  A  full  description  of  these  windows,  the  paintings,  and  of  the  exterior  and  interior 
of  the  Cathedral  may  be  found  in  a  little  volume  printed  at  the  New  York  Catholic  Pro- 
tectory in  1870. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-  1860. 


077 


1883  was  about  §2,000,000.  It  is  estimated  that  by  the  time  it  shall  be 
completed  according  to  the  design  it  will  cost  $2,500,000.  The  gi  eat 
church  was  dedicated  on  Sunday,  Alay  20,  1879,  by  Cardinal  McClos- 
key.* It  is  open  all  day  on  Sunday,  and  on  other  days  until  nine 
o'clock  in  the  evening. 

The  Cathedral  progresses  toward  completion  as  fast  as  funds  are 
provided.    One  of  the  most  successful  efforts  to  provide  money  for  the 

*  John  McCloskey,  Cardinal  anil  Roman  Catholic  Archbishop  of  New  York,  was  born 
in  Brooklyn,  L.  L,  on  March  20, 1810.  His  parents  came  to  America  from  Derry  County, 
Ireland,  and  were  in  comfortable  circumstances.  This  son  was  baptized  in  St.  Peter's 
Church,  in  New  York,  one  of  the  two  Roman  Catholic  churches  in  the  city.  He  lost  his 
father  when  he  was  ten  years  of  age.  His  mother,  who  had  been  left  with  a  competence, 
afforded  him  a  liberal  education.  His  collegiate  course  was  finished  at  Mount  St.  Mary's 
College,  at  Emmittsburg,  Md.,  in  1827,  when  he  was  seventeen  years  of  age.  He  gradu- 
ated with  the  highest  honors,  prepared  for  the  ministry,  and  was  ordained  a  priest  by 
Bishop  Dubois  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  New  York,  in  January,  1834.  In  November 
of  the  same  year  he  left  for  Europe,  where  he  remained  three  years,  a  part  of  the  time  in 
France,  and  a  part  in  Borne.  On  his  return  he  was  appointed  pastor  of  St.  Joseph's 
Church,  which  position  he  rilled  seven  years.  On  the  organization  of  St.  John's  College, 
at  Fordham,  in  1841,  this  young  but  learned  clergyman  was  appointed  to  the  presidency 
by  Bishop  Hughes.  There  he  remained  about  a  year,  when  he  resumed  the  charge  of  his 
parish.  In  1844,  when  only  thirty-four  years  of  age,  he  was  consecrated  coadjutor  to 
Bishop  Hughes,  but  continued  his  pastorate  of  St.  Joseph's.  When  the  diocese  of 
Albany  was  created,  in  1847,  he  was  transferred  thither.  There  were  then  only  40 
churches  and  a  few  priests  in  it  ;  when  he  left  it,  seventeen  years  afterward,  there  were 
in  the  diocese  113  churches,  8  chapels,  54  mission  stations,  85  missionaries,  3  academies 
for  boys  and  1  for  girls,  0  orphan  asylums,  and  15  parochial  schools. 

On  the  death  of  Archbishop  Hughes,  in  18(i4,  Dr.  McCloskey  became  his  successor. 
He  filled  the  exalted  station  with  great  ability  and  untiring  zeal.  The  progress  of  the 
Cathedral  was  an  object  of  his  special  care,  and  he  gave  it  much  of  his  personal  super- 
vision, especially  of  its  interior  arrangements.  He  went  to  Europe  in  1874,  chiefly  to 
look  after  the  construction  of  the  altars,  the  statues,  stained  windows,  and  other 
interior  decorations  of  the  sanctuary,  and  to  this  work  he  contributed  $30,000  of  his 
income. 

In  the  Consistory,  held  at  the  Vatican  on  March  15,  1875,  Archbishop  McCloskey  was 
elevated  to  the  high  dignity  of  a  cardinal— the  first  in  America.  The  ceremony  of  im- 
posing the  beretta  took  place  at  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  in  April  following,  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Baltimore  officiating.  The  cardinal  has  made  a  number  of  visits  to  Rome 
in  connection  with  his  exalted  office.  The  Church,  in  him,  finds  a  zealous  and  efficient 
leader.  In  person  he  is  above  the  medium  height,  sparsely  made,  and  erect.  His  coun- 
tenance is  strongly  expressive  of  amiability  and  benevolence.  In  his  manner  he  is  digni- 
fied, courteous,  and  kindly.  The  late  Pope  Pins  IX.  said  of  him,  "  He  has  the  bearing 
of  a  prince."  He  is  a  ripe  scholar  and  a  bold  and  devoted  churchman.  "  His  eloquence," 
says  a  late  writer,  "  is  of  the  tender,  deeply  religious  kind,  uttered  with  fervent  sincerity, 
and  in  language  at  once  of  simplicity  and  elegance.  A  man  of  energy  and  of  sleepless 
vigilance  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty,  still  he  always  seeks  the  most  unostentatious 
manner  of  performing  it.  He  provokes  no  conflicts  and  offers  no  opinions,  but  with 
humility  and  prayt  rfulness  toils  on  in  the  sphere  of  his  own  duties." 


678 


IIISTOliV  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


purpose  was  that  of  a  great  fair  held  within  its  walls,  the  net  proceeds 
of  which  amounted  to  $175,000. 

The  beginning  of  tins  decade  was  marked  by  a  long-remembered 
event  in  the  social  history  of  New  York  City.  It  was  the  advent  of 
Jenny  Lind,  who  was  called  the  "Swedish  Nightingale."  She  was 
the  sweetest  songstress  that  ever,  visited  America,  and  was  one  of  the 
best  of  women  in  private  life.  She  sang  in  the  United  States  under 
the  admirable  management  of  P.  T.  Baxnum.  She  was  twenty-nine 
years  of  age  when  she  arrived  in  New  York,  in  1850,  having  been 
born  in  Stockholm  in  1*21.  She  had  already  acquired  a  European 
reputation.  Iler  father  was  a  teacher  of  languages.  She  sang  in 
vaudevilles  at  the  age  of  ten  years,  and  at  sixteen  was  the  prime 
favorite  of  the  Stockholm  opera,  where  she  made  her  first  appearance 
as  Agatha,  in  Der  FVeischuts.  She  became  a  pupil  of  Garcia,  and  was 
engaged  by  Meyerbeer  for  the  opera  at  Berlin. 

Jenny  Lind  arrived  at  New  York  in  September,  and  made  her  first 
appearance  at  Castle  Garden,  where  she  was  greeted  by  a  brilliant 
company  of  the  elite  of  New  York  society,  who  crowded  the  vast 
auditorium  to  its  utmost  capacity.  The  company  was  spellbound  by 
her  marvellous  voice.  She  sang  in  the  principal  cities  in  the  Union, 
and  everywhere  her  progress  was  like  a  triumphal  march.  Her  in- 
come was  large,  and  so  was  her  heart,  manifested  by  her  deeds  of 
charity,  in  the  United  States,  in  which  she  distributed  about  $50,000. 
AVliile  here  she  married  Otto  Goldschmidt,  an  eminent  pianist,  re- 
turned to  Europe  in  1852,  abandoned  public  singing,  and  took  up  her 
abode  in  London,  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  happy  domestic  life.  At  the 
age  of  sixty-two  her  eyes  are  as  bright  and  blue  as  ever,  and  her  voice 
still  as  rich  and  sweet,  but  she  has  lost  the  capacity  for  producing  the 
higher  notes.  It  is  said  she  is  a  great  favorite  of  the  royal  family  of 
England.    The  Princess  Helena  passes  much  time  with  her. 

At  the  time  we  are  considering,  Barnum's  lecture-room,  at  Ins 
Museum,  at  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Ann  Street  (site  of  the  Herald 
office),  was  a  place  of  great  resort.  In  it  was  a  stage  whereon  were 
given  theatrical  performances,  dances,  etc.  Crowds  of  persons,  who 
would  shun  the  theatre  as  a  place  of  wickedness,  felt  no  admonitions  of 
conscience  in  Barnum's  lecture-room,  where  the  Drunkard  and  other 
"  moral  plays,"  with  Clarke  as  a  star,  drew  crowded  houses. 

Castle  Garden,  where  Jenny  Lind  made  her  first  bow  to  an  Ameri- 
can audience,  has  a  history.  It  was  originally  a  fortification,  named 
Castle  Clinton,  in  honor  of  De  "Witt  Clinton.  Like  Castle  Williams,  on 
Governor's  Island  in  the  harbor,  it  was  circular  in  form  and  pierced  for 


TI1IHD  DECADE,  1850-18G0. 


6?9 


many  gnus  painting  seaward.  It  was  erected  on  a  bed  of  rocks  a  short 
distance  from  the  sea-front  of  what  is  now  Battery  Park,  and  was  con- 
nected with  the  main  by  a  drawbridge.  When  it  was  no  longer  need- 
ed  for  military  purposes,  the  Castle  was  converted  into  a  summer  gar- 
den or  place  of  social  resort  and  public  amusement,  and  named  Castle 
Garden.  It  was  the  place  of  reception  for  distinguished  visitors  to  the 
city  coining  by  water.  There  Lafayette  was  received  by  the  civil  and 
military  authorities  of  Xew  York,  when  he  revisited  this  country  in 
1824  ;  there  President  Jackson  had  a  grand  reception,  in  1832  ;  there 
President  Tyler  was  publicly  received  in  1843  ;  and  there  Kossuth,  the 
great  Hungarian  patriot,  received  his  first  welcome  to  America,  in 
1851.  Xever  before  was  such  a  vast  concourse  of  citizens  seen  in 
the  streets  of  Xew  York  as  welcomed  the  Hungarian  exile  and  his 
friends  on  that  cold  hut  serene  December  day.  It  was  a  foretaste 
of  his  warm  reception  by  the  hearts  of  the  whole  nation. 

Castle  Garden  became  a  concert-hall  and  place  for  summer  theatrical 
and  operatic  performances,  and  finally,  in  L865,  it  was  transformed 
into  an  emigrant  depot  for  the  reception  of  transatlantic  emigrants, 
under  the  charge  of  the  commissioners  of  emigration,  a  board  estab- 
lished in  1847.  To  these  commissioners  was,  at  first,  transferred  the 
Marine  Hospital,  on  the  eastern  end  of  Staten  Island,  with  the  exclusive 
control  of  it  and  all  the  buildings  connected  with  it,  excepting  in  regard 
to  the  sanitary  treatment  of  the  inmates,  which  was  left  to  the  minis- 
trations of  persons  under  the  direction  of  the  board  of  health,  or  health 
commissioners. 

The  commissioners  of  emigration  purchased  land  and  erected  build- 
ings on  Ward's  Island  from  time  to  time  as  necessity  demanded.  At 
length  it  was  perceived  that  some  central  depot  for  newly-landed  emi- 
grants was  an  urgent  necessity,  and,  as  we  have  observed,  the  State  of 
Xew  York  made  Castle  Garden  that  depot  in  1855.  It  was  still  con- 
nected with  the  main  by  a  bridge.  Since  then  the  Battery  Park  has 
been  enlarged,  and  solid  ground  extended  out  to  the  Castle,  around 
which  suitable  buildings  have  been  erected  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  thousands  of  unbidden  European  guests  who  land  on  the  shores  of 
Manhattan  Island. 

This  reception-house  for  the  strangers,  with  its  present  arrange- 
ments, is  a  great  blessing  for  the  emigrants.  For  a  time  they  were 
subjected  to  the  frauds  and  the  greed  of  '"emigrant  runners,"  who 
infested  the  Garden,  and  who  preyed  upon  the  strangers,  many  of 
whom  could  not  understand  a  word  of  English.  That  evil  has  been 
remedied.    Xow  the  European  steamers  land  the  emigrants  at  Castle 


680 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOKK  CITY. 


Garden  directly,  wliere  they  and  their  luggage  are  taken  charge  of  and 
protected.  The  strangers  are  sheltered,  fed,  and  transported  to  any 
depot  or  Landing-place  whence  they  may  depart— largely  to  the  fertile 
regions  of  the  great  AVest.  The  emigrants  rarely  remain  at  Castle 
Garden  over  twenty-four  hours,  so  perfect  are  the  arrangements  for 
"forwarding"  them.  At  times  from  five  hundred  to  one  thousand 
emigrants  are  sheltered  at  the  Garden  at  one  time,  and  present  a 
most  interesting  appearance.  There  are  accommodations  in  the  Garden' 
for  three  thousand  emigrants  and  their  luggage,  and  for  all  the  offices.* 

In  the  year  of  the  advent  of  Jenny  Lind  (1850),  the  wonderful  singer, 
there  arrived  in  New  York  from  Germany  a  musical-instrument  maker, 
who  with  his  sons  planted  there  the  germ  of  an  establishment  which 
to-day,  it  is  said,  is  of  greater  magnitude  than  any  of  its  kind  in  the 
world.  That  immigrant  was  Henry  Engelhard  Stein  way,  founder  of 
the  great  pianoforte  manufactory  in  New  York,  who  was  born  in  a 
hamlet  of  the  Ilartz  Mountains,  in  the  Duchy  of  Brunswick.  His 
ancestors  were  patricians  of  the  city  of  Stralsnnd,  on  the  Baltic  Sea, 
one  of  whom  while  mayor  made  himself  famous  by  his  gallant  defence 
of  the  town  durin<r  its  siejre  bv  the  famous  General  Wallenstein. 

Mr.  Steinway  and  his  three  grown-up  sons  worked  for  three  years  in 
piano  factories  in  New  York.  In  L853  they  founded  the  famous  house 
of  Steinway  it  Sons,  known  all  over  the  musical  world.  They  began 
modestly  in  a  rented  small  rear  building  in  Yarick  Street,  and  made 
square  pianos  at  the  rate  of  one  a  week. 

From  the  beginning  their  work  attracted  wide  attention  among  pro- 
fessors of  music.    Very  soon  their  business  quarters  were  too  narrow, 

*  During  the  year  1882  the  number  of  emigrants  who  landed  at  Castle  Garden  was 
520,355,  of  whom  470,080  were  aliens,  and  44,269  were  citizens  of  the  United  States  or 
had  pieviously  visited  the  country.  It  was  the  largest  number  arriving  in  one  year  since 
the  establishment  of  the  commission.  By  far  the  largest  proportion  of  them  were  from 
Germany.  The  number  from  that  empire  was  198,408.  There  were  nearly  00,000  from 
Scandinavia  ;  from  England,  41,000,  and  from  Ireland,  52,768.  The  avowed  destination 
of  nearly  107,000  of  these  emigrants  who  arrived  was  New  York  State. 

There  are  nine  commissioners  of  emigration,  six  of  whom  are  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  State  of  New  York.  The  other  three  are  the  mayor  of  the  city  and  the 
presidents  of  the  Irish  Emigration  Society  and  the  German  Society.  The  cost  of  the 
maintenance  of  the  bureau  devolves  upon  the  State  of  Xew  York.  The  amount  for  1882 
was  $100,000. 

The  commissioners  of  emigration  for  1883  were  :  Henry  A.  Hurlhut,  president  ; 
George  J.  Forrest,  George  Starr,  Charles  F.  Ulrich,  Edmund  Stephenson,  Charles  N- 
Taintor,  Franklin  Edson,  mayor  ;  James  Lynch,  president  of  the  Irish  Emigration 
Society,  and  Charles  Hanselt,  president  of  the  German  Society.  H.  J.  Jackson  is  treas- 
urer. Gulian  C.  Verplanck  was  president  of  the  commission  from  1848  until  his  death, 
in  1870. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


and  they  took  more  spacious  ones  in  Walker  Street,  near  Broadway. 
When  they  had  been  only  one  year  in  operation  they  were  awarded 
the  first  prize  for  pianos  at  a  fair  held  at  the  national  capital.  The 
same  year  they  carried  off  the  first  prize— a  gold  medal — at  the  fair  of 
the  American  Institute.  Soon  afterward  they  constructed  a  square 
piano  on  a  system  which  achieved  such  success  that  Steinway  6z  Sons 
invariably  received  the  first  prize  at  all  exhibitions.  It  has  since 
remained  the  standard  of  construction  for  square  pianos,  and  is  now 
used  by  all  manufacturers. 

The  business  of  the  firm  increased  so  rapidly  that  in  1S59  they  pur- 
chased almost  an  entire  block  of  ground  between  Fourth  and  Lexington 
avenues,  at  Fifty-second  and  Fifty-third  streets;  on  which  they  have 
built  a  colossal  establishment,  in  modern  Italian  style  of  architecture. 
The  factory  buildings  proper  cover  twenty  city  lots,  and  the  floors  of 
the  buildings  have  a  surface  of  175,140  square  feet.  Beneath  the 
ground  they  have  storage  vaults  for  coal  and  four  steam  boilers,  of 
an  aggregate  of  340diorse  power,  by  which  steam  is  generated  to 
serve  76,000  feet  of  iron  pipe  for  heating  the  workshops  and  driving 
a  large  steam-engine  to  move  the  machinery. 

In  1863  the  Messrs.  Steinway  built  a  new  warehouse,  white  marble 
front,  on  East  Fourteenth  Street,  near  Irving  Place.  In  1860  they 
built  Steinway  Hall,  in  the  rear  of  their  new  warehouse — a  concert- 
room  123  feet  in  length,  75  feet  in  width,  and  42  feet  in  height.  To 
accommodate  their  ever-increasing  business  they  have  erected  an 
immense  factory  at  Astoria,  on  Long  Island.  Their  land  has  a  water 
frontage  of  more  than  half  a  mile.  There  they  manufacture  nearly 
everything  needed  in  making  a  piano.  They  have  a  large  school  for 
children,  in  which  English,  German,  and  music  are  taught  ;  a  large 
bath,  with  fifty  dressing- rooms,  and  a  beautiful  little  park  adjoining, 
all  for  the  free  use  of  their  workmen  and  their  families.  They  have  in 
their  employ  in  New  York  and  at  Astoria  about  one  thousand  work- 
men.   At  the  close  of  18^2  they  completed  their  piano  No.  50,000. 

The  founder  of  the  house  of  Steinway  Sz  Sons  died  in  February, 
1871,  aged  seventy-four  years.  The  business  is  now  conducted  by  his 
oldest  son,  C.  F.  Theodore  Steinway,  and  his  brother  William,  and 
several  grandsons  of  the  founder.* 

*  Henry  Englehard  Steinway  was  born  in  Wolfshagen,  a  forest  hamlet  in  the  Duchy  of 
Brunswick,  on  February  15,  1797.  He  was  the  youngest  of  a  family  of  twelve  children, 
of  whom,  when  he  was  fiftoen  years  of  age,  he  was  the  sole  survivor.  In  the  summer  of 
1812  he  was,  with  his  father,  three  brothers,  and  two  hired  men,  caught  in  a  severe 
thunderstorm,  and  took  shelter  in  a  collier's  hut.    While  Henry  was  starting  a  lire  to  dry 


(382 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


During  this  decade  several  eminent  (or  at  least  popular)  musical 
and  theatrical  characters  appeared  in  New  York.  Catharine  Sinclair, 
the  recently  divorced  wife  of  Edwin  Forrest  (who  assumed  her  maiden 
name),  made  her  first  appearance  on  any  stage,  under  the  instruction 
of  George  Vandenhoff,  at  Brougham's  Lyceum,  in  1852,  as  Lady 
Teazle,  in  the  School  for  /Scandal.  She  was  a  daughter  of  John 
Sinclair,  an  English  vocalist.  Her  brief  stage  career  was  successful,  if 
drawing  full  houses  may  be  taken  as  a  criterion  of  success.  Perhaps 
her  social  position  at  that  time  made  the  public  anxious  to  see  her. 

It  was  at  about  that  time  that  Brougham's  Lyceum  passed  into  the 
hands  of  James  "Wallaek.  It  was  opened  as  WaUack's  Theatre  in  Sep- 
tember, 1852,  with  Lester  Wallaek  as  stage  manager.  It  soon  became 
a  model  playhouse,  and  remains  so  until  this  time  (1883).  It  rivalled 
and  soon  superseded  Burton's  Theatre.  Taste,  propriety,  dignity,  and 
the  hand  of  genius  were  displayed  in  its  management  from  the  begin- 
ning. 

Late  in  1851  Lola  Montez,  the  Countess  of  Lansfeldt,  a  wayward 
Irish  girl,  appeared  as  a  dancer  at  the  Broadway  Theatre,  as  Betty 
the  Tyrolean.  Her  real  nana;  was  Maria  Dolores  liosanna  Gilbert, 
ami  she  was  then  thirty-three  years  of  age.  Her  career  in  Europe 
seems  not  to  have  been  an  exemplary  one.  As  a  dancer  she  was  a 
failure,  but  curiosity  to  see  the  famous  woman  gave  her  full  houses  for 
a  short  time.  "  She  was  graceful  but  not  brilliant,  beautiful  but  reck- 
less, and  finally  died  in  New  York  of  paralysis,  a  repentant  and  humble 
Christian,  in  18(51,  at  the  age  of  forty-three  years."  * 

Madame  Sontag,  one  of  the  renowned  singers  of  the  world,  began  a 
series  of  concerts  at  Xiblo's  Garden,  in  September,  185*2.    A  native  of 

their  clothes,  the  hut  was  struck  by  lightning,  and  nil  but  himself  were  slain  by  the  bolt. 
Robbed  of  his  inheritance  by  public  plunderers,  he  was  left  penniless  to  fight  the  battle 
of  life.  He  served  as  a  conscript  for  a  time.  Having  a  natural  fondness  for  music,  he 
whiRd  away  the  tedium  of  garrison  life  by  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  it,  and  in  construct- 
ing a  good  musical  instrument.  He  learned  the  trade  of  a  cabinet-maker,  and  in  time> 
after  many  difficulties,  became  a  pianoforte-maker.  He  married  a  beautiful  young  girl, 
prospered  in  business,  had  many  children,  and  on  account  of  great  depression  in  his 
trade  caused  by  public  acts,  he  came  to  America  in  1850,  leaving  his  eldest  son,  C.  F. 
Theodore,  in  the  same  business  in  Germany.  His  family  then  consisted  of  himself, 
wife,  and  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  the  eldest  of  his  sons  who  came  with  him  being 
twenty-one  years  of  age.  The  prominent  events  of  his  life  after  his  arrival  here  have 
been  mentioned  in  the  text.  At  his  death,  on  February  7,  1871,  he  was  buried  by  the 
side  of  his  two  deceased  sons  and  a  daughter,  in  his  family  vault  in  Greenwood  Ceme- 
tery, which  he  had  caused  to  be  constructed  at  a  cost  of  S80.000.  It  is  built  of  granite, 
on  Chapel  Hill,  and  is  one  of  the  most  imposing  structures  in  the  cemetery. 
*  Ireland's  "  Records  of  the  New  York  Stage,"  vol.  ii. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


683 


Coblentz,  Prussia,  she  w  as  introduced  as  a  vocalist,  at  Prague,  when  she 
was  nine  years  of  age.  She  became  an  idolized  favorite  in  London 
about  1S26.  In  1S30  she  married  Count  Rossi,  and  retired  from  the 
stage.  Her  husband  having  been  ruined  by  the  tempest  of  revolution 
which  swept  over  Europe  in  1848,  she  devoted  her  talents  to  the  sup- 
port of  her  family.  Her  voice  was  a  fine  soprano,  and  she  was  un- 
surpassed in  opera.  After  singing  in  the  United  States  and  Mexico, 
she  was  about  to  return  to  New  York,  when  she  died  of  cholera  at 
Vera  Cruz,  in  June.  1851,  in  the  forty  ninth  year  of  her  age.  She  was 
succeeded  in  Xew  York  by  Monsieur  Jullien. 

Castle  Garden  was  occupied  by  Maretzek  in  the  summer  of  1851. 
Hackett  opened  a  brief  operatic  season  there  in  September,  1854,  with 
Grisi  and  Mario,  then  the  most  brilliant  stars  in  the  musical  firmament. 
This  company  was  transferred  to  the  new  Academy  of  Music  as  soon  as 
it  was  finished,  and  opened  a  season  there  early  in  October,  1851,  with 
the  opera  of  Xormo. 

The  Academy  of  Music  was  budt  on  the  corner  of  Fourteenth  Street 
and  Irving  Place  by  a  company  of  gentlemen  in  1851.  It  is  devoted 
principally  to  Italian  opera.  The  building  was  burned  on  the  night  of 
May  22,  lsiJii,  and  was  rebuilt  the  same  year.  It  is  one  of  the  best 
appointed  buildings  for  its  purposes  in  the  country.  The  cost  of  the 
present  building  with  its  decorations  was  about  $360,000.  It  is  occa- 
sionally used  in  winter  for  fashionable  public  balls  and  other  entertain- 
ments.* Ole  Bull,  who  became  lessee  of  the  Academy  of  Music  in 
1S55,  was  unsuccessful,  and  soon  gave  it  up.  Then  Mile.  Rachel  and 
a  company  directed  by  her  brother  began  a  series  of  performances  in 
September,  1855.  She  was  regarded  as  the  first  tragic  actress  in  the 
world.  Her  name  was  Elizabeth  Rachel  Felix,  born  in  Switzerland  in 
1S20.  Her  parents  were  Jew  peddlers.  She  rose  to  eminence  from 
the  depths  of  poverty.  Before  she  came  to  America  she  had  amassed 
a  fortune  which  gave  her  an  income  of  $80,000  a  year.  Her  perform- 
ance in  Xew  York  ceased  in  about  a  month  after  its  beginning.  After 
visiting  Boston  she  returned  to  Xew  York,  and  played  a  short  time  at 
the  Academy  of  Music  in  November.  She  then  went  to  Havana, 
thence  to  France,  where  she  died  of  consumption  in  185S,  the  result  of 
a  heavy  cold  taken  in  New  York. 

*  A  new  opera-house  has  just  been  built  at  Broadway  and  Seventh  Avenue,  Thirty- 
ninth  and  Fortieth  streets,  and  is  the  finest  building  of  its  kind  in  this  country.  It  was 
built  at  a  cost  of  $1,400,000,  furnished  by  seventy  men,  who  each  contributed  $20,000. 
It  is  said  to  be  the  safest  public  building  ever  constructed,  having  no  less  than  seventeen 
ways  of  exit  to  the  street.    It  is  built  of  brick  and  iron. 


684 


HISTORY  OF  MEW  YORK  CITY. 


Laura  Keene  became  the  energetic  manager  of  the  Metropolitan 
Theatre  late  in  1835.  She,  and  Strakosch  at  the  Academy  of  Music, 
Matilda  Heron  at  Wallack's,  Charles  Matthews  the  younger  at  the 
Broadway,  and  Edwin  Booth  at  Burton's,  divided  the  patronage  of  the 
theatres  in  New  York  during  the  last  half  of  the  third  decade.  At 
near  the  close  of  the -decade  the  Metropolitan  took  the  name  of  Winter 
Garden,  and  was  opened  with  Boucicault's  version  of  "The  Cricket 
on  the  Hearth,"  called  Dot. 

Edwin  Booth  was  first  introduced  to  a  New  York  audience  by  his 
father,  Junius  Brutus  Booth,  in  the  play  of  the  iron  Chest,  his  father 
taking  the  part  of  Sir  Edward  Mortimer.  He  was  then  about  sixteen 
years  of  age.  He  afterward  went  to  California,  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
and  Australia  on  a  professional  tour.  When  he  returned  to  New  York, 
in  lsf>7,  he  "burst  upon  the  town"  with  great  brilliancy  at  Burton's 
Theatre,  in  his  father's  great  character  of  Richard  III.  He  made  a 
professional  tour  in  England  in  1S(!1,  and  studied  his  art  on  the  conti- 
nent. At  the  Winter  Garden  in  New  York  he  played  Hamlet  one 
bundled  nights  consecutively  to  full  houses.  It  was  a  great  triumph. 
His  course  in  his  profession  has  been  steadily  upward,  and  now  he 
ranks  as  the  first  American  tragic  actor.  In  lss2-s:5  Mr.  Booth  made 
a  professional  tour  in  Em-ope,  and  won  unbounded  applause  every- 
where. 

One  of  the  most  important  educational  institutions  in  a  commercial 
city  is  a  school  in  which  the  best  methods  of  conducting  business  of 
every  kind  and  of  keeping  accounts  may  be  thoroughly  learned,  theo- 
retically and  practically.  Such  an  institution  was  founded  in  the  city 
of  New  York  toward  the  close  of  this  decade,  twenty-five  years  ago, 
by  Silas  S.  Packard,  one  of  the  most  energetic  of  men  and  successful 
organizers. 

Having  had  some  experience  as  a  teacher  of  writing  and  bookkeep- 
ing Mr.  Packard  became  associated  with  Bryant  &  Stratton,  in  the 
fall  of  1856,  in  the  management  of  a  business  school  in  Buffalo.  From 
that  city  he  went  to  Chicago,  where,  with  the  help  of  Mr.  Stratton, 
he  established  the  Bryant  6c  Stratton  Business  College.  In  May,  1858, 
in  connection  with  Mi-.  Stratton,  he  founded  in  the  city  of  New  York 
the  institution  so  widely  and  favorably  known  as  Packard's  Business 
College.  He  soon  afterward  prepared  the  Bryant  &  Stratton  series  of 
text-books  for  instruction  in  bookkeeping,  which  became  very  popular 
at  once,  and  are  still  more  extensively  used  than  any  other  text-books 
on  the  same  subject  in  our  country. 

In  the  management  of  his  college  Mr.  Packard  seems  to  have  had 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-18G0. 


085 


two  things  constantly  in  view — namely,  to  meet  the  real  wants  of  the 
business  community  in  the  matter  of  well-trained  clerks,  and  to  render 
his  institution  worthy  the  name  of  college.  The  perfecting  of  his 
system  of  instruction  has  since  been  the  chief  business  of  his  life. 

The  Packard  Business  College  occupies  a  large  portion  of  the  five- 
storv  building  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Eleventh  Street,  "where  is 
fitted  up  a  suite  of  elegant  and  commodious  rooms  with  every  appliance 
for  instruction  in  the  various  departments.  To  each  graduate  a 
diploma  is  given,  which  is  a  sure  passport  to  employment,  lie  says  : 
"Their  diplomas  do  not  recommend  them  as  bank  cashiers  or  presi- 
dents, or  as  managers  of  large  or  small  enterprises,  but  simply  as 
having  a  knowledge  of  the  duties  of  accountantship.  They  rarely  fail 
to  fulfil  reasonable  expectations,  and  they  are  not  responsible  for  unrea- 
sonable ones." 

In  1883  there  was  an  average  daily  attendance  at  the  college  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  pupils,  of  whom  thirty  were  young  women,  who, 
he  says,  as  readily  as  young  men  acquire  business  knowledge,  become 
excellent  bookkeepers,  and  in  matters  of  short-hand  and  type- writing 
they  excel.  The  young  women  take  the  same  instruction  as  the 
young  men,  both  go  into  the  same  classes,  are  subject  to  the  same 
restrictions,  and  they  hold  an  even  hand  in  all  their  work. 

During  the  twenty-five  years  of  its  existence  Packard's  Business 
College  has  had  fully  six  thousand  pupils,  and  it  is  represented  by  its 
graduates  in  the  business  houses  in  every  city  and  large  town  in  the 
Republic,  and  in  many  cities  abroad.  And  they  are  found,  also,  in 
every  profession.* 

*  Silas  S.  Packard  is  a  native  of  Cummington,  Mass.,  where  he  was  horn  in  April.  1826. 
His  ancestors  were  among  the  earliest  settlers  of  the  town,  more  than  a  century  ago. 
They  were  of  English  nativity,  and  came  from  Windham,  England.  Chester  Packard, 
the  father  of  Silas,  with  his  five  boys,  emigrated  to  Ohio  in  1833,  and  settled  about  ten 
miles  from  Newark,  in  the  interior  of  the  State.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the 
fourth  son.  He  received  an  academic  education,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years  began 
to  teach  penmanship  in  district  schools.  In  1845  he  went  to  Kentucky,  where,  having  a 
genius  for  art,  he  taught  school  and  painted  portraits,  preparing  his  own  colors  and 
canvas,  and  making  his  own  brushes  for  his  art  work.  In  1848  Mr.  Packard  went  to 
Cincinnati,  where  he  was  employed  as  a  teacher  of  penmanship  in  Bartlett's  Commercial 
College.  There  he  remained  two  years.  In  the  summer  of  1850  he  married  Miss  Marion 
H.  Crocker,  of  New  York,  and  removed,  first  to  Michigan,  and  afterward  to  Lockport, 
New  York,  teaching  writing,  bookkeeping,  and  drawing.  He  established  a  weekly  news- 
paper at  Tonawanda,  N.  Y.,  which  he  conducted  with  ability  and  fair  success  until  he 
became  associated  with  Bryant  and  Stratton  in  the  management  of  their  commercial 
college  at  Buffalo.  There  it  was  that  Mr.  Packard  "  found  his  vocation,"  and  entered 
upon  what  has  been  the  chief  pursuit  of  his  life,  with  what  success  has  been  revealed  in 
the  text. 


686 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Thirty  years  ago  the  name  of  business  college  was  unknown  in  this 
country  ;  now  (1883)  there  are  over  two  hundred  distinct  schools,  with 
an  average  daily  attendance  of  between  thirty  and  forty  thousand 
pupils.  They  constitute  immense  forces  in  the  educational  institutions 
of  our  country. 

Possessed  of  varied  talents,  Professor  Packard  has  bent  all  bis  energies  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century  to  tbe  work  of  imparting  a  tborough  business  education  to  young  men  and 
women,  with  remarkable  success.  His  business  college  in  New  York  is  warmly  cherished 
by  the  best  citizens  in  the  metropolis  as  a  most  valuable  institution.  The  celebration  of 
the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  its  establishment,  in  March,  1883,  at  the  Academy  of 
Music,  was  a  most  gratifying  demonstration  of  the  public  appreciation  of  its  worth. 
Chief-Justice  Noah  Davis  presided  on  the  occasion,  and  fifty  pupils  were  graduated. 
Eulogistic  addresses  were  given  by  distinguished  speakers  to  a  large  assembly,  among 
whom  were  niany  enterprising  and  successful  business  men  of  the  city  who  were  gradu- 
ates of  the  college. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


AMOXG  the  public  charities  founded  during  this  decade,  The  2s  ew 
York  Juvenile  Asylum  appears  conspicuous.  It  was  incorpo- 
rated in  June,  1851."  It  is  the  outgrowth  and  enlargement  of  an 
association  of  benevolent  ladies  formed  in  the  autumn  of  1850,  who 
called  their  sheltering  arrangements  the  Asylum  for  Friendless  Boys. 
The  Juvenile  Asylum  was  founded  on  the  same  basis  of  intentions,  but 
included  both  sexes.  Its  prime  object  was  and  is  to  provide  a  refuge 
for  neglected  children  between  the  age  of  seven  and  fourteen  years, 
and  to  procure  good  homes  for  them.  AVhen  it  was  founded  it  was  the 
only  institution  of  the  kind  in  the  city.  Indeed  the  whole  subject  of 
juvenile  reform  was  then  in  its  infancy  in  this  country.  This  associa- 
tion led,  by  a  few  mouths,  the  more  extended  efforts  in  the  same  direc- 
tion of  the  Children's  Aid  Society. 

The  class  of  children  for  which,  under  its  charter,  the  asylum  was 
founded,  is  designated  as  "  truant,  disobedient  to  parents  or  guardians, 
keeping  bad  company,  pilfering,  found  in  the  streets  or  public  places  in 
circumstances  of  want,  suffering,  abandonment,  exposure,  or  neglect,  or 
of  begging. ' '  Such  children  may  be  committed  by  an  ord<  r  fj  om  a  police 
magistrate.  Children  who  have  no  friends  to  care  for  them,  or  whose 
friends  choose  to  give  them  up  wholly  to  the  care  of  the  asylum,  are  pro- 
vided with  homes  in  the  country.  They  are  taken  to  the  House  of  Re- 
ception, where  they  are  kept  a  few  weeks,  and  then  sent  to  the  asylum, 
where  they  remain  until  finally  discharged.  While  in  the  asylum 
they  attend  school  daily. 

Provision  was  made  in  the  charter  for  the  board  to  ask  of  the  city 
authorities  the  sum  of  850,000,  so  soon  as  the  association  should  raise 
a  like  sum  by  voluntary  subscriptions.    This  sum  was  secured  very 

*  The  corporators  named  in  the  charter  were  :  Robert  B.  Minturn,  Mvndert  Van 
Schaick,  Robert  M.  Ktratton,  Solomon  Jenner,  Albert  Gilbert,  Stewart  Brown,  Francis 
R.  Tilton,  David  S.  Kennedy,  Joseph  B.Collins,  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  Isaac  T.  Hopper, 
Charles  Partridge,  Luther  Bradish,  Christopher  Y.  Wemple,  Charles  O'Conor,  John  D. 
Ross,  John  Duer,  Peter  Cooper,  Apollos  R.  Wetmore,  Frederick  S.  Winston,  James 
Kelley,  Silas  C.  Herring,  Rensselaer  N.  Havens,  and  John  W.  Edmonds. 


688 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


speedily.  The  remaining  sum  of  s.">i >,0oo  was  appropriated  by  the  public 
authorities.  By  this  action  the  asylum  was  vested  with  the  right  of 
claimm"-  from  the  citv  or  from  the  commissioners  of  emigration  the 
sum  of  $4o  annually  for  every  pupil  kept  and  instructed  by  it,  thereby 
placing-  it  among  the  permanent  institutions  in  the  city. 

The  asylum  first  opened  its  sheltering  arms  in  a  building  in  Bank 
Street  on  January  1,  lsr>3,  and  to  its  care  the  children  of  the  Asylum 
for  Friendless  Boys  was  transferred.  Luther  Bradish  was  appointed 
its  first  president,  and  John  D.  Russ  secretary.  From  its  inception 
until  now  (1883)  the  society  has  pursued  its  objects  with  faithfulness 
and  untiring  vigor.  It  immediately  proceeded  to  erect  suitable  build- 
ings at  One  Hundred  and  Seventy-sixth  Street  and  Tenth  Avenue  (on 
"Washington  Heights,  opposite  High  Bridge),  where  it  has  accommoda- 
tions for  eight  hundred  children.  The  building  is  spacious,  being  four 
stories  in  height.  The  grounds  contain  about  twenty  acres  of  land,  of 
which  twelve  acres  are  devoted  to  farm  and  garden  purposes.  There 
is  a  fine  oak  grove  of  four  acres,  and  the  remaining  four  acres  are 
occupied  by  the  buildings  and  yards,  which  are  inclosed  on  three  sides 
by  a  brick  wall  eight  feet  in  height. 

The  asylum  consists  of  the  asylum  proper,  and  its  two  branches — 
the  House  of  Reception,  in  West  Thirteenth  Street,  and  a  "West- 
ern agency,  near  Bloomington,  Illinois,  where  homes  ai*e  pro- 
vided for  children  sent  to  the  "West.  At  the  close  of  the  year 
1882  there  were  at  the  asylum  <i-b»  boys  and  172  girls,  at  the 
House  of  Reception  111  boys,  making  the  total  883.  The  total 
number  cared  for  since  the  institution  was  opened  was  22,809. 
One  of  the  most  active  managers  of  this  important  institution  is  the 
Hon.  Olarkson  Crolius,  who  obtained  its  charter  while  he  was  in  the 
State  Senate,  and  who  has  been  connected  with  it  from  its  foundation.""' 
Of  the  children  received  during  L882  there  were  committed  367  for  (lis- 
obedience  to  parents  and  for  truancy,  32  for  pilfering,  1+  for  vagrancy, 
251  for  destitution,  and  8  for  begging. 

It  was  deemed  advisable,  after  long  years  of  trial,  to  have  the  sexes 
separated,  and  when  a  new  building  for  girls  was  completed,  in  1881, 
this  was  done.    In  addition  to  the  daily  instruction  in  the  schools,  in 

*  The  officers  of  the  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum  for  1883  were  :  Ezra  M.  Kingsley, 
president  ;  Peter  Cooper  and  Benjamin  B.  Sherman,  vice-presidents  :  Peter  Carter,  secre- 
tary, and  Henry  Tallmadse,  treasurer.  It  has  a  board  of  twenty-four  chosen  directors 
and  three  e.x-officio  directors.  The  latter  are  :  Franklin  Edson,  mayor  ;  John  Reilley, 
president  of  the  board  of  aldermen,  and  Henry  H.  Porter,  president  of  the  board  of 
charities  and  correction.  The  superintendent  of  the  asylum  is  Elisha  M.  Carpenter  ;  of 
the  House  of  Reception,  E.  D.  Carpenter. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


(589 


the  ordinary  English  branches,  the  children  are  carefully  drilled  in 
vocal  music.  The  boys  are  employed  in  making  and  mending  shoes 
and  garments,  so  that  they  become  quite  expert  shoemakers  and 
tailors.  They  also  work  on  the  farm  and  in  the  garden,  while  the 
girls  are  taught  sewing  and  the  making  of  feminine  garments.  These 
employments  are  made  profitable  in  furnishing  supplies  for  the  in- 
stitution. 

Tiik  Demilt  Dispensary  was  established  in  1S51,  to  meet  the  wants 
of  the  sick  poor  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  city  above  Fourteenth 
Street.  Temporary  medical  relief  had  been  given  by  the  Association 
for  the  Improvement  of  the  Condition  of  the  Poor  for  two  or  three 
years,  but  that  society  was  compelled  to  withhold  it  in  1851,  where- 
upon an  effort  was  put  forth  to  establish  a  dispensary  in  that  distinct. 
Meetings  were  held,  and  finally,  at  a  gathering  at  the  church  on  Fourth 
Avenue,  corner  of  Twenty-second  Street,  in  March,  18.51,  it  was  resolved 
to  take  measures  to  establish  "  a  medical  dispensary  for  the  north- 
eastern part  of  the  city."  A  committee  was  appointed  to  carry  out 
the  measure. 

There  were  two  maiden  sisters  in  the  city,  named  Elizabeth  and 
Sarah  Demilt,  who  were  friends  of  medical  charities.  They  both  died 
in  1819,  and  left  to  the  three  dispensaries  then  in  the  city  $20,000. 
After  the  above-named  committee  had  perfected  the  arrangements  for 
establishing  a  dispensary,  Mr.  George  T.  Trimble,  a  friend  of  the 
Demilt  sisters,  called  on  the  committee,  told  them  he  was  the  residuary 
legatee  of  the  deceased  women,  and  that  what  he  received  from  the 
estate  he  intended  to  devote  to  some  charity  such  as  they  would 
approve  if  living.  Having  profound  respect  for  their  memory,  he 
desired  that  some  worthy  charity  should  perpetuate  it,  and  proposed 
to  give  $5000  to  the  new  institution  if  they  would  name  it  the  Demilt 
Dispensary.  The  offer  was  accepted  with  its  conditions,  and  so  the  dis- 
pensary received  its  name.  A  lot  was  purchased,  a  building  erected, 
and  in  it  the  managers  held  their  first  meeting  on  March  21,  1853. 

The  dispensary  building  is  situated  on  the  corner  of  Second  Avenue 
and  Twenty-third  Street,  It  is  four  stories  in  height,  with  a  high  base- 
nient.  For  two  years  the  subject  of  dietetic  regimen  for  its  patients 
engaged  the  attention  of  its  managers.  In  1873  some  benevolent  ladies 
established  the  Xew  York  Dietetic  Kitchen  as  an  adjunct  to  the 
Demilt.  thereby  securing  the  co-operation  of  its  house  and  visiting  phy- 
sicians.   The  two  organizations  work  in  harmony  with  great  success. 

During  the  year  1882  the  number  of  new  patients  treated  in  the 
Demilt  Dispensary  was  22,496,  of  whom  8156  were  children.    Of  the 


G90  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

whole  number,  18,428  were  treated  at  the  dispensary,  and  4068  at  their 
homes.  The  number  of  persons  treated  since  the  opening  of  the  dis- 
pensary (thirty  years  ago)  to  the  close  of  1882  was  759,134,  and  the 
whole  number  of  prescriptions  furnished  during  that  time  was 
1,569,182.* 

All  of  the  city  of  Xew  York  south  of  a  line  from  the  North  River 
through  Eightieth  Street  to  Fifth  Avenue,  and  through  that  avenue  to 
Seventy-fourth  Street,  and  through  that  street  to  the  East  River,  and 
comprising  a  population  exceeding  850,000  at  the  census  of  1880,  is 
divided  into  six  dispensary  districts,  of  which  one  is  occupied  and  cared 
for  by  each  of  the  following  dispensaries  :  The  Xew  York,  incorpo- 
rated in  1795  ;  the  Northern,  in  1827  ;  the  Eastern,  in  ls:J>2  ;  the  De- 
milt,  in  1851  ;  the  North-western,  in  1852  ;  the  North-eastern,  in  1862. 

The  Jews  of  the  city  of  New  York  are  doing  much  in  the  way  of 
charity  and  benevolence  in  behalf  of  their  people  who  suffer  and  are 
unfortunate.  Their  orphan  asylum  has  already  been  noticed  in  these 
pages.  They  have,  besides,  a  well-appointed  hospital  (Mount  Sinai),  a 
Relief  Society,  a  Sheltering  Arms  Guardian  Societ}',  a  Deborah 
Nursery,  a  Society  for  the  Improvement  of  the  Sanitary  Condition  of 
the  Poor,  and  a  Home  for  Aged  and  Infirm  Hebrews. 

Mount  Sinai  Hospital  was  founded  by  Sampson  Louison,  a  wealthy 
Hebrew,  who  donated  ground  in  Twenty-eighth  Street  for  the  institu- 
tion. It  was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  on  February  12,  1852 
(Adar  5612).  A  building  was  erected  in  Twenty-eighth  Street, 
and  was  opened  for  patients  in  1858.  The  first  officers  were  :  Samp- 
son Louison,  president  ;  John  J.  Hart,  vice-president  ;  Henry  Hen- 
dricks, treasurer,  end  Benjamin  Nathan,  secretary.  It  was  estab- 
lished for  the  "  purpose  of  affording  medical  and  surgical  aid  and 
comfort  and  protection  in  sickness  to  deserving  and  needy  Israehtes 
and  others,  and  for  all  purposes  pertaining  to  hospitals  and  dispen- 
saries." 

The  sympathy  of  this  hospital  is  wider  than  this  definition  of  its 
purposes,  for  the  directors  have  always  opened  their  doors  to  persons 
of  whatever  creed.  The  superintendent  is  instructed  to  admit  all  sick 
or  wounded  persons,  unless  they  have  infectious  or  incurable  diseases. 
There  is  also  a  ward  set  apart  for  lying-in  women.  They  have  a  stock 
of  clothing  for  the  most  destitute  patients,  and  have  a  burial  plot,  and 

*  The  officers  of  the  DemiR  Dispensary  for  1883  were  :  Charles  Tracy,  president  ; 
William  Phelps  and  Joseph  Gillet,  vice-presidents  ;  John  W.  Cochrane,  treasurer,  and 
Alfred  R.  Kimball,  secretary.  It  has  twenty-five  managers,  of  whom  Charles  Tracy  and 
Charles  C.  Savage  have  been  in  the  board  from  the  beginning. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


691 


bury  their  dead  without  charge  to  the  friends  of  the  deceased. 
During  the  Civil  War  hundreds  of  soldiers  were  admitted  and  treated, 
and  it  has  always  done  its  full  share  of  duty  during  the  prevalence  of 
any  epidemic.  The  hospital  occupies  a  spacious  building  of  its  own  on 
the  corner  of  Lexington  Avenue  and  Sixty-sixth  Street.  It  has  a 
dispensary,  in  which,  during  the  year  1882,  there  were  35,000  con- 
sultations, and  52,209  prescriptions  were  furnished.  This  is  a  pure 
charity,  no  pay  having  been  received  for  medical  advice,  supplies,  or 
drugs. 

The  number  of  patients  admitted  to  the  hospital  since  it  was  opened, 
to  1883,  was  over  21,000.  In  1881,  at  the  instance  of  some  ladies,  a  de- 
partment for  training  nurses  was  established.  This  new  organization 
is  styled  the  Mount  Sinai  Training  School  for  Xurses.  This  is  not  a 
charity,  but  an  opportunity  for  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  one  of  the 
most  important  functions  of  the  practitioner  of  the  healing  art.  The 
hospital  has  an  excellent  medical  staff,  and  Drs.  Parker  and  Markoe 
are  consulting  surgeons.  It  has  a  synagogue  attached  to  it,  but  every 
patient  may  call  for  a  minister  of  his  own  creed.  It  looks  for  its  support 
principally  to  the  Jewish  community  of  New  York.  In  1853  a  wealthy 
Hebrew  citizen  of  Xew  Orleans  gave  it  $20,000,  and  it  has  been  the 
recipient  of  smaller  donations  and  bequests,  some  of  them  of  considera- 
ble amount.* 

The  Orphans'  Home  and  Asylum  ok  the  Peotestant  Episcopal 
Church  was  founded  by  the  Rev.  Drs.  Wainwright  and  Ilobart,  at  the 
request  of  some  ladies  of  St.  Paul's  Chapel,  to  whom  a  dying  father 
had  intrusted  his  two  children,  with  a  request  that  they  should  be 
reared  in  the  faith  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  in  which  they  had  been 
baptized.  An  association  was  formed  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a 
home,  of  which  the  first  officers  were  :  the  Tit.  Rev.  J.  Al.  \Vainwright, 
D.D.,  president  ;  the  Rev.  Francis  L.  Hawks,  D.D.,  vice-president  ; 
the  Rev.  W.  E.  Eigenbrodt,  secretary,  and  John  Warreu,  treasurer,  f 

The  Home  began  its  work  in  a  room  in  Robinson  Street  with  two 
beneficiaries.  After  several  removals  and  a  considerable  increase  in 
the  number  of  its  inmates,  it  found  a  permanent  place  of  residence  in 

*  The  officers  of  Mount  Sinai  Hospital  in  1883  were  :  Hyman  Blum,  president  ;  Isaac 
Wallach,  vice-president  ;  Samuel  XI.  Schafer,  treasurer  ;  L.  XI.  Hornthal,  secretary  ; 
Joseph  L.  Scherer,  assistant  secretary,  and  Theodore  Hadel,  superintendent.  There  are 
fifteen  directors. 

■J-  The  board  of  managers  consisted  of  these  officers  and  the  following-named  gentle- 
men :  the  Revs.  J.  H.  Price,  D.D.,  J.  H.  Tuttle,  D.D.,  J.  H.  Hohart,  D.D.,  E.  Neville, 
D.D.,  T.  A.  Eaton  ;  Xlessrs.  William  Kent,  Clarkson  Crolius,  Jr.,  Henry  K.  Bogert,  Adam 
Norrie,  and  Stephen  Cambreling,  and  a  committee  of  eighteen  ladies. 


G92 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Forty-ninth  Street,  near  Lexington  Avenue.  At  first  it  was  managed 
by  a  board  of  directors  consisting  of  gentlemen,  but  after  a  while  this 
trust  was  transferred  to  a  board  of  lady  managers,  representatives  of 
all  the  larger  parishes  in  the  city.  Its  simple  name,  Orphans'  Home, 
was  changed  when  it  was  incorporated,  in  June,  1859,  to  Orphans'  Home 
and  Asylum  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  The  present  site  of 
the  Home  was  leased  at  a  nominal  rate  from  the  city  corporation. 
Funds  were  raised,  and  the  present  fine  and  commodious  building  was 
soon  erected.  The  Home  is  supported  by  annua]  subscriptions,  life 
memberships,  donations,  collections  in  churches,  etc. 

Children  are  admitted  into  this  institution  only  between  three  and 
eight  years  of  age,  and  may  be  retained,  the  boys  until  they  are 
twelve,  and  the  girls  until  they  are  fourteen  years  old.  Only  full  or 
half  orphans  are  received,  and  no  child  is  received  unless  absolute 
control  of  it  is  given  to  the  board.  The  asylum  is  not  the  private 
enterprise  of  a  few  individuals,  but  is  a  foster  institution  of  the  Church.* 

St.  VnsroEUT  de  Fai  t.  Orphan  Asyi.i  m  (Roman  Catholic)  was  organ- 
ized in  1858j  under  the  auspices  of  the  Rev.  A.  La  Fond,  pastor  of  the 
Church  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  and  the  Ladies  Patronesses  of  the 
church.  The  institution  began  with  only  two  children.  The  ohjects 
of  the  institution  are  to  provide  for  destitute  and  unprotected  orphan 
and  half-orphan  children  of  both  sexes,  of  French  birth  or  parentage, 
and  others,  and  to  educate  them  in  the  Roman  Catholic  faith. 

The  asylum  occupies  a  building  of  its  own  at  No.  219  West  Thirty- 
ninth  Street.  The  institution  is  under  the  charge  of  the  Sisters 
Marianites  of  the  Holy  Cross,  a  religious  order  whose  mother-house  is 
at  Mans,  in  France.  Their  aim  is  to  inculcate,  with  a  good  moral, 
Catholic  education,  a  knowledge  of  the  French  and  English  languages, 
and  all  that  pertains  to  the  practical  knowledge  of  the  useful  pursuits 
of  life,  such  as  sewing,  1  mi  drying,  cooking,  etc.  There  were  in  the 
asylum,  at  the  beginning  of  lss;i,  ;>1  boys  and  107  girls.  The  managers 
contemplate  adding  to  their  benevolent  work  a  day  nursery  for  the 
care  of  babies  while  their  mothers  are  out  at  Avork.f 

*  The  officers  of  the  Home  for  1882  were  :  Mrs.  Eugene  Dutilh,  first  director  ;  Miss 
Anna  Potter,  second  director  ;  Miss  Anna  L.  Peck,  secretary  ;  Mrs.  Elisha  A.  Packer, 
treasurer.  There  is  a  board  of  twelve  lady  trustees  beside  the  board  of  lady  managers, 
and  a  committee  of  advice,  consisting  of  the  lit.  Rev.  Horatio  Potter,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
D.C.L.  ;  the  Eevs.  John  Henry  Hobart,  D.D.,  Isaac  H.  Tuttle,  D.D.,  Thomas  Gallaudet, 
D.D.,  Theodore  Eaton,  D.D.,  Morgan  Dix,  D.D.,  and  Messrs.  Alexander  Smith,  Stephen 
P.  Nash,  Frederick  W.  Stevens,  and  Gordon  Norrie. 

f  The  officers  of  the  asylum  for  1883  were  :  the  Rev.  Gaston  Septier,  president  ;  L.  BL 
Binsse,  secretary  ,  H.  L.  Hognet,  treasurer,  and  a  board  of  nine  trustees.    The  institu- 


T1IIKD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


G<J3 


An  effective  ami  successful  instrumentality  in  the  work  of  benefi- 
cence and  social  reform  in  the  city  of  New  York  is  The  Nursery  and 
Child's  Hospital,  at  the  corner  of  Lexington  Avenue  and  Fifty-first 
Street. 

Early  in  1854  Messrs.  Mott  and  HaJliday  exposed  through  the  news- 
papers the  horrors  of  "baby  farming,' 1  and  also  showed  that  the 
mortality  among  infants  sent  to  the  almshouse  was  over  ninety  per 
cent.  It  was  alleged,  without  contradiction,  that  nearly  all  the  infants 
committed  to  the  care  of  wet-nurses  died,  and  of  those  sent  to  the 
almshouse,  few  survived  many  weeks.  It  was  also  shown  that  many 
cruelties  were  inflicted  on  these  unfortunate  infants  by  heartless  or 
ignorant  nurses. 

Mrs.  Dr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  related  to  some  friends  the  story  of 
a  most  pitiful  event  which  had  come  under  her  own  observation.  It 
was  the  suffering  and  exposure  to  disease,  starvation,  and  death  of  the 
baby  of  a  wet-nurse,  who  was  compelled  to  "  farm  out"  her  own 
infant  while  she  served  another.  The  story  was  told  to  Mrs.  Cornelias 
Dubois,  and  it  awakened  in  her  such  a  desire  to  do  something  for 
infants  deprived  of  the  constant  care  of  a  mother  that  she  immediately 
interested  others,  and  in  less  than  a  month  a  Nursery  for  the  Children 
of  Poor  Women  was  organized  (March  1,  185-1),  and  $10,000  were 
subscribed  by  generous  friends.  These  women  procured  a  charter,  and 
began  their  work  vigorously  and  hopefully  in  a  building  in  St.  Mark's 
Place,  on  the  first  of  May  following.  The  nursery  was  very  soon 
overcrowded.  Want  of  experience  brought  with  it  many  unlooked-for 
troubles  and  discouragements,  but  these  generous  women,  with  sublime 
faith,  persevered  and  triumphed. 

The  great  number  of  sick  children  brought  to  the  nurserv  showed 
the  need  of  a  hospital,  where  the  sick  might  be  cared  for  separate  from 
the  healthy.  The  authorities  of  the  New  York  Hospital  generously 
gave  to  the  managers  of  the  nursery  a  wooden  cottage  which  had  been 
temporarily  erected.  It  was  removed  to  and  reconstructed  on  vacant 
lots  on  Sixth  Avenue,  near  Fourteenth  Street,  in  It856.  A  new 
charter  gave  to  the  institution  its  present  title  of  The  Nursery  and 
( !hild's  Hospital. 

A  building  for  a  permanent  home  for  the  institution  was  completed  in 
May,  1858.  Soon  afterward  it  was  proposed  to  establish  a  foundling 
hospital  in  connection  with  the  nursery,  and  on  lots  adjoining  it.  A 

tion  is  under  the  charge  of  Sister  Mary  of  Archangel.  It  is  supported  by  subscriptions 
and  donations. 


694 


HISTORY  OF  N E W*  YORK  CITY. 


building  for  the  purpose  was  erected,  largely  through  the  untiring  ex- 
ertions of  Mrs.  Dubois,  assisted  by  the  common  council,  just  as  the 
Civil  War  broke  out. 

This  institution  met  a  most  pressing  social  want — the  protection  of 
illegitimate  children  and  their  erring  mothers.  Infanticide  and  the 
suicide  of  unfortunate  mothers  was  becoming  fearfully  prevalent.  It 
was  for  the  salvation  of  these  that  this  institution,  called  the  Infants' 
Home,  was  established. 

Again  these  good  women  applied  for  a  charter  giving  them  power  to 
open  a  lying-in  hospital  It  was  granted,  and  in  December,  1S65, 
this  additional  refuge  was  opened.  After  much  tribulation  the  man- 
agers secured  from  the  city  authorities  a  perpetual  lease  of  the  build- 
ings and  lots  which  the  institution  now  occupies. 

The  mortality  among  children  in  the  city  during  the  summer  months, 
chiefly  from  cholera  infantum,  caused  the  opening  of  the  Country 
Branch  of  the  Nursery  and  Child's  Hospital,  on  Staten  Island,  on  July 
4,  187*'.  Thirteen  cottages  were  built  for  the  purpose.  Tliis  was 
accomplished  by  legislative  aid.  The  result  has  been  most  satisfactory. 
During  the  year  ending  in  March,  1882,  the  institution  cared  for  2322 
persons— in  the  City  Xursery  113S,  and  in  the  Country  Branch  1184. 
There  were  772  women  and  1552  children.* 

An  efficient  institution  designed  for  social  reform  is  The  New  York 
Ixi  ikmarv  fob  Women  a\i>  Chtldken,  established  early  in  this  decade. 
It  was  incorporated  in  December,  1853,  for  the  following  purposes  : 
1.  To  afford  poor  women  the  opportunity  of  consulting  physicians  of 
their  own  sex  ;  2.  To  assist  educated  women  in  the  practical  study  of 
medicine,  and  3.  To  form  a  school  for  instruction  in  nursing  and  the 
laws  of  health. 

Dr.  Elizabeth  Blackwell  and  her  sister,  Dr.  Emily  Blackwell,  assist- 
ed by  a  few  generous  friends,  founded  this  institution.  They  had  re- 
ceived so  many  applications  for  advice  from  poor  women  that  they  per- 
ceived that  only  by  the  establishment  of  a  charitable  medical  institution 
could  such  advice  be  effectively  given.  They  determined  to  found  one 
upon  a  base  so  broad  that  it  could  be  a  school  for  the  mutual  instruc- 

*  The  officers  of  this  institution  in  1882  were  :  Mrs.  Cornelius  Dubois,  first  direc- 
tress ;  Mrs.  A.  S.  Sullivan,  second  directress  ;  Mrs.  J.  W.  Ellis,  third  directress  ;  Mrs.  J. 
Howard  Wright,  treasurer  ;  Miss  M.  S.  Smith,  assistant  treasurer  ;  Mrs.  E.  H.  L.  Town- 
send,  secretary,  and  Miss  M.  D.  Van  Winkle,  assistant  secretary.  There  was  a  board  of 
thirty-two  lady  managers.  Mrs.  McEvoy  was  the  matron.  Of  the  country  branch,  Mrs. 
Theodore  F.  Eadie  was  treasurer,  and  Miss  Webster  secretary.  Some  of  the  best  medical 
men  of  the  city  are  attending  or  consulting  physicians. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-18GO. 


tion  of  women  and  give  an  opportunity  for  students  of  their  own  sex  to 
see  and  take  part  in  actual  practice. 

Other  considerations  also  Led  to  giving  to  the  new  institution  the 
form  of  a  hospital  rather  than  that  of  a  college.  It  was  necessary  to 
prove  that  ordinary  medical  practice  could  be  successfully  conducted 
by  women,  and  this  coidd  most  effectually  be  done  by  public  practice 
among  the  poor.  An  infirmary  was  established,  and  begun  as  a  dis- 
pensary, in  a  single  room  near  Tompkins  Square,  with  a  capital  of  $."><», 
attended  three  times  a  week  by  a  single  physician.* 

When,  three  years  afterward  (1856),  the  medical  staff  of  the  institu- 
tion was  increased  by  the  return  of  Dr.  Emily  Blackwell  from  Europe 
and  the  arrival  in  Xew  York  of  Dr.  Marie  E.  La  Krzewska,  a  house 
was  taken  and  the  hospital  department  was  added.  This  step  was 
undertaken  in  the  face  of  solemn  warnings  and  the  most  discouraging 
prophecies,  for  prejudices  against  "  female  doctors, "  not  only  in  the 
public  mind  but  in  the  profession,  were  then  very  powerful.  The  pro- 
jectors were  told  that  no  one  woidd  let  a  house  for  the  purpose  ;  that 
"  female  doctors"  would  be  looked  on  with  so  much  suspicion  that  the 
police  would  interefere  ;  that  if  deaths  occurred  their  death  certificates 
would  not  be  recognized  ;  that  they  would  be  resorted  to  by  classes 
and  persons  whom  it  would  be  an  insult  to  be  called  upon  to  deal  with  ; 
that  without  men  as  resident  physicians  they  would  not  be  able  to 
control  the  patients  ;  that  if  any  accident  occurred,  not  the  medical 
profession  alone  would  blame  the  trustees  for  supporting  such  an 
undertaking  ;  and,  finally,  that  they  would  never  be  able  to  collect 
money  for  such  an  unpopular  enterprise. 

The  isolation  of  these  few  "  woman  doctors"  is  illustrated  by  the 
following  circumstance  :  When,  for  the  first  time,  an  operation  was  to 
be  performed  on  a  patient  at  the  infirmary,  one  of  the  consulting  phy- 
sicians was  asked  to  be  present.  The  little  group  of  woman  physicians 
waited  more  than  an  hour  for  his  appearance.  The  del  iv  was  caused 
by  his  deeming  it  necessary  to  consult  an  eminent  medical  gentleman 
as  to  the  propriety  and  wisdom  of  sanctioning  such  a  proceeding  by  his 

*  This  institution  was  organized  with  the  following-named  persons  as  its  managers  : 
Trustees,  Stacy  B.  Collins,  Charles  Butler,  Robert  Hay  dock,  Theodore  Sedgwick,  Cyrus 
W.  Field.  Simeon  Draper,  Horace  Greeley,  Dennis  Harris,  Charles  W.  Foster,  Henry  J. 
Raymond,  Charles  A.  Dana,  Richard  H.  Manning,  Richard  H.  Bowne,  Robert  White, 
Edward  C.  West,  Benjamin  Flanders,  Marcus  Spring,  Elizabeth  Blackwell  ;  attending 
physician,  Dr.  Elizabeth  Blackwell  ;  consulting  physicians,  Drs.  Willard  Parker,  R.  S. 
Kissam,  Isaac  E.  Taylor,  and  George  P.  Cammann  ;  consulting  surgeons,  Dr.  Valentino 
Mott  and  Dr.  John  Watson. 


G96 


HISTORY  UF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


presence.  lie  attended,  however,  and  was  astonished  at  the  skill 
displayed. 

Viewed  in  the  light  of  happy  experience  to-day,  after  a  lapse  of 
thirty  years,  how  strangely  those  prophecies  of  evil  and  the  hesitation 
of  the  profession  to  believe  women  were  competent  to  become  skilful 
healers,  meet  the  eye,  on  paper  !  The  institution  was  victorious  over 
prejudice  from  the  beginning.  It  won  the  kind  wishes  and  substantial 
respect  of  enlightened  citizens,  and  the  aid  and  countenance  of  the 
most  eminent  physicians  of  the  city.  Its  work,  always  performed  by 
women,  has  been  eminently  successful,  and  it  is  pointed  to  by 
reformers  of  every  kind  as  a  brave  and  successful  champion  against 
bigotry,  prejudice,  and  ignorance.  Among  the  first  nurses  who  went 
to  the  hospitals  at  Washington  at  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War  were 
some  of  the  pupils  of  this  institution. 

According  to  the  report  of  the  New  York  Infirmary  for  Women  and 
Children  for  the  year  ending  November  1,  1SS2,  there  had  been  0133 
patients  treated  in  the  infirmary,  dispensary,  and  out  of  doors  within 
the  twelve  months  ;  number  of  prescriptions  paid  for,  17,878  ;  number 
given  free,  6703  ;  consultations — at  dispensary,  l<i,-?.">4  ;  in  out  practice, 
3264.  The  institution  occupies  a  pleasant  building,  Xo.  ~>  Livingston 
Place,  Stuyvesant  Square,  where  there  are  eleven  female  physicians 
in  attendance.* 

*  The  officers  of  the  institution  for  1883  were  :  Sanmel  Willets,  president  ;  Robert 
Olyphant,  vice-president  ;  John  T.  Willets,  treasurer,  and  Robert  Haydock,  secretary. 
These  officers  were  assisted  by  an  executive  committee  of  twenty-two  ladies.  It  has  an 
efficient  corps  of  eminent  physicians,  resident,  visiting,  and  consulting,  of  both  sexes. 
The  dispensary  physicians  are  all  women. 

President  Samuel  Willets  died  on  February  C>,  1883.  He  was  born  at  Westbnry,  Long 
Island,  in  June,  17'.l~>,  and  was  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  respected  of  the  merchants  of 
New  York.  His  parents  were  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  all  through  life  he 
was  a  beloved  member  of  that  exemplary  body  of  Christians,  adhering  to  their  simplicity 
ot  living.  When  he  was  a  youth  he  went  to  New  York,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one 
married  Sarah  Hicks,  a  near  neighbor,  entered  into  the  hardware  business  with  his 
brothers,  and  greatly  prospered,  amassing  a  large  fortune.  They  were  commission  mer- 
chants a  long  time,  and  many  years  ago  were  largely  engaged  in  the  whaling  business, 
owning  quite  a  fleet  of  vessels.  Mr.  Willets  retired  from  business  several  years  ago 
(18G7).  He  never  held  any  political  office,  but  was  active  as  an  official  in  the  business  of 
banking,  insurance,  and  railroading  ;  also  in  various  benevolent  institutions.  At  the 
time  of  his  death  he  was  president  of  the  Infirmary  for  Women  and  Children,  of  the 
Society  for  the  Relief  of  the  Ruptured  and  Crippled,  and  vice-president  of  the  New  York 
Hospital  Society.  He  was  also  president  of  the  Workingwoman's  Protective  Union,  and 
active  in  other  charitable  enterprises.  Mr.  Willets  was  an  active  friend  of  the  slave,  and 
was  one  of  the  most  efficient  members  of  the  early  Manumission  Society.  Mrs.  Willets 
died  in  1881,  their  wedded  life  having  continued  more  than  sixty-four  years. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1830-1860. 


697 


111  18(55  a  charter  was  obtained  for  a  Woman's  Mki>ical  Collkok, 
in  connection  with  the  Infirmary  for  Women  and  Children.  It  was 
opened  with  a  full  and  efficient  faculty.  A  chair  of  hygiene  was 
founded,  the  first  of  the  kind  in  a  medical  college  in  the  United  States. 
A  board  of  examiners  was  established,  independent  of  the  faculty. 
The  first  class  graduated  in  1870.  Candidates  for  graduation,  after 
having  passed  the  faculty  of  the  college,  go  before  the  board  of  exam- 
iners, composed  of  professors  in  the  several  medical  colleges  in  the  city. 

The  students  of  this  college  have  the  best  clinical  advantages,  as  the 
infirmary  places  before  them  annually  several  thousand  patients,  and 
all  the  dispensaries  of  the  city  are  open  to  them.* 

In  1852  the  New  York  Ophthalmic  Hospital  was  founded,  and  began 
operations  under  the  general  incorporation  act.  Its  prime  object  was 
to  afford  gratuitous  treatment  for  diseases  of  the  eye  to  needy  persons, 
and  the  instruction  of  medical  students  in  a  knowledge  of  these  diseases. 
In  1800  the  directors  obtained  permission  from  the  State  to  treat 
diseases  of  the  ear  as  well  as  of  the  eye.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that 
a  board  of  directors  were  elected,  who  made  it  a  homoeopathic  institu- 
tion, and  took  measures  for  obtaining  funds  for  the  erection  of  a 
permanent  building  for  the  hospital.  After  collecting  about  $70,000, 
they  purchased  a  lot  on  the  corner  of  Third  Avenu3  and  Twenty-third 
Street.  There  they  had  laid  the  corner-stone  and  began  work  in  a 
moderate  way,  when  Mrs.  Emma  A.  Keep  (now  widow  of  the  late 
Judge  Schley)  presented  the  directors  with  the  munificent  sum  of 
$100,000.  Their  fine  building,  five  stories  in  height,  was  completed 
and  occupied  in  1872. 

In  1879  the  directors  procured  from  the  State  Legislature  power  to 
confer  on  qualified  students  the  degree  of  Surgeon  of  the  Eve  and  Ear, 
a  distinction  enjoyed  by  no  other  similar  institution  in  the  world.  For 

*  The  president  of  the  Woman's  Medical  College  for  1882  was  Samuel  Willets,  and  the 
secretary  Robert  Haydoek.  The  board  of  examiners  consisted  of  Drs.  Willard  Parker, 
B.  W,  McCready,  Stephen  Smith,  A.  L.  Loouiis,  William  M.  Polk,  E.  G.  Janeway,  and 
William  H.  Welch.  At  the  head  of  the  faculty  was  Miss  Elizabeth  Blackwell,  M.D., 
emeritus  professor  of  principles  and  practice  of  medicine. 

Miss  Blackwell  is  a  native  of  Bristol,  England,  where  she  was  born  in  1821.  She  came 
to  New  York  with  her  father  in  1831,  went  to  Cincinnati  in  18:57,  where  she  taught  school 
several  years  ;  studied  medicine  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  while  teaching  music,  and  finally 
took  the  degree  of  M.D.  at  the  medical  college,  Geneva,  N.  Y.,  in  1819.  She  is  the  first 
woman  upon  whom  that  degree  was  conferred.  She  pursued  clinical  studies  in  Phila- 
delphia and  midwifery  in  Paris,  after  which  she  was  allowed  to  "  walk  the  hospital  "  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  in  London.  She  began  the  practice  of  her  profession  in  New  York 
City,  and  there,  with  her  sister  Emily,  opened  the  New  York  Infirmary  for  Women  and 
Children  in  1851. 


G98 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


three  years  the  institution  exercised  this  power  in  graduating  students, 
and  in  1882  the  directors  proceeded  to  organize  the  college  by  the 
appointment  of  a  faculty  of  instruction  and  the  adoption  of  a  compre- 
hensive course  of  study,  under  which  physicians  are  made  accomplished 
experts  in  diseases  of  the  eye  and  ear.  By  this  organization  the  highest 
conception  of  a  hospital  was  obtained,  an  idea  carried  out  at  an  earlier 
day  by  the  New  York  Infirmary  for  Women  and  Children  and  the 
Woman's  Hospital — namely,  a  hospital  affording  relief  to  human 
suffering  and  a  college  in  connection  for  the  advancement  of  medical 
and  surgical  science.  The  hospital  and  the  college  are  successful 
co-workers.* 

Nearly  every  public  charity  in  New  York  City  is  the  product  of 
some  tiny  seed  planted  in  good  soil.  An  excellent  institution  which 
had  its  origin  in  the  heart  of  the  rector  of  St.  Luke's  Church  (the  Rev. 
Isaac  Tuttle)  is  a  case  in  point.  One  day  an  aged  woman,  gentle  in 
her  bearing  and  evidently  well  bred,  who  had  seen  better  days,  called  on 
the  rector  and  inquired  whether  there  was  an  asylum  or  a  home  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  where  a  woman  fourscore  years  of  age  might  find  a 
retreat  for  the  remainder  of  her  life. 

"Madam,"  said  the  rector,  "I  am  sorry  to  savour  Church  has 
none;  but  by  the  grace  of  God  it  shall  have." 

The  rector  soon  preached  a  discourse  on  the  necessity  of  such  a 
home.  He  invited  some  of  his  congregation  to  a  conference,  and  the 
result  was  the  organization,  in  1851,  of  St.  Luke'b  Home  fob  Indigent 
Christian'  Fkmai.ks.  Furnished  rooms  were  hired,  and  these  only, 
with  fuel,  were  given  to  the  first  inmates,  the}'  generally  being  able  to 
earn  their  food.  It  was  simply  a  shelter.  The  more  feeble  were  aided 
by  individuals  or  by  St.  Luke's  Parish.  The  institution  was  under  the 
care  of  efficient  ladies  of  the  congregation.  For  several  years  it 
remained  a  parochial  charge,  but  its  blessed  work  becoming  more 
widely  known,  there  was  a  generally  expressed  desire  to  make  it  a 
Church  affair,  and  to  extend  its  benefits.  Leading  clergymen  recom- 
mended it  to  the  consideration  of  their  parishioners. 

In  1856,  through  the  earnest  efforts  of  benevolent  women  from 
several  parishes,  the  institution  was  changed  from  a  parochial  to  a 

*  The  officers  of  the  institution  in  1882  were  :  Thomas  C.  Smith,  president  ;  George  W. 
Clarke,  vice-president  ;  Elias  C.  Benedict,  treasurer  ;  K.  C.  Root,  secretary ;  John  Mackay, 
assistant  secretary.  There  is  a  board  of  fifteen  directors.  Its  successive  presidents  since 
1853  have  been  the  Hon.  Caleb  S.  WoodhuU,  the  Rev.  Isaac  Ferris,  D.D.,  Peter  Cooper, 
Solomon  Jenner,  John  M.  Seaman,  and  Thomas  C.  Smith.  The  latter  has  been  president 
since  1871. 


THIRD  DECADE,  18.-)0-1860.  699 

general  one,  and  incorporated.  Funds  were  soon  furnished  to  purchase 
a  commodious  house  next  to  St.  Luke's  Church,  then  in  Hudson  Street. 
An  associate  board  of  woman  managers  was  appointed  to  take  charge 
of  its  internal  affairs,  while  men  managed  the  property  of  the  institu- 
tion. 

This  Home  now  occupies  a  commodious  building  of  its  own  on  the 
corner  of  Madison  Avenue  and  Eighty-ninth  Street,  while  St.  Luke's 
Church  remains  at  its  old  location  and  is  in  charge  of  the  same  rector, 
in  whose  heart  the  seed  of  the  Home  was  planted.* 

In  1858  an  organization  designed  for  the  temporal,  moral,  and  spirit- 
ual welfare  of  young  women  who  are  dependent  on  their  own  labor  for 
support,  was  effected  by  a  few  benevolent  women.  It  was  called  the 
Ladies'  Christian  Union  of  the  City  of  New  York.  In  this  work  Mis. 
Marshall  0.  Roberts  was  conspicuous.  The  ladies  established  the  Young 
Women's  Home,  also  the  Young  Ladies'  Branch  of  the  Christian  Union. 
The  latter  separated  from  the  parent  society  in  1873,  and  it  was  organ- 
ized under  the  title  of  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association.  It 
has  a  free  circulating  library,  and  educational  classes  in  phonography, 
type- writing,  and  retouching  photo -negatives.  These  classes  and  the 
library  are  open  to  young  women  from  eighteen  to  thirty-five  years  of 
age  who  desire  to  study  to  prepare  for  self-support.  It  has  also  an 
Employment  Bureau,  an  Industrial  Department,  and  a  Fresh  Air 
Fund.r 

The  Methodists  of  the  city  of  New  York  also  established  a  home  for 
aged  and  indigent  members  of  their  society  early  in  this  decade.  The 
idea  originated  with  the  members  of  the  Greene  Street  Church,  who 
had  unsuccessfully  endeavored  to  provide  a  home  for  the  aged  destitute 
of  their  congregation.  A  plan  was  conceived  in  1850  for  establishing 
such  a  general  home  for  the  old  and  needy  in  the  several  churches  in 
the  city.  Meetings  were  held  at  private  houses.  Finally,  in  1851,  at 
a  public  meeting  in  the  Mulberry  Street  Church,  a  Ladies'  Union  Aid 
Society  was  formed,  and  was  incorporated  in  June  of  that  year.  Mrs. 
"Mary  Mason  was  the  first  president  of  it,  and  was  re-elected  seven 

*  The  officers  of  the  Home  in  1883  were  :  The  Rt.  Rev.  Horatio  Potter,  bishop  of  the 
diocese,  president  ;  the  Rev.  Isaac  Tuttle,  D.D.,  vice-president  ;  Francis  Pott,  secretary  ; 
John  H.  Caswell,  treasurer.  There  is  a  board  of  managers,  composed  of  clergymen  and 
laymen,  nineteen  in  number,  and  numerous  assistant  managers,  composed  of  ladies 
from  the  various  Episcopal  churches  of  the  city. 

f  The  officers  for  1883  were  :  Mrs.  Clarence  E.  Beebe,  president  ;  Mrs.  Mary  J. 
MeCready,  and  Mrs.  W.  W.  Hoppin,  Jr.,  vice-presidents  :  Mrs.  R.  A.  Bush,  treasurer  ; 
Miss  Emily  B.  Fabian,  corresponding  secretary  ;  and  Miss  M.  L.  Perlee,  recording  secre- 
tary. 


700 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


successive  years.  A  house  was  hired  in  Horatio  Street,  which  would 
accommodate  thirty  persons.  Under  the  original  charter  the  associa- 
tion worked  until  1878,  when  it  was  amended  and  the  name  changed 
to  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  Home  for  Aged  and  Infirm  Members. 

Very  soon  there  was  a  pressing  demand  for  an  enlargement  of  the 
Home.  Four  lots  were  given  to  the  society  by  William  Seaman,  in 
West  Forty-second  Street,  on  which  they  built  their  present  structure, 
62  by  82  feet  in  size  on  the  ground  and  four  stories  in  height.  It  is 
capable  of  accommodating  seventy-five  inmates.  It  was  dedicated  in 
April,  1857,  by  Bishop  Janes. 

Persons  of  all  conditions  belonging  to  the  Methodist  Church  may 
there  find  a  comfortable  and  agreeable  resting-place  in  old  age.  No 
entrance  fee  is  required.  The  more  needy  and  lonely  their  condition, 
the  more  readily  do  they  find  admission  to  the  Home.  When  "  life's 
fitful  fever  is  over"  their  remains  are  buried  in  Greenwood  Cemetery, 
in  a  lot  appropriated  for  the  purpose,  unless  their  friends  provide  a 
place  of  sepulture  for  them.* 

The  Baptists  also  have  an  institution  to  provide  the  aged,  infirm,  or 
destitute  members  of  the  Baptist  churches  of  New  York  City  with  a 
comfortable  residence  ;  with  board,  clothing,  skilful  medical  attend- 
ance ;  with  their  accustomed  religious  services,  and  at  their  death  with 
respectful  burial.  This  institution  was  incorporated  in  March,  1869, 
under  the  title  of  The  Baptist  Home  for  Aged  and  Infirm  Persons. 
The  names  of  the  trustees  which  appear  in  the  charter  are  :  Amanda 
F.  Hays,  Apauline  II.  Ambler,  Ann  Letitia  Murphy,  Isabella  P.  Bruce, 
Frances  M.  Newton,  Maria  Miner,  Anna  M.  Holme,  Susan  F.  Colgate, 
Mary  A.  Pettus,  Sarah  J.  Spaulding,  and  Eliza  J.  Merwin. 

The  society  was  organized  in  February,  1869,  and  in  June,  1870,  a 
temporary  home  was  opened  in  Grove  Street.  In  May,  1874,  the  in- 
mates were  removed  to  the  handsome  structure,  five  stories  in  height 
a  hove  a  high  basement,  which  stands  on  Sixty-eighth  Street,  near  Lex- 
ington Avenue.  Many  social  gatherings  have  been  held  at  the  Home, 
and  the  life  of  the  inmates  there  is  made  as  happy  as  kindness,  re- 
ligious ministrations,  and  general  contentment  can  afford,  t 

*  The  officers  of  the  Home  for  1883  were  :  Mrs.  Bishop  Harris,  president  ;  Mrs. 
Lemuel  Bangs,  vice-president  :  Mrs.  Richard  Kelly,  treasurer  ;  Mrs.  Lafayette  Olney, 
recording  secretary  ;  Mrs.  George  H.  Morrison,  corresponding  secretary. 

f  The  officers  of  the  institution  for  1882  were  :  Mrs.  D.  C.  Hays,  first  directress  ;  Mrs. 
S.  If.  Ambler,  second  directress  ;  Mrs.  William  D.  Murphy,  third  directress  ;  Mrs.  J.  M. 
Bruce,  treasurer  ;  Mrs.  T.  R.  Butler,  corresponding  secretary,  and  Mrs.  William  J.  Todd, 
recording  secretary. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850- 18G0. 


There  was  incorporated,  in  1852,  in  the  city  of  New  York  a  Roman 
Catholic  orphan  asylum!  It  was  an  institution  formed  by  the  union  of 
an  orphan  asylum  and  half-orphan  asylum  previously  existing.  The 
orphan  asylum  had  been  founded  in  1S1T  under  the  auspices  of  Bishop 
Connelly.  Its  location  was  in  Prince  Street.  The  inmates  were  in 
charge  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity.  This  and  the  Half-Orphan  Asylum 
were  consolidated  in  1852  into  one  corporation,  under  the  name  of  The 
Rom  ax  Catholic  Orphan  Asylum  for  the  City  of  New  York,  the 
corporate  power  to  be  held  by  a  board  of  managers,  twenty-five  in 
number.* 

The  building  in  Prince  Street  was  erected  in  1825.  It  occupies 
nearly  half  a  block,  and  is  four  stories  above  the  basement.  It  was 
originally  occupied  exclusively  by  girls.  Subsequently  spacious  build- 
ings of  brick  were  erected  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city  for  both  sexes. 
The  building  for  boys  occupies  a  large  portion  of  a  block  of  ground  on 
Fifth  Avenue,  between  Fifty-first  and  Fifty-second  streets.  The 
building  for  girls  occupies  a  portion  of  a  block  bounded  by  Madison 
and  Fourth  avenues  and  Fifty-first  and  Fifty-second  streets.  The 
institution  can  now  accommodate  fully  two  thousand  children  of  both 
sexes.  From  the  commencement,  in  1817,  the  Roman  Catholic  Orphan 
Asylum  has  been  supported  by  voluntary  gifts  in  various  forms,  f 

At  the  beginning  of  this  decade  a  very  important  institution  for  the 
diffusion  of  knowledge  was  founded  in  the  city  of  New  York.  It  is  a 
library  of  reference,  arranged  on  a  scale  of  munificence  in  expenditure 
for  making  it  equal  to  any  institution  of  the  kind  in  the  world. 

This  library  was  founded  by  John  Jacob  Astor,  then  the  most 
opulent  citizen  of  the  metropolis,  if  not  of  the  Republic.  On  January 
18,  1849,  it  was  incorporated  under  the  title  of  The  Trustees  of  the 
Astor  Library.  The  gentlemen  named  in  the  charter  were  : 
Washington  Irving,  William  B.  Astor,  Daniel  Lord,  James  G.  King, 
Joseph  G.  Cogswell,  Fitz-Greene  Halleck,  Samuel  B.  Ruggles,  Samuel 
Ward,  and  Charles  Astor  Bristed.    These  trustees  are  all  deceased. 

For  the  establishment  of  this  library  Mr.  Astor,  who  died  in  1S484 

*  The  first  officers  elected  under  the  new  charter  were  :  Archbishop  John  Hughes, 
president  ;  the  Eev.  John  Loughlin  and  Hugh  Sweeny,  vice-presidents  ;  I).  Carolin, 
treasurer  ;  M.  J.  O'Donnell,  secretary,  and  Louis  B.  Binsse,  assistant  secretary. 

f  The  officers  of  the  asylum  in  1882  were  :  the  Rev.  William  Quinn,  president  :  John 
C.  McCarthy,  treasurer,  and  Francis  Twomey,  secretary. 

t  John  Jacob  Astor  was  born  in  the  village  of  Waldorf,  not  far  from  Heidelberg,  Ger- 
many, in  midsummer,  1703.  His  parents  occupied  a  humble  sphere  in  life.  At  an  early 
age  he  manifested  ambition  for  travel  and  traffic.  While  yet  a  mere  stripling  he  left 
heme  and  travelled  to  London,  starting  for  a  seaport  on  foot  with  all  his  worldly  goods 


ro-2 


HISTORY  OF  ME\Y  YORK  CITY. 


bequeathed  $400,000.  The  original  building  was  completed  at  the 
close  of  1853,  and  was  opened  on  February  1,  ls:>J:,  with  80,000 
volumes,  selected  chiefly  by  Dr.  J.  G.  Cogswell,  the  first  appointed 
librarian.  William  1>.  Astor,  son  of  the  founder,  afterward  erected  an 
adjoining  building  of  the  same  dimensions  as  the  first.    The  enlarged 

in  a  bundle  banging  over  his  shoulder,  llesting  in  the  shadow  of  a  linden  tree,  he 
thought  of  his  future,  and  resolved  to  be  honest  and  industrious,  and  to  avoid  gambling. 
Upon  this  mural  basis  he  built  the  superstructure  of  his  fame  and  fortune. 

Young  Astor  left  London  for  America  in  November,  1783,  bringing  with  him  some 
merchandise  for  traffic.  He  was  then  twenty  years  of  age.  An  elder  brother,  who  had 
been  in  America  several  years,  had  written  to  him  on  the  advantages  offered  young  men 
of  enterjDri.se  in  this  country.  Obtaining  from  a  countryman  in  New  York  engaged  in 
the  furrier  business  all  necessary  information  concerning  that  pursuit,  he  invested  tbe 
proceeds  of  the  sale  of  his  merchandise  in  furs,  and  was  successful  from  the  beginning. 
His  enterprise,  guided  by  great  sagacity,  always  kept  ahead  of  his  capital,  and  year  after 
year  his  business  expanded.  He  made  regular  visits  to  Montreal,  where  he  bought  furs 
of  the  Hudson  Hay  Company  and  shipped  them  to  London.  So  soon  as  commercial 
treaties  permitted,  he  sent  furs  to  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  for  many  years  he 
carried  on  a  very  lucrative  trade  with  Canton,  China.  After  spending  many  years  as  a 
second  hand  operator,  and  having  accumulated  a  large  fortune,  he  resolved  to  do  business 
on  his  own  account.  He  traded  directly  with  the  Indians,  who  were  supplying  the 
North- WeBtern  Fur  Company  with  the  choicest  furs.  He  soon  became  the  rival  of  this 
company.  In  1809  the  Legislature  of  New  York  incorporated  the  American  Fur  Com- 
pany, with  a  capital  of  $1,000,000,  with  the  privilege  of  extending  it  to  $2,000,000.  Mr. 
Astor  was  the  president  and  director — in  a  word,  he  was  the  company  ;  the  capital  and 
management  were  his  own.  In  1811  he  bought  out  the  North -Western  Company.  With 
some  associates  he  formed  the  South- Western  Fur  Company,  and  they  controlled  the  vast 
fur  trade  in  the  middle  regions  of  America.  Mr.  Astor  conceived  a  still  greater  enter- 
prise. He  saw  the  great  possibilities  of  the  Pacific  coast  in  connection  with  the  trade  of 
the  East  Indies,  and  he  contemplated  the  control  of  that  trade.  He  resolved  to  control 
at  least  the  fur  trade  with  China.  His  plan  was  to  have  a  line  of  trading-posts  across  the 
continent  to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River,  lately  discovered,  and  ship  furs  from  that 
point  to  Asia.  He  established  a  fortified  post  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  which  was 
called  Astoria.  It  was  the  germ  of  the  State  of  Oregon.  Then  began  a  series  of  opera- 
tions on  a  scale  altogether  greater  than  any  hitherto  attempted  by  individual  enterprise. 
The  history  of  it  is  full  of  wildest  romance  ;  it  has  been  told  by  Irving  in  two  volumes. 
The  grand  scheme  soon  failed.  There  was  war  with  England.  A  British  armed 
schooner  captured  Astoria,  and  British  fur-traders  entered  upon  the  rich  field.  The 
United  States  Government  declined  to  assist  Mr.  Astor  in  recovering  his  possessions. 
His  associates  disappointed  him,  and  his  dream  of  an  empire  beyond  the  mountains, 
"  peopled  by  free  and  independent  Americans,  and  linked  to  us  by  ties  of  blood  and 
interest,"  vanished  like  the  morning  dew.    It  has  since  become  a  reality. 

After  the  failure  of  this  enterprise  Mr.  Astor  gradually  withdrew  from'  commercial  life. 
He  was  the  owner  of  much  real  estate  on  Manhattan  Island,  for  his  sagacity  foresaw  the 
growth  of  the  city  and  great  appreciation  in  the  value  of  the  land.  He  was  also  the 
holder  of  a  large  amount  of  public  stocks.  His  later  years  were  chiefly  spent  in  the 
management  of  his  large  and  rapidly  augmenting  estate,  which,  at  his  death,  in  March, 
1818,  amounted  in  value  to  several  million  dollars.  The  Astor  Library  is  his  enduring 
monument. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1830-1860. 


library  was  opened  to  the  public  September  1,  1859,  with  110,000  • 
volumes.  William  B.  Astor  died  in  ls7.">,  leaving'  a  bequest  which, 
with  former  gifts,  amounted  to  upward  of  $550,ooo.  John  Jacob 
Astor,  a  grandson  of  the  founder,  subsequently  erected  another  adjoin- 
ing building,  corresponding  in  size  and  style  with  the  others,  and  trans- 
ferred the  entrance  to  the  middle  building.  lie  also  made  extensive 
improvements  in  the  interior.  The  completed  library  was  opened  to 
the  public  in  18S1  with  nearly  200,000  volumes.  The  library  is  con- 
tinually increasing.    In  1882  the  number  of  volumes  was  over  200,000. 

The  library  buildings  have  a  frontage  on  Lafayette  Place  of  near  200 
feet,  and  are  100  feet  in  depth.  They  are  built  of  brown  freestone  and 
brick  in  the  Byzantine  style.  The  main  floor  is  about  twenty  feet 
above  the  ground  Moor,  and  is  reached  by  a  marble  staircase.  There 
are  three  communicating  halls  opened  through  a  third  floor  to  the  roof 
and  surrounded  bv  large  skvlights. 

The  books  of  the  library  are  arranged  in  alcoves  around  the  halls, 
with  room  for  300,000  volumes,  while  the  ground  floor  might  accom- 
modate 200,001)  more. 

This  library  was  previously  designed  for  students  and  literary  and 
scientific  workers.  It  is  a  reference  library  only,  and  as  such  it  is  very 
complete,  being  a  comprehensive  collection  of  the  principal  authorities 
in  every  branch  of  human  learning.  It  is  specially  rich  in  technological 
and  linguistic  subjects.  Oriental  literature,  mathematics,  and  history. 
Its  patent  department  is  very  complete,  affording,  by  means  of  several 
thousand  volumes,  information  for  mechanics  and  inventors  not  to  be 
found  elsewhere  outside  of  the  city  of  Washington. 

Strangers  are  admitted  to  the  alcoves  of  the  library  on  proper  intro- 
duction by  letter  or  personally  by  some  well-known  citizen  of  New 
York.  The  ordinary  use  of  the  library  is  free  to  all.  It  is  open  from 
ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  four  in  the  afternoon.  The  printed 
catalogue,  by  Dr.  Cogswell,  embraces  about  one  half  the  contents  of  the 
library.  A  similar  catalogue  for  the  remaining  portion  down  to  1880  is 
in  preparation.  Corresponding  to  the  first  is  a  printed  index  of  subjects, 
and  to  the  second  a  card  catalogue  of  accessions,  giving  authors  and  sub- 
jects briefly  in  one  alphabet.  At  the  same  time  the  full  title  of  the 
accession  is  entered  upon  a  large  card,  which  is  used  in  a  publication  of 
a  periodical  list  of  recent  accessions,  afterward  to  form  a  classed 
catalogue. 

The  value  of  such  a  library  may  be  estimated  by  the  use  that  is 
made  of  it.  The  number  of  persons  who  used  it  during  18S2  was 
51,856,  or  an  average  of  more  than  200  daily  while  the  library  was 


704 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


open.  The  topic  which  attracted  the  larger  number  of  alcove  readers 
was  political  economy.  The  number  was  4380.  United  States  history 
had  the  next  highest  number— 668,  and  theology  received  attention 
from  the  next  highest  number— 369.  The  total  of  alcove  readers  was 
7915. 

The  endowment  of  the  library  at  the  close  of  I8s2  was  $1,167,600. 
The  first  president  of  the  association  was  Washington  Irving,  and  the 
first  superintendent  was  Joseph  G.  Cogswell,  LL.D.,*  who  selected 
and  purchased  the  original  collection  of  80,000  volumes,  classified  and 
arranged  them,  and  prepared  a  catalogue  in  five  volumes,  f 

It  was  not  long  after  the  opening  of  the  Astor  Library  to  the  public, 
with  its  wealth  of  scientific  works,  when  a  publishing  house  of  books 
on  science  exclusively  was  established  in  the  city  of  New  York  by 
David  Van  Nostrand,  an  enterprising  business  man  of  middle  age  and 
solid  attainments,  who  had  experience  in  the  business  of  bookselling. 
The  publication  of  such  works  as  a  specialty  had  never  before  been 
undertaken  in  our  country.  The  business  has  grown  from  its  infancy, 
less  than  thirty  years  ago,  into  a  colossal  establishment. 

*  Joseph  Green  Cogswell,  LL.D.,  was  born  in  Ipswich,  Mass.,  September  27,  1782,  and 
died  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  in  November,  1871.  He  was  graduated  at  Harvard  University 
in  180G,  and  then  went  to  the  East  Indies  in  a  merchant  ship  as  supercargo.  On  his 
return  he  studied  law  witli  Fisher  Ames,  and  began  its  practice  in  Belfast,  Maine,  where 
he  married  a  daughter  of  Governor  Oilman,  of  New  Hampshire,  who  lived  but  a  few 
years.  In  1814  he  accepted  the  position  of  tutor  at  Cambridge,  and  two  years  later  went 
to  Europe  and  studied  at  the  University  of  Gdttingen  and  other  German  seminaries, 
with  his  friends  Edward  Everett  and  George  Ticknor.  On  his  return  in  1820  he  was 
made  professor  of  mineralogy  and  geology  in  Harvard  College,  and  its  librarian.  In  1823 
he  and  George  Bancroft  established  the  famous  Round  Hill  School  at  Northampton, 
Mass.  He  was  afterward  at  the  head  of  a  similar  school  in  North  Carolina,  but  before 
1839  he  settled  in  New  York,  when  he  became  editor  of  the  New  York  BeUiew.  He  was 
introduced  to  John  Jacob  Astor  by  Fitz-Greene  Halleck,  and  became  his  principal  adviser 
in  the  development  of  a  project  for  establishing  a  great  public  library  in  the  city. 
Indeed  it  was  Mr.  Cogswell  who  suggested  it  to  Mr.  Astor.  He  was  appointed  one  of  its 
trustees,  and  was  designated  by  them  as  superintendent  of  the  library.  He  made  three 
visits  to  Europe  in  collecting  the  books  for  it  before  it  was  opened,  and  he  presented 
his  own  bibliographical  collection  to  that  institution.  It  was  one  of  the  largest  and  most 
valuable  in  this  country.  In  1803  Harvard  University  conferred  on  him  the  honorary 
degree  of  LL.D. 

During  his  connection  with  the  Astor  Library  Dr.  Cogswell  prepared  a  valuable  alpha- 
betical and  analytical  catalogue  of  its  contents.  He  retired  from  his  position  at  the 
library  in  18G0,  and  two  years  later  made  his  permanent  abode  at  Cambridge,  where  he 
died,  at  the  age  of  eighty- five  years. 

f  The  president  in  1882  was  Alexander  Hamilton,  the  secretary  was  Henry  Drisler, 
LL.D.  ;  the  treasurer,  John  Jacob  Astor  ;  the  superintendent,  Bobbins  Little  ;  and  the 
librarian,  Frederick  Saunders. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


705 


Probably  no  publisher  has  a  wider  correspondence  than  Mr.  Van 
Nostrand,  for  his  publications  find  ready  acceptance  all  over  the  civil- 
ized world — -North  and  South  America,  Europe,  Australia,  China, 
Japan,  and  the  Sandwich  Islands.  They  comprise  thorough  treatises, 
many  of  them  fully  illustrated,  on  architecture,  carpentry,  building, 
astronomy,  navigation,  shipbuilding,  meteorology,  brewing,  distilling, 
wine-making,  chemistry,  physics,  philosophy,  coal,  coal  oil,  gas,  draw- 
ing, painting,  photography,  electricity,  electric  telegraph,  engineering, 
machinery,  mechanics,  geology,  mineralogy,  mining,  metallurgy,  hy- 
draulics, hydrostatics,  iron,  steel,  hfe  insurance,  mathematics — indeed, 
almost  every  specialty  in  science  and  art. 

Mr.  Van  Nostrand  carries  on  an  extensive  trade  in  foreign  scientific 
publications  and  the  issues  of  other  American  publishers.  His  priced 
catalogue  for  18S3  contains  the  works  of  no  less  than  1140  authors, 
some  of  them  of  the  highest  character  and  most  costly  in  production. 
One  of  these  is  Jomini's  "  Life  of  Napoleon,"  in  which  all  his  battles 
are  profusely  illustrated  with  maps  and  plans  which  appeared  in  the 
original.  * 

*  Mr.  Van  Nostrand  is  a  native  of  the  city  of  New  York,  where  he  was  born  in  1811. 
At  the  age  of  about  fifteen  years  he  entered  the  bookstore  of  John  P.  Haven,  on  the 
corner  of  Broadway  and  John  Street,  New  York,  as  a  clerk.  With  him  young  Van 
Nostrand  remained  as  clerk  and  partner  about  eight  years,  when  with  William  K.  Dwight 
he  opened  a  bookstore  on  his  own  account,  and  did  a  successful  business  for  several 
years. 

In  1837  Mr.  Van  Nostrand  became  associated  with  General  Barnard  as  an  employe  in 
his  office.  That  officer  was  then  directing  the  construction  of  fortifications  at  New 
Orleans,  and  having  a  strong  proclivity  toward  scientific  studies,  Mr.  Van  Nostrand 
profited  by  the  opportunity  then  afforded  him.  For  about  twelve  years  he  was  not 
directly  connected  with  bookselling.  Having  acquired  a  fondness  for  military  science, 
he  gradually  fell  into  the  business  of  importing  foreign  military  scientific  works  for 
United  States  officers,  who  availed  themselves  of  his  former  experience  as  a  bookseller. 
His  orders  steadily  increased  until  he  unexpectedly  found  an  excellent  trade  in  his  hands. 
Very  soon  the  United  States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point  and  other  military  institu- 
tions gave  him  their  orders,  until  finally,  early  in  this  decade,  he  settled  down  to  the 
business  of  a  regular  dealer  in  scientific  books,  in  a  store  which  he  hired  on  the  corner 
of  Broadway  and  John  Street,  exactly  opposite  the  place  where  he  began  his  apprentice- 
ship at  bookselling.  His  store  became  the  favorite  resort  of  military  men  as  well  as  all 
lovers  of  science  in  general. 

It  was  not  long  before  Mr.  Van  Nostrand  ventured  to  attempt  the  publication  of  scien- 
tific works  of  various  kinds,  and  from  that  time  (about  1856)  until  now  (1883)  he  has 
pursued  that  business  with  persistent,  untiring,  judicious,  conscientious,  and  successful 
labor,  until  he  presents  an  establishment  which  is  the  admiration  of  the  scientific  world. 

This,  in  brief,  is  the  genesis  of  a  new  business  introduced  into  New  York.  Mr.  Van 
Nostrand  occupies  two  stories  (the  second  and  fifth)  of  a  building  at  No.  23  Murray 
Street.    His  commodious  quarters  extend  from  Murray  Street  through  to  Warren  Street. 


700 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


A  new  business  was  introduced  into  New  York  at  about  1813,  pre- 
vious to  this  decade,  which  lias  grown  to  colossal  proportions.  When 
the  national  postage  system  Avas  changed  by  the  inauguration  of  cheap 
postage  and  the  use  of  postage-stamps  on  envelopes,  the  manufacture 
of  the  latter  soon  became  an  extensive  business. 

Among  the  earlier  and  most  successful  of  the  envelope-makers  in  this 
country  was  Samuel  Kaynor,  now  of  Xos.  115  and  117  William  Street, 
New  York,  where  he  and  partners  occupy  buildings  six  stories  in 
height  and  extending  through  to  John  Street,  for  the  prosecution  of 
their  business.  They  have  six  machines  for  cutting  paper  into  proper 
size  and  shape,  which  turn  out  three  hundred  to  five  hundred  envelopes 
at  a  time,  according  to  the  thickness  of  the  paper  used.  They  also 
have  thirty  machines  of  the  Kaynor  pattern,  which  are  automatic  in  the 
folding  and  gumming  process,  and  are  capable  of  turning  out  30,000 
envelopes  ready  for  use  in  a.  day. 

The  house  of  Samuel  Kaynor  &  Co.  makes  700  different  styles  of 
envelopes.  Their  consumption  of  paper  in  1882  was  23,325  reams. 
In  that  year  the  product  of  the  establishment  amounted  to  200,000,000 
envelopes.  They  employ  two  hundred  persons,  of  whom  one  hundred 
and  fifty  are  females.* 

So  costly  and  extensive  are  his  technical  works  that  he  is  obliged  to  carry  (to  use  a  com- 
mercial phrase)  fully  $100,000  worth  at  a  time. 

Mr.  Van  Nostrand  is  one  of  the  oldest  members  of  the  Union  League  Club,  of  which  he 
was  an  officer  for  more  than  seven  years  ;  an  old  member  of  the  Century  Club,  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  St.  Nicholas  Club,  and  a  member  of  the  St.  Nicholas  Society,  the 
New  York  Historical  Society,  and  many  other  societies  and  organizations. 

*  Samuel  Kaynor  is  a  native  of  Hempstead,  L.  I.,  where  he  was  born  in  August,  1810, 
the  son  of  a  farmer.  When  he  was  less  than  thirteen  years  of  age  he  followed  his  older 
brothers  to  the  city  of  New  York  and  became  a  clerk  in  a  dry-goods  store  in  the  Bowery. 
He  afterward  became  a  clerk  in  Caleb  Bartlett's  bookstore,  and  was  a  partner  in  the 
concern  with  Bartlett's  brother  in  1832,  under  the  firm  name  of  R.  Bartlett  <£  S.  Raynor. 
The  firm  was  changed  by  circumstances  in  time,  and  at  the  end  of  twenty-nine  years' 
service  in  the  book  business,  Mr.  Raynor  abandoned  it  and  became  half  owner  of  an 
envelope  manufactory  in  185G.  In  1858  he  engaged  in  that  business  alone,  opposite  his 
present  location  in  William  Street. 

Mr.  Raynor  soon  perceived  that  the  demand  for  envelopes  would  require  greater 
facilities  for  their  production  than  were  then  known  to  supply  the  demand.  At  that 
time  one  expert  girl  could  fold  by  hand  about  4000  envelopes  a  day.  He  introduced 
machinery  that  enabled  the  same  girl  to  fold  25,000  envelopes  a  day.  The  house 
with  which  Mr.  Raynor  had  been  connected,  though  one  of  the  three  principal  houses 
in  the  trade,  could  turn  out  only  about  200,000  envelopes  a  day  ;  his  house  now 
produces  over  700,000  envelopes  a  day.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are  10,000,000  of 
various  kinds  of  envelopes  used  in  the  United  States  each  day,  or  about  3,000,000,000 
a  year.  They  are  not  only  used  for  letters,  circulars,  and  mailable  matter  generally, 
but  also  by  shopkeepers  of  every  kind — druggists,  dealers  in  fancy  articles,  and  other 


THIRD  DECADE,  ISoO-lSfiO 


707 


There  were  other  industries,  hitherto  unknown  or  of  feehle  growth, 
which  sprung  up  in  Xew  York  during  this  decade,  and  there  were  old 
industries  which  were  animated  with  new  life  and  energy  and  rapidly 
expanded  into  enormous  proportions  at  this  period  of  reawakening 
business.  Among  the  latter  may  he  mentioned,  as  an  illustration,  the 
J.  L.  Mott  Iron  Works,  situated  beyond  the  Harlem  River,  the  busi- 
ness of  which  it  is  the  successor  has  so  enormously  increased  since  the 
organization  of  the  company,  in  1853,  that  it  is  far  in  advance  of  any 
rival  in  the  world  in  the  production  of  its  peculiar  wares.  This  estab- 
lishment was  founded  by  the  late  Jordan  L.  Mott,*  an  eminent 

business.  There  are  millions  of  small  envelopes  made  yearly  for  omnibus  ami  street- 
railway  tickets. 

In  18G5  Mr.  Raynor  associated  with  him  in  business  his  son  and  his  chief  clerk,  and 
the  nest  year  they  removed  to  their  present  more  spacious  quarters. 

*  Jordan  L.  Mott  was  born  in  New  York  City  in  the  year  1798.  He  was  of  English 
lineage.  The  ancestors  of  both  parents  landed  in  America  almost  simultaneously.  His 
paternal  ancestor  arrived  at  Boston  in  163(5,  and  his  maternal  ancestor  arrived  in  America 
in  1635,  probably  at  New  Amsterdam.  The  former  settled  at  Hempstead,  I*  I.,  in  1665, 
the  latter  settled  immediately  at  Flushing,  and  was  one  of  the  patentees  of  Flushing 
Manor.  Both  were  commissioners  appointed  to  determine  the  boundary  between  New 
England  and  New  Amsterdam,  one  on  the  side  of  the  Dutch  and  the  other  on  the  side  of 
*he  English. 

The  subject  of  our  sketch  was  too  delicate  in  health,  in  his  youth,  to  permit  his  close 
application  to  study  or  business.  The  ample  fortune  of  his  father  rendered  application 
to  business  unnecessary,  and  he  grew  toward  young  manhood  without  any  association  or 
preparation  for  one.  The  financial  revulsion  of  1818  swept  away  the  fortune  of  his 
father,  and  he  found  himself  obliged  to  rely  upon  his  own  exertions  in  the  battle  of  life. 
His  inventive  genius,  which  had  been  early  manifested,  was  stimulated  by  this  circum- 
stance, and  many  useful  inventions  were  the  fruit  of  the  exercise  of  it. 

In  1820  Mr.  Mott  began  the  business  of  a  grocer,  and  continued  it  a  few  years.  At 
about  that  time  anthracite  began  to  be  generally  used  for  fuel  in  open  grates,  while  the 
smaller  size — "  chestnut  coal  " — was  cast  aside  as  useless.  Mr.  Mott's  inventive  genius 
set  to  work,  and  after  many  experiments  he  produced  the  first  codking-siove  in  which 
anthracite  was  used  as  fuel.  The  castings  were  made  at  a  blast  furnace  in  Pennsylvania, 
rough  and  heavy.  Mr.  Mott  erected  a  cupola  furnace,  and  made  his  stove  castings  from 
melted  iron,  smooth  and  beautiful  ;  and  from  that  time  the  cupola  furnace  has  been  in 
general  use  in  the  manufacture  of  stoves.  Mott's  cooking-stoves  became  very  popular, 
and  then  was  laid  the  foundation  of  the  prosperous  business  now  carried  on  by  the 
J.  L.  Mott  Iron  Works.  In  1831)  Mr.  Mott  erected  a  foundry  in  the  rear  of  his  warehouse 
in  Water  Street,  and  in  1841  he  built  another  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  J.  L. 
Mott  Iron  Works.  This  establishment  was  twice  destroyed  by  fire,  but  immediately 
rebuilt.  While  the  fire  was  raging  (the  last  time)  Mr.  Mott  contracted  for  the  rebuilding 
of  the  foundry,  and  before  the  flames  were  extinguished  mechanics  were  at  work  pre- 
paring for  building  the  new  edifice.  In  nineteen  days  the  works  were  again  in  full 
operation. 

Mr.  Mott  devoted  much  attention  to  the  reformation  and  perfecting  of  the  patent 
laws.    President  Buchanan  offered  him  the  position  of  Commissioner  of  Patents,  but, 


708 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOBS  CITY. 


American  inventor,  whose  cooking-stoves  and  ranges  were  unrivalled 
in  popularity  and  excellence  for  many  years.  He  had  heen  successful 
in  the  manufacture  of  stoves,  when,  early  in  this  decade,  he  formed  the 
company  known  as  the  J.  L.  Mott  Iron  Works,  and  withdrew  from 
active  participation  in  the  business,  of  which  his  son,  Jordan  L.  Mott, 
Jr.,  is  now  the  head.  The  special  products  of  this  establishment  are 
stoves  and  ranges,  hot-air  furnaces,  parlor  grates  and  fenders,  fire 
irons,  caldrons  and  kettles,  statuary,  candelabra,  fountains,  garden 
seats,  vases,  iron  pipes  of  every  kind,  water  tanks,  etc. 

A  notable  event  of  national  importance,  at  the  same  time  having  a 
special  bearing  upon  the  commercial  interests  of  the  cit}r  of  New  York, 
occurred  during  the  latter  part  of  this  decade.  It  was  the  opening  of 
commercial  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  the  Empire  of 
Japan,  which  had  hitherto  been  denied.  This  had  been  effected 
through  the  peaceful  instrumentalities  of  diplomacy. 

In  1853  President  Fillmore  sent  Commodore  M.  0.  Perry,  with  seven 
ships  of  Avar,  to  convey  a  letter  from  our  chief  magistrate  to  the  ruler 
of  Japan,  asking  him  to  open  his  ports  to  American  commerce  and  to 
make  a  treaty  of  mutual  friendship.  The  request  was  complied  with 
at  the  end  of  eight  months'  deliberation.  Commodore  Perry  negoti- 
ated a  treaty,  and  in  L860  a  large  embassy  from  Japan  came  to 
America.  That  embassy  reached  Washington  by  way  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, and  at  the  middle  of  June,  1860,  they  became  guests  of  the  city 
of  New  York  for  a  few  days.  They  landed  at  Castle  Garden,  and  were 
escorted  by  the  Seventh  Regiment  National  Guard  to  the  Metropolitan 
Hotel,  where  preparations  had  been  made  for  their  reception.  A 
grand  ball  was  given  in  their  honor  at  Niblo's  Theatre,  and  after  visit- 
ing the  leading  institutions  in  the  city  they  left  on  July  1st.  At  about 
that  time  the  Prince  de  Joinville,  a  son  of  ex-King  Louis  Philippe,  of 

true  to  his  determination  not  to  accept  public  employment  of  any  kind,  he  declined. 
With  great  sagacity  he  foresaw  the  rapid  growth  of  the  city  toward  the  Harlem  River, 
and  he  bought  a  large  tract  of  land  upon  which  his  iron  works  and  the  village  of  Mott 
Haven  (so  named  in  his  honor)  were  subsequently  erected.  He  was  one  of  three  trustees 
of  a  building  association  who  were  appointed  in  1850  to  purchase  the  land  and  lay  out 
the  village  of  Morrisania,  in  Westchester  County,  adjoining  the  Harlem  lliver.  The 
population  of  that  region  then  did  not  exceed  1000.  now  (1883)  the  population  is  over 
40,000.  and  lioth  villages  are  included  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

Mr.  Mott  was  a  most  energetic,  enterprising,  judicious,  and  successful  business  man. 
Courteous  and  kind  in  manners,  affectionate  in  disposition,  generous  in  his  sympathies, 
and  public  spirited,  he  was  ever  ready  to  lend  his  genius  and  his  fortune  to  promote  the 
well-being  of  society  and  the  honor  and  prosperity  of  his  native  city.  He  died  at  his 
residence  in  New  York  on  May  8,  I860. 


THIRD  DECADE,  1850-1860. 


709 


France,  visited  New  York  ;  also  Lady  Franklin,  the  wife  of  the  lost 
arctic  explorer,  Sir  John  Franklin,  intent  upon  her  fruitless  quest. 

The  Japanese  had  scarcely  departed  when  the  largest  steamship  ever 
built — the  Great  Eastern — entered  the  harbor  of  New  York,  and  was 
soon  followed  by  a  more  notable  visitor — notable  in  social  rank — than 
had  ever  before  been  seen  in  New  York.  That  visitor  was  the  Prince 
of  "Wales,  who  was  received  with  honors  and  most  hospitably  enter- 
tained because  he  was  the  son  of  a  noble  mother,  the  exemplary  ruler 
of  a  mighty  kingdom,  Queen  Victoria  of  England. 

The  Prince  of  AVales  landed  at  Castle  Garden  early  in  October.  He 
was  received  by  a  military  escort  7000  strong,  and  conducted  to  the 
City  Hall,  where  a  reception  by  the  municipal  authorities  awaited  him. 
Thence  up  Broadway  to  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  he  was  greeted  by 
nearly  200,000  citizens,  who  filled  the  sidewalks.  The  street  was  gayly 
decorated  with  American  and  British  flags  in  combination.  A  grand 
complimentary  ball  was  given  him  at  the  Academy  of  Music,  and  the 
largest  firemen's  torchlight  procession  ever  seen  in  the  city  paraded 
in  his  honor. 

The  Prince  of  Wales  left  New  York  just  before  a  notable  national 
election  took  place,  the  result  of  which  was  used  by  disloyal  politicians 
as  a  pretext  for  plunging  our  country  into  a  most  frightful  civil  war. 
That  war  was  prolonged  and  intensified  by  the  shameful  conduct  of  the 
British  Government  and  the  British  aristocracy  toward  the  loyal 
Americans  who  were  struggling  to  defend  the  Republic  against  the 
deadly  blows  of  assassins.  In  that  conduct  the  good  queen  had  not 
participated  ;  she  lamented  it. 


FOURTH   DECADE,  1860-1870. 


CHAPTER  I. 


AT  the  beginning  of  the  Fourth  Decade  (1860-1870)  the  city  of  New 
York  was  fairly  entitled  to  the  distinction  of  being  the  commer- 
cial metropolis  of  the  nation.  The  city  was  then  quite  compactly  built 
from  river  to  river  as  far  north  as  the  distributing  reservoir  in  the 
centre,  and  was  rapidly  extending  toward  the  Harlem  River.  Its 
population  was  then  a  little  more  than  800,000,  an  increase  of  nearly 
176,000  in  five  years.  The  foreign  commerce  of  the  district,  exports 
and  imports,  amounted  in  value,  in  18(50,  to  about  $873,000,000,  an 
increase  of  $50,000,000  in  five  years.  Its  manufactures  of  almost 
every  kind  had  so  rapidly  increased  in  variety  and  extent  that  it  was 
approaching  a  position  as  the  largest  manufacturing  city  of  the 
Republic. 

New  York  was  then  thoroughly  cosmopolitan  in  the  composition  of 
its  population,  nationalities  of  antipodes  meeting  and  commingling 
there.  It  had  a  twofold  aspect — one  political,  the  other  civil.  Active 
politicians  of  every  hue  moulded  the  features  of  the  former,  earnest 
patriotism  moulded  the  features  of  the  latter.  Politically  the  poli- 
ticians ruled  the  whole.  New  York  was  then  a  decided  commercial 
city,  and  commerce  fashioned  its  policies  to  a  great  extent.  The  best 
condition  for  commerce  is  peace,  and  the  first  storm-clouds  of  civil  war 
were  gathering.  New  York,  by  a  large  majority  of  its  business  men, 
was  ready  to  make  enormous  sacrifices  of  sentiment  for  the  sake  of 
peace. 

We  now  enter  upon  a  most  interesting  period  in  the  political  and 
civil  history  of  the  city — the  decade  in  which  civil  war  convulsed  the 
nation,  and  great  social,  financial,  and  economical  changes  were 
wrought  in  the  Republic. 

The  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  Presidency  in  the  autumn 
of  1860  was  the  signal  for  insurrectionary  movements  in  several  of  the 
slaveholding  States.  The  politicians  in  seven  of  them  met  in  conven- 
tion and  declared  their  several  States  withdrawn  from  the  Union — 
seceded.  At  the  close  of  1860  insurgents  in  Charleston  Harbor  inaugu- 
rated civil  war  by  firing  on  a  national  vessel  entering  their  waters  with 
supplies  for  the  garrison  of  Fort  Sumter. 


714 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  citizens  of  New  York  had  watched  the  approaching  tempest  as  it 
gathered  energy,  with  mingled  incredulity  and  uneasiness.  Now  they 
perceived  with  alarm  that  a  fearful  crisis  was  at  hand.  They  anx- 
iously ohserved  the  evident  timidity  of  the  National  Government  in 
this  hour  of  peril  with  gloomy  forebodings.  Every  loyal  soul  in  the 
land  was  disturbed  by  doubts  concerning  the  future  of  the  Republic. 
Treason  was  rampant  and  defiant  at  the  national  capital.  Sappers  and 
miners,  secret  and  open,  were  working  for  the  destruction  of  the  great 
temple  of  liberty  in  the  West — the  only  sure  refuge  for  the  lovers  of 
freedom  everywhere.  At  that  moment  the  ringing  voice  of  General 
Dix,  a  New  Yorker,  and  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  gave  hope 
and  joy  and  strength  to  every  depressed  mind  and  fainting  heart, 
saying  to  an  officer  in  the  revenue  service  at  New  Orleans,  "  If  any 
one  attempts  to  haul  down  the  United  States  flag,  shoot  him  on  the 
spot  !"    That  utterance  was  a  sure  prophecy  of  salvation.* 

*  John  Adams  Dix  was  born  at  Boscawen,  N.  H.,  July  24,  1708,  and  died  in  New  York 
April  21,  187!).  He  was  educated  at  Exeter  Academy,  N.  H.,  at  a  college  in  Montreal, 
and  while  his  father,  an  officer  of  the  army,  was  stationed  at  Fort  McHenry,  Baltimore,  he 
pursued  his  studies  at  St.  Mary's  College.  He  entered  the  army  as  a  cadet  in  1812,  and 
was  appointed  an  ensign  in  181:5.  He  was  soon  promoted,  and  made  adjutant  of  an 
independent  battalion  of  nine  companies.  After  the  war  he  remained  in  the  army,  and 
in  1825  was  commissioned  captain.  In  1828  he  left  the  military  service.  His  father 
died,  November  14,  1813,  of  inflammation  of  the  lungs,  at  French  Mills,  on  the 
Salmon  River,  on  the  frontier  of  Canada,  while  with  his  regiment,  the  Fom-teenth 
U.  S.  Infantry,  of  which  he  was  lieutenant-colonel,  the  regiment  being  then  in  winter 
quarters.  Upon  his  father's  death  the  care  of  the  family  and  the  paternal  estate  de- 
volved on  him. 

While  in  the  army  Captain  Dix  had  studied  law.  His  health  became  impaired,  and  ho 
visited  Europe  for  its  recovery.  On  his  return  he  settled  in  Cooperstown,  N.  Y.,asa 
practising  lawyer,  and  soon  became  warmly  engaged  in  politics.  Governor  Throop 
appointed  him  adjutant  of  the  State  in  1830,  and  in  1833  he  was  appointed  Secretary  of 
State  of  New  York.  That  office  made  him  an  <x-<iffu-U>  member  of  the  board  of  regents  of 
the  State,  in  which  capacity  he  rendered  efficient  service.  It  was  chiefly  through  his 
exertions  that  public  libraries  were  introduced  into  the  school  districts  of  the  State,  and 
the  school  laws  systematized.  In  1842  he  was  a  member  of  the  State  Assembly,  and  from 
1845  to  1849  he  was  a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate.  In  the  discussion  of  the 
subjects  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  and  of  slavery  he  was  an  exponent  of  the  views  of 
the  Free-Soil  party,  and  became  its  candidate  for  governor  in  1848.  In  1859  he  was 
appointed  postmaster  of  the  city  of  New  York. 

When,  early  in  1801,  Buchanan's  Cabinet  was  dissolved,  General  Dix  was  called  to  fill 
the  office  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  In  that  capacity  he  issued  the  famous  order 
above  alluded  to.  In  May  following  he  was  commissioned  major  general  of  volunteers, 
ne  was  in  command  first  at  Baltimore,  then  at  Fortress  Monroe,  and  then  in  the 
Virginia  Peninsula.  In  September,  18G2,  he  was  placed  in  command  of  the  Seventh 
Army  Corps.  He  also  was  chosen  president  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railway.  In  18(!(>  he 
was  appointed  minister  at  the  French  Court,  which  position  he  filled  until  1869.  In 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1370. 


715 


At  that  time  Fernando  Wood  was  again  mayor  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  elected  by  the  Democratic  party.  lie  sympathized  with  the 
secessionists.  In  a  message  which  he  sent  to  the  common  council  on 
January  7,  18(51,  he  virtually  recommended  the  secession  of  the  city  of 
New  York  from  the  rest  of  the  State  and  the  establishment  of  an 
independent  sovereignty  of  its  own.* 

The  mayor,  having  made  tne  revolutionary  suggestions  mentioned  in 
the  note  below,  seems  to  have  been  startled  by  his  own  treasonable 
words,  for  he  immediately  added  :  "  Yet  I  am  not  pi*e pared  to  recom- 
mend the  violence  implied  in  these  views."  The  common  council,  in 
sympathy  with  the  mayor,  ordered  three  thousand  copies  of  this 
message  to  be  printed  in  pamphlet  form  for  free  circulation  among  the 
people. 

The  loyal  citizens  of  New  York  condemned  this  revolutionary 
movement  with  severity  of  utterance  and  by  patriotic  deeds.  Four 
days  afterward  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  by  a  series  of  resolutions, 
tendered  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  "  whatever  aid  in  men 
and  money  might  be  required  to  enable  him  to  enforce  the  laws  and 
uphold  the  authority  of  the  National  Government."  A  few  days  later 
General  Sandford  offered  the  services  of  the  whole  First  Division  of 
the  militia  of  the  State  of  New  York  (in  the  city)  in  support  of  the 
government. 

The  seditious  suggestions  of  the  mayor  and  the  patriotic  action  of 
the  Legislature  alarmed  the  commercial  classes,  and  large  capitalists 
hastened  to  seek  some  method  for  pacifying  the  Southern  insurgents. 
Without  such  pacification  war  seemed  inevitable.    Such  a  calamity 

1872  he  was  elected  governor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  at  the  end  of  two  years  of 
service  in  that  office  lie  retired  to  private  life. 

General  Dix  was  a  fine  classical  scholar,  as  several  translations  by  him  testify.  In 
1883  a  most  interesting  biography  of  him  was  published  in  two  volumes,  prepared  by  his 
son,  the  Rev.  Morgan  Dix,  D.D.,  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York. 

*  "  Why  should  not  New  York  City,"  he  asked,  "  instead  of  supporting  by  her  contri- 
butions in  revenues  two  thirds  of  the  expenses  of  the  United  States,  become  also  equal- 
ly independent?  As  a  free  city,  with  but  a  nominal  duty  on  imports,  her  local  govern- 
ment could  be  supported  without  taxation  upon  her  people.  Thus  we  could  live  free 
from  taxes,  and  have  cheap  goods,  nearly  duty  free.  In  this  we  should  have  the  whole 
and  united  support  of  the  Southern  States  as  well  as  of  all  other  States  to  whose  interests 
and  rights  under  the  Constitution  she  has  always  been  true.  .  .  .  When  disunion  has 
become  a  fixed  and  certain  fact,  why  may  not  New  York  disrupt  the  bands  which  bind 
her  to  a  venal  and  corrupt  master— to  a  people  and  a  party  that  have  plundered  her 
revenues,  attempted  to  ruin  her  commerce,  taken  away  the  power  of  self-government, 
and  destroyed  the  confederacy  of  which  she  was  the  proud  empire  city  .  .  .  New  York 
as  a  free  city  may  shed  the  only  light  and  hope  for  a  future  reconciliation  of  our  beloved 
confederacy." 


716 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOKK  CITY. 


would  make  the  bills  receivable  of  Southern  debtors  as  worthless  as 
soiled  blank  paper  to  New  York  merchants,  tbeir  creditors,  and  the 
losses  to  the  latter  might  be  counted  by  millions  of  dollars.  This 
material  consideration,  with  an  intense  desire  for  peace,  caused  a  quick 
movement  among  business  men  in  favor  of  every  concession  to  the 
insurgents  consistent  with  honor.  A  memorial  in  favor  of  compromise 
measures,  largely  signed  by  merchants,  manufacturers,  and  capital- 
ists, was  sent  to  Congress  on  .January  12,  l*til,  and  suggested  the 
famous  Crittenden  Compromise.  On  the  18th  a  large  meeting  was 
held  in  the  rooms  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  when  a  memorial  of 
similar  import  was  adopted,  and  this  was  taken  to  Washington  early 
in  February,  with  40,000  names  attached.  On  the  28th  an  immense 
meeting  of  citizens  at  the  Cooper  Union  appointed  three  commis- 
sioners— James  T.  Brady,  C.  K.  Garrison,  and  Appleton  Oakes  Smith 
— to  confer  with  the  "delegates  of  the  people"  of  six  seceded  States 
in  convention  assembled  in  regard  to  "  the  best  measures  calculated 
to  restore  the  peace  and  integrity  of  the  Union." 

Meanwhile  the  pro-slavery  element  in  New  York  had  been  aroused 
into  active  sympathy  with  the  insurgent  slaveholders.  An  association 
was  speedily  formed,  styled  the  American  Society  for  the  Promotion 
of  National  Union,  with  Professor  S.  F.  P>.  Morse  as  president.  Its 
avowed  objects  were  "  to  promote  the  union  and  welfare  of  our 
common  country,  by  addresses,  publications,  and  all  other  suitable 
means  adapted  to  elucidate  and  inculcate,  in  accordance  with  the  Word 
of  God,  the  duties  of  American  citizens,  especially  in  relation  to 
slavery."  * 

The  city  of  New  York  was  like  a  seething  caldron  for  some  weeks. 
It  was  determined  by  loyal  citizens  to  stop  the  exportation  of  arms  to 
Southern  insurgents,  which  had  been  begun.  On  January  22d  (1861) 
the  Metropolitan  Police,  under  the  direction  of  its  efficient  chief,  John 
A.  Kennedy,  seized  nearly  forty  boxes  of  arms  consigned  to  the  insur- 

*  In  its  programme  this  society  denounced  the  seminal  doctrine  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  that  "  (ill  men  are  created  equal,"  and  said  :  "  Our  attention  will  not  be 
confined  to  slavery,  but  this  will  be,  at  present,  our  main  topic.  Four  millions  of  im- 
mortal beings,  incapable  of  self-care,  and  indisposed  to  industry  and  foresight,  are  prov- 
identially committed  to  the  hands  of  our  Southern  friends.  This  stupendous  trust  they 
cannot  put  from  them,  if  they  would.  Emancipation,  were  it  possible,  would  be  rebel- 
lion against  Providence,  and  destruction  to  the  colored  race  in  our  land." 

How  strangely  mediaeval  such  utterances  appear  in  the  light  of  history  to-day,  less  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century  since  they  were  put  forth.  This  New  York  societ}'  was  the  germ 
and  the  powerful  coadjutor  of  the  peace  faction  which  played  such  a  conspicuous  part 
during  the  last  three  years  of  the  Civil  War. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


717 


gents  in  the  States  of  Georgia  and  Alabama,  which  had  been  placed 
on  board  a  vessel  bound  for  Savannah.  The  fact  was  telegraphed  to 
the  governor  of  Georgia  at  Mi  hedge ville.  Robert  Toombs,  a  private 
citizen,  took  the  matter  into  his  own  hands,  and  in  an  insolent  manner 
demanded  of  Mayor  "Wood  an  immediate  answer  to  his  question, 
whether  such  a  seizure  had  been  made.  The  mayor  obsequiously 
obeyed,  saying,  "  Yes,"  but  '*  I  have  no  authority  over  the  police.  If 
I  had  the  power  I  should  summarily  punish  the  authors  of  this  illegal 
and  unjustifiable  seizure  of  private  property."  Retaliatory  measures 
were  adopted,  and  there  was  much  excitement  for  a  while. 

The  insurrection  spread  in  the  slave-labor  States,  and  in  February 
delegates  from  the  seceded  States  met  in  convention  at  Montgomery, 
Alabama,  formed  a  provisional  government,  adopted  a  provisional  con- 
stitution, chose  Jefferson  Davis  President  and  Alexander  H.  Stephens 
Vice-President  of  the  "Confederate  States  of  America,"'  adopted  a 
flag  for  the  new  "  nation,*'  raised  armies,  commissioned  privateers, 
proceeded  to  make  war  against  the  United  States  on  land  and  sea,  and 
endeavored  to  seize  the  seat  of  the  National  Government.  In  April 
South  Carolina  insurgents  assailed  Fort  Sumter,  in  Charleston  Har- 
bor, with  200  cannon,  causing  its  evacuation  and  its  possession  by 
rebels  in  arms.  "  This  act  ended  the  long  forbearance  of  the  National 
Government,  and  in  the  middle  of  April  President  Lincoln  called  upon 
the  several  States  to  furnish  an  a^frregcite  of  75,000  militia  to  serve1  for 

DO        O  ' 

three  months  in  suppressing  the  rebellion.  A  terrible  civil  war,  in  the 
burdens  of  which  the  city  of  New  York  most  generously  participated, 
was  then  begun  in  earnest,  and  lasted  four  years. 

The  attack  on  Fort  Sumter  and  the  call  of  the  President  produced 
a  marvellous  uprising  of  the  loyal  people  in  the  free-labor  States.  The 
response  to  the  President's  proclamation  was  prompt  and  magnani- 
mous. Xew  York  State  was  called  upon  to  furnish  13,000  men  for  the 
military  service  ;  the  Legislature  authorized  the  enlistment  of  30,000 
men  for  two  years  instead  of  three  months,  and  appropriated  $3,000,000 
for  the  war. 

The  writer  was  in  Xew  Orleans  when  Fort  Sumter  was  evacuated. 

*  It  is  worthy  of  record  that  a  New  York  policeman,  Peter  Hart,  serving  under  Major 
Anderson  in  Fort  Sumter,  saved  the  American  flag  in  that  first  battle  of  the  war.  He 
had  been  a  sergeant  with  Anderson  in  Mexico.  When  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight  the  flag 
■was  shot  down,  the  brave  and  faithful  Hart  volunteered  to  raise  it  again.  He  climbed  a 
temporary  flagstaff  which  had  been  erected,  and  in  the  face  of  a  tempest  of  shot  and 
shell  he  fastened  the  tattered  banner  at  its  top,  where  it  remained  until  it  was  taken 
down  by  the  commander  at  the  evacuation  of  the  fort. 


718  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

He  arrived  in  the  city  of  New  York  on  the  first  of  May.  What  a 
transformation  since  he  left  it  for  the  South,  late  in  March  !  Every- 
where between  Cincinnati  and  Jersey  City  he  had  seen  the  great  upris- 
ing. The  whole  country  seemed  to  have  responded  to  "  Our  Country's 
Call, "by  Bryant  : 

"  Lay  down  the  axe,  fling  by  the  spade, 

Leave  in  its  track  the  toiling  plough  ; 
The  rifle  and  the  bayonet  blade 

For  arms  like  yours  are  fitter  now  ; 
And  let  the  hands  that  ply  the  pen 

Quit  the  light  task,  and  learn  to  wield 
The  horseman's  crooked  brand,  and  rein 

The  charger  on  the  battle-field." 

When  he  crossed  the  Hudson  River  into  the  great  city  of  almost  a 
million  inhabitants,  it  seemed  to  him  like  a  vast  military  camp.  The 
streets  were  swarming  with  soldiers.  Among  the  stately  trees  in 
Battery  Park  white  tents  were  standing  and  sentinels  were  pacing. 
Rude  barracks  filled  with  men  were  covering  portions  of  the  City  Hall 
Park,  and  heavy  cannon  were  arranged  in  a  line  near  the  fountain, 
surrounded  by  hundreds  of  soldiers,  many  of  them  in  the  gay  costume 
of  the  Zouave.  Already  the  blood  of  Massachusetts  patriots,  rushing 
to  save  the  imperilled  national  capital,  had  been  shed  in  the  streets  of 
Baltimore  :  already  thousands  of  volunteers  had  gone  out  from  among 
the  citizens  of  New  York,  or  had  passed  through  the  city  from  other 
parts  of  the  State  or  from  Xew  England  ;  and  already  the  commercial 
metropolis  of  the  Republic,  Avhose  disloyal  mayor,  less  than  four 
months  before,  had  argued  officially  in  favor  of  its  raising  the  standard 
of  secession  and  revolt,  had  spoken  out  for  the  Union  at  a  monster 
meeting  of  men  of  all  political  views  and  all  religious  creeds  gathered 
around  the  statue  of  Washington  at  Union  Square.  Then  and  there 
all  partisan  feeling  was  kept  in  abeyance,  and  only  one  sentiment — the 
Union  shall  be  pbesebvkd — was  the  burden  of  all  the  oratory.* 

"When  the  great  meeting  at  Union  Square  was  held  (April  20,  1801), 
the  conspirators  against  the  life  of  the  nation  were  urging  their  deluded 
followers  onward  to  seize  the  national  capital.    A  cry  had  come  up 

*  The  meeting  originated  in  this  wise  :  On  the  evening  of  the  day  when  the  President's 
call  for  troops  appeared,  several  gentlemen  met  at  the  house  of  E.  H.  McCurdy,  Esq., 
and  resolved  to  take  immediate  measures  for  the  support  of  the  government.  On  the 
following  day  they  invited,  by  a  printed  circular,  other  citizens  to  join  them  in  making 
arrangements  for  a  mass-meeting  of  citizens  of  all  parties  at  Union  Square,  "  to  sustain 
the  Federal  Government  in  the  present  crisis."  They  met  at  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
and  made  arrangements  for  the  great  meeting. 


FOUHTII  DECADE,  1800-1870. 


from  below  the  Roanoke,  "  Press  on  to  Washington  I"  Virginia  poli- 
ticians had  passed  an  ordinance  of  secession  and  invited  troops  from 
the  Gulf  States  to  their  soil.  Harper's  Ferry  and  the  Gosport  Navy- 
Yard  were  passing  into  the  hands  of  insurgents,  and  the  national 
capital,  with  its  treasury  and  archives,  were  in  imminent  peril,  for 
Maryland  secessionists  at  its  doors  were  active. 

So  large  was  the  gathering  at  Union  Square  that  the-  multitude  was 
divided  into  four  sections,  with  a  president  for  each.  At  the  principal 
stand  General  Dix,  late  of  Buchanan's  Cabinet,  presided.  The  other 
presidents  were  Hamilton  Fish,  ex-Mayor  Ilaveineyer,  and  Moses  11. 
Grinnell.  General  Dix  spoke  of  the  rebellion  being  without  provoca- 
tion, and  said  :  "I  regard  the  pending  contest  with  the  secessionists 
as  a  death-struggle  for  constitutional  liberty  and  law — a  contest  which, 
if  successful  on  their  part,  could  only  end  in  the  establishment  of  a 
despotic  government,  and  blot  out,  wherever  they  were  in  the  ascend- 
ant, every  vestige  of  national  freedom."  Other  eloquent  speakers, 
most  of  them  veterans  in  the  ranks  of  the  Democratic  party,  spoke 
earnestly  in  the  same  strain,  denouncing  the  leaders  in  the  rebellion 
in  unmeasui'ed  terms.    Patriotic  resolutions  were  adopted. 

For  many  months  after  this  great  meeting  and  others  of  its  kind  in 
the  cities  and  villages  of  our  land,  the  government  had  few  obstacles 
cast  in  its  way  by  political  opponents.  It  was  only  when  inferior  men 
— trading  politicians,  who  loved  party  more  than  country — came  to  the 
front  and  assumed  the  functions  of  leaders  of  a  great  organization  while 
the  veterans  of  their  party  were  patriotically  righting  the  battles  of  the 
nation  in  the  forum  or  in  the  field,  that  the  government  found  an 
organized  opposition  persistently  engaged  in  thwarting  its  efforts  to 
save  the  Republic. 

The  great  war-meeting  at  Union  Square  effectually  removed  the  false 
impression  that  the  greed  of  commerce  had  taken  possession  of  the 
Xew  York  community,  and  that  the  citizens  were  willing  to  secure 
peace  at  the  sacrifice  of  principle.  It  silenced  forever  the  slanders  of 
the  misinformed  correspondent  of  the  London  Turn*  (Dr.  Russell"), 
who  spoke  of  his  friends  as  "  all  men  of  position  in  Xew  York  society," 
who  were  "  as  little  anxious  for  the  future  or  excited  by  the  present  as 
a  pasty  of  savans  chronicling  the  movements  of  a  magnetic  storm." 
The  patriotism  of  the  citizens  was  also  indicated  by  the  wrath  which 
that  meeting  excited  at  the  South.  The  Richmond  Dispatch  said  : 
"  Xew  York  will  be  remembered  with  special  hatred  by  the  South,  for 
all  time."  At  that  meeting  a  Committee  of  Safety  was  appointed, 
composed  of  some  of  the  most  distinguished  citizens  of  Xew  York,  of 


720 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


all  parties.  They  met  that  evening  and  organized  the  famous  Union 
Defence  Committee,  composed  as  follows  :  John  A.  Dix,  chairman  ; 
Simeon  Draper,  vice-chairman  ;  William  M.  Evarts,  secretary  ; 
Theodore  Dehon,  treasurer  ;  Moses  Taylor,*  Richard  M.  Blatchford, 

*  Among  the  greater  merchants  of  the  city  of  New  York,  the  late  Moses  Taylor  appears 
conspicuous.  He  was  born  at  the  coiner  of  Broadway  and  Morris  Street,  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  on  January  11,  1806.  He  was  of  English  lineage.  His  great-grandfather, 
Moses  Taylor,  came  to  New  York  from  England  in  173G.  In  1750  he  was  in  business  "  in 
the  corner  house,  opposite  the  Fly  (Vly)  Market."  His  son  Jacob,  father  of  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  was  a  prominent  citizen,  active  in  the  municipal  government,  and  a  con- 
temporary and  associate  of  Philip  Hone,  Stephen  Allen,  and  other  eminent  citizens. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  Moses  Taylor  became  a  clerk  in  the  mercantile  house  of  G.  G.  & 
S.  Howland,  who  were  then  extensively  engaged  in  foreign  trade.  His  activity  and 
fidelity  won  for  him  the  respect  and  confidence  of  his  employers  and  many  warm  personal 
friends.  Having,  with  the  consent  of  the  Messrs.  Howland,  made  some  ventures  in 
business  on  his  own  account,  he  found  himself,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six,  possessed  of  a 
moderate  capital,  with  which,  in  the  year  1832,  he  established  the  house  of  Moses 
Taylor  &  Co.  His  store  was  in  the  area  swept  by  the  great  fire  of  1835.  He  lost  much 
property,  but  neither  hope  nor  courage.  He  opened  an  office  for  business  in  his  house 
in  Morris  Street,  and  with  quick  foresight  he  made  importations  to  supply  the  deficien- 
cies in  the  market  caused  by  the  conflagration.  His  profits  soon  covered  his  losses  by 
the  fire. 

Mr.  Taylor's  chief  field  of  foreign  commerce  was  the  island  of  Cuba.  In  that  field  he 
concentrated  his  extraordinary  business  powers.  These,  united  with  unflinching  probity 
and  unstained  honor  and  generous  dealing  on  all  occasions,  gave  his  house  the  highest 
standing  in  commercial  circles  at  home  and  abroad — a  standing  which  it  yet  maintains 
in  the  hands  of  his  business  successors. 

Mr.  Taylor  became  president  of  the  City  Bank  in  1855,  and  held  that  position  until 
his  death.  He  was  ever  a  wise  counsellor,  not  only  of  the  directors  of  his  own  institu- 
tion, but  in  financial  circles  during  the  storms  of  panics  and  business  revulsions  which 
have  from  time  to  time  disturbed  the  community.  During  the  late  Civil  War  he  was 
untiring  in  his  labors  for  the  salvation  of  the  Republic.  As  chairman  of  the  Loan 
Committee  he  devoted  much  time  and  strength  to  the  duties  imposed  npon  him,  and  in 
the  darkest  period  of  the  struggle  he  labored  incessantly  with  his  colleagues  in  sustain- 
ing the  credit  of  the  government.  President  Lincoln,  the  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury, 
and  the  Finance  Committees  of  both  houses  of  Congress  held  intimate  lelations  with 
him  both  personally  and  by  letters.  Mr.  Taylor  was  one  of  the  most  active  members  of 
the  Union  Defence  Committee  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

Many  large  corporate  enterprises  in  the  city  of  New  York  and  elsewhere  owe  their 
success  in  a  great  degree  to  the  wise  counsels  of  Moses  Taylor.  He  was  eminently  con- 
servative, yet  boldly  enterprising  in  the  management  of  trusts  confided  to  his  direction. 

In  the  establishment  and  management  of  great  railroad  and  mining  enterprises  in  the 
coal  regions  of  the  Wyoming  and  Lackawanna  valleys,  Mr.  Taylor's  name  and  hand 
always  furnished  trustworthy  support.  Especially  was  he  interested  in  the  promotion 
of  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western  Railroad  Company,  and  the  Lackawanna 
Coal  and  Iron  Company,  and  among  the  later  acts  of  his  life  was  the  liberal  endowment 
of  the  hospital  bearing  his  name  at  Scranton,  in  Pennsylvania,  for  the  special  benefit 
of  the  operatives  of  those  corporations.  In  the  early  development  of  railroads  in  Texas, 
and  in  tha  Central  Railroad  and  Banking  Company  of  Georgia,  his  active  interest 


FOURTH   DKCADE,  1SC0- 1870. 


Edwards  Pierrepont,*  Alexander  T.  Stewart,  Samuel  Sloan,  John 
Jacob  Astor,  Jr.,  John  J.  Cisco,  James  S.  Wadsworth,  Isaac  Bell. 
James  Boorman,  Charles  II.  Marshall,  Robert  H.  MeCurdy.  Closes 
II.  Grinnell,  Royal  Phelps,  William  E.  Dodge,  Greene  C.  Bronson, 

and  capital  were  generously  employed,  and  in  many  of  the  great  Western  linos  of  rail- 
roads he  held  very  large  interests.  Indeed  the  principal  undertakings  of  Mr.  Taylor's 
later  years  were  directed  to  the  development  of  the  industrial  resources  of  the  country. 

During  a  long  life  Mr.  Taylor  contracted  many  close,  warm,  and  lasting  friendships. 
His  heart  and  hand  were  ever  open  for  sympathy  and  service  for  those  who  needed  and 
deserved  aid.  Of  him  Freeman  Hunt  wrote,  in  his  Merchants'  Maytiziue,  many  years  ago  : 
' '  What  he  achieved  has  been  done  by  his  own  unaided  powers.  He  laid  the  foundations 
of  his  business  life  so  broad  and  deep  that  what  has  been  accomplished  in  it  seems  to 
have  resulted  naturally  from  what  was  done  at  the  commencement.  He  started  upon  his 
career  with  a  good  name,  justice,  truth,  honor,  and  uprightness  ;  these  he  inherited,  and 
these  he  never  sacrificed."  Mr.  Taylor  died  full  of  years  and  honors,  leaving  a  widow, 
two  sons,  and  three  daughters  to  inherit  his  good  name  and  fortune.  His  death  occurred 
on  the  23d  of  May,  1882. 

*  Edwards  Pierrepont,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  was  one  of  the  most  active  members  of  the  Union 
Defence  Committee,  and  zealous  and  effective  in  giving  aid  in  raising  troops  for  the  war. 
He  is  a  native  of  North  Haven,  Conn.,  where  he  was  born  in  1817.  He  is  a  lineal  descend- 
ant of  the  Rev.  James  Pierrepont,  one  of  the  founders  of  Yale  College.  Prepared  for  college 
under  the  instruction  of  the  present  president  of  Yale,  the  Rev.  Noah  Porter,  he  entered 
that  institution  as  a  student,  and  graduated  with  very  high  honor  in  1837.  Studying  law 
in  New  Haven,  he  entered  upon  its  practice  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  in  18-10.  He  subse- 
quently took  up  his  abode  in  New  York,  where  he  rose  rapidly  in  his  profession.  In  184G 
he  married  the  daughter  of  Samuel  Willoughby,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  In  1857  he  was 
elected  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York  City,  to  succeeed  Chief-Justice  T.  J. 
Oakley,  deceased.  A  philosophical  observer  of  events,  Jtulge  Pierrepont  predicted  the 
Civil  War  a  year  and  a  half  before  it  broke  out,  in  his  first  public  speech,  which  was  on 
the  death  of  Theodore  Sedgwick.  Referring  to  his  prediction,  he  said  :  "  Sure  as  the 
punishment  of  sin,  gi-eat  troubles  are  coming  in  the  distance  which  we  shall  be  called  upon 
to  meet.  I  have  said  this  much,  being  well  aware  that  I  speak  in  advance  of  the  times  ; 
but  I  leave  the  times  to  overtake  these  fleeting  words,  and  leave  the  wisdom  or  the  folly 
of  what  I  have  said  to  be  determined  by  the  years  which  shall  come  in  our  lifetime." 

Judge  Pierrepont  left  the  bench  in  October,  1860,  and  resumed  the  practice  of  the  law, 
at  the  same  time  taking  an  active  part  in  public  affairs  preceding  the  great  crisis  of  the 
nation.  He  was  prominent  in  the  stirring  scenes  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  the  spring 
of  18G1.  In  1862  he  was  appointed  by  the  President,  with  General  Dix,  to  try  the  pris- 
oners of  state  then  confined  in  various  prisons  in  the  Republic.  In  1864  he  was  zealous 
in  organizing  the  War  Democrats  in  favor  of  the  re-election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  all 
through  the  war  he  was  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  measures  of  the  administration.  In 
the  convention  that  framed  a  new  constitution  for  the  State  of  New  York  in  1867,  Judge. 
Pierrepont  was  one  of  the  Judiciary  Committee.  He  was  employed  in  the  same  year  by 
the  Secretary  of  State  (Mr.  Seward)  and  the  Attorney-General  (Mr.  Stansbery)  of  the 
United  States  to  conduct  the  prosecution,  on  the  part  of  the  government,  of  J.  H.  Sur- 
ratt,  indicted  for  aiding  in  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln.  This  celebrated  trial 
was  begun  in  Washington  on  the  Gth  of  June,  and  lasted  until  the  10th  of  August. 
Successfully  engaged  as  counsel  in  several  other  important  suits,  Judge  Pierrepont's 
services  have  been  eagerly  sought  after  by  corporations.     In  1869  President  Grant 


722 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Hamilton  Fish,  William  F.  Ilavemeyer,  Charles  II.  Russell,  James  T. 
Brady,  Rudolph  A.  Witthaus,  Ahiel  A.  Low,  Prosper  M.  Wetmore, 
A.  C.  Richards,  and  the  mayor,  comptroller,  and  presidents  of  the  two 
boards  of  the  common  council  of  the  city  of  New  York.  The  com- 
mittee had  rooms  at  No.  30  Fine  Street,  open  all  day,  and  at  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Hotel,  open  in  the  evening.  The  original  and  specific  duties 
assigned  to  the  committee  by  the  great  meeting  that  created  it  were 
"  to  represent  the  citizens  in  the  collection  of  funds,  and  the  transac- 
tions of  such  other  business,  in  aid  of  the  movements  of  the  govern- 
ment, as  the  public  interests  may  require." 

During  the  existence  of  this  committee,  which  continued  about  a 
year,  it  disbursed  almost  a  million  dollars,  which  the  corporation  of 
New  York  had  appropriated  for  war  purposes,  and  placed  at  its  dis- 
posal. It  assisted  in  the  organization,  equipment,  etc.  of  forty-nine 
regiments,  or  about  forty  thousand  men.  For  military  purposes  it 
spent,  of  the  city  fund,  nearly  seven  hundred  and  fifty-nine  thousand 
dollars,  and  for  the  relief  of  soldiers'  families  two  hundred  and  thirty 
thousand  dollars. 

appointed  him  United  States  attorney  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York,  which 
offico  he  resigned  in  July,  1870,  and  soon  afterward  was  one  of  the  most  active  members 
of  the  Committee  of  Seventy  against  the  frauds  of  the  Tweed  Ring.  In  1871  he  received 
from  Columbian  College,  Washington,  D.  C,  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D  ,  and  in  1873 
the  same  degree  was  conferred  upon  him  by  his  alnm  mater,  Yale  College.  In  May  of 
that  year  he  was  appointed  minister  to  the  Russian  Court,  but  he  declined  the  honor 
and  the  service.  In  June,  1874,  Judge  l'ierrepont  delivered  a  remarkable  oration  in  New 
Haven  before  the  alumni  of  Yale  College,  which  was  afterward  published.  In  the  spring 
of  1875  he  was  appointed  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States,  and  remained  in  Presi- 
dent Grant's  Cabinet  until  May,  1870,  when  he  was  appointed  envoy  extraordinary  and 
minister  plenipotentiary  to  the  Court  of  Great  Britain.  He  already  had  a  European 
reputation  through  the  promulgation  of  his  opinions  while  Attorney-General,  on  ques- 
tions of  natural  and  acquired  nationality  and  the  rights  of  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
who,  while  a  minor,  had  returned  to  Prussia  with  his  father,  the  latter  having  under  the 
treaty  resumed  his  Prussian  allegiance. 

Judge  Pierrepont  held  his  high  diplomatic  position  until  1878.  Delicate  and  important 
questions  engaged  his  official  attention  while  in  England,  and  these  were  met  by  him 
with  great  tact  and  ability.  Ex-President  Grant  became  his  guest  od  his  visit  to  that 
country.  Before  Grant's  arrival,  Mr.  Pierrepont  urged  upon  Queen  Victoria's  ministers 
the  propriety  of  according  the  same  precedence  to  the  retired  head  of  the  government 
of  the  United  States  as  had  been  given  to  the  ex-Emperor  of  France.  It  was  done.  At  a 
dinner  given  to  the  Prince  of  Wales  by  Minister  Pierrepont,  General  Grant,  l>y  common 
consent,  was  placed  on  the  right  of  the  Prince.  Other  governments  followed  this  ex- 
ample. During  his  official  residence  in  England  Judge  Pierrepont  received  from  Oxford 
University  the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.L.,  the  highest  honor  in  its  gift.  On  his  return 
from  England  he  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession,  in  which  he  is  yet  actively  and 
extensively  engaged. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


723 


The  telegraph  had  already  flashed  intelligence  all  over  the  land  of 
the  murderous  attack  upon  the  Massachusetts  troops  in  the  streets  of 
Baltimore  and  the  isolation  and  peril  of  the  capital,  and  the  first  busi- 
ness of  the  Union  Defence  Committee  was  to  facilitate  the  equipment 
and  outfit  of  regiments  of  volunteer  militia  and  their  despatch  to  the 
seat  of  government.  So  zealously  did  they  labor  that,  within  ten 
days  after  the  President's  call  for  troops,  no  less  than  8000  well- 
equipped  and  fully-armed  men  had  gone  to  the  field  from  the  city  of 
New  York.  Already,  before  the  organization  of  the  committee,  the 
famous  Seventh  Regiment  National  Guard,  of  New  York,  Colonel 
Marshall  Lefferts,  had  left  for  Washington,  and  on  the  day  after  the 
great  meeting  (Sunday,  April  21)  three  other  regiments  had  followed 
— namely,  the  Sixth,  Colonel  Pinckney  ;  the  Twelfth,  Colonel  Putter- 
field,  and  the  Seventy- first,*  Colonel  Vosburg. 

Major-General  Wool,  commander  of  the  Eastern  Department,  which 
comprised  the  whole  country  eastward  of  the  Mississippi,  w  as  at  his 
home  in  Troy  when  he  heard  of  the  affair  at  Baltimore;  lie  was  next 
in  command  to  General  Scott,  the  General-in-Chief  of  the  army. 

*  This  regiment  enlisted  for  three  months,  left  New  York  for  Washington  by  water  on 
the  21st  of  April,  debarked  at  Annapolis,  and  pushed  on  across  Maryland  for  the  capital, 
where  it  was  thoroughly  drilled  and  assigned  to  varied  duties.  Its  members  had  all  been 
taken  from  civil  life  only  a  few  days  before  it  left  New  York.  Its  colonel,  Abram  Vosburg, 
soon  died  of  consumption,  and  was  succeeded  by  Colonel  H.  P.  Martin,  under  whom  it 
did  gallant  service  at  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  in  July.  After  all  the  other  regiments  had 
retreated  from  the  field  at  Bull  Bun,  the  Seventy-first  remained  there  under  fire,  when  au 
aide  rode  up  to  Colonel  Martin  and  told  him  his  men  were  suffering  badly,  and  asked 
why  he  did  not  retire.  Colonel  Martin  replied,  "  The  Seventy-first,  sir,  never  moves 
without  orders."  The  aide  reported  the  fact  to  General  McDowell,  who  ordered  the  regi- 
ment to  retire,  which  it  did  in  perfect  order,  and  as  handsomely  as  if  on  dress  parade. 

In  May,  18G2,  obedient  to  a  call  for  volunteers,  it  again  enlisted  for  three  months,  but 
on  arriving  at  Washington  it  met  with  great  difficulties  and  even  rough  treatment,  as 
the  government  did  not  want  "  three  months  men."  The  colonel  took  a  firm  stand  for 
the  rights  of  the  regiment  against  threats  by  the  Secretary  of  War.  He  finally  prevailed. 
The  Secretary  accepted  the  services  of  the  regiment  for  one  hundred  days,  and  said,  "  I 
respect  the  regiment  all  the  more  for  what  has  occurred."  At  the  end  of  one  hundred 
days  the  defeat  of  Pope  so  seriously  menaced  Washington  that  the  regiment  offered  to 
remain  until  the  danger  was  past.  The  Secretary  of  War  accepted  "  with  pleasure  their 
patriotic  offer,"  but  their  services  were  not  required,  and  they  returned  to  New  York  at 
the  beginning  of  September.  When  in  18G3  Lee  invaded  Maryland,  and  a  call  was  made 
for  troops  for  a  brief  period  of  service,  the  Seventy-first  again  enlisted  for  three  months. 
It  reported  to  General  Couch,  near  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania,  and  was  employed  in  most 
arduous  and  important  service  in  rolling  back  the  invasion,  until  some  days  after  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg,  when  the  draft  riots  in  New  York  called  it  from  the  enemy  in  front 
to  deal  with  an  enemy  in  its  rear.  It  reached  New  York  on  July  18,  and  on  the  -20th  was 
mustered  out  of  the  service  of  the  United  States. 


724 


HISTORY  OF  NEW"  YORK  CITY. 


Wool  hastened  to  confer  with  Governor  Morgan  *  at  Albany.  While 
they  were  in  consultation  the  governor  received  a  despatch  from 
"Washington  urging  him  to  send  troops  thither  as  quickly  as  possible. 

*  Edwin  Denison  Morgan,  the  great  war  governor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  had  been 
elected  to  that  high  position  by  the  Republican  party  in  1800,  for  a  second  term,  and 
proved  to  be  a  most  efficient  and  judicious  chief  magistrate  at  that  great  crisis  in 
national  affairs.  Mr.  Morgan  was  born  in  Washington,  Berkshire  County,  Massachusetts, 
on  February  8,  1811.  He  attended  the  village  school  until  his  twelfth  year,  when  his 
father  removed  with  his  family  to  the  town  of  Windsor,  Connecticut.  The  boy  went  the 
distance — fifty  miles— on  foot,  driving  an  ox-team  over  the  rough  bills,  conveying  on  a 
wagon  the  family  furniture.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  went  to  live  at  Colchester,  Conn., 
where  he  attended  the  Bacon  Academy  for  a  year  and  a  half,  when  he  went  to  Hartford 
and  entered  the  wholesale  and  retail  grocery  store  of  his  uncle.  Nathan  Morgan,  as  clerk. 
There  he  began  his  business  career  on  a  salary  of  forty  dollars  a  year  and  his  board.  At 
the  end  of  three  years  he  was  junior  partner  with  his  uncle.  In  18;i0  he  had  a  clear 
capital  of  $8000,  a  clever  sum  then  for  a  young  man  of  twenty-five.  Disposing  of  his 
interest  in  the  business  at  Hartford,  he  took  the  proceeds,  and  in  January,  18157,  went  to 
New  York  and  opened  a  store  fjr  the  conduct  of  a  wholesale  grocery  and  commission 
business.  At  that  time  the  city  of  New  York  was  growing  very  rapidly,  though  in  that 
year  it  suffered  a  fearful  business  convulsion.  Mr.  Morgan,  by  industry,  thrift,  upright- 
ness in  business,  and  wonderful  energy  and  sagacity,  prospered. 

Mr.  Morgan  began  his  career  as  a  public  man  in  1849,  when  he  was  elected  assistant 
alderman  of  the  Fifteenth  Ward.  It  was  the  year  when  the  Asiatic  cholera  raged  fear- 
fully in  New  York.  Business  was  paralyzed,  and  well-to-do  people  tied  from  the  city. 
Mr.  Morgan,  who  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  sanitary  committee,  remained,  and  did 
most  efficient  and  fearless  service  against  the  epidemic.  He  sent  his  family  to  the 
country,  but  stood  at  the  post  of  public  duty  himself,  during  the  entire  period  of  the 
prevalence  of  the  scourge.  He  devoted  his  entire  time  and  spent  his  money  freely  in 
behalf  of  the  suffering.  The  same  year  Mr.  Morgan  was  chosen  State  Senator,  and  on 
the  expiration  of  his  term  he  was  re-elected.  His  political  opponents,  who  were  in  the 
majority  in  that  body,  complimented  him  by  choosing  him  to  preside  over  their  deliber- 
ations. Dnring  his  second  term  he  introduced  into  the  Senate  the  Central  Park  bill, 
which  provided  for  the  establishment  of  that  fine  pleasure-ground. 

On  the  expiration  of  his  term  as  State  Senator  in  1855,  Mr.  Morgan  was  appointed  one 
of  the  commissioners  of  emigration,  which  office  he  held  two  years.  In  1856  he  was 
chosen  chairman  of  the  National  Republican  Committee,  and  continued  in  that  position 
until  1804,  when  he  resigned,  deeming  it  not  proper  to  hold  that  position  while  he  was 
United  States  Senator. 

In  November.  1858,  Mr.  Morgan  was  elected  governor  of  the  State  of  New  York  by  the 
Republicans.  His  first  message  to  the  Legislature  (January  1,  1859)  was  remarkable  for  its 
brevity,  directness,  and  the  admirable  character  of  its  observations.  His  animadversions 
upon  the  lobby  were  peculiarly  explicit  and  severe,  and  he  asserted  that  he  would  withhold 
his  official  approval  from  any  bill  advanced  by  such  means.  He  was  the  first  governor 
of  New  York  to  visit  prisons  and  hold  persnnid  interviews  with  prisoners  applying  for 
pardon.  Re-elected  for  a  second  term  in  1800,  his  second  administration  began  just  as 
the  Civ  il  War  was  a-kindling.  During  that  war  his  services  were  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance. As  governor  he  took  the  responsibility,  dnring  the  recess  of  the  Legislature,  ot 
responding  to  the  government  calls  for  troops,  fitting  them  out  and  looking  after  their 
comfort  and  rights.    In  this  work  Chester  A.  Arthur  (now  President)  was  his  most 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1800-1870. 


T25 


Wool  immediately  issued  orders  to  Colonel  Tompkins,  quartermaster- 
general  ;it  New  York,  to  furnish  transportation  to  all  troops  that 
might  be  sent  to  the  capital,  and  Major  Eaton,  the  commissary  of 
subsistence,  was  directed  to  furnish  thirty  days'  rations  to  each  soldier 
that  might  be  so  sent. 

The  governor  went  to  New  York  that  night  (April  20th).  The 
general  folio weil  two  days  afterward.  He  made  his  headquarters  at 
the  St.*  Nicholas  Hotel,  where  he  was  waited  upon  by  the  Union 
Defence  Committee  on  the  23d.  At  that  conference  a  plan  was 
arranged  for  the  salvation  of  the  capital,  which  at  that  time  was  so 
isolated  by  a  cordon  of  enemies  that  the  General-in-Chief  could  not 
speak  by  telegraph  to  a  single  regiment  outside  the  District  of 
Columbia  ;  neither  could  any  communication  reach  the  President  from 
beyond  those  limits.  Under  these  circumstances,  and  in  conformity  to 
the  demands  of  the  crisis  and  the  desires  of  the  loyal  people,  General 
Wool  was  compelled  to  assume  great  responsibilities.  To  the  Union 
Defence  Committee  he  said,  "  I  shall  probably  be  the  only  victim,  but 
under  the  circumstances  I  am  prepared  to  make  the  sacrifice,  if  thereby 
the  capital  may  be  saved." 

General  Wool  was  then  seventy-six  years  of  age.  Day  and  night  he 
labored  with  the  tireless  energy  of  a  man  of  forty  years  until  the  work 
was  accomplished.  Vessels  were  chartered,  supplies  were  furnished, 
and  troops  were  forwarded  to  Washington  with  extraordinary  despatch 
by  way  of  Chesapeake  Bay  and  the  Potomac  River.  The  transports 
were  convoyed  by  armed  steamships  to  shield  them  from  pirates,  and 
the  Quaker  I  Hfy  was  ordered  to  Hampton  Roads  to  assist  in  the 
defence  of  Fortress  Monroe.  Wool  assisted  in  arming  no  less  than  nine 
States  before  communication  could  be  had  with  the  General  in-Chief  at 
Washington,  and  he  took  the  responsibility  of  sending  to  the  capital 
Ellsworth's  Zouaves,  composed  principally  of  Xew  York  firemen. 

Troops  and  supplies  so  promptly  sent  to  Washington  by  the  Union 

efficient  helper,  he  being  quartermaster-general  on  the  governor's  stuff.  A  few  days  after 
his  term  as  governor  expired,  Mr.  Morgan  was  chosen  United  States  Senator  to  succeed 
Preston  King.  In  March,  I860,  the  President  nominated  Senator  Morgan  for  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  but  his  name  was  withdrawn  on  his  earnest  solicitation.  The  same  office 
was  tendered  to  him  in  1881  by  President  Arthur,  and  the  Senate  unanimously  confirmed 
his  nomination,  but  it  was  declined.  He  never  again  held  office  after  his  senatorial  term 
ended.  During  all  his  public  career  he  continued  in  active  business,  which  he  conducted 
with  great  success.  His  charities  and  his  munificent  gifts  to  institutions  were  many  and 
large.  Having  lost  his  only  son,  he  adopted  that  son's  child.  In  religious  affiliation 
he  was  a  Presbyterian.  He  was  an  active  member  of  the  Union  League  Club.  Governor 
Morgan  died  on  February  1-1,  1883,  at  his  residence,  No.  -ill  Fifth  Avenue. 


726 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Defence  Committee  of  New  York,  under  the  direction  of  the  veteran 
Wool,  with  the  cordial  co-operation  of  Commodores  Breese  and 
String-ham,  saved  the  capital  from  seizure.  This  General  Scott  finally 
acknowledged  in  a  speech  before  the  Union  Defence  Committee. 

The  departure  for  Washington  of  the  famous  Seventh  Regiment 
National  Guard,  on  the  19th  of  April,  was  a  memorable  event.  It  was 
composed  mostly  of  young  men  belonging  to  the  best  families  in  the 
city.  It  was  a  favorite  corps  as  the  city's  cherished  guardian".  The 
regiment  formed  in  Lafayette  Place,  in  front  of  the  Astor  Library,  over 
which  waved  an  immense  American  flag.  Just  as  it  was  about  to 
march  it  received  news,  by  telegraph,  of  the  murderous  attack  on 
Massachusetts  troops  in  the  streets  of  Baltimore.  Forty-eight  rounds 
of  ball  cartridges  were  given  to  each  man.  The  regiment  marched 
down  Broadway  to  Cortlandt  Street  and  the  Jersey  City  ferry.  The 
sidewalks  were  densely  packed  with  eager  spectators — men,  women, 
and  children — and  from  every  building  streamed  numerous  flags. 

"  Banners  from  balcony,  banners  from  steeple  ; 
Banners  from  house  to  house,  draping  the  people  ; 
Banners  upborne  by  all — men,  women,  and  children  ; 
Banners  on  horses'  fronts,  flashing,  bewild'riug." 

The  shipping  in  the  harbor  was  brilliant  with  flags.  While  the 
crowd  at  the  ferry  was  waiting  for  the  Seventh  Regiment,  another  from 
.Massachusetts,  accompanied  by  General  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  passed 
through,  greeted  with  wild  huzzas  and  presented  with  a  multitude  of 
little  star-spangled  banners  by  the  citizens.  Both  regiments  hurried 
across  Xew  Jersey  at  twilight  to  the  banks  of  the  Delaware. 

It  had  been  a  day  of  fearful  excitement  in  the  city  of  Xew  York, 
and  the  night  was  one  of  more  fearful  anxiety.  Hundreds  of  citizens 
wooed  slumber  in  vain.  They  knew  that  blood  had  been  shed,  and 
that  their  loved  ones  were  hurrying  on  toward  great  peril.  Regiment 
after  regiment  followed  the  Seventh  in  quick  succession,  and  within 
ten  days  from  the  time  of  its  departure  fully  ten  thousand  men  of  the 
city  of  Xew  York  were  on  the  march  toward  the  capital. 

The  enthusiasm  of  the  loyal  people  Avas  wonderful.  The  women 
were  as  earnest  as  the  men.  Five  brothers  in  a  Xew  York  family 
enlisted.  Their  mother  was  absent  from  home  at  the  time.  She  wrote 
to  her  husband  :  "  Though  I  have  loved  my  children  with  a  love  that 
only  a  mother  knows,  yet  when  I  look  upon  the  state  of  my  country 
I  cannot  withhold  them.  In  the  name  of  their  God,  and  their  mother's 
God,  and  their  country's  God.  T  bid  them  go.    If  I  had  ten  sons 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


instead  of  five,  I  should  give  them  all  sooner  than  have  our  country  rent 
in  fragments. ' '  This  was  the  spirit  of  the  loyal  women  during  the 
fierce  struggle  that  ensued.* 

In  the  midst  of  the  tumult  of  warlike  preparations  was  heard  the 
mild  voice  of  the  Society  of  Friends  or  Quakers  in  New  York  City 
counselling  peace.  They  had  met  on  April  2:3d,  and  put  forth  an 
address  to  their  brethren,  saying  they  were  loyal  to  their  country  and 
loved  it  ;  were  grateful  for  the  blessings  they  enjoyed  under  the  gov- 
ernment, but  they  besought  their  brethren  to  beware  of  the  temptations 
of  the  hour.  They  admonished  them,  while  anxious  to  uphold  the 
government,  not,  in  so  doing,  to  "  transgress  the  precepts  and  in- 
junctions of  the  gospel."  As  a  body  of  Christians  they  were  uni- 
versally loyal.  Many  of  their  young  men  did  not  heed  the  words 
of  the  "  testimony,"  but  regarded  the  war  as  an  exceptional  one,  holy 
and  righteous,  and  acted  accordingly.  They  bore  arms,  and  obeyed 
the  injunctions  of  a  patriotic  Quaker  mother  of  Philadelphia,  who 
wrote  to  her  son  in  camp  :  "  Let  thy  musket  hold  not  a  silent  meeting 
before  the  enemy."  And  multitudes  of  men  and  women  of  that 
peaceful  sect  showed  their  sympathy  by  arduous  services  in  hospitals 
and  elsewhere  in  employments  in  which  non-combatants  might  con- 
scientiously engage. 

While  thousands  of  loyal  men  were  hastening  to  the  field,  loyal 
women  were  laying  plans  and  taking  measures  for  their  aid  and 
comfort.  On  the  day  when  the  President's  call  for  troops  appeared 
(April  15th),  Miss  Almena  Bates,  in  Charlestown,  Mass.,  took  steps  to 
organize  an  association  for  the  purpose.  On  the  same  day  women  of 
Bridgeport,  Conn.,  oi'ganized  a  society  to  furnish  nurses  for  sick  and 
wounded  soldiers,  and  provisions  and  clothing  for  them.  A  few  days 
later  women  of  Lowell,  Mass.,  did  the  same  thing,  and  on  the  19th 
women  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  formed  an  association  for  the  more  im- 
mediately practical  purpose  of  giving  assistance  to  the  families  of 
volunteers. 

These  outcroppings  of  the  tenderest  feelings  of  woman  were  sugges- 

*  In  contrast  with  this  was  the  letter  of  a  Baltimore  mother  to  her  loyal  son,  a  clergy- 
man in  Boston,  who,  on  the  Sunday  after  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter,  preached  a  patriotic 
discourse  to  his  people.    The  letter  was  as  follows  : 

"  Baltimore.  April  17,  1861. 
"My  deauSon  :  Your  remarks  last  Sabbath  were  telegraphed  to  Baltimore,  and  published  in  an  extra. 
Has  God  sent  you  to  preach  the  sword,  or  to  preach  Christ  ?  Your  Motuek." 

The  son  replied  : 

"  Boston,  April  22.  1861. 

"  Dear  Mother  :  '  God  has  pent  '  me  not  only  to  1  preach'  the  eword,  but  to  use  it.  Whi  n  this  govern- 
ment tumbles,  look  among  the  ruins  for  Your  Star-Spangled  Banner  Son." 


728 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


tions  which  led  to  the  formation  of  a  powerful  society  in  the  city  of 
New  York  known  as  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission,  which 
performed  most  valuable  service  throughout  the  whole  war  that  ensued. 
At  the  suggestion  of  the  Rev.  Henry  W.  Bellows,  D.D.,  and  Elisha 
Harris,  M.D.,  of  New  York,  fifty  or  sixty  earnest  women  of  the  city 
met  on  the  25th  of  April  (1S61),  when  a  Central  Relief  Association 
was  suggested.  A  plan  was  formed,  and  the  women  of  the  city  were 
invited  to  assemble  at  the  Cooper  Union  on  the  2!ith.  Many  leading 
gentlemen  of  the  city  were  invited  to  be  present.  The  response  was 
ample  in  numbers,  character,  and  resources.  David  Dudley  Field 
presided,  and  Dr.  Bellows  stated  the  object  of  the  meeting.  The 
assemblage  was  addressed  by  the  Hon.  Hannibal  Hamlin,  then  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States.  A  benevolent  organization  was 
effected  under  the  title  of  the  "Women's  Central  Relief  Association. 
Its  constitution  was  drawn  by  Dr.  Bellows.  The  venerable  Dr.  Val- 
entine Mott  was  chosen  its  president,  Dr.  Bellows  its  vice-president, 
G.  F.  Allen  its  secretary,  and  Howard  Potter  its  treasurer.  Auxiliary 
associations  were  formed  all  over  the  free-labor  States. 

It  was  soon  discovered  that  a  broader,  more  perfect,  and  more 
efficient  system,  to  have  a  connection  with  the  medical  department  of 
the  government,  and  under  the  sanction  of  the  "War  Department,  Avas 
desirable.  Already  the  efforts  of  a  single  noble  woman  had  been  put 
forth  with  energy  in  the  same  direction.  On  the  23d  of  April  Miss 
Dorothea  L.  Dix,  whose  name  was  then  conspicuous  in  the  annals  of 
benevolence  in  our  country,  offered  her  services  to  the  government  for 
gratuitous  hospital  work.  They  were  accepted,  and  this  acceptance 
was  made  known  by  a  proclamation  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  who 
requested  all  women  who  offered  their  services  as  nurses  to  apply  to 
her.  Miss  Dix's  labors  were  marvellous.  She  went  from  battle-field 
to  battle-field  when  the  carnage  was  over,  like  an  angel  of  mercy. 
She  went  from  camp  to  camp,  from  hospital  to  hospital,  superintending 
the  nurses. 

On  June  9th  the  Secretary  of  "War  issued  an  order  appointing  II.  W. 
Bellows,  D.D.,  Professor  A.  D.  Bache,  LL.D.,  chief  of  the  Coast 
Survey;  Professor  J.  Wyman,  M.D.,  AV.  II.  Van  Buren,  M.D.,  R.  C. 
Wood,  M.D.,  Surgeon- General  U.  S.  A.;  General  G.  W.  Cullum,  of 
General  Scott's  staff,  and  Alexander  Shiras,  U.  S.  A.,  in  conjunction 
Avith  others  Avho  might  become  associated  with  them,  a  "  commission  of 
inquiry  and  advice  in  respect  of  the  sanitary  interests  of  the  United 
States  forces. "  This  commission  was  organized  with  Dr.  Bellows,  its 
real  founder,  at  the  head.    He  submitted  a  plan  of  organization,  Avhich 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


729 


was  adopted  by  the  government,  and  the  association  assumed  the  name 
of  the  United  St atks  Sanitary  Commission.  Frederick  Law  Olmsted 
was  chosen  its  resident  secretary,  and  became  its  real  manager.  It 
adopted  an  appropriate  seal,  bearing  the  device  of  a  shield  on  which  was 
a  winged  figure  of  Mercy,  with  a  cross  on  her  bosom  and  a  cup  of  con- 
solation in  her  hand,  coming  down  from  the  clouds  to  visit  wounded 
soldiers  on  the  battle-field. 

This  commission  was  to  supplement  government  deficiencies.  An 
appeal  was  made  to  the  people  for  contributions.  The  response  was 
most  generous.  Supplies  and  money  flowed  in  from  all  quarters  suffi- 
cient to  meet  every  demand.  All  over  the  country  men,  women,  and 
children  were  seen  working  singly  and  collectively  for  it.  Fairs  were 
held  in  cities,  which  turned  immense  sums  of  money  into  the  treas- 
ury of  the  commission.  One  small  city  (Poughkeepsie)  contributed 
$16,(KM»,  or  si  for  every  man,  woman,  and  child  of  the  population. 
Branches  were  established,  ambulances,  army-wagons,  and  steamboats 
were  employed  in  transporting  the  sick  and  wounded  under  its  charge. 
It  followed  the  armies  closely  in  all  campaigns.  Before  the  smoke  of 
conflict  had  been  fairly  lifted  there  was  seen  the  commission,  with  its 
tents,  vehicles,  and  supplies. 

The  grand  work  of  this  commission,  which  originated  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  was  made  plain  at  the  close  of  the  war.  It  was  found  that 
the  lo}ral  people  of  the  land  had  given  to  it  supplies  valued  at 
$15,000,000,  and  money  to  the  amount  of  fully  $5,000,000.  The 
archives  of  the  commission,  containing  a  full  record  of  its  work,  were 
deposited  by  Dr.  Bellows,*  in  1878,  in  the  Astor  Library. 

Later  in  1861  another  most  efficient  and  salutary  association  was 
formed  in  the  city  of  Xew  York,  having  its  origin  in  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association.  It  was  first  suggested  by  Vincent  Colyer,  an 
artist,  and  earnest  worker  for  the  good  of  his  kind.    With  others  he 

*  Henry  Whitney  Bellows,  D.D.,  an  eloquent  Unitarian  clergyman,  was  born  in  Boston 
June  11,  1814.  Educated  at  Harvard  University  and  the  divinity  school  at  Cambridge, 
he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  first  Unitarian  Church  (called  All  Souls')  in  New  York 
City  in  January,  1838.  A  fine  church  edifice  was  built  for  him  on  the  corner  of  Fourth 
Avenue  and  Twentieth  Street,  where  he  ministered  with  great  efficiency  until  his  death, 
on  January  30,  1882.  Dr.  Bellows  was  the  principal  projector  of  the  Chris/inn  Inquirer,  a 
Unitarian  newspaper,  the  publication  of  which  began  in  New  York  in  1816,  and  he  was 
its  chief  contributor.  From  the  beginning  he  took  a  commanding  position  in  the  pulpit, 
among  literary  men,  and  in  social  life  in  the  metropolis.  As  we  have  observed  in  the 
text,  he  was  the  originator  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission.  Besides  many 
published  sermons  and  essays.  Dr.  Bellows  wrote  and  published  a  thoughtful  book  on 
"  Christian  Doctrine,"  also  "  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face."  He  wrote  a  "  Defence 
of  the  Drama,"  which  created  quite  a  stir  in  the  religions  world. 


730 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


went  to  Washington  City  immediately  after  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  to 
do  Christian  work  in  the  camps  and  hospitals  there.  He  distributed 
Bibles,  tracts,  and  hymn-books  among  the  soldiers,  and  held  prayer- 
meetings.  In  August  he  suggested  the  combination  of  all  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Associations  of  the  land  in  the  formation  of  a  society 
similar  to  that  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission.  The  sug- 
gestion was  acted  upon  at  a  meeting  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  in  the  city  of  New  York,  on  September  23d,  when  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed,  with  Mr.  Colyer  as  chairman,  to  conduct  corre- 
spondence and  make  arrangements  for  holding  a  national  convention  of 
such  associations.  The  convention  was  held  in  New  York  on  November 
14th,  and  then  and  there  the  United  States  Christian  Commission  was 
formed,  with  George  II.  Stuart,  of  Philadelphia,  as  president. 

The  specific  work  of  this  commission  was  to  be  chiefly  for  the  moral 
and  religious  welfare  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors,  conducted  by  oral 
instruction,  and  the  circulation  of  the  Bible  and  other  proper  books, 
pamphlets,  newspapers,  etc.  among  the  men  in  hospitals,  camps,  and 
ships.  The  commission  worked  on  the  same  general  plan  of  the  Sani- 
tary Commission.  Its  labors  were  by  no  moans  confined  to  spiritual 
and  intellectual  ministrations,  but  also  to  the  distribution  of  a  vast 
amount  of  food,  hospital  stores,  delicacies,  and  clothing.  It,  too,  fol- 
lowed the  great  armies,  and  was  like  a  twin  angel  of  mercy  with  the 
Sanitary  Commission.  It  co-operated  most  efficiently  with  the  army 
and  navy  chaplains,  and  cast  about  the  soldiers  a  salutary  hedge  of 
Christian  influence.  The  money  collected  for  the  use  of  the  commis- 
sion was  chiefly  gathered  by  the  women  of  various  Christian  denomina- 
tions. It  was  a  free-will  offering,  and  amounted  to  about  SI, 000, 000. 
The  entire  receipts  of  the  commission  in  money  and  supplies  were  about 
$6,000,000. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  National  Congress  convened  in  extraordinary  session  on  the 
4th  of  July,  1861,  and  adopted  measures  for  the  vigorous  prose- 
cution of  the  war.  The  raising  of  -400,000  men  and  $400,000,000  was 
authorized.  Meanwhile  the  loyal  people  of  New  York  City  were  put- 
ting forth  vast  efforts  for  the  support  of  the  government  in  its  mighty 
and  righteous  task.  Individuals  and  corporate  bodies  offei'ed  the  most 
generous  aid  wherever  needed.  At  a  meeting  of  merchants  at  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  on  the  19th  of  April,  it  was  stated  that  there 
were  regiments  of  volunteers  needing  assistance  to  enable  them  to  go 
forward.  In  the  space  of  ten  minutes  more  than  §21,000  were  given 
for  the  purpose  by  those  present. 

At  that  time  the  vast  stream  of  volunteers  from  the  State  and  from 
New  England  had  begun  to  flow  through  the  city  with  ever-increasing 
volume,  and  the  patriotism  of  the  people  was  aroused  to  the  highest 
pitch  of  enthusiasm.  On  Sunday,  the  21st  of  April,  piety  and  patriot- 
ism were  contending  for  supremacy  in  the  churches  of  the  city.  In 
several  of  them  collections  were  taken  up  to  give  aid  to  the  cause. 
Texts  and  sermons  were  appropriate.  In  Dr.  Bellows's  (Unitarian) 
Church  "  The  Star-Spangled  Banner''  was  sung.  The  rector  of  Grace 
(Episcopal)  Church  (Dr.  Taylor)  began  his  sermon  with  the  words, 
"  The  star-spangled  banner  has  been  insulted."  Dr.  "Wells  (Presby- 
terian) took  for  his  text,  "  He  that  hath  no  sword,  let  him  buy  one." 

On  Monday,  the  22d,  the  common  council,  on  the  recommendation  of 
Mayor  Wood,  voted  $1,000,000  in  aid  of  the  government.  At  a  meet- 
ing of  the  whole  bar  of  the  city  of  New  York  the  sum  of  $25,000  was 
contributed.  In  the  course  of  a  few  days  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
collected  about  $119,000,  and  this  amount  was  continually  swelled  by 
the  contributions  of  patriotic  citizens.  This  was  before  the  Union 
Defence  Committee  was  organized  and  became  the  receiver  and  dis- 
burser  of  patriotic  offerings.  Before  the  meeting  of  Congress,  or  in  the 
space  of  three  months,  New  York  City  had  contributed  40,000  men  and 
$150,000,000  in  gifts  and  loans  and  advances  to  the  government  for 
the  support  of  the  national  authority.    One  regiment  (Ellsworth's 


732 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Zouaves)  was  composed  of  New  York  firemen,  who  did  gallant  sendee 
at  Washington  and  its  vicinity  and  at  the  battle  of  Hull  Run.  Several 
thousands  of  New  York  firemen  served  in  the  army  during  the  war. 

Colonel  Ephraim  E.  Ellsworth  was  a  native  of  Meehanicsville,  X.  Y., 
and  was  only  twenty-four  years  old  when  he  recruited  the  regiment  of 
Fire  Zouaves.  lie  had  organized  a  corps  of  Zouaves  the  previous  year 
in  Chicago,  and  visiting  Eastern  cities  had  created  much  interest  be- 
cause of  their  picturesque  costume  and  peculiar  tactics.  The  response 
to  his  call  in  Xew  York  for  recruits  was  immediate  and  ample.  More 
than  s:}i;,0oi)  were  raised  in  a  few  days  to  equip  them.  The  Union 
Defence  Committee  presented  them  with  1000  Sharpe's  rifles.  The 
common  council  gave  them  a  stand  of  colors  ;  so  also  did  Mrs.  John  J. 
Astor,  who  accompanied  the  gilt  with  a  complimentary  and  patriotic 
letter. 

On  the  29th  of  April  the  Fire  Zouaves  left  Xew  York  for  "Washington, 
greeted  on  their  way  to  the  river  by  the  loud  huzzas  of  a  vast  multitude 
of  citizens  and  the  waving  of  hundreds  of  flags.  In  less  than  a  month 
afterward  the  lifeless  body  of  their  young  and  beloved  commander  was 
brought  back  to  the  city.  He  had  led  his  troops  to  Alexandria,  Va., 
where,  seeing  a  rebel  flag  flying  from  the  cupola  of  a  tavern  in  the 
city,  he  rushed  in,  ascended  to  the  spot,  and  was  coining  down  with 
the  flag  wrapped  around  his  body  when  he  was  shot  dead  by  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  house.  His  death  created  great  excitement  throughout 
the  Xorth.  At  Xew  York  his  coffin  was  borne  to  the  City  Hall,  where 
his  body  lav  in  state.  In  the  funeral  procession  to  the  Hudson  River 
steamboat  which  bore  him  toward  his  home,  the  bearers  were  leading 
citizens  of  Xew  York,  headed  by  the  Hon.  Hamilton  Fish.  His  fol- 
lowers vowed  to  avenge  him.  They  fought  desperately  at  the  battle  of 
Bull  Run  a  few  weeks  afterward,  in  which  200  of  them  were  slain. 

The  National  Government  found  itself  embarrassed  at  this  critical 
juncture  by  a  want  of  funds  to  meet  the  enormous  expenses.  The 
efforts  of  the  former  traitorous  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Howell 
Cobb,  to  ruin  the  national  credit  had  been  partially  successful.  Loans 
were1  obtained  with  difficulty,  and  at  ruinous  rates  of  interest.  Capi- 
talists were  timid  ;  but  now  the  perils  of  the  government,  which 
involved  that  of  every  other  interest  in  the  land,  opened  the  purse- 
strings  of  all  classes,  and,  as  we  have  observed,  Xew  York,  the  great 
money -centre  of  the  country,  contributed  so  liberally  that  the  Treasury 
Department  felt  instant  temporary  relief.  But  there  was  as  yet  no 
fixed  plan  for  raising  money  when  needed,  excepting  through  the  ordi- 
nary channels  of  revenue,  which  were  entirely  inadequate.    At  this 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


733 


juncture  an  able  New  York  financier  (John  Thompson),  in  a  letter  to 
the  President  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  (Mr.  Chase),  written 
on  June  17,  1SG1,  proposed  a  system  of  national  currency,  which  was 
finally  adopted,  hut  too  late  to  be  of  service  in  avoiding  much  financial 
trouble.    Mr.  Thompson's  proposed  plan  was  as  follows  : 

1.  The  appointment  by  Congress  of  a  board  of  currency  commissioners,  to  act  with  or 
independent  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  with  the  power  to  execute  circulating 
notes  in  convenient  denominations,  made  redeemable  on  demand  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  and  receivable  for  all  public  dues.  The  board  to  receive  from  the  treasury  say 
twenty-five  per  cent  specie  and  seventy. five  per  cent  United  States  stock  or  bonds,  and 
pass  over  to  the  treasury  circulating  notes  to  a  corresponding  amount,  this  currency  to 
be  the  disbursing  money  for  the  government  instead  of  gold. 

2.  The  commissioners  to  execute  an  additional  amount  of  circulating  notes  sufficient  to 
be  at  all  times  prepared  to  give  the  public  such  notes  in  exchange  for  silver  and  gold  ; 
for  example  :  the  commissioners  would  issue  S4, 000,000  of  notes  to  be  disbursed  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  receive  from  him  for  their  redemption  SI, 000,000  of 
specie  and  §3,000,000  of  United  States  stocks,  giving  notes  to  the  public  for  specie, 
dollar  for  dollar  only. 

3.  In  addition  to  the  ordinary  circidating  notes,  the  commissioners  to  have  power,  by 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  President,  to  issue,  in  exchange  for  specie,  notes  bearing 
interest  and  payable  only  at  the  expiration  of  thirty  days'  notice  from  the  holder. 

4.  Should  specie  accumulate  so  that  the  proportion  would  be  moie  than  twenty  five 
per  cent  on  all  outstanding  notes,  then  the  government  might  furnish  stock  or  bonds 
only  in  exchange  for  circulating  notes,  so  that  the  percentage  of  specie  to  circulation 
should  not  be  less  than  twenty-five  per  cent ;  but  should  the  specie  diminish,  to  the  peril 
of  prompt  specie  resumption,  then  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  put  a  portion  of  the 
stock  held  by  the  commissioners  on  the  market  to  replenish  the  specie  reserve. 

Mr.  Thompson  in  his  communication  expressed  his  belief  that  such  a 
measure  would  be  of  great  benefit  to  the  people  and  to  the  army,  inas- 
much as  it  would  furnish  a  currency  free  from  discount,  perfectly  safe, 
convenient  for  remittance  by  mail,  and  much  more  desirable  when 
travelling  or  marching.  "  Besides,"'  said  Mr.  Thompson,  "  every 
well-wisher  of  our  country's  cause  will  feel  that  the  holding  of  these 
notes,  if  for  only  a  day,  is  contributing  a  mite  in  time  of  need." 

These  suggestions  attracted  very  wide  attention,  and  were  favorably 
considered  by  President  Lincoln  and  Secretary  Chase,  but  action  upon 
them  was  deferred.  They  were  finally  adopted  piecemeal  from  time 
to  time,  and  formed  the  basis  for  the  national  currency  and  banking 
system  of  the  country,  established  in  1863,  and  based  on  public  and 
private  faith.  Mr.  Thompson  encountered  strong  opposition  from 
the  old  moneyed  institutions  in  his  efforts  to  establish  this  system,  and 
Mr.  Chase,  his  warm  personal  friend,  who  often  sought  his  counsel  in 
financial  matters  in  the  dark  days  of  the  war,  came  in  for  a  share  of 
sharp  criticism  and  censure.    A  circular  letter  addressed  to  the  man- 


734  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

agers  of  the  banks  of  the  New  York  Cleaving-House  Association, 
written  in  September,  1803,  made  most  gloomy  prophecies  of  the 
effects  of  the  national  banking  system,  saying  : 

"  We  shall  have  a  thousand  banks  spread  over  the  whole  continent,  instituted  and 
managed,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  by  inexperienced  men,  to  say  nothing  of  unprincipled 
adventurers  who  will  flood  the  country  with  a  currency  essentially  irredeemable — banks 
from  which  will  radiate  a  fearful  expansion  in  the  shape  of  credits  issued  on  deposits, 
themselves  the  birth  of  inflation,  and,  Proteus-like,  from  which  elements  still  further 
inflations  will  emanate  ;  with  frantic  speculation  and  elevation  of  jirices,  until  some 
political  convention,  or  the  mere  hint  to  a  return  to  specie  payments  [the  banks  had  all 
suspended  specie  payments],  pricking  the  bubble,  the 'system'  will  collapse,  spreading 
devastation  and  ruin  broadcast  over  the  laud,  producing  such  a  scene  of  financial  calam- 
ities as  shall  make  all  our  previous  convulsions  to  compare  with  it  as  a  child's  rattle  to 
a  whirlwind." 

This  prophet  of  evil  did  not  disturb  Mr.  Thompson's  faith  in  his 
project.  He  showed  that  faith  by  his  works,  for  toward  the  close  of 
1S63  he  established  the  First  National  Bank  in  the  city  of  New  York — 
the  first  in  the  metropolis  under  the  new  system — with  only  two  direc- 
tors outside  of  his  own  family.  The  old  banks  finally  acknowledged 
the  wisdom  of  the  scheme.  And  so  New  York  City  has  the  honor  of 
the  first  suggestion  of  our  admirable  national  currency  and  banking 
system.* 

*  John  Thompson  is  a  native  of  Berkshire  County,  Mass.,  where  he  was  born  in  1803. 
His  father  was  a  well-to-do  farmer,  and  with  him  young  Thompson  remained,  working  on 
the  farm  in  summer  and  attending  school  in  winter,  until  he  was  nineteen  years  of  age. 
His  studies  were  completed  in  the  old  Hadley  Academy,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty  he 
became  a  teacher,  at  a  small  salary,  in  Hampshire  County,  in  that  State.  He  afterward 
took  charge  of  a  select  school  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  in  which  occupation  he  continued  until 
he  was  appointed  agent  of  Yates  &  Mclntyre's  lottery,  at  Poughkeepsie,  on  the  Hudson, 
a  scheme  authorized  by  the  Legislature  for  the  benefit  of  Union  College.  In  that 
capacity  Mr.  Thompson  served  until  1832,  when,  with  a  capital  of  $2000,  he  went  to  the 
city  of  New  York  and  opened  a  broker's  office  in  Wall  Street.  For  more  than  fifty  years 
he  has  been  known  in  financial  circles.  Wall  Street  was  then,  as  now,  the  money  centre 
of  our  country.  The  strongest  houses  of  the  street  then  were  Prime,  Ward  ft  King, 
Corning  A  Co.,  and  Dykers  A:  Alstyne,  the  members  of  all  of  which  are  now  dead. 

Prudent,  cautious,  and  intelligent,  Mr.  Thompson  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  was 
possessed  of  a  capital  of  $10,000.  The  currency  of  the  country  then  consisted  chiefly  of 
the  issues  of  State  hanks.  Perceiving  the  necessity  of  a  journal  giving  information  on  the 
currency  of  the  nation,  he  founded  the  (soon)  famous  Thompson's  Bank-Xote  Reporter. 
It  was  a  pioneer  in  that  line.  Its  fearless  denunciation  of  bad  banking  and  the  fraudu- 
lent issues  of  currency  involved  Mr.  Thompson  in  vexatious  lawsuits,  but  he  came  out 
victorious  in  every  instance.  His  Eeporler  stood  alone  for  years,  and  was  a  recognized 
authority  everywhere.  His  sagacity  concerning  sound  currency  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Civil  War  has  been  illustrated  in  the  text.  Establishing  the  First  National  Bank  in  New 
York,  he  remained  with  it  fourteen  years,  when,  in  1877,  he  founded  the  Chase  National 
Bank— so  called  in  honor  of  his  friend,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  flourishing  of  the  moneyed  institutions  in  the  country,  doing  an  extensive  busi- 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860  1870. 


735 


In  the  fall  of  1861  our  government  deemed  it  important  that  some 
gentlemen  of  intelligence  and  thoroughly  acquainted  with  our  national 
affairs  should  be  sent  to  Europe,  especially  to  England  and  France,  to 
explain  to  their  respective  governments  the  circumstances  which  pre- 
ceded and  the  causes  which  produced  the  rebellion,  the  object  being 
to  counteract  the  malign  influence  of  Mason  and  Slidell,  who  had  just 
evaded  the  blockade  at  Charleston  and  departed  for  England,  the 
former  as  the  accredited  diplomatic  agent  of  the  "  conspirators"  for 
England,  and  the  latter  for  France.  For  this  mission  Edward  Everett, 
Archbishop  Hughes,  John  P.  Kennedy,  and  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  of  Ohio, 
were  chosen.  They  all  declined  the  service  excepting  Bishop  Mcllvaine. 
The  archbishop  subsequently  accepted  the  appointment  on  the  condi- 
tion that  Thurlow  Weed,  the  well-known  journalist,  should  be  his 
colleague.  Mr.  "Weed  was  appointed.  He  and  Bishop  Mcllvaine 
were  the  accredited  (not  official)  agents  of  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment sent  to  the  British  court  for  the  performance  of  a  specific  duty, 
and  the  archbishop  Avas  accredited  to  the  French  Government  for  the 
same  purpose.  Mr.  "Weed  sailed  from  New  York  for  Havre  in  com- 
pany with  General  Scott,  who  was  asked  to  join  the  mission  ;  the 
archbishop  and  Bishop  Mcllvaine  departed  on  a  Cunard  steamer  for 
Liverpool.  Mr.  "Weed  went  immediately  to  England  from  France,  and 
Archbishop  Hughes  to  France  from  England. 

The  arrival  of  these  able  agents  in  Europe  was  timely  and  providen- 
tial. Two  days  after  the  arrival  of  Mr.  "Weed  in  England,  early  in 
December,  news  reached  that  country  of  the  seizure  of  Mason  and 
Slidell  on  a  British  steamer  by  the  officers  of  a  United  States  cruiser. 
"Wild  and  angry  excitement  prevailed  throughout  the  realm,  and 
immense  preparations  for  war  with  the  United  States  were  made  by 
the  British  Government.  Mr.  "Weed  obtained  an  immediate  interview 
with  Lord  John  Bussell  and  other  high  dignitaries  of  the  government, 
and  was  successful  in  the  highest  degree  in  the  execution  of  the  mis- 
sion on  which  he  had  been  sent.  He  also  visited  France,  and  had  an 
interview  with  Prince  Napoleon,  who  favored  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment in  opposition  to  the  Emperor. 

ness  quietly  at  Xo.  104  Broadway.  Mr.  Thompson's  son,  Samuel  Clarke,  was  appoiuted 
its  president,  and  Isaac  White  its  cashier.  This  son  was  the  president  of  the  First 
National  Bank  until  the  founding  of  the  Chase  Bank. 

Mr.  Thompson  is  an  advocate  of  a  paper  currency  with  a  sound  metallic  basis.  His 
idea  is  that  neither  gold  or  silver  is  desirable  for  currency.  He  would  have  the  mint  fix 
the  coin  value  in  bullion,  and  the  treasury  store  the  latter  and  issue  treasury  certifi- 
cates in  denominations  suitable  for  a  circulating  medium.  This  would  give  the  people  a 
metallic  currency  without  the  inconvenience  rf  handling  and  carrying  coin. 


736 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Meanwhile  Archbishop  Hughes  had  proceeded  to  Paris,  where  he 
had  an  interview  with  the  Emperor  and  Empress  *  and  dignitaries  of 
the  Church,  everywhere  setting  forth  the  righteousness  of  the  cause  of 
which  he  appeared  as  exponent.  lie  wrote  letters  to  Cardinal  Barnabo, 
Prefect  of  the  Sacred  Congregation  of  the  Propaganda.  He  visited 
Pome,  and  afterward  Ireland.  His  mission  was  executed  with  success 
equal  to  that  of  Mr.  "Weed.f  The  details  of  this  mission  belong  to  our 
national  history  ;  the  bare  mention  of  it  here  must  suffice. 

*  See  an  interesting  account  of  that  interview  in  Hassard's  "  Life  of  Archbishop 
Hughes,"  p.  4(55. 

f  Thurlow  Weed  was  a  distinguished  man.  His  career,  as  revealed  in  his  autobiogra- 
phy, was  a  most  remarkable  one.  He  was  born  in  Cairo,  Greene  County,  N.  Y,  November 
15,  1797.  His  early  education  was  very  meagre.  Not  more  than  a  year  altogether  was 
spent  by  him  in  school.  At  eight  years  of  age  he  was  employed  in  blowing  a  black- 
smith's bellows,  and  before  he  was  ten  years  old  he  was  cabin-boy  on  a  Hudson  River 
sloop.  When  he  was  eleven  years  old  his  parents  moved  to  Cortland  County,  where  he 
labored  on  a  farm  with  his  father,  and  "  worked  'round  "  at  anything  he  could  find  to  do. 

Young  Weed  became  a  printer's  apprentice,  but  circumstances  made  him  a  wanderer 
from  place  to  place,  not  only  as  an  apprentice  but  as  a  journeyman  pi  inter.  Before  ho 
was  sixteen  he  had  served  three  months  in  the  army  on  the  northern  frontier  in  the  war 
of  1812-15.  The  next  year  he  was  again  in  the  army,  where  he  v.  as  made  a  cptarter- 
inaster-sergeant.  Pursuing  his  trade  in  Ulica,  Albany,  Herkimer,  Oooperstown,  and 
other  places  in  the  interior  of  the  State  for  two  or  three  years,  he  finally  found  employ- 
ment in  the  city  of  New  York,  working  at  one  time  with  the  late  James  Harper.  Before 
he  was  quite  twenty-one  years  of  age  he  was  married,  at  Cooperstown,  to  Miss  Catharine 
Ostrander,  to  whom  he  had  been  engaged  four  years  before.  He  had  just  money  enough 
to  take  himself  and  his  young  wife  to  Albany,  where,  he  said,  "  with  good  health,  strong 
hands,  and  hopeful  hearts,  we  both  went  earnestly  at  work  to  earn  a  living."  It  was  a 
fortunate  marriage.  "  She  more  than  divided  our  labors,  cares,  and  responsibilities,"  he 
added.  "  But  for  her  industry,  frugality,  and  good  management  I  must  have  been  ship- 
wrecked during  the  first  liftccn  years  of  trial.  I  am  indebted  to  her  largely  for  whatever 
of  personal  success  and  pecuniar}-  prosperity  I  have  since  enjoyed."  On  the  morning  of 
the  fortieth  anniversary  of  their  marriage,  while  ho  was  watching  at  her  bedside,  she  took 
the  wedding-ring  from  her  linger,  which  he  had  placed  there  twoscoro  years  before,  and 
put  it  on  his,  saying,  "  I  shall  not  live  through  the  day." 

In  the  autumn  of  the  year  of  his  marriage  Mr.  Weed  bought  a  printing-office  on  credit 
for  $700  at  Norwich,  Chenango  County,  and  started  the  Agriculturist,  a  weekly  newspaper. 
It  was  not  a  success  pecuniarily,  and  he  returned  to  Albany  in  1821.  Soon  afterward  ho 
started  another  paper  at  Manlius,  Onondaga  County,  with  no  better  success.  He  went 
to  Rochester,  then  a  straggling  village,  where  he  became  the  editor  and  finally  proprietor 
of  the  Telegraph,  a  weekly  newspaper.  He  took  in  a  partner,  and  under  the  firm  of 
Weed  &  Martin  it  became  the  Rochester  Daily  Telegraph.  Mr.  Weed  conducted  it  with 
great  ability.  He  soon  became  involved  in  the  bitter  controversy  which  led  to  tho 
formation  of  the  Anti-Masonic  political  party.  The  Anti- Masonic,  Inquirer,  edited  by 
him,  dealt  heavy  blows  upon  the  opposing  party,  and  Mr.  Weed's  fame  as  an  exr>ert  and 
able  journalist  now  budded  and  blossomed.  He  became  widely  known  as  a  shrewd 
politician  and  a  rare  party  manager. 

Mr.  Weed  was  an  ardent  political  supporter  of  De  Witt  Clinton  and  his  canal  policy, 


FOURTH  DECADE,  18G0-1870. 


737 


The  zeal,  patriotism,  and  munificent  generosity  of  the  citizens  of 
New  York  exhibited  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  was  con- 
tinued with  unabated  earnestness  until  its  close.  Such  was  the  case 
especially  under  their  patriotic  mayor,  the  late  George  Opdyke. 

and  in  1824  he  was  elected  to  a  seat  in  the  New  York  Legislature.  He  was  re-elected  in 
1829.  The  real  purpose  of  bis  re-election  was  in  connection  with  a  project  for  estab- 
lishing at  the  State  capital  a  daily  newspaper  that  should  oppose  the  powerful  "  Albany 
Regency,"  a  junta  of  politicians  led  by  Martin  Van  Ruren,  which  managed  the  Demo- 
cratic party  in  the  State.  Mr.  Weed  had  shown  so  much  tact  in  the  management  of  the 
campaign  which  again  gave  tbe  office  of  governor  to  Clinton,  in  1824,  that  he  was  consid- 
ered the  most  competent  person  to  oppose  the  Regency.  The  Albany  Evening  Journal 
was  established  in  1830,  with  1111.  Weed  as  editor.  It  was  an  Anti-Masonic  organ.  At 
that  time,  of  the  211  newspapers  published  in  the  State,  33  were  Anti-Masonic. 

This  was  really  the  beginning  of  Mr.  Weed's  extraordinary  political  career  and  the 
personal  and  political  friendship  between  Mr.  Seward  and  himself.  The  former  was 
then  a  State  Seuator.  Mr.  Weed  never  held  any  public  office  after  that,  excepting  that  of 
State  printer.  He  and  Mr.  Seward  always  worked  in  harmony  in  political  life,  one  before 
and  the  other  behind  the  scenes. 

From  1830  to  1802  Mr.  Weed  was  the  editor  and  a  greater  part  of  the  time  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  Evening  Journal,  which  wielded  a  mighty  political  influence.  He  was  justly 
called  the  "  Warwick  of  the  press."  He  severed  his  connection  with  the  Journal  in  1862, 
on  his  return  from  his  semi-diplomatic  mission  to  Europe.  For  a  while  he  was  editor  of 
the  New  York  Commercial  Advertiser. 

Mr.  Weed  visited  Europe  several  times,  and  always  with  his  daughter  .  His  first  visit 
was  in  18-13,  his  last  in  1871.  In  1844  he  visited  the  West  Indies,  and  in  1806  a  book 
was  published  without  Mr.  Weed's  knowledge  containing  a  series  of  communications 
which  he  had  made  to  the  Evening  Journal,  with  the  title  of  "  Letters  from  Europe  and 
the  West  Indies."  For  several  years  he  had  been  virtually  a  resident  of  New  York 
City,  for  he  kept  a  room  for  his  exclusive  use  the  year  round  at  the  Astor  House,  where 
he  spent  much  of  his  time.  In  1865  he  took  up  his  permanent  abode  in  the  city,  with 
his  family,  and  soon  afterward  abandoned  public  life,  and  lived  in  quiet  in  the  great 
metropolis,  but  taking  the  liveliest  interest  in  all  the  prominent  social  and  political 
movements  of  the  day. 

Mr.  Weed  died  at  his  home  in  New  York  City  on  November  22,  1882,  when  he  had  just 
passed  his  eighty-fifth  birthday.  Rofore  the  burial  a  very  large  number  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished citizens  called  to  view  his  remains.  The  funeral  ceremonies  were  held  in  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church,  on  Fifth  Avenue.  The  body  was  taken  to  Albany  and  laid  in 
the  beautiful  Rural  Cemetery  there.* 

Mr.  Weed  had  lived  in  the  time  of  all  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States,  and  of 
twenty  five  governors  of  his  native  State.  He  had  been  a  power  in  the  land  for  more 
than  half  a  century,  the  intimate  friend  or  valued  correspondent  of  statesmen  at  home 
and  abroad.  As  a  journalist  he  exerted  a  wide  influence  upon  the  aspects  of  his  time  ; 
as  an  editor  he  haTl  few  rivals  in  intelligence  and  sagacity,  and  as  a  citizen  his  life  was 
blameless.  His  abilities  were  very  great  ;  in  morals  he  was  pure,  in  integrity  he  was 
very  rich,  and  in  patriotism  he  was  unsurpassed.  His  sympathies  for  the  suffering  were 
ever  actively  alive,  and  his  practical  benevolence  was  unstinted. 

*The  pall-bearers  were  ex-Governors  Edwin  D.  Morgan  and  Hamilton  Fish,  General  James  Watsou 
Webb,  Frederick  W.  Seward.  Isaac  Bell.  General  J.imes  Bowen.  J.  n.  Van  Antwerp.  John  McKcon.  Alfred 
Van  Santvoord,  George  Dawson,  of  Albany.  H.  R  Riddle,  of  Niagara,  and  Julus  J.  Wood,  of  Columbus,  O. 


T38 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Into  the  harbor  of  Xew  York  was  brought  the  first  captured  Con- 
federate privateer  (so  called),  the  Scwcvrmak,  carrying  eighteen  men  and 
an  lS-pounder  cannon.  The  men  were  tried  for  piracy  and  sentenced  to 
death,  but  by  the  wise  counsel  of  Chief-Justice  C.  P.  Daly  the  govern- 
ment was  saved  from  committing  a  serious  blunder,  and  they  were 
exchanged  as  prisoners  of  war.  Out  of  that  harbor  went  vessels  and 
thousands  of  men  on  patriotic  expeditions  somewhere.  In  March, 
1802,  the  little  Monitor,  a  vessel  of  "  strange  device,"  went  boldly  to 
sea  from  Xew  York  under  the  brave  Lieutenant  (now  Rear- Admiral) 
AVorden,  entered  Hampton  Roads,  spread  dismay  among  the  insurgents 
there,  and  saved  millions'  worth  of  property,  and  possibly  Northern 
seaport  cities  from  pillage  and  devastation.  Captain  Ericsson,  under 
whose  supervision  the  Monitor  was  built,  is  yet  among  the  active 
workers  with  the  brain  in  New  York,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years.  Cut 
of  that  harbor  also  sailed  the  Gmryr  Grixirohl,  freighted  with  contribu- 
tions from  New  York  merchants  for  the  relief  of  thousands  of  starving 
mill-operatives  of  England.  She  was  convoyed  by  a  vessel  of  war  to 
guard  her  from  destruction  by  the  pirate  ship  Alabama,  which  had 
been  built,  fitted  out,  and  manned  in  England  for  the  insurgents,  and 
was  then  burning  Xew  York  merchant-ships  here  and  there  on  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  England  was  compelled  to  pay  §15,500,000  in  gold 
for  these  outrages. 

In  February j  1S02,  in  compliance  with  the  recommendation  of  Mayor 
Opdvke,  one  hundred  guns  were  fired  from  the  Battery  and  Madison 
Square,  and  the  national  flag  was  displayed  everywhere  as  tokens  of 
the  public  joy  because  of  the  victory  of  Burnside  at  Roanoke  Island 
and  triumphs  of  the  national  arms  elsewhere.  A  similar  demonstration 
was  made  in  the  city  after  the  victory  at  Shiloh,  in  April.  Meanwhile 
a  great  mass  meeting  of  citizens  had  been  held  at  the  Cooper  Union, 
and  provision  was  made  for  the  relief  of  loyal  refugees  from  Florida. 
In  May  a  home  for  sick  and  wounded  soldiers,  capable  of  accommodat- 
ing four  hundred  or  five  hundred  men,  was  opened  by  an  association  of 
ladies,  headed  by  Mrs.  Dr.  Yalentine  Mott.  Other  institutions  for  a 
similar  purpose  were  opened  in  the  city,  and  in  June  the  common 
council  appropriated  8500,000  for  the  relief  of  the  families  of  volunteer 
soldiers.* 

*  One  of  the  noted  benevolent  institutions  in  the  city  founded  during  the  war  by 
patriotic  citizens — men  and  women — is  the  Union  Home  and  School.  It  was  organized 
in  May,  18G1,  when  it  was  clearly  perceived  by  sagacious  persons  that  a  war  of  much 
magnitude  was  begun.  A  building  that  might  accommodate  about  eighty  children  was 
hired,  and  the  institution  was  put  into  operation.    In  April,  1862,  it  was  incorporated. 


FOUR  I'll  DECADE,  1360-1870. 


739 


On  the  failure  of  McClellan's  campaign  against  Richmond  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  met  (July  7,  1802)  and  appointed  a  committee 
to  meet  committees  from  the  Union  Defence  Committee  and  other 
loyal  organizations  for  the  purpose  of  devising  measures  for  sustaining 
the  National  Government.  On  the  recommendation  of  the  mayor  at 
that  time,  the  corporation  pledged  the  people  of  the  metropolis  to  the 
support  of  the  government  in  its  struggle  with  deadly  foes,  and  late  in 
August  a  great  war-meeting  was  held  in  the  City  Hall  Park,  which 
Mas  densely  packed  with  citizens.  Measures  were  adopted  for  the 
promotion  of  volunteering.  A  bounty  of  $50  was  offered  to  each 
volunteer. 

During  1802  the  patriotic  contributions  in  Xew  York  to  the  support 
of  the  government  were  magnificent.  Besides  the  volunteers,  seven 
militia  regiments,  with  an  aggregate  membership  of  5-iOO  men,  had 
served  for  three  months  each  and  been  honorably  discharged.  It  was 
estimated  that  during  little  more  than  twentv  mouths  of  the  war,  to 
the  close  of  1802,  the  citizens  of  Xew  York  had  contributed  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  government,  in  taxes,  gifts,  and  loans  to  the  nation,  fully 
$300,000,000  and  over  80,000  volunteers. 

Several  months  earlier  than  the  appointment  of  the  special  mission 
to  England  and  France,  President  Lincoln  appointed  General  James 
"Watson  Webb,  of  Xew  York  City,  envoy  extraordinary  and  minister 
plenipotentiary  to  represent  the  United  States  in  the  Empire  of  Brazil. 
General  Webb  asked  the  President  for  instructions,  when  Mr.  Lincoln 
said  :  You,  who  for  more  than  a  third  of  a  century  have  been  the 
editor  of  one  of  the  leading  presses  of  the  country,  and  who  from 
necessity  are  familiar  with  European  politics  and  international  affairs 
generally,  ask  me,  an  Illinois  lawyer,  to  give  you  instructions  for  your 
guidance  in  Brazil,  under  the  trying  circumstances  by  which  you  are 
sure  to  be  surrounded  !  I  have  none  to  give  you.  On  reflection,  yes, 
I'll  give  instructions.    Go  to  your  post,  and  do  your  duty." 

This  was  a  most  fortunate  appointment  at  that  critical  juncture  in 
our  national  affairs.  General  Webb  went  to  Brazil  by  way  of  Europe. 
At  the  request  of  President  Lincoln,  he  went  to  France  and  had  an 

It  was  designed  for  the  education  and  maintenance  of  the  children  of  the  volunteer 
soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  city  who  might  be  left  unprovided  for. 

This  Home  now  occupies  a  spacious  building  on  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-first  Street 
and  Eleventh  Avenue.  From  the  beginning  it  has  received  the  fostering  care  of  the  best 
citizens  of  Xew  York.  It  is  in  the  charge  of  a  board  of  managers,  composed  entirely  of 
ladies,  assisted  by  an  advisory  board  of  gentlemen.  In  1882-83  Mrs.  Charles  P.  Daly  was 
president,  and  Mrs.  Harlow  M.  Hoyt  secretary.  A  fair  held  for  its  benefit  at  one  time 
realized  about  $100,000. 


740 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


interview  with  the  Emperor  Napoleon  III.,  whom  General  Webb  had 
known  personally  in  New  York  when  the  former  was  in  exile,  and  who 
had  vindicated  the  character  of  the  young  man  from  slanderous  charges 
made  against  him.  The  Emperor  had  ever  regarded  Mr.  Webb  as 
his  friend,  and  frequently  corresponded  with  him.  Napoleon  gladly 
admitted  him  to  an  interview  at  Fontaincbleau,  when  General  Webb 
explained  to  him  the  causes  of  the  rebellion  and  asserted  the  determina- 
tion of  the  government  and  people  of  the  United  States  to  put  it  down. 
This  explanation  was  satisfactory  to  the  Emperor,  and  so  was  made 
plain  the  way  to  the  success  of  the  mission  of  Archbishop  Hughes  at 
the  close  of  that  year.  From  Paris  General  Webb  went  to  London 
and  had  an  interview  with  Lord  John  Russell,  with  whom  he  was 
acquainted,  and  so  smoothed  the  way  for  the  mission  of  Mr.  Weed  at 
the  close  of  the  year. 

General  Webb  reached  his  post  of  duty,  at  Rio  .Janeiro,  on  the  4th 
of  October,  18<!1.  The  treacherous  United  States  minister,  Meade,  of 
Virginia,  had  deserted  his  post  to  join  the  rebels  at  home,  and  the 
more  treacherous  consul,  Scott  (also  a  Virginian),  had  sent  to  the  Con- 
federate Government  a  list  and  description  of  American  vessels  in  that 
port  and  about  to  sail.  Seven  eighths  of  the  commanders  of  American 
vessels  there  were  Southerners,  and  openly  displayed  tokens  of  their 
sympathy  with  the  rebellion.  The  loyal  consul  who  had  succeeded 
Scott  was  powerless  to  prevent  it,  for  the  government  and  people  and 
the  white  foreign  population,  especially  the  English,  were  in  favor  of 
the  i nsui  gents.  The  English  minister  at  the  Brazilian  court  encour- 
aged and  led  this  hostility  to  the  American  Government. 

Four  days  after  his  arrival  General  Webb  changed  the  aspect  of 
affairs  in  the  harbor  of  the  Brazilian  capital.  On  the  8th  he  ordered 
the  consul  to  take  a  sufficient  police  force,  visit  every  American  ship  in 
port,  seize  every  Secession  flag  or  other  tokens  of  rebellion,  dispos- 
sess every  disloyal  captain,  and  send  the  ships  home  in  charge  of  the 
mates  ;  and  further,  to  grant  no  clearances  in  future  to  any  American 
vessel  without  first  compelling  the  captain  to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  United  States.  The  frightened  shipmasters  assembled  at  the 
American  consulate  and  abused  the  consul  with  their  tongues. 

"  I  am  only  a  subordinate,"  said  the  consul.  "  Why  do  you  not  go 
to  the  minister's  hotel  and  remonstrate  ?" 

"Oh  !  he  be  d — d,"  said  one  of  them.  "  I  know  him,  and  you 
might  as  well  ask  a  porpoise  to  give  you  a  tow  as  to  attempt  to  change 
the  old  cuss  V 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  energetic  and  efficient  diplomatic 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


743 


career  of  General  Webb  at  the  court  of  Brazil.  On  every  occasion  he 
sustained  the  honor  and  dignity  of  our  country  in  his  own  person 
during  his  administration  of  American  diplomacy  at  that  court  for 
eight  years.  lie  rebuked  and  humbled  British  arrogance,  compelled 
Brazil  to  be  just  toward  his  country,  and  defended  with  promptness 
and  swift  decision  and  action  the  honor  of  the  American  flag  and  the 
rights  of  American  citizens  within  his  jurisdiction.  " 

It  was  during  General  Webb's  mission  in  Brazil  that,  by  reason  of 
his  personal  influence  with  the  Emperor  Napoleon  III.,  the  withdrawal 
of  the  French  troops  was  effected,  f  After  arduous,  important,  and 
very  efficient  services  at  the  court  of  Brazil  for  more  than  nine  years, 
General  Webb  relinquished  the  mission  and  returned  to  New  York.:}: 

*  On  one  occasion  Mr.  Washburn,  American  minister  to  Paraguay,  on  returning  from  a 
visit  to  his  home,  was  prohibited  for  nearly  a  year  from  passing  a  Brazilian  blockading 
squadron  to  his  post  of  duty,  by  the  commander  of  the  ships.  General  Webb  was  absent 
on  a  furlough.  On  his  return  he  gave  the  Brazilian  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  just  four 
hours  to  decide  whether  he  would  send  him  an  order  for  Mr.  Washburn  to  pass  the 
blockading  line  or  his  passports.  The  order,  and  not  the  passports,  came  within  the 
prescribed  time.  When  at  length  the  lives  of  Mr.  Washburn  and  his  family  were  in  peril 
in  Paraguay,  a  gunboat  (the  Wasp)  was  detached  from  the  American  squadron  on  the 
Brazilian  station  to  bring  them  away.  She  was  not  allowed  to  pass  the  Brazilian 
blockading  squadron  General  Webb  demanded  a  free  passage  for  her.  He  gave  the 
government  live  days  to  consider  whether  an  order  to  that  effect  should  be  given,  or  to 
send  him  his  passports.    The  order  was  given. 

t  General  Webb  had  written  to  the  Emperor  from  Brazil,  warning  him  against  placing 
any  reliance  for  support  on  the  priestly  party  in  Mexico,  and  assuring  him  that  the 
government  of  the  United  States  and  the  people  would  insist  upon  the  withdrawal  of  the 
French  troops  from  the  soil  of  their  neighboring  republic.  The  Emperor  was  satisfied 
of  the  truth  of  what  his  old  friend  wrote  him,  and  with  great  frankness  explained  by  letter 
how  he  had  been  drawn  into  his  Mexican  affair,  at  the  same  time  expressing  his  intention 
to  withdraw  the  troops,  provided  he  was  not  menaced ;  for  any  attempt  of  the  kind  would 
compromise  him  with  his  people.  While  on  his  way  home,  in  the  fall  of  1865,  General 
Webb  wrote  to  the  Emperor  from  Lisbon,  that  he  should  sail  for  New  York  from  Liver- 
pool in  a  few  days,  and  asked  what  he  could  do  in  regard  to  the  Mexican  question.  At 
Southampton  he  received  a  telegram  from  the  Emperor  urging  him  to  visit  Paris.  He 
did  so,  and  on  the  morning  of  November  9th  he  breakfasted  with  Napoleon.  After  a  long 
conference  it  was  agreed  between  them  (subject  to  the  approval  of  the  President)  that 
the  troops  should  be  withdrawn  from  Mexico  in  twelve,  eighteen,  anrl  twenty-four 
months.  It  was  stipulated  also,  that  the  matter  should  be  kept  a  secret  until  the  Emperor 
should  announce  it  in  the  spring  of  1866,  General  Webb  to  write  to  Napoleon  if  the 
President  should  approve.  On  his  arrival  in  New  York,  on  December  5th,  the  general 
hastened  to  Washington  the  same  night.  The  President  approved  the  arrangement ; 
General  Webb  wrote  to  the  Emperor  accordingly,  and  in  due  time  the  troops  were 
removed.  Such  in  brief  is  the  history  of  that  very  important  movement,  effected  by  the 
interposition  of  General  Webb,  without  the  knowledge  or  suspicion  of  the  ministry  of 
either  the  United  States  or  France  before  the  arrangement  was  accomplished. 

\  James  Watson  Webb  is  the  son  of  General  Samuel  Webb,  a  distinguished  officer  of  the 


742 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  year  1S63  was  an  eventful  one  in  the  history  of  the  Republic 
and  of  the  city  of  New  York.  At  its  beginning  the  President,  by  his 
proclamation  of  emancipation,  smote  the  great  rebellion  a  stunning 

Revolution  and  a  descendant  of  Richard  Webb,  one  of  the  sixty-six  original  settlers  of 
Hartford,  Conn.,  in  1035.  General  Webb  settled  in  New  York  City  at  the  close  of  the 
war  for  independence,  and  married  the  daughter  of  Judge  Hogebooni,  of  Columbia  Coun- 
ty, and  a  great-great-granddaughter  of  the  original  proprietor  of  the  maDor  of  Claverack, 
in  that  county.  On  that  manor  James  Watson  Webb  was  born,  on  February  8,  1802.  At 
the  age  of  twelve  he  was  sent  to  reside  with  a  brother-in-law  (George  Morell),  at  Coopers- 
town,  N.  Y.,  where  his  education  was  completed.  His  kinsman  was  then  at  the  head  of 
the  bar  in  Otsego  County.  He  desired  young  Webb  to  study  law  in  his  office.  The  latter 
preferred  either  the  medical  or  the  military  profession.  He  entered  the  latter  under 
peculiar  circumstances,  as  we  have  observed  in  a  former  chapter,  as  a  lieutenant.  His 
field  of  military  service  for  over  nine  years  was  in  the  then  wilderness  around  the 
upper  lakes,  where  he  did  gallant  service  and  had  many  stirring  adventures.  He  has 
lived  to  witness  a  most  wonderful  transformation  in  all  that  region. 

In  the  summer  of  18'23  Lieutenant  Webb  was  married  to  Helen  Lispenard  Stewart,  a 
granddaughter  of  Anthony  Lispenard,  one  of  the  oldest  Huguenot  families  of  the  city  and 
State.  He  continued  in  the  army  until  1827,  when,  as  we  have  observed,  he  resigned,  and 
soon  afterward  (1827)  began  his  remarkable  editorial  career  in  New  York  City.  His  suc- 
cessful entrance  into  the  realm  of  journalism,  and  his  earnest  labors  therein  in  producing 
a  revolution  in  newspaper  publishing  in  New  York,  have  already  been  noticed.  He 
started  on  his  political  career,  as  we  have  seen,  a  string  partisan  of  General  Jackson,  but 
disapproving  his  policy,  he  abandoned  the  Democratic  party,  joined  the  opposition,  and 
gave  to  the  latter  the  name  of  Whig. 

From  his  entrance  into  the  field  of  journalism,  the  record  of  the  public  life  of  James 
Watson  Webb  forms  a  conspicuous  part  of  the  social  and  political  history  of  the  city  of 
New  York  for  thirty-four  years— from  1827  to  1861.  As  the  editorial  head  Oi.  the  New  York 
Morning  Courier  and  Enquirer  he  wielded  immense  influence  over  parties  and  the  politics 
and  public  policy  of  the  city,  the  State,  and  the  nation.  He  was  in  continual  warfare, 
for,  always  acting  independently  and  fearlessly,  in  the  spirit  of  the  motto  at  the  head  of 
his  paper  and  the  legend  of  his  family  coat-of-arms  -"  Principles,  not  Men"  — he 
encountered  antagonists  everywhere.  His  usual  weapons  were  the  tongue  and  pen,  yet 
he  did  not  shrink  from  a  personal  encounter  when  forced  upon  him.  On  one  occasion, 
T.  F.  Marshall,  of  Kentucky,  to  whom  he  had  never  spoken  a  word,  challenged  him  to 
fight  a  dnel.  The  quarrel  was  the  result  of  gross  misrepresentations.  Webb  promptly 
accepted  the  challenge.  They  met  near  Wilmington,  Delaware,  in  June,  1842,  and 
fought  with  pistols  at  ten  paces.  Webb  had  determined  not  to  take  Marshall's  life. 
The  result  was.  Webb  was  severely  wounded  in  the  knee.  Under  the  operation  of  an 
obsolete  law  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  enforced  through  partisan  influence,  which 
inflicted  the  penalty  of  imprisonment  in  the  State  prison  for  two  years,  Webb  was 
arrested,  tried,  found  guilty,  and  condemned.  Intense  excitement  ensued  because  of 
this  manifest  injustice,  and  a  petition  signed  by  17,000  of  the  best  citizens  of  New  York 
was  sent  to  the  governor  (Seward),  asking  for  a  full  and  free  pardon  for  this  distin- 
guished man.  The  governor  granted  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners,  and  after  incarcera- 
tion in  the  Tombs  for  about  fifteen  days  General  Webb  was  released.  In  184G  he  was 
military  engineer-in-chief  of  the  State,  and  has  since  borne  the  title  of  general. 

In  1848  General  Webb  lost  his  wife  by  death.  He  subsequently  married  Miss  I/aura 
Virginia  Cram,  daughter  of  Jacob  Cram,  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  respected  citizens  of 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


743 


blow.  At  near  midsummer  this  was  supplemented  by  the  capture  of 
Vicksburg  and  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  pivotal  points  in  the  deadly 
struggle.    They  turned  events  in  favor  of  the  government. 

At  this  time  the  hoarse  voice"  of  discord  grew  louder  and  louder. 
Through  the  malign  influence  of  the  Peace  party  at  the  North  and  a 
powerful  secret  organization  composed  of  the  enemies  of  the  govern- 
ment in  the  slave-labor  States  and  their  more  ardent  sympathizers  in 
the  free-labor  States,  a  most  dangerous  opposition  to  the  government 
was  created.  That  secret  organization  was  known  as  the  Knights  of 
the  Golden  Circle.  Their  designs  were  manifested  at  the  polls,  but  far 
more  dangerously  in  a  well-considered  conspiracy  to  overthrow  the 
government  in  midsummer,  1863. 

The  State  of  New  York  having  chosen  for  its  governor  an  earnest 
member  of  the  Peace  party,  the  city  of  New  York,  which  really  elected 
him,  was  counted  on  by  the  foes  of  the  government  as  their  certain  and 
powerful  coadjutor.  The  test  soon  came.  Congress  had  in  March 
authorized  a  draft  of  men  to  fill  the  places  of  fully  60,000  soldiers, 
whose  short  terms  of  enlistment  were  rapidly  expiring.  In  May  the 
President  ordered  a  draft  for  300,000  men  to  begin  in  July.  Enrolling 
boards  were  organized  in  every  Congressional  district.  Resistance  to 
the  measure  instantly  appeared.  A  peace  convention  was  held  in 
New  York  City  on  June  3d,  composed  of  deputies  from  all  parts  of 
the  State.  Its  resolutions  adopted  gave  countenance  to  the  leaders  of 
a  terrible  riot  which  occurred  in  New  York  a  few  weeks  later. 

Not  long  after  this  convention  Lee  invaded  Maryland  and  tilled 
Pennsylvania  with  wild  alarm.  The  President  called  on  the  governor 
of  New  York  for  20,000  men  for  thirty  days,  to  resist  the  invaders. 
The  governor  ordered  nearly  all  the  militia  of  the  cities  of  New  York 
and  Brooklyn  to  the  field.    Mayor  Opdyke  remonstrated  against  this 

New  York.  In  1849  President  Taylor  appointed  him  minister  to  Austria,  but  he  was 
rejected  by  the  Senate.  In  1861,  after  declining  a  mission  to  Constantinople,  President 
Lincoln  appointed  him  minister  to  Brazil.  Of  his  diplomatic  services  there  brief  men- 
tion has  been  made  in  the  text.  He  returned  home  in  I860.  He  had  relinquished  the 
Moruimj  Courier  ami  Xew  York  Emjuirer  in  1861,  when  it  was  merged  into  the  World.  On 
his  return  from  Brazil  he  retired  to  private  life,  and  afterward  lived  quietly  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  but  alive  to  every  movement  in  the  social  and  political  world. 

General  Webb  was  a  man  of  uncommon  tenacity  of  purpose  and  of  infinite  industry  and 
persistence.  He  had  rarely  failed  in  any  undertaking.  "  He  is  now,"  said  a  late  writer, 
"  passing  the  evening  of  his  life  surrounded  by  troops  of  admiring  friends,  in  the 
tranquil  enjoyment  to  which  a  benevolent  and  kind-hearted  man  is  entitled.  '' 

General  Webb  was  tall,  of  a  commanding  figure  and  person,  and  courtly  in  manner  ; 
and,  though  over  fourscore  years  of  age,  the  brightness  of  his  eye  was  not  dimmed,  nor 
his  intellectual  faculties  impaired. 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Stripping  the  city  of  its  defenders  on  the  eve  of  the  draft,  but  in  vain. 
Thirteen  regiments  were  sent  to  Harrisburg.  The  mayor  asked  the 
President  to  postpone  the  draft  in  New  York  City  untii  the  return  of 
the  regiments.  It  could  not  be  done,  and  on  Saturday,  July  11th,  the 
draft  began,  under  the  direction  of  Colonel  Nugent,  the  chief  provost- 
marshal. 

Meanwhile  the  people  had  been  much  excited  by  the  operations  of 
the  enemies  of  the  government.  A  supple-kneed  judge  in  New  York 
City  had  decided  that  the  draft  was  unconstitutional.  Three  Pennsyl- 
vania judges  agreed  with  him.  Sustained  by  their  decisions,  the  foes  of 
the  administration  opposed  the  draft  with  a  high  hand.  Incendiary 
harangues  of  politicians  and  seditious  utterances  of  the  opposition  press 
stirred  up  the  people  to  revolt.  The  distinguished  orator  at  Tammany 
Hall  on  the  4th  of  .July  said  :  "We  were  promised  the  downfall  of 
Yicksburg,  the  opening  of  the  Mississippi,  the  probable  capture  of  the 
Confederate  capital,  and  the  exhaustion  of  the  rebellion.  .  .  .  But 
in  the  moment  of  expected  victory  there  came  the  midnight  cry  for 
help  from  Pennsylvania  to  save  its  despoiled  fields  from  the  invading 
foe,  and  almost  within  sight  of  this  great  commercial  metropolis  the 
ships  of  your  merchants  are  burned  to  the  water's  edge." 

At  the  very  hour  when  this  ungenerous  taunt  was  uttered,  Yicks- 
burg, with  all  the  surrounding  country  and  a  vast  amount  of  spoil, 
together  with  30,000  Confederate  prisoners,  were  in  the  possession  of 
General  Grant  ;  and  Lee,  discomfited  at  Gettysburg,  was  preparing  to 
fly  back  to  Yirginia. 

The  draft  began  in  New  York  at  the  provost-marshal's  office,  on  the 
corner  of  Forty-sixth  Street  and  Third  Avenue,  on  the  morning  of  the 
11th  of  July.  It  went  on  quietly  that  day,  but  on  Monday  morning 
the  aspect  of  things  had  changed.  On  Sunday  secret  meetings  had 
been  held  to  concert  measures  to  resist  the  draft  by  force. 

On  Monday  morning  an  organized  band,  constantly  increasing  in 
volume,  marched  to  the  office  of  the  provost-marshal,  where  the  draft 
had  just  begun.  At  a  given  signal  they  hurled  a  volley  of  stones 
through  the  windows,  severely  injuring  persons  within.  One  man  was 
carried  out  for  dead.  The  mob  burst  in  the  door,  destroyed  the  furni- 
ture and  the  drafting  implements,  and  pouring  kerosene  over  the 
floor  ignited  it,  and  very  soon  the  building  was  reduced  to  ashes.  The 
mob  had  taken  possession  of  the  neighboring  hydrants,  and  the  firemen 
were  not  allowed  to  extinguish  the  flames.  A  body  of  police  with 
Superintendent  Kennedy  were  driven  off,  and  the  latter  was  beaten 
almost  to  death. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1800-1870. 


745 


The  mayor  applied  to  General  Wool  and  to  General  Sandford  (the 
latter  the  commander  of  the  city  militia)  for  a  military  force  to  quell 
the  disturbance.  Wool  immediately  ordered  the  garrisons  of  the  sev- 
eral forts  near  the  city  to  hasten  to  the  town,  and  the  whole  military 
force  was  put  in  charge  of  General  Harvey  Brow  n,  who  was  stationed 
at  police  headquarters.  The  mayor  telegraphed  to  the  governor  urging 
him  to  order  the  militia  of  the  neighboring  counties  to  the  assistance  of 
the  imperilled  city.  General  Sandford,  with  the  few  militia  left  in  the 
cit}r,  made  his  headquarters  at  the  Seventh  Avenue  arsenal,  and  the 
mayor  and  General  Wool  were  at  the  St.  Nicholas  Hotel,  on  Broad- 
way. The  entire  military  force  assembled  in  the  city  at  midnight  did 
not  amount  to  1000  men. 

A  detachment  of  fifty  men,  sent  on  Third  Avenue  cars,  found  the 
mob  at  Forty-sixth  Street  swelled  to  a  formidable  army  in  numbers, 
composed  of  men,  women,  and  children,  Hearing  of  their  approach, 
the  rioters  had  torn  up  the  railway  track  and  cut  down  the  telegraph 
wires.  The  commander  ordered  the  mob  to  disperse,  and  played  the 
farce  of  firing  blank  cartridges.  The  infuriated  rioters  sprang  upon  the 
handful  of  soldiers  like  savage  tigers,  wrenched  their  guns  from  them, 
and  beating  many  of  them  severely,  drove  them  off.  A  squad  of  police 
who  interfered  were  served  in  like  manner. 

The  mob  now  seemed  intent  only  on  plunder  and  outrage.  They 
sacked  two  houses  on  Lexington  Avenue,  assailed  one  on  Fifth  Avenue 
with  stones  and  set  it  on  fire,  and  then  proceeded  to  burn  a  marshal's 
office  on  Broadway,  near  Twenty-eighth  Street.  Very  soon  the  whole 
block  was  in  flames,  after  the  buildings  had  been  plundered.  The 
streets  in  the  vicinity  were  filled  with  a  roaring  mob  of  men  and 
women  bearing  away  rich  plunder  of  every  kind. 

The  wrath  of  the  mob  had  been  directed  bv  Southern  leaders  among 
them  against  the  "  abolitionists"  and  the  innocent  colored  population 
of  the  city.  They  attacked  and  burned  the  Colored  Orphan  Asylum, 
containing  several  hundred  children,  as  we  have  noticed  in  a  former 
chapter,  and  the  harmless  colored  people  of  the  city  were  hunted  as  if 
they  had  been  fierce  wild  beasts,  the  mob  shouting,  "  Down  with  the 
abolitionists  !  Hurrah  for  Jeff  Davis  !"  Several  colored  people  were 
murdered  on  that  day,  and  scores  of  them  were  cruelly  beaten.  The 
rioters  burned  the  Bull's  Head  Tavern  on  Forty-fourth  Street  because 
the  proprietor  refused  to  give  them  liquor.  They  attacked  the  dwell- 
ing of  the  mayor  and  burned  the  house  of  the  postmaster  at  Yorkville. 

In  the  afternoon  the  mayor  issued  a  proclamation  ordering  the 
rioters  to  disperse,  and  authorized  the  loyal  citizens  to  prepare  for  de- 


746 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


fending  their  premises  and  to  shoot  down  any  one  who  should  attempt 
to  break  in.  But  the  mob  defied  all  authority.  They  seized  the 
arsenal  on  Second  Avenue  and  burned  it.  They  stopped  the  omni- 
buses, cars,  and  private  carriages,  and  beat  and  murdered  many  passers 
in  the  streets  without  cause,  an  appearance  of  respectability  being  a 
sufficient  provocation.  At  Printing-llouse  Square,  near  the  City  Hall, 
a  large  crowd  gathered  late  in  the  day,  broke  into  the  Tribune  build- 
ing, and  had  kindled  a  tire  when  they  were  driven  off  by  the  police. 
At  twilight  a  fearful  panic  pervaded  the  city.  It  was  rumored  that 
the  rioters  had  seized  the  reservoir  and  the  gas-works  and  would 
deprive  the  people  of  water  and  light.  It  was  not  true,  but  the  night 
of  the  13th  of  July  was  a  fearful  one  for  the  citizens  of  Xew  York. 

Early  on  Tuesday  morning  the  rioters  resumed  their  horrid  work. 
They  had  gathered  in  force  in  Thirty-fourth  Street,  but  were  soon  dis- 
persed by  the  police.  Perceiving  them  gathering  again,  the  police, 
joined  by  some  military  under  Colonel  II.  T.  O'Brien,  returned  and 
fired  on  the  mob  with  fatal  effect.  The  enraged  rioters  vowed  ven- 
geance against  O'Brien.  It  was  soon  executed.  Hearing  that  his 
house,  not  far  off,  had  been  attacked,  he  hastened  thither  and  found  it 
sacked.  Anxious  to  learn  the  fate  of  his  family,  he  went  into  a  drug- 
store. Stepping  out  to  expostulate  with  the  rioters,  he  was  felled  to  the 
pavement  by  a  stone,  was  killed,  and  his  body  was  dragged  through 
the  streets  for  hours  by  men  and  women,  exposed  to  every  conceivable 
outrage. 

At  noon  the  governor  of  the  State,  who  had  been  at  Long  Branch, 
two  hours'  journey  from  the  city,  since  Saturday,  arrived  at  the  City 
Hall.  Apprised  of  his  presence,  a  great  crowd  of  rioters,  who  were 
again  engaged  in  an  attack  on  the  Tribune  building,  flocked  into  the 
Park  and  were  addressed  by  the  chief  magistrate,  who  had  the  whole 
tremendous  power  of  the  State  behind  him  to  crush  the  monster  of  dis- 
order. He  seemed  paralyzed  by  the  appalling  spectacle  before  him. 
He  spoke  in  terms  which  gave  the  mob  reason  to  believe  that  he  was 
their  friend.  Indeed  he  addressed  them  as  "  My  friends."  They  gave 
him  hearty  cheers,  and  went  on  more  vigorously  in  their  work  of 
plunder  and  murder. 

More  effective  in  quieting  the  mob  spirit  in  the  city  were  the  words 
of  Archbishop  Hughes  to  his  co-religionists  among  the  rioters.  He 
had  been  a  firm  supporter  of  the  government  from  the  beginning, 
preaching  an  intensely  patriotic  war  sermon  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral 
at  the  beginning.  By  notices  posted  all  over  the  city,  he  invited  the 
rioters  to  his  residence  on  the  16th.    About  four  thousand  of  them 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


747 


were  there  at  the  appointed  hour.  Though  in  very  feeble  health,  he 
appeared  on  a  balcony  with  the  vicar-general  and  one  or  two  priests 
and  addressed  the  multitude  with  earnest  and  effectual  words,  exhort- 
ing them  to  obey  the  laws  and  to  return  to  their  homes  in  a  peaceable 
manner.  They  dispersed  quietly  after  responding  heartily,  "  "We 
will  !"  and  receiving  his  blessing. 

During  that  day  the  common  council  adopted  an  ordinance  appropri- 
ating §2,500,000  to  pay  the  commutation  (§300  each)  of  drafted  men, 
but  the  mayor,  properly  refused  to  make  this  concession  to  the  mob. 
In  the  afternoon  merchants  and  bankers  assembled  in  "Wall  Street  and 
organized  into  companies  of  one  hundred  each,  pursuant  to  the  call  of 
the  mayor  to  assist  in  suppressing  the  fearful  riot.  Hundreds  of  citi- 
zens were  sworn  in  as  special  police  for  the  same  purpose.  Tenders  of 
arms  were  ordered  to  close  their  stores,  and  citizens  whose  premises 
were  threatened  were  furnished  with  muskets  and  hand-grenades  for 
their  protection.  Two  formidable  rifled  batteries  were  placed  in 
Printing-House  Square,  and  effectually  protected  the  Tribune  and 
Times  buildings  and  other  property  there. 

During  part  of  "Wednesday,  the  15th,  the  riot  raged  fiercely,  but  by 
noon  it  had  evidently  reached  its  climax.  Some  buildings  were  burned 
that  day,  and  the  poor  colored  people  were  subjected  to  the  most  in- 
human outrages.  Their  houses  were  burned,  and  some  of  the  inmates 
were  hung  upon  trees  and  lamp-posts  in  various  parts  of  the  city.  At 
the  request  of  the  mayor  the  city  regiments  on  duty  in  Pennsylvania 
had  been  ordered  home  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  they  nearly  all 
arrived  on  the  evening  of  the  15th.  At  midnight  they  were  placed 
under  the  command  of  General  Kilpatrick.  The  combined  action  of 
the  citizens,  the  police,  and  the  feeble  military  force  in  the  city  had 
effectually  suppressed  the  riot  before  the  arrival  of  these  regiments. 
It  was  estimated  that  nearly  one  thousand  lives  had  been  sacrificed  in 
the  riot,  and  property  of  the  value  of  §2, (too, (too  had  been  destroyed. 
After  this  the  draft  went  quietly  on. 

Within  six  months  after  this  great  riot,  directed  specially  against  the 
colored  people  of  the  city,  a  regiment  of  colored  men,  raised  and 
equipped  in  a  few  days  by  the  Union  League  Club  of  New  York, 
marched  down  Broadway  escorted  by  many  leading  citizens  and 
cheered  by  thousands  of  men  and  women,  who  tilled  the  sidewalks,  the 
balconies,  and  windows. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  Union  League  Club,  mentioned  in  the  preceding  chapter,  is  a 
product  of  the  Civil  War.  It  is  essentially  a  child  of  the  United 
States  Sanitary  Commission.  It  was  organized  early  in  1863,  and 
incorporated  in  February,  1865. 

The  Sanitary  Commission,  when  not  in  session,  was  represented  by 
five  faithful  men — namely,  Dr.  II.  W.  Bellows,  its  president  ;  George 
T.  Strong,  its  treasurer  ;  Professor  Wolcott  Gibbs,  and  Drs.  Cornelius 
R.  Agnew  and  W.  II.  Van  Buren.  During  the  entire  war  these  men 
passed  some  part  of  each  day  or  nigiit  in  conference  on  the  work  of 
the  commission,  which  grandly  illustrated  the  idea  of  unconditional 
loyalty.  That  sentiment,  Secretary  Seward  said,  the  work  of  the  com- 
mission originated. 

Professor  Oibbs  first  su<r«rested  that  this  idea  needed  to  take  on  the 

Do 

form  of  a  club  which  should  be  devoted  to  the  social  organization  of 
the  sentiment  of  loyalty  to  the  Union.  This  suggestion  he  embodied 
in  a  letter  to  Frederick  Law  Olmsted  immediately  after  the  election 
of  Mr.  Seymour  as  governor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  in  the  autumn 
of  1S62.  It  was  heartily  approved  by  Mr.  Olmsted,  and  he  at  once 
applied  his  masterly  organizing  powers  to  the  formation  of  such  a  club. 

In  the  middle  of  January,  1863,  a  circular  letter  written  by  Professor 
Gibbs  and  marked  "  confidential  "  was  sent  to  many  citizens  of  New 
York.  It  proposed  the  formation  of  a  club  in  the  city  of  New  York 
for  the  purpose  of  cultivating  a  profound  love  and  respect  for  the 
Union,  and  to  discourage  whatever  tended  to  give  undue  prominence 
to  purely  local  interests.  This  letter  was  signed  by  Wolcott  Gibbs, 
G.  T.  Strong,  Dr.  Bellows,  Dr.  Agnew,  G.  C.  Anthon,  G.  Gibbs, 
G.  F.  Allen,  and  William  J.  Iloppin. 

The  responses  to  this  letter  were  numerous  and  generous,  and  at  a 
meeting  held  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Strong  on  February  6th,  an  associa- 
tion was  formed  under  title  of  the  Union  League  Club.  The  prime 
condition  of  membership  was  "  absolute  and  unqualified  loyalty  to  the 
government  of  the  United  States."  Its  prima ry  object  was  to  discoun- 
tenance and  rebuke  by  moral  and  social  influences  all  disloyalty  to  the 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


749 


National  Government,  and  to  that  end  the  members  pledged  them- 
selves to  "  use  every  proper  means,  in  public  and  private,"  collectively 
and  individually.  It  was  afterward  made  the  duty  of  the  club  to  resist 
and  expose  corruption  and  promote  reform  in  our  National,  State,  and 
municipal  affairs,  and  to  elevate  the  idea  of  American  citizenship.  The 
articles  of  association  of  the  club  were  signed  by  sixty -four  leading- 
citizens  of  the  metropolis. 

The  Union  League  Club  was  permanently  organized  on  March  3<>th 
by  the  appointment  of  the  following  gentlemen  as  its  officers  :  Robert 
B.  Minturn,  president  ;  Murray  Hoffman,  Charles  King,  William  II. 
Aspinwall,  John  A.  Dix,  F.  B.  Cutting,  George  Bancroft,  Alexander 
T.  Stewart,  Jonathan  Sturges,  Moses  Taylor,  Henry  W.  Bellows, 
Willard  Parker,  and  James  W.  Beekman,  vice-presidents  ;  Otis  I). 
Swan,  secretary,  and  William  J.  Iloppin,  treasurer.* 

So  equipped,  with  a  corps  of  strong  officers,  the  Union  League  Club 
began  its  patriotic  work,  which  it  pursued  until  the  end  of  the  war 
with  unabated  zeal.  Late  in  1863  it  appointed  a  committee  to  take 
effectual  measures  for  the  promotion  of  volunteering  for  the  military 
service. f  Finding  agencies  sufficient  in  the  recruit  iny;  of  white  regi- 
ments,  the  committee  appointed  for  that  service  turned  their  attention 
to  recruiting  colored  men.  Governor  Seymour  refused  to  give  them 
authority  for  such  service.  They  obtained  it  from  the  Secretary  of 
War,  but  upon  the  hard  condition  that  the  colored  recruits  were  not  t:> 
receive  any  bounty.  In  the  face  of  these  conditions  the  committee, 
within  the  space  of  a  month,  recruited  and  placed  in  camp  on  Riker'.i 
Island  a  full  regiment  (the  Twentieth)  of  colored  men.  For  this  pur- 
pose the  club  had  contributed  $18,000.  This  was  the  regiment  that 
received  honors  from  the  citizens  of  New  York  when  it  marched  down 
Broadway  six  months  after  the  riot,  when  no  colored  man's  life  was 
safe  in  the  city..-}:  The  club  raised  two  other  regiments  of  colored  men 
in  a  short  space  of  time. 

*  An  executive  committee  was  appointed,  consisting  of  George  Griswold,  F.  H.  Delano, 
H.  T.  Tuckerman,  William  E.  Dodge,  Jr.,  George  Cabot  Ward,  Thomas  H.  Faile,  K.  L. 
Kennedy,  J.  A.  Weeks,  and  James  Boorman. 

f  The  committee  consisted  of  Alexander  Van  Kensselaer,  Legrand  B.  Cannon,  S.  J. 
Bacon,  J.  A.  Koosevelt,  C.  P.  Kirkland,  Elliott  C.  Cowdin,  George  Bliss,  Jackson  S. 
Schultz,  and  Edward  Cromwell. 

J  On  the  morning  of  its  embarkation  the  regiment  mnrched  to  the  club-honse,  where 
it  received  its  colors,  presented  by  the  loyal  women  of  the  city.  The  presentation  ad- 
dress was  made  by  Charles  King,  president  of  Columbia  College.  A  large  number  of 
ladies  were  present.  He  then  handed  to  the  officers  and  men  of  the  regiment  an  ad- 
dress written  by  Henry  T.  Tuckerman,  engrossed  on  parchment,  and  signed  by  one 
hundred  and  thirty-five  of  the  ladies  of  the  city,  best  known  in  society  and  philanthropic 


T50 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


At  the  request  of  General  Hancock  the  Union  League  Club  appointed 
another  committee  to  recruit  for  the  Second  Corps.  *  The  club  raised 
for  the  volunteers  through  this  committee  about  $230,000  and  more 
than  three  thousand  men.  The  total  number  of  soldiers  which  the  club 
placed  in  the  field  that  year  (1S63)  was  about  six  thousand. 

Late  in  the  fall  of  1SG3  the  club  joined  the  United  States  Sanitary 
Commission  in  making  arrangements  for  a  Metropolitan  Fair  in  aid  of 
its  benevolent  work.  Under  the  auspices  of  about  one  hundred  women, 
most  of  them  of  the  families  of  members  of  the  Union  League  Club, 
the  fair  was  inaugurated  in  March,  1864,  and  its  managers  put  into  the 
treasury  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  over  $1,000,000.  The  fair  was 
opened  at  the  armory  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Regiment,  in  Fourteenth 
Street,  near  Sixth  Avenue.  It  was  literally  held  all  over  the  city,  for 
there  were  public  and  private  entertainments  in  many  places— in  pub- 
he  schools,  in  theatres,  and  in  private  parlors — in  connection  with  it. 
Subscription  papers  were  circulated  in  workshops,  manufactories,  mer- 
cantile establishments,  public  offices,  and  among  the  shipping  in  the 
harbor,  the  result  of  which  was  enormous  contributions  to  the  aggre- 
gate amount  of  money  received.  In  the  buildings  specially  devoted  to 
the  uses  of  the  fair,  in  Fourteenth  Street  and  on  Union  Square,  were, 
besides  merchandise  of  every  kind,  old  armor,  historical  relics,  and 
other  rare  objects  calculated  to  attract  the  multitude.  The  total 
receipts  amounted  to  $1,351,275.  The  total  expenses  were  §107, 709, 
making  net  receipts  of  Sl,lS3,500.f 

To  the  patriotism  and  liberality  of  one  of  New  York's  merchant 
princes,  the  late  Marshall  O.  Roberts,:}:  the  fair  was  largely  indebted 

deeds  -"  Mothers,  wives,  and  sisters  of  the  members  of  the  New  York  Union  League 
Club." 

*  This  committee  consisted  of  George  Bliss,  Jr.,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  George  Cabot 
Ward,  Parker  Handy,  Stephen  Hyatt,  Alfred  M.  Hoyt,  James  T.  Swift,  Jackson  S. 
Schultz,  J.  S.  Williams,  William  H.  Fogg,  U.  A.  Murdock,  George  A.  Fellows,  Dudley 
B.  Fuller,  James  M.  Halstead,  George  C.  Satterlee,  Timothy  G.  Churchill,  and  Moses  H. 
Grinnell. 

f  John  H.  Gourlie,  a  native  of  New  York  City,  where  he  was  born  and  has  always 
resided — who  had  recently  retired  from  the  Stock  Exchange,  of  which  he  had  been  a 
popular  and  honored  member  for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  a  member  of  several 
societies,  social  literary,  and  artistic — was  the  chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee  of  the 
Metropolitan  Fair.  In  his  library  now  hangs,  neatly  framed,  a  receipt,  of  which  the 
following  is  a  copy  : 

"  New  Yokk,  May  17,  1864. 
"Received  from  John  II.  Gourlie,  chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  Metropolitan  Fair,  One 
Million  Dollar*,  for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission. 
"81.000,000.  George  T.  Strong, 

"  Treasurer  of  C.  H.  Sanitary  Commission.'''' 

\  A  full  picture  of  the  career  of  Marshall  Owen  Roberts  from  the  unpromising  position 


FOURTH  DECADE,  18(50-1870. 


751 


for  its  success.  He  had  been  aiding  the  government  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  struggle.  He  took  a  special  interest  in  the  Metropolitan 
Fair.    "When  the  managers  found  that  the  premises  in  Fourteenth 

of  a  poor,  meagrely  educated  orphan  boy  to  the  position  of  highest  rank  as  a  merchant 
and  good  citizen  of  the  metropolis,  would  be  instructive.  We  may  onty  give  a  brief 
outline  of  its  principal  features.  His  father,  Owen  Roberts,  was  a  Welsh  physician  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  where  he  settled  in  1798.  He  died  in  1817,  leaving  a  widow  and 
four  boys,  of  whom  Marshall  was  the  youngest,  and  very  little  property.  Marshall  was 
then  less  than  four  years  of  age,  having  been  born  on  March  22,  1814,  and  when  he  was 
eight  years  old  his  mother  also  died.  At  thirteen  he  apprenticed  himself  to  a  saddler, 
but  failing  health  compelled  him  to  abandon  that  business,  and  he  obtained  a  clerkship 
in  a  ship-chandlery  establishment.  There  his  good  conduct  won  the  esteem  of  his 
employer.  Prudent  and  saving,  he  had  earned  and  kept  money  enough  in  1834  to  start  a 
small  ship-chandlery  store  on  his  own  account,  at  Coenties  Slip,  where,  by  untiring  devo- 
tion to  business  and  suavity  of  manners,  he  attracted  the  attention  and  kindly  offices  of 
his  older  neighbors.  Early  and  late  he  might  be  found  attending  to  business.  During 
the  shorter  days  his  store  would  be  illuminated  with  tallow  dips  before  daylight  in  the 
morning.  Fishermen  and  seamen  who  dealt  with  him  called  his  place  "  The  Lighthouse,' ' 
and  its  proprietor  "  Candle  Roberts." 

By  industry,  honesty,  and  thrift  Mr.  Roberts  caused  his  business  to  soon  expand  into 
large  proportions,  and  he  became  a  rich  man  in  a  comparatively  few  years.  In  1847  he 
was  worth  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars,  and  possessed  the  power  which  belongs  to  a 
citizen  who  has  fairly  won  the  reputation  of  positive  trustworthiness  as  well  as  solid 
riches.  By  great  sagacity  he  had  made  a  fortune  in  the  ship-chandlery  business,  and  he 
made  profitable  investments  and  ventures  in  other  branches  of  industry.  He  owned  the 
Bendrick  Hudson  steamboat  on  the  North  River,  the  first  really  "  floating  palace"  ever 
seen  ;  and  with  the  same  sagacity  he  became  the  owner  of  ocean  steamships  and  secured 
a  very  large  income  from  the  business  of  transportation  of  passengers  and  freight  between 
New  York  City  and  California  after  it  became  a  possession  of  the  United  States  in  1818. 
He  successfully  competed  with  great  capitalists,  such  as  Howland  &  Aspinwall  and 
Yanderbilt,  in  this  business.  We  may  not  follow  him  in  his  successful  career  as  a  ship- 
owner, nor  yet  as  a  stockholder  and  manager  of  railways,  in  which,  in  his  later  years,  he 
was  much  and  profitably  interested. 

When  the  rebellion  broke  out  in  Charleston  harbor,  Mr.  Roberts  offered  his  steamship 
Star  of  (he  West  to  the  government  to  convey  supplies  to  the  beleaguered  garrison  in 
Fort  Sumter,  and  she  felt  the  first  overt  act  of  war  by  being  fired  upon  by  the  South 
Carolina  insurgents.  All  through  the  contest  he  was  an  active  supporter  of  the  govern- 
ment with  his  voice,  his  influence,  his  hand,  and  his  purse,  and  when  at  its  close  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  was  assassinated,  Mr.  Roberts  sent  to  the  widow  of  the  martyr  his  check 
forS10,000. 

Before  the  war  Mr.  Roberts  was  a  man  of  large  wealth.  He  was  one  of  the  five  who 
joined  Mr.  Field  in  forming  the  first  ocean  telegraph  company.  His  personal  and 
business  influence  was  largely  felt  in  the  affairs  of  the  city.  In  early  life  he  took  part  in 
politics,  and  he  was  a  great  admirer  and  friend  of  Henry  Clay.  He  was  one  of  the  leaders 
of  the  Whig  party  in  the  "hard-eider"  campaign,  and  was  a  firm  supporter  of  the 
Republican  party  from  the  time  of  its  formation  in  1856.  He  was  often  solicited  to  take 
the  nomination  for  office,  but  with  the  exception  of  that  of  mayor  of  the  city,  he  declined 
them  all. 

Mr.  Roberts's  residence  on  Fifth  Avenue,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  was  one  of  the 


752 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Street  were  too  small  for  their  purpose,  Mr.  Roberts,  perceiving  their 
dilemma,  bought  two  vacant  lots  adjoining  the  armory,  for  which  he 
paid  8100,000,  built  upon  the  land  a  handsome  edifice  for  the  fair 
restaurant,  and  turned  it  over  to  the  lady  managers.  Mrs.  Roberts 
took  charge  of  the  restaurant  with  a  host  of  lady  assistants,  and  turned 
into  the  treasury  from  that  department  over  $17,000.  Its  success  was 
not  as  great  in  the  amount  of  money  received  as  was  anticipated,  for 
the  public,  as  a  rule,  preferred  to  give  cash  donations  ;  but  it  afforded 
a  vast  amount  of  comfort  to  the  visitors  at  the  fair,  and  increased  their 
numbers  because  of  its  accommodations. 

The  Union  League  Club  has  done  noble  work  for  the  public  good 
since  the  war.  Xo  longer  compelled  to  stand  as  a  sentinel,  watching 
the  approach  of  foes  of  the  Republic,  open  and  secret,  it  turned  its 
energies  into  various  fields  of  labor  needing  earnest  workers.  The 
subjects  of  political  and  social  reform,  State  and  municipal  ;  the 
cleansing  of  public  offices  of  corruption,  the  promotion  of  the  public 
health,  the  overthrow  of  a  great  conspiracy  to  plunder  the  public  treas- 
ury, known  as  the  Tweed  Ring,  and  scores  of  other  measures  for  the 
support  of  virtue,  order,  and  cleanliness  in  public  affairs,  have  all  felt 
the  influence  of  the  club,  through  the  untiring  labors  of  efficient  com- 
mittees. It  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  securing  for  the  city  a  Paid 
Fire  Department  and  the  present  admirable  Board  of  Health.  Its 
Committee  on  Political  Reform,  of  which  Donuan  13.  Eaton  is  chair- 
man, has  a  perpetual  existence. 

In  1804  the  Onion  League  Club  made  its  home  in  a  fine  mansion  on 
the  corner  of  Twenty-sixth  Street  and  Madison  Avenue,  which  had 
been  built  for  the  Jockey  Club,  where  it  remained  many  years,  and 
gathered  a  valuable;  library  and  picture  gallery.  There;  was  a  spacious 
reading-room,  and  a  large  apartment  set  apart  for  lectures,  concerts, 
and  dramatic  performances.  Finally  the  site  for  its  present  home,  on 
the  cornel"  of  Thirty-ninth  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  was  purchased,  on 
which  the  club  erected  a  building  on  a  plan  designed  in  reference  to 
the  requirements  of  an  association  composed,  in  1883,  of  about  fifteen 
hundred  members,  at  a  cost  of  about  $400,000.  The  club  first  occu- 
pied it  in  1881.* 

finest  in  the  city.  He  possessed  a  very  extensive  ami  valuable  fine-art  gallery,  for  he 
had  been  a  lover  of  art  from  his  early  youth.  He  was  three  times  married.  Four 
children  were  the  fruits  of  his  first  marriage,  one  of  the  second  marriage,  and  one  of  the 
third.  His  sagacity  was  most  remarkable.  "  I  never  knew  him,"  said  a  friend,  "  to 
make  a  mistake  about  the  commercial  standing  of  any  man.  When  he  said,  '  I  think 
tbat  man  will  fail  in  so  many  months, '  it  always  happened  that  the  man  failed. " 

*  The  first  floor  of  the  club  house  contains  a  large  and  well-appointed  reading  and 


FOURTH  DECADE.  18G0  1870. 


753 


The  club  gives  monthly  receptions,  at  which  new  American  pictures 
and  foreign  pictures,  loaned,  are  exhibited.  A  ladies'  reception  is 
given  annually,  and  is  always  a  brilliant  social  event.* 

The  Union  League  Club  being  a  firm  supporter  of  the  Republican 
party,  for  obvious  reasons,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  the  Manhattan 
Clcb  was  organized  in  1805  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  "advancing 
Democratic  principles  and  for  promoting  social  intercourse  ;"  in  other 
words,  for  promoting  the  interests  of  the  Democratic  party.  This  club 
was  first  conceived  at  the  Union  Club  during  the  stormy  Presidential 
election  in  1864,  when  there  was  much  antagonistic  political  feeling 
among  the  members  of  that  association.  Some  of  the  Democratic 
members,  feeling  uncomfortable,  withdrew  and  formed  this  new  club. 
The  organization  was  effected  by  the  election  of  John  Van  Buren  as 
president.  It  was  reorganized  in  1ST".  Meanwhile  it  had  taken  pos- 
session of  its  present  elegant  home  at  Xo.  90  Fifth  Avenue. 

The  membership  of  the  club  is  limited  to  one  thousand  ;  its  number  of 
members  in  1883  was  somewhat  less  than  six  hundred.  Its  entertain- 
ments of  guests  are  brilliant  affairs.  Leading  members  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  have  been  its  honored  guests  from  time  to  time.  President 
Johnson  was  entertained  during  his  "tour  around  the  circle  ;"  Mr. 
Tilden  was  so  honored  by  it  on  his  nomination  ;  so  also  was  General 
Hancock  on  a  similar  occasion.  Indeed,  both  Tilden  and  Hancock 
were  nominated  by  the  club,  it  is  said,  before  the  Democratic  National 
Convention  to  nominate  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  had  met.  The 
president  of  the  club  in  1882  was  Aaron  J.  Yanderpoel,  and  Henry 
Wilder  Allen  was  the  secretary. 

conversation  room,  a  billiard-room,  and  cafe  ;  the  second  floor  contains  a  large  and 
beautifully  decorated  room  in  which  is  a  library  of  over  3000  volumes  arranged  in 
alcoves.  The  eastern  half  of  this  floor  is  devoted  to  the  art  gallery  and  general  meeting- 
room  of  the  club.  The  dining-room  is  a  notable  portion  of  the  house.  It  is  heavily 
panelled  with  oak,  and  its  high-vaulted  ceiling  is  beautifully  decorated.  All  the  rooms 
are  more  or  less  decorated.  On  the  third  floor  are  numerous  rooms  devoted  to  various 
purposes. 

*  The  officers  of  the  club  for  1881-82  were :  Hamilton  Fish,  president  ;  Joseph  H. 
Choate,  Noah  Davis,  George  Cabot  Ward.  Jackson  S.  Schultz,  Josiah  M.  Fiske,  Cornelius 

E.  Agnew,  William  Iff.  Evarts,  Legrand  B.  Cannon,  John  H.  Hall,  Salem  H.  Wales, 
Sinclair  Tousey,  and  William  Dowd,  vice  presidents  ;  Walter  Howe,  secretary  ;  George 

F.  Baker,  treasurer.  There  have  been  nine  presidents  of  the  club  -  namely  :  Robert  B. 
Minturn,  Jonathan  Stnrges,  Charles  H.  Marshall,  John  Jay  (186f>,  1869,  and  1877), 
J.ickson  S.  Schultz,  William  J.  Hoppin,  Joseph  H.  Choate,  George  Cabot  Ward,  and 
Hamilton  Fish.  The  latter  was  chosen  in  1870.  It  has  on  its  roll  about  twenty  honorary 
members,  including  two  Presidents  of  the  United  States  (Lincoln  and  Grant).  The 
rest  are  or  were  officers  of  the  army  and  navy. 


754 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Mention  lias  been  made  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Promo- 
tion of  National  Union  and  for  the  Diffusion  of  Political  Knowledge. 
The  necessity  for  an  organization  to  counteract  the  influence  of  that 
society  was  so  plainly  felt  that  at  the  beginning  of  1863  "William  T. 
Blodgett,  an  earnest  and  patriotic  merchant  of  New  York,  went  to 
Washington  and  consulted  the  chief  officers  of  the  government  on  the 
subject.  A  plan  was  discussed  and  agreed  to,  and  on  his  return  Mr. 
Blodgett  invited  a  number  of  loyal  citizens  to  a  conference.  The  result 
was  the  formation,  in  February,  1863,  of  the  Loyal  Publication 
Socikty.  Charles  King  was  chosen  its  president,  and  John  Austin 
Stevens,  Jr.,  its  secretary. 

The  object  of  this  society  was  the  distribution  of  journals  and  docu- 
ments of  unquestionable  and  unconditional  loyalty  throughout  the 
United  States,  and  particularly  in  the  armies  then  engaged  in  the  sup- 
pression of  the  rebellion,  and  to  "  counteract,  as  far  as  possible,  the 
efforts  then  being  made  by  the  enemies  of  the  government  and  the 
advocates  of  a  disgraceful  peace,"  by  the  circulation  of  documents  of  a 
disloyal  character.  Money  was  subscribed  for  the  immediate  begin- 
ning of  operations.  Over  $3000  were  contributed  by  members  of  the 
Union  League  Club. 

Mr.  King  did  not  serve  as  president  long,  on  account  of  ill  health, 
and  Professor  Francis  Lieber  was  appointed  to  take  his  place.  Dr. 
Lieber  was  one  of  the  most  patriotic  of  our  foreign-born  citizens.  lie 
superintended  the  publication  of  one  hundred  pamphlets  issued  by  the 
society,  ten  of  which  were  written  by  himself.  lie  and  Mr.  Stevens 
served  the  society  with  great  ability  until  its  dissolution  early  in  1866. 
In  the  space  of  six  weeks  after  the  society  began  its  work,  it  sent  to 
Washington  for  distribution  in  the  Army  of  the  Rappahannock  36,000 
copies  of  loyal  journals  and  documents. 

In  April,  1863,  the  society  aided  in  the  establishment  of  the  Army 
and  Xai't/  Journal,  on  the  principle  of  "  unconditional  loyalty,"  under 
the  management  of  Captain  W.  C.  Church.  It  is  still  (1883)  published 
under  the  same  management.  The  final  overthrow  of  the  rebellion  in 
1865  ended  the  mission  of  the  Loyal  Publication  Society,  and  at  its 
third  anniversary  meeting  (February  27,  1S66)  it  was  determined  to 
dissolve  it.  President  Lieber  made  an  impressive  address  to  the  mem- 
bers on  that  occasion,  and  adjourned  the  society  sine  die,  saying,  "  God 
save  the  great  Republic  !    God  protect  our  country  !" 

The  Presidential  election  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  the  fall  of  1865 
was  attended  by  exciting  events.  On  November  2d  the  mayor  (G.  C. 
Gunther)  received  a  telegram  from  the  Secretary  of  War.  informing 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


755 


him  that  there  was  a  conspiracy  on  foot  to  set  on  fire  several  Northern 
cities  on  election  day.  The  mayor  did  not  believe  it,  but  said  he  would 
be  vigilant  ;  but  the  government  deemed  it  proper  to  provide  against 
mischief.  On  the  day  before  the  election  7U0U  troops  were  landed  at 
Fort  Hamilton,  at  the  entrance  to  the  harbor,  ami  on  Governor's 
Island,  nearer  the  city.  General  Butler  had  been  despatched  from 
Fortress  Monroe  to  take  command  of  all  troops  in  and  around  the  city. 
He  arrived  the  day  before.  On  the  morning  of  the  election  the  troops 
were  embarked  on  steamboats,  which  were  anchored  off  the  city  at 
different  points. 

The  day  passed  off  quietly,  but  events  which  occurred  in  the  night 
of  the  25th  of  November  brought  the  warning  of  the  Secretary  of  War 
vividly  to  the  minds  of  the  citizens.  On  that  night  thirteen  of  the 
principal  hotels  in  the  city,*  Barnum's  Museum,  some  shipping,  and  a 
large  lumber-yard  were  found  to  be  on  fire  at  almost  the  same  moment. 
This  was  the  work  of  incendiaries  employed  by  the  conspirators  at 
Richmond.  One  of  these  incendiaries,  Robert  Kennedy,  who  was 
caught  and  hanged,  confessed  the  crime  and  revealed  the  methods  em- 
ployed. Each  incendiary,  furnished  with  a  travelling  bag  containing 
inflammable  materials,  took  a  room  at  a  hotel  like  an  ordinary  lodger, 
closed  the  shutters  of  his  apartment,  tore  up  the  cotton  or  linen  bed- 
clothes, saturated  the  material  with  phosphorus  and  turpentine,  set  fire 
to  a  slow  match,  left  the  room,  closed  and  locked  the  door  and 
departed,  leaving  the  house  and  all  its  inhabitants  to  burn  to  ashes  ! 
The  precautions  to  prevent  a  discovery  foiled  the  attempt,  for  the 
flames  in  the  tightly-closed  rooms  were  smothered.  Kennedy  said  this 
attempt  to  burn  the  principal  buildings  in  New  York  City  was  in 
retaliation  for  Sheridan's  raid  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley. 

At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  late  in  the  spring  of  1S65,  the  record 
of  the  city  of  New  York  in  relation  to  its  contributions  of  men  to  the 
national  armies  during  the  conflict  was  a  proud  one.  The  population 
of  the  city  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  was  over  800,000  ;  in  1SG5  it 
had  diminished  to  less  than  727,000.  The  war  had  depleted  it.  It 
had  furnished  to  the  army  116,382  soldiers,  at  an  average  cost  for  each 
man,  for  bounties  and  for  the  family  relief  fund,  $150. 4-7,  or  an  aggre- 
gate of  over  §5,827,000. 

The  sad  news  of  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln  and  the  mur- 
derous attack  on  Secretary  Seward,  which  reached  New  York  before 

*  The  St.  James,  St.  Nicholas,  Metropolitan,  Fifth  Avenue,  Hartford,  Tammany, 
United  States,  and  Lovejoy's  hotels,  and  the  Astor  House,  La  Farge  House,  Howard 
House,  New  England  House,  and  Belmont  House. 


756 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOliK  CITY. 


the  dawn  of  April  15,  1865,  gave  the  citizens  a  terrible  shock.  Every 
heart  seemed  paralyzed  for  a  moment.  The  telegraph  announced  the 
death  of  the  President  at  about  seven  o'clock.  Instantly  tokens  of 
grief  were  seen  in  all  parts  of  the  city.  The  humble  dwelling  of  the 
poor,  the  mansion  of  the  rich,  the  shop  of  the  artisan,  the  stately  ware- 
house of  the  merchant,  and  the  vessels  in  the  harbor,  were  all  draped 
in  mourning  within  an  hour.  At  noon  there  was  an  immense  assem- 
blage of  citizens  at  the  Cutsom-IIouse,  the  collector,  Simeon  Draper, 
presiding.  The  multitude  were  addressed  by  Generais  Garfield,  Butler, 
and  Wetmore,  Judge  Pierrepont,  D.  S.  Dickinson,  and  ex-Governor 
King.  A  committee  of  thirteen  was  appointed  *  and  sent  to  "Washing- 
ton to  tender  sympathy  and  aid  to  the  government.  From  that  time 
until  after  the  funeral  of  the  President  business  in  the  city  was  sus- 
pended and  business  places  were  closed. 

On  the  day  of  his  death  (Saturday)  that  event  was  the  topic  of  dis- 
course in  the  Jewish  synagogues,  as  it  was  in  the  Christian  churches 
on  the  following  day.  The  funeral  services  took  place  at  the  White 
House  on  the  l'.Hh  of  April.  Then  the  body  was  taken  to  the  Capitol 
and  lay  in  state  until  the  21st,  when  the  funeral  train  set  out  for  the 
home  of  the  dead  President  in  Illinois, -by  way  of  New  York,  Albany, 
and  Buffalo. 

Preparations  for  the  reception  of  the  body  had  been  made  in  New 
York  City.  It  was  conveyed  to  the  rotunda  of  the  City  Hall  amid  the 
chanting  of  800  singers  and  placed  on  a  superb  catafalque.  The  city 
church  bells  were  all  tolling  a  funeral  knell,  and  the  Park  was  filled 
with  a  vast  sea  of  sorrowing  human  faces.  There  the  body  lay  in  state 
until  the  next  afternoon.  During  the  whole  twenty-four  hours  a 
slowly  moving  stream  of  men,  women,  and  children  flowed  through 
the  rotunda  to  look  upon  the  face  of  the  dead  Chief  Magistrate  of  the 
nation.  A  military  guard  protected  the  body,  and  the  German 
musical  societies  performed  a  solemn  chant  in  that  august  presence. 

On  the  25th  of  April  the  body  of  President  Lincoln  was  taken  from 
the  city  of  New  York.  It  was  escorted  to  the  railroad  station  by  a 
procession  nearly  live  miles  in  length.  In  that  line  were  about  fifteen 
thousand  soldiers  and  two  hundred  colored  citizens.  In  the  afternoon 
thousands  of  citizens  gathered  at  Union  Square  to  listen  to  a  funeral 
oration  by  George  Bancroft.  At  the  same  place  "William  Cullen 
Bryant  pronounced  a  eulogy. 

*  Moses  Taylor,  Jonathan  Sturges,  William  E.  Dodge,  Hamilton  Fish,  Moses  H. 
Grinnell,  William  M.  Evarts,  Charles  H.  Russell,  Edwards  Pierrepont,  Samuel  Sloan, 
John  J.  Astor,  Jr.,  F.  B.  Cutting,  K.  M.  Blatchford,  and  Charles  H.  Marshall. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


757 


On  the  disbandment  of  the  army  in  18(55  the  survivors  of  the  many 
thousand  citizens  who  had  gone  to  the  field  returned  to  their  homes. 
The  event  presented  a  rare  spectacle  for  the  nations.  In  the  space  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  days  the  vast  multitude  of  soldiers  had  been 
transformed  into  citizens,  and  had  resumed  the  varied  and  blessed  pur- 
suits of  peace.*  Thereby  the  population  of  Xew  York  was  suddenly 
greatly  increased. 

In  1866  a  most  salutary  advance  was  made  in  New  York  City  in  the 
direction  of  sanitary  reform.  Ever  since  the  prevalence  of  the  cholera 
in  1849,  and  its  reappearance  in  the  city  in  1855,  the  need  of  a  health 
organization  with  more  ample  powers  had  been  felt.  In  18(55  the 
cholera  was  raging  in  Europe,  and  apprehensions  w  ere  felt  in  Xew  York 
that  it  would  cross  the  sea.  It  was  that  apprehension  which  caused 
the  movement  resulting  in  the  creation  of  the  Metropolitan  Sanitary 
District  by  the  Legislature  of  Xew  York  in  the  winter  of  186(5.  That 
district  included  the  counties  of  Xew  York,  Kings,  Richmond,  and  a 
portion  of  Westchester.  Within  it  was  created  a  new  Board  of  Health 
for  the  citv.f  The  old  board  consisted  of  the  mayor  and  members  of 
the  boards  of  aldermen  and  councilmen. 

As  was  anticipated,  the  cholera  crossed  the  ocean.  A  ship  from 
Liverpool  arrived  at  Sandy  Hook  in  April,  186(5,  with  several  malig- 
nant cases  of  cholera  on  board.  These  were  transferred  to  a  hospital 
ship,  and  the  remainder  of  the  ship's  company  were  quarantined. 

This  plague  broke  out  in  the  city  almost  simultaneously,  in  May,  at 
points  five  miles  apart.  It  gradually  spread  over  the  city,  in  spots 
where  most  filth  and  bad  drainage  were  found.  So  efficiently  did  the 
new  Board  of  Health  employ  its  enlarged  powers  that  in  the  whole  city, 
including  the  shipping  and  the  floating  population,  only  460  persons 
died  of  cholera.  At  the  same  time  there  were  over  twelve  hundred 
deaths  in  the  hospitals  and  penal  institutions  on  the  islands.  The 
pestilence  disappeared  in  October. 

So  efficient  has  been  the  Board  of  Health  and  so  skilful  in  its  man- 
agement, that  since  the  cholera  in  1865,  that  disease  or  scarcely  any 
other  has  appeared  in  the  city  as  an  epidemic.  The  board  consists  of 
the  president,  the  sanitary  superintendent,  the  health  officer  of  the 

*  The  whole  number  of  men  who  had  been  enrolled  for  duty  was  2,656,591,  of  whom 
1,490,000  were  in  actual  service.  The  disbandment  of  this  vast  army  began  in  June,  and 
by  mid-autumn  750,000  officers  and  men  had  been  mustered  out  of  the  service. 

■f  The  first  board  consisted  of  six  sanitary  commissioners,  the  health  officer,  the  police 
commissioners,  sanitary  superintendent,  sanitary  inspectors,  etc.  Jackson  S.  Schultz 
was  president  of  the  board,  Benjamin  F.  Manierre  treasurer,  Emmons  Clark  secretary, 
and  three  physicians    namely,  Drs.  Crane,  Parker,  and  Stone. 


758 


HISTORY  OF  NEW"  YORK  CITY. 


port,  and  two  commissioners,  one  of  whom  must  have  been  a  practising 
physician  for  five  years.  The  commissioner  not  a  physician  is  the 
president  of  the  board.  The  commissioners  are  appointed  by  the 
mayor  with  the  consent  of  the  aldermen.  The  sanitary  superintendent 
is  the  chief  executive  officer  of  the  board.  A  corps  of  medical  inspec- 
tors is  employed  for  the  cure  and  prevention  of  disease,  in  the  inspec- 
tion of  tenement  and  other  houses,  and  for  the  enforcement  of  health 
laws  and  the  sanitary  code.  There  is  also  a  vaccinating  corps,  a  corps 
for  disinfection,  and  a  corps  for  meat  and  milk  inspection. 

The  Health  Department  has  a  bureau  of  vital  statistics,  to  which  is 
assigned  the  duty  of  keeping  a  record  of  all  the  births,  marriages,  and 
deaths  in  the  city,  and  of  compiling  the  annual  tabular  statements  of 
these.  Every  physician  is  required  to  give  a  certificate  of  the  death  of 
any  person  under  Discharge,  with  sex,  age,  place  of  nativity,  whether 
married  or  unmarried,  and  cause  of  death.  On  the  presentation  of  this 
to  the  bureau  a  burial  permit  is  granted.  According  to  the  report  of 
this  bureau  for  1882  the  death-rate  in  the  city  that  year  was  31.08  of 
every  looo  of  the  population.  The  chief  cause  of  this  comparatively 
high  death-rate  in  New  York  is  undoubtedly  the  tenement-house 
system,  where  overcrowding  and  foul  air  is  the  rule  and  not  the  excep- 
tion.* 

The  Board  of  Health  could  do  little  toward  effecting  a  sanitary 
reform  in  the  tenement-house  system.  Its  evils  had  become  so  great 
that  at  length  the  citizens,  led  by  the  medical  fraternity,  were  aroused 
to  action.  A  public  meeting  was  held  at  the  Cooper  Union  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1ST!>,  the  mayor  presiding.  A  committee  of  nine  f  was 
appointed  to  devise  means  for  improving  the  sanitary  condition  of 
tenement  houses.  That  committee  acted  promptly.  It  procured  from 
the  Legislature  an  act  giving  increased  power  to  the  Board  of  Health. 
A  Sanitary  Reform  Society  was  organized,  composed  of  prominent 
citizens,  and  its  labors,  in  conjunction  with  the  efforts  of  the  Board  of 
Health,  have  already  produced  a  marvellous  change  in  the  tenement- 
house  system.  That  society  is  vigilant  and  active,  and  it  promises  to 
relieve  the  city  of  one  of  its  most  dangerous  evils.  % 

*  The  officers  of  the  board  for  1883  are  :  commissioners,  Alexander  Shaler  Qnesident), 
Woolsey  Johnson,  M.D.,  William  M.  Smith,  M.D.,  Stephen  B.  French,  M.D. ;  secretary, 
Emmons  Clark  ;  sanitary  superintendent,  Walter  D.  F.  Day,  M.D. 

\  The  following  named  gentlemen  composed  the  committee  of  nine  :  H.  E.  Pellew,  W. 
Bayard  Cutting,  E.  T.  Auchnmty,  D.  Willis  James,  Charles  P.  Daly,  Cornelius  Vander- 
bilt,  W.  W.  Astor,  James  Gallatin,  and  F.  D.  Tappen. 

\  The  founder  of  this  society  is  James  Gallatin.  He  was  its  first  president,  with  Henry 
E.  Pellew,  vice-president  ;  Bichard  H.  Derby,  M.D.,  secretary  ;  D.  Willis  James,  treas- 


FOl'RTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


759 


The  enormous  expenditures  and  waste  of  the  Civil  War  and  the  vast 
issues  of  paper  currency  amazingly  stimulated  every  industrial  pursuit 
in  the  country.  New  York  in  a  special  manner  felt  the  influence  of 
the  new  order  of  things.  Wages  of  every  class  of  workers,  whether 
with  the  brain  or  the  hand,  were  suddenly  and  largely  increased.  The 
price  of  every  product  of  the  farm  and  workshop  was  raised  many  per 
cent,  and  the  plentifulness  of  money  increased  the  number  and  ability 
of  purchasers.  Merchants  whose  annual  sales  were  valued  at  thousands 
of  dollars  now  sold  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of  goods  in 
a  year  ;  manufacturers  enlarged  their  premises,  and  new  establish- 
ments sprang  up  in  abundance  to  meet  the  increasing  demand.  The 
arts  of  every  kind  felt  the  influence  of  "  flush  times."  Charitable  and 
benevolent  institutions  were  multiplied  in  the  city,  and  found  generous 
givers.  During  this  decade  the  magnificent  charities  of  the  metropolis 
Were  increased  in  number,  power,  and  influence  for  good. 

The  ample  means  for  the  gratification  of  aesthetic  tastes  and  for 
intellectual  cultivation  and  enjoyment  which  the  new  order  of  things 
had  produced  caused  unexampled  activity  in  the  realm  of  art  and  litera- 
ture, and  in  the  succeeding  decade  New  York  City,  in  its  extravagant 
and  elegant  architecture  without  and  within,  in  style  and  decoration, 
its  public  and  private  libraries,  its  fine-art  institutions  and  public  and 
private  picture  galleries,  rivalled  the  older  cities  of  Europe  in  these 
indications  of  wealth  and  refinement. 

To  the  Civil  War  and  its  immediate  antecedent  and  collateral  events 
may  fairly  be  attributed  the  introduction  of  a  new  feature,  if  not  a  new 
era  or  a  new  school,  in  the  art  of  sculpture.  Those  events  inspired  a 
young  man  who  had  only  lately  suspected  that  he  possessed  a  genius 
for  art  to  follow  his  "good  angel,"  who  led  him  to  the  creation  of 
small  groups  of  figures  illustrative  of  simple,  touching  scenes  in  the 
history  of  the  time  in  which  he  lived.  It  was  his  modest  entrance 
upon  the  beautiful  path  by  which  he  speedily  reached  the  goal  of  fame 
and  fortune. 

That  young  man  was  John  Rogers,  a  descendant  of  the  Smithlield 
martyr,  then  about  thirty  years  of  age.  His  beautiful  plastic  groups 
astonished  and  pleased,  and  won  unbounded  admiration.  He  carried 
"  high  art"  into  the  abodes  of  the  humble  as  well  as  the  exalted.  The 
subjects  touched  a  chord  of  sympathy  in  every  human  heart.    He  drew 

urer  ;  Charles  E.  Tracy,  counsel.  These  constituted  the  executivo  committee,  and  with 
these  were  associated  a  board  of  directors  :  R.  T.  Auchmuty,  S.  D.  Babcock,  W.  Bayard 
Cutting,  Charles  P.  Daly,  Bowie  Dash,  Adrian  Iselin,  Jr.,  John  T.  Metcalf,  M.D., 
Howard  Potter,  F.  D.  Tappen,  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  and  William  E.  Dodge,  Jr. 


760 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


from  the  heart  ;  lus  pictures  went  to  the  heart.  lie  revealed  human 
nature  in  its  sweetest  aspects.  lie  took  a  high  position  in  the  realm  of 
art  at  the  beginning  as  an  inventor  and  a  reformer.  It  has  been  truly 
said  that  "  no  single  agent  has  done  so  much  to  educate  a  popular  taste 
for  genuine  art  as  John  Rogers's  delicate  and  beautiful  genre  pictures 
in  ckiy.  .  .  .  They  are  at  home  alike  in  the  boudoir  of  the  rich 
and  the  cottage  of  the  humble.  In  city  and  country,  among  high  and 
low,  they  are  enshrined  with  a  respect  and  love  that  amount  to  some- 
thing like  veneration.  .  .  .  They  are  poetical,  but  not  ni3'stic. 
They  are  not  above  the  average  intellect  of  mankind." 

Mr.  Rogers  has  been  justly  called  "  the  people's  sculptor."  He  is 
well  known  and  admired  in  Europe.  For  more  than  twenty  years  he 
has  occupied  his  special  field  of  art  alone. * 

*  John  Rogers  was  bom  in  Salem,  Mass.,  October  30,  1829.  He  was  educated  at  a 
New  England  common  school.  In  his  youth  he  was  restless  ;  he  engaged  in  various 
avocations,  and  at  the  age  of  nineteen  became  a  machinist  in  Manchester,  N.  H.,  and 
worked  at  that  trade  about  seven  years,  wholly  ignorant  of  the  divinity  within  him.  One 
day,  while  in  Boston,  he  saw  a  man  making  images  of  clay.  The  sight  was  a  revelation. 
It  deeply  impressed  him,  and  he  determined  to  try  to  imitate  the  artist.  Although  work 
in  the  shop  was  so  urgent  that  he  was  compelled  to  labor  fourteen  hours  a  day,  he  found 
time  to  try  some  experiments  in  modelling.  He  transferred  to  clay  the  conceptions  of 
his  mind  while  at  his  daily  task.  He  yearned  for  a  sight  of  the  works  of  the  great 
masters  in  Italy,  but  his  pecuniary  circumstances  denied  him  the  privilege. 

In  1857,  when  Mr.  Rogers  was  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  after  working  at  his  trade  sis 
months  in  Missouri,  he  was  thrown  out  of  employment.  He  came  East,  procured  some 
funds,  went  to  Paris  and  Rome,  and  after  studying  art  in  France  and  Italy  for  about 
eight  months,  he  returned  to  America  with  his  mind  richly  freighted  with  precious 
memories.  He  found  employment  in  the  office  of  the  city  engineer  of  Chicago,  and  every 
moment  not  required  in  his  business  he  gave  to  efforts  in  his  chosen  field  of  art.  He 
produced  a  group  of  small  figures  called  "  The  Checker  Players,"  which  was  exhibited  at 
a  charity  fair  got  up  by  some  benevolent  ladies  in  Chicago.  It  attracted  great  attention, 
and  was  praised  by  critics  for  its  faithfulness  in  details,  a  characteristic  of  all  his  works. 

Feeling  conscious  of  his  powers,  Mr.  Rogers  now  resigned  his  situation  in  the  office  of 
the  city  surveyor  and  devotpd  himself  to  art.  He  soon  produced  a  group  which  he 
called  "  The  Slave  Auction."  This  was  first  introduced  to  the  public  in  New  York  City 
in  1860.  The  times  were  propitious.  The  agitation  of  the  slave  question  was  then  very 
violent.  The  sentiment  of  the  little  group  appealed  to  the  sympathies  of  multitudes  of 
people,  yet  it  was  denied  a  place  in  a  public  art  exhibition  because  of  its  subject.  It 
attracted  wide  attention.  "When  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  soon  afterward,  the  genius  of 
the  new  born  artist,  consonant  with  his  patriotism,  laid  hold  of  the  occasion,  and  most 
interesting  groups  illustrative  of  current  history  grew  up  under  the  eager  touch  of  his 
skilful  fingers.  He  began  his  career  in  New  York  in  the  most  unpretentious  manner. 
He  took  an  attic  room  on  Broadway,  and  issued  this  business  card  :  "John  Rogers 
Artist,  Designs  and  Executes  Groups  of  Figures  in  Composition  at  his  Studio,  599 
Broadway,  Room  28.    N.  B.— They  can  be  securely  packed  for  transportation."  , 

These  groups  are  made  of  a  peculiar  composition,  and  are  produced  and  reproduced 
by  a  simple  process.    They  are  originally  modelled  in  clay  by  the  hand  of  the  master. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


761 


The  comparatively  new  feature  in  the  aspect  of  the  fine  arts,  popu- 
larly known  as  chromolithograph^,  or  color-printing  by  the  litho- 
graphic process,  has  been  brought  to  great  perfection  in  the  city  of 
New  York  since  the  beginning  of  this  decade.  One  of  the  most 
extensive  and  best  equipped  establishments  in  the  city  engaged  in  this 
business  is  that  of  the  Hatch  Lithographic  Company,  founded  by  the 
eminent  engraver  on  steel,  George  W".  Hatch,  mentioned  in  a  former 
chapter.  3Ir.  Hatch  probably  did  more  than  any  other  man  in  the 
development  of  the  lithographic  art.  Indeed  every  department  of  the 
fine  arts  felt  the  touch  of  his  genius.  He  associated  with  himself  his 
eldest  son,  G.  W.  Hatch,  Jr.,  in  the  lithograph  business,  and  very 
soon,  by  the  employment  of  the  best  workmen  in  every  department, 
the  firm  of  G.  W.  Hatch,  Jr.,  &  Co.  became  so  pre-eminent  in  the  per- 
fection of  their  work  that  the  national  and  municipal  governments  be- 
came their  constant  customers. 

In  1S50  G.  W.  Hatch,  Jr.,  died,  and  his  only  surviving  brother, 
Warner  1).  Hatch,  became  the  partner  of  his  father.  On  the  death  of 
the  latter,  in  1S66,  this  younger  son  became  the  head  of  the  establish- 
ment, and  so  remains.  Very  great  improvements  in  the  business  had 
then  been  made,  especially  in  the  department  of  color-printing,  which 
the  house  has  made  a  specialty.    Greater  improvements  have  since 

A  mould  from  the  model  is  taken  and  a  bronze  copy  is  cast  from  that,  from  which  moulds 
are  prepared  for  subsequent  copies  made  of  composition. 

Rogers's  groups  soon  became  very  popular.  Their  exquisite  exetnition  and  his  rare 
judgment  in  the  selection  of  subjects  commended  him  to  cultivated  people,  and  their 
exceedingly  low  price  put  them  within  the  reach  of  families  of  moderate  means. 

In  1882  Mr.  Rogers  undertook  a  task  which  he  had  never  ventured  upon  before  — 
namely,  the  production  of  a  heroic  equestrian  statue.  It  is  a  portrait  of  General  John  F. 
Reynolds,  who  was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Gettysburg.  He  received  the  commission 
without  competition  from  the  Reynolds  Memorial  Association,  composed  of  officers  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac.  Mr.  Rogers  put  up  an  atelier  at  Stamford,  Connecticut,  and 
within  it.  in  little  over  a  year,  he  completed  the  model,  in  plaster,  which  is  most  satis- 
factory, and  is  praised  as  an  admirable  work  of  art.  Few  artists  are  equal  to  the  task  of 
making  an  equestrian  statue,  and  hence  Mr.  Rogers's  triumph  is  all  the  greater.  It  is  to 
be  cast  in  bronze,  and  to  occupy  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  Rogers  was  married  in  1865  to  Miss  Harriet  M.  Francis,  by  whom  he  has  seven 
children.  In  person  he  is  rather  slender.  His  expression,  from  a  combination  of  pecul- 
iar features,  is  of  the  most  interesting  character.  Like  all  men  of  true  genius,  he  is 
modest,  yet  possesses  the  dignity  which  selt-consciousness  of  power  imposes.  His 
famous  groups  are  numerous.  Among  the  most  notable  are  "  The  Council  of  War" 
—Lincoln,  Stanton,  and  Grant  :  "  One  More  Shot ;"  "  Taking  the  Oath  ;"  "  Coming  to  the 
Parson  ;''  "  Checkers  up  at  Ike  Farm  ;"  "  It  is  so  nominated  in  the  bond"— Shylock,  Portia, 
Antonio,  etc.  :  and  his  three  illustrations  of  the  story  of  "  Rip  Van  Winkle,"  in  which 
the  features  of  the  hero  of  the  tale  are  those  of  Joseph  Jefferson,  the  great  dramatic  im- 
personator of  that  character. 


762 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


been  made.  In  1800  it  had  100  hand  presses  and  150  men  employed, 
and  yet  it  could  not  meet  the  demands  upon  it.  Some  of  the  chromo- 
lithographs produced  by  this  establishment  at  that  time  have  hardly 
been  surpassed  since  in  the  perfection  of  imitations  of  oil  paintings. 
The  productions  of  the  house  attracted  customers  from  all  parts  of  the 
country.  Great  acquisitions  of  skilled  labor  and  machinery  were  soon 
made  to  the  establishment  to  meet  the  public  demand,  and  in  the  year 
1868  the  Hatch  Company  introduced  into  this  country  the  first  steam 
lithographic  press.  It  was  made  in  London,  and  was  imperfect  in 
many  parts,  but  was  capable  of  making  4000  to  5000  impressions  daily, 
while  250  impressions  by  the  hand  press  were  considered  a  fair  day's 
work.  The  introduction  of  the  steam  press  produced  a  revolution  in 
the  business. 

The  firm  procured  a  more  perfect  machine  from  Paris,  and  yet  it 
was  not  satisfactory.  Then  the  great  printing-press  manufacturers, 
R.  Hoe  &  Co. ,  were  employed  to  construct  a  machine.  The  result  was 
perfect  success.  The  iron  hands  of  the  machine  took  hold  of  the  paper 
with  the  delicacy  of  touch  of  a  woman's  fingers,  and  it  was  adjusted 
to  the  picture  on  the  stone  with  accuracy  surpassing  the  skill  of  the 
best  workman,  while  the  whole  machine  moved  with  the  perfection  of 
a  watch. 

It  seemed  doubtful  whether  work  enough  could  be  found  to  keep  the 
steam  press  busy.  It  has  never  been  idle.  Three  years  after  the  Iloe 
press  was  introduced,  Hatch  &  Co.  had  six  of  them  in  use,  with  a 
capacity  for  printing  30,000  sheets  daily;  in  1SS3  the  company  had 
twelve  steam  presses  in  constant  operation,  which  produced  an  average 
of  00,000  impressions  a  day. 

The  lead  (or  graphite)  pencil  holds  a  most  intimate,  indeed  an  essen- 
tial relation  to  the  fine  arts,  as  the  chief  implement  in  the  production 
of  designs  of  every  kind,  whether  in  the  service  of  the  painter,  the 
sculptor,  or  the  architect.  The  best  lead  pencils  formerly  known  to 
artists  were  those  of  the  pure  graphite  of  Borrowdale,  Cumberland, 
England,  discovered  in  15(54  ;  but  those  mines  were  exhausted  more 
than  a  hundred  years  ago.  At  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century 
Caspar  Faber  began  the  manufacture  of  lead  pencils  of  superior  quality 
at  Stein,  near  Nuremberg,  Germany.  His  son,  Anthony  "William 
Faber,  succeeded  him  in  1801,  and  founded  the  house  of  A.  W.  Faber, 
which  name  is  perpetuated.  A  manufacturing  branch  of  the  great 
house  (which  is  the  largest  of  the  kind  in  the  world)  was  established  in 
the  city  of  Xew  York  in  1861.  The  head  of  it,  Eberhard  Faber,  came 
to  the  city  in  1855  and  established  a  mercantile  branch  of  the  house,  in 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


703 


which  is  now  centred  the  large  trade  in  pencils  over  the  whole  United 
States,  in  Canada,  Mexico,  South  America,  and  the  West  India  Islands. 

The  parent  establishment  of  A.  W.  Faber,  at  Stein,  is  now  enormous 
in  extent,  constituting  a  whole  village  of  factories  and  a  populous  com- 
munity. The  proprietors  have  built  churches,  established  schools  and 
kindergartens,  a  library,  a  savings  bank,  and  places  of  amusement,  for 
the  moral,  religious,  intellectual,  and  social  benefit  of  their  army  of 
employes.  They  have  branches  in  London  and  the  principal  cities  on 
the  continent,  and  the  Faber  pencil  is  known  and  sought  after  in  every 
part  of  the  civilized  world. 

The  American  branch  factory  was  established  by  Eberhard  Faber  at 
the  foot  of  Forty-second  Street,  and  he  became  the  pioneer  of  a  new 
industry  in  the  city.  This  factory  was  burned  in  May,  1872,  and  Mr. 
Faber  built  another  in  Greenpoint,  which  has  since  been  in  operation. 
At  a  later  date  he  established  a  cedar-yard  and  saw-mill  at  Cedar 
Keys,  Florida.  As  business  increased  he  enlarged  the  factory,  and 
manufactured  not  only  pencils  of  every  variety,  but  pen-holders,  slates, 
and  slate-pencils,  india-rubber  goods,  vellum  tracing  cloth,  gold  pens, 
pencil-cases,  and  almost  everything  connected  with  the  stationery 
trade,  except  paper  and  blank  books.  At  present  the  business  absorbs 
the  entire  product  of  an  india-rubber  factory  in  INTew  Jersey.  The 
mercantile  branch  of  the  house  moved  to  the  elegant  and  spacious 
building  Xos.  718-720  Broadway  in  1877.  In  March,  1879,  Eberhard 
Faber  died,  and  his  son,  John  Eberhard  Faber,  is  now  at  the  head  of 
the  American  branch  of  the  great  house.* 

The  goods  of  this  house,  of  every  kind,  are  so  superior  that  it  has 
received  the  highest  awards  at  all  international  exhibitions. 

*  John  Eberhard  Faber  is  a  native  of  New  York  City.  He  was  educated  at  Columbia 
College,  but  before  finishing  the  course  of  study  (class  of  1878)  he  went  to  Stein  and 
took  a  position  under  his  uncle  at  the  head  of  the  great  manufactory  there.  There  he 
acquired  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  French  language.  On  the  death  of  his  father,  in 
March,  1879,  he  returned  to  New  York  and  became  the  head  of  the  house  in  this  city. 
He  is  a  most  energetic  and  sagacious  young  man,  and  sustains  the  good  business  name  of 
the  house  of  A.  W.  Faber. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


DU-RING  tliis  decade  several  institutions,  charitable,  benevolent, 
and  social,  were  created  or  put  on  sure  foundations.  Among 
these  the  New  York  Society  for  the  Relief  of  the  Ruptured  and  Crip- 
pled and  the  Home  for  Incurables  appear  specially  conspicuous. 

Through  the  exertions  of  Dr.  James  Knight  and  Mr.  R.  M.  Hartley, 
who  were  earnest  co-workers  of  the  Society  for  Improving  the  Condi- 
tion of  the  Poor,  eminent  members  of  the  medical  profession  and  others 
became  interested  in  the  establishment  of  an  institution  for  the  relief  of 
poor  persons  who  were  afflicted  with  hernia.  Careful  inquiry  had 
revealed  the  fact  that  a  huge  percentage  of  the  population  of  the  city 
was  suffering  from  this  cause.  A  society  for  the  establishment  of  such 
an  institution  w  as  organized  in  March,  1S03,  under  the  general  laws  of 
the  State,  and  a  full  board  of  managers  was  chosen.*  The  house  of 
Dr.  Knight,  on  Second  Avenue,  was  rented,  and  he  was  appointed  resi- 
dent physician  and  surgeon.  Mrs.  Knight  superintended  the  domestic 
affairs  of  the  institution,  and  their  daughter  taught  the  juvenile  inmates 
the  ordinary  branches  of  education  without  compensation.  During  the 
first  year  the  number  of  patients  treated  w  as  828. 

The  managers  became  early  impressed  with  the  importance  of  more 
ample  hospital  accommodations.  The  cause  commended  itself  strongly 
to  the  benevolent.  Liberal  contributions  were  soon  made  for  a  build- 
ing, notably  §70,000  by  Chauncey  and  Henry  Rose,  and  subsequently 

s.mmmh  by  John  ('.  Green  and  si  7.  I  by  J.  ('.  Baldwin,  while  many 

persons  gave  $5000  each,  and  there  were  numerous  contributions  of 
$1000  and  under. 

In  1872  the  present  spacious  and  elegant  home  of  the  institution,  five 
stories  in  height  including  the  basement,  was  completed  and  occupied. 
It  is  on  the  corner  of  Forty-second  Street  and  Lexington  Avenue,  is 

*  Robert  B.  Minturn,  John  C.  Green,  Stewart  Brown,  A.  R.  Wetuiore,  William  A. 
Booth,  Robert  M.  Hartley,  Joseph  B.  Collins,  Jonathan  Sturges,  James  W.  Beekman, 
George  Griswold,  John  D.  Wolfe,  Enoch  L.  Fancher,  James  Knight,  Thomas  Denny, 
Luther  R.  Marsh,  Charles  N.  Talbot,  J.  F.  Sheafe,  Henry  S.  Terbell,  Nathan  Bishop, 
John  W.  Quincy. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1880-1870. 


;<;:> 


free  of  debt,  and  has  accommodations  for  fully  200  patients.  It  is  free 
to  indigent  residents  of  New  York  City  and  its  vicinity  and  crippled 
United  States  soldiers.  A  moderate  charge  is  made  to  other  patients. 
Children  from  four  to  fourteen  years  of  age  are  admitted  as  in-door 
patients,  .and  receive  the  elements  of  an  English  education.  Crippled 
patients  are  sent  to  it  from  all  other  charitable  institutions,  public  and 
private. 

This  institution  the  avowed  objects  of  which  are  "  to  apply  skilfully 
constructed  surgico-mechanical  appliances  for  the  treatment  of  in-  and 
out-door  patients,  ami  those  requiring  trusses,  spring  supports,  bandages, 
laced  stockings,  and  apparatus  for  the  cure  of  cripples,  both  adults  and 
children,  on  such  conditions  as  will  make  these  benefits  available,  so  far 
as  possible,  to  the  poorest  in  the  city,  free  of  charge" — has  always 
attracted  not  only  to  its  support  but  to  its  management  leading  philan- 
thropists of  New  York,  such  as  Samuel  Willets,  its  president  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  in  lss:^  ;  William  II.  Macy,*  who  succeeded  Mr. 

*  William  H.  Macy  is  a  native  of  Nantucket,  where  he  was  born  November  4,  1805. 
He  was  the  oldest  child  of  .Tosiah  Macy,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  He  came 
to  New  York  City  in  1823,  and  entered  the  counting-house  of  Samuel  Hicks.  At  the  age 
of  twenty-one  he  began  the  business  of  a  commission  merchant  on  his  own  account. 
His  father  joined  him  in  business,  and  the  firm  was  Josiah  Macy  &  Son.  In  1834,  when 
twenty-nine  years  of  age,  he  became  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  later 
he  was  elected  vice-president  of  that  body.  In  1845  he  was  elected  a  director  of  the 
Leather  Manufacturers'  Bank,  and  ten  years  afterward  he  was  chosen  its  president.  The 
directors  voted  him  a  silver  vase  as  a  token  of  their  esteem  and  friendship. 

At  the  beginning  of  1818  Mr.  Macy  was  elected  a  trustee  of  the  Seamen's  Bank  for 
Savings.  He  had  always  taken  great  interest  in  that  class  of  men,  and  was  ever  ready 
with  kind  words  and  a  free  hand  to  help  them.  He  was  elected  vice-president  of  that 
institution  in  1851,  and  in  18G3  was  chosen  its  president,  which  office  he  still  holds.  Win  n 
he  became  president  of  the  bank  he  relinquished  other  business,  in  order  to  devote  his 
whole  time  to  that  institution.  Its  business  was  then  large,  having  $9,000,000  on 
deposit.  That  sum  was  increased  in  1883  to  831,000.000.  On  January  1st  of  that  year  it 
had  fi0,961  accounts.*  In  1800  Mr.  Macy  was  elected  one  of  the  governors  of  the  New 
York  Hospital,  and  is  now  President  of  that  institution.  Mr.  Macy  has  also  held  the 
office  of  vice-president  of  the  United  States  Trust  Company.  He  has  been  connected 
with  the  management  of  several  insurance  and  railroad  companies.  Because  of  his  high 
sense  of  honor,  his  unflinching  integrity,  and  great  business  capacity,  he  has  been 
selected  as  the  executor  of  many  estates.  He  has  always  been  an  active  friend  of  some 
of  the  most  important  benevolent  and  charitable  institutions  in  the  city,  and  from  these 
as  well  as  from  business  institutions  he  has  received  many  expressions  of  high  esteem 
for  his  many  admirable  qualities.  In  his  domestic  relations  Mr.  Macy's  virtues  shine 
most  conspicuously  as  a  husband,  a  father,  a  protector  and  friend. 

*  The  Seamen's  Bank  for  Savins?,  of  which  Mr.  Macy  is  ttie  president,  was  incorporated  in  18vifl.  in  order 
to  provide  a  safe  and  advantageous  deposit  for  the  surplus  earnings  of  seafaring  wen,  w'»°  ,iave  ever  been 
subjected  to  frauds  and  impositions  of  every  kind  As  a  class  I  hey  are  confiding  and  unsuspicious.  This 
bauk  of  deposit  for  their  savings  has  been  a  great  blessing  to  thousands  of  families. 


766 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Willets  as  President  ;  William  E.  Dodge,  Robert  Hoe,  Jonathan 
Sturges,  and  others.  From  1S03  to  1882  no  less  than  88,7*7  patients 
have  been  treated  in  this  hospital.  Of  these  over  34,000  were  children 
under  fourteen  years  of  age.* 

One  of  the  noblest  charities  in  the  city  of  New  York  is  the  Home  foe 
Incurables.  Early  in  I860  a  few  prominent  clergymen  and  several 
laymen  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  met  at  the  house  of  the 
bishop  of  the  diocese  to  consider  the  necessity  of  a  hospital  for  indigent 
persons  incurahly  ill.  The  meeting  recognized  the  necessity,  and 
appointed  a  committee  of  five  gentlemen— the  Rev.  Drs.  Muhlenberg, 
Vinton,  Montgomery,  and  Oallaudet  and  Mr.  Franklin  Randolph— a 
committee  to  find  suitable  accommodations  for  such  a  purpose.  A 
commodious  edifice,  fonnerly  known  as  the  Temperance  House,  at 
West  Farms,  AVestchester  County,  was  leased,  and  there,  after  the 
organization  of  a  board  of  trustees,!  early  in  April  (1866),  the  good 
work  began,  with  Benjamin  11.  Field  as  its  first  president ;  Martin  E. 
Greene,  vice-president  ;  Henry  J.  Camman,  treasurer  ;  R.  A.  McCurdy, 
secretary,  and  "Washington  Rodman,  pastor  and  superintendent. 

.Much  of  the  success  of  the  early  working  of  the  institution  was  due 
to  the  exertions  and  influence  of  Mr.  Field,  its  president,  and  to  the 
faithfulness  and  devotion  of  Air.  Rodman,  the  pastor  and  superinten- 
dent, both  having  an  earnest  faith  and  dee])  interest  in  the  undertaking. 
Mr.  Field  has  served  as  pi'esident  from  the  beginning  until  now.$ 

*  The  officers  of  the  institution  for  1882-83  were  :  Samuel  Willets,  president  ;  William 
H.  Macy,  Robert  Colgate,  Robert  Hoe,  Henry  S.  Terboll,  William  H.  Osborn,  vice-presi- 
dents :  Frederick  Sturges,  treasurer  ;  John  P.  Townsend,  recording  secretary  ;  William 
A.  W.  Stewart,  corresponding  secretary,  and  a  board  of  eleven  managers.  Dr.  James 
Knight  is  the  surgeon-in-chief. 

f  The  board  consisted  of  the  Hon.  John  T.  Hoffman,  Edward  Haight,  W.  H.  Guion, 
Rt-njamin  H.  Field,  Henry  J.  Camman,  Franklin  F.  Randolph,  George  R.  Jackson,  Lloyd 
Aspinwall,  John  H.  Pool,  Frederic  Goodridge,  William  E.  Curtis,  Stephen  Cambreling, 
Benjamin  B.  Sherman.  Richard  A.  McCurdy,  Archibald  Russell,  Livingston  Satterlee, 
Martin  E.  Greene,  George  T.  M.  Davies,  Henry  M.  McLaren,  E.  A.  Quintard,  D.  D. 
Jones,  W.  A.  Muhlenberg,  W.  Rodman,  and  T.  Gallaudet. 

X  The  name  of  Benjamin  Hazard  Field  is  prominently  connected  with  very  many  of 
the  most  active  and  best  social  and  beneficent  institutions  of  the  city  and  of  public 
enterprises.  Whenever  his  name  appears  as  a  manager  of  an  institution,  in  whatever 
capacity,  his  faithful  personal  participation  in  its  duties  may  be  expected.  A  man  of 
wealth  and  of  leisure,  he  makes  the  promotion  of  every  good  work  for  the  benefit  of 
society  one  of  the  chief  pursuits  of  his  life. 

Mr.  Field  is  of  English  lineage,  tracing  his  ancestry  far  back  in  British  history,  even 
to  the  time  of  the  Norman  conquest  in  the  twelfth  century,  when  Hubertus  de  la  Field 
came  with  William  the  Conqueror  and  was  made  a  land-owner  in  Lancashire  by  his 
sovereign.    His  descendant,  Robert  Field,  was  the  first  of  this  name  who  appeared  in 


FOURTH  DECADE,  18(50-1870. 


7G7 


Twelve  acres  of  land  at  Fordham  were  purchased,  and  in  1873  the 
corner-stone  of  the  present  edifice  was  laid.  The  price  paid  for  the 
property  was  generously  contributed  by  Miss  Catharine  L.  Wolfe,  her 
lather,  John  D.  Wolfe,  having  expressed  before  his  death  his  intention 
to  contribute  the  amount  of  the  purchase  money.    The  society  had 

America,  coining  to  Massachusetts  about  1630,  in  company  with  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall. 
In  1645  he  became  one  of  the  patentees  of  the  Flushing  Manor,  Long  Island,  ami  settled 
there.  One  of  his  family  purchased  lands  in  Westchester  Count}',  not  far  from  Peekskill. 
The  region  is  known  as  Yorktown,  and  there  the  subject  of  our  sketch  was  born,  May  2, 
1814.  He  received  bis  primary  education  under  the  parental  roof,  and  finished  his  school- 
life  at  the  North  Salem  Aeadeiny,  of  which  the  late  Rev.  Hiram  Jelliff,  a  learned  Episcopal 
clergyman,  was  then  the  principal.  He  chose  the  mercantile  profession  as  his  business 
vocation,  and  entered  the  counting-room  of  his  uncle,  Hickson  W.  Field,  then  one  of 
the  "  merchant  princes"  of  New  York. 

In  18112  Mr.  Field  became  the  business  partner  of  his  uncle.  He  was  then  only 
eighteen  years  of  age.  When,  six  years  afterward,  his  uucle  retired  from  active  business 
life,  the  management  of  the  immense  concerns  of  the  house  fell  upon  the  shoulders  of 
this  junior  partner.  He  was  equal  to  the  task,  and  for  many  years  he  conducted  the 
business  with  great  skill  and  success,  and  ranked  among  the  best  and  most  prosperous 
merchants  of  the  city. 

In  the  same  year  when  the  burdens  of  the  business  fell  upon  him  (1838),  Mr.  Field 
married  Miss  Catharine  M.  Van  Cortlandt  de  Peyster,  sister  of  the  late  Frederic  de 
Peyster,  LL.D.  She  is  connected  by  lineage  with  many  of  the  oldest  and  most  distin- 
guished families  of  the  Colony  and  State  of  New  York,  and  has  ever  been  conspicuous  in 
the  social  life  of  the  city  for  her  Christian  \irtues,  her  active  benevolence,  and  her  open- 
handed  charities. 

In  18(51  Mr.  Field  associated  with  himself  in  business  his  son,  Cortlandt  de  Peyster 
Field.  Four  years  later  the  firm  name  was  changed  to  Cortlandt  de  Peyster  Field  &  Co., 
the  father  remaining  as  the  company,  and  retiring  from  active  business  with  an  ample 
fortune  and  an  unsullied  reputation  as  a  merchant  and  a  citizen. 

Our  limited  space  will  allow  only  a  brief  allusion  to  a  few  of  the  many  associations  and 
public  enterprises  with  which  Mr.  Field  has  been  and  is  now  connected.  In  1835  he 
became  a  member  of  the  St.  Nicholas  Society,  and  an  active  manager  ;  in  1814  he  was 
elected  a  life  member  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  served  many  years  as  one  of  its 
executive  committee,  for  more  than  twenty  years  as  its  treasurer,  and  is  now  (1883)  its 
vice-president  ;  an  efficient  trustee  of  the  New  York  Society  Library,  a  member  of  the 
Century  Club  for  more  than  thirty  years,  a  fellow  of  the  American  Geographical  Society, 
and  member  of  several  other  learned  societies,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  St.  Nicholas 
Club,  an  honorary  rceinber  of  the  Mercantile  Library  Association,  one  of  the  founders 
and  patrons  of  the  Free  Circulating  Library,  a  manager  of  the  Museum  of  Natural  His- 
tory, vice-president  of  the  first  bank  of  savings  established  in  the  city,  a  director  of 
banking  and  insurance  institutions,  president  of  the  Home  for  Incurables  since  its  or- 
g  mization,  and  a  large  contributor  to  its  support  ;  trnstee  of  the  New  York  Dispensary, 
1  ice-president  of  the  Institution  for  the  Instruction  of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  for  twenty- 
five  years,  a  trustee  of  the  New  York  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary,  now  (1883)  its  vice-presi- 
dent, and  of  minor  charitable  societies,  and  of  the  Working  Women's  Protective  Union. 

Mr.  Field  has  spent  large  sums  of  money  and  much  time  in  the  cause  of  education. 
He  was  one  of  the  most  active  and  liberal  citizens  in  procuring  the  erection  of  the  statue 
of  Washington  at  Union  Square,  and  of  Farragut  in  Madison  Square,  and  was  a  liberal 


768 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


already  received,  so  early  as  November,  ISO",  from  Chauncey  and 
Henry  Pose,  the  munificent  sum  of  830,000,  and  from  time  to  time 
generous  contributions  were  made  by  members  of  the  board  of  man- 
agers and  otbers.  The  building,  which  is  very  spacious  and  pleasant, 
was  completed  in  1ST5.  Recently  the  president  of  the  institution 
(Benjamin  BE.  Field)  and  bis  wife,  Mrs.  C.  M.  Van  Cortlandt  de 
Peyster  Field,  have  paid  into  the  treasury  a  sum  sufficient  to  build 
on  the  grounds  a  chapel  that  will  accommodate  three  hundred  or  four 
hundred  persons,  for  the  benefit  of  the  inmates  of  the  Home. 

The  institution  is  conducted  on  entirely  unsectarian  principles.  Tli6 
services  in  the  chapel  are  in  accordance  witli  the  usages  of  the  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  Church.  Its  support  is  derived  from  interest  on  invest- 
ments, paying  patients,  and  regular  and  occasional  contributions.  No 
aid  from  the  State  has  ever  been  asked  or  desired.  The  institution  is 
free  from  debt.  It  receives  annually  a  small  amount  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  excise  fund,  to  which  it  seems  to  be  specially  entitled,  for 
most  of  its  incurable  epileptic  inmates  are  the  victims  of  the  indulgence 
in  intoxicating  drinks.  There  is  an  association  of  ladies  connected  with 
the  institution,  twenty-three  in  number,*  of  whom  two  visit  the 
hospital  each  month  once  a  week.  They  undertake  to  keep  the  linen- 
room  supplied,  and  furnish  many  articles  of  clothing  for  the  poorer 
inmates,  besides  books,  pictures,  fruit,  and  other  comforts,  f 

There  is  a  free  Church  Home  for  Incurables  among  Protestant 
women  and  female  children  of  the  better  class,  who  are  without  means 
or  friends  to  support  and  care  for  them.  It  is  situated  at  No.  .54  "West 
Eleventh  Street.  It  was  started  in  1879  by  the  efforts  of  Misses  Louise 
Gardner  Hall  and  A.  M.  Palmer.    The  former,  who  died  in  March, 

contributor  to  funds  for  the  erection  of  the  statues  of  several  distinguished  persons  in 
Central  Park. 

In  person  Mr.  Field  is  a  man  of  fine  presence  and  of  cordial  and  gentle  manners.  Thor- 
oughly educated,  conversant  with  general  literature,  a  lover  and  patron  of  the  fine  arts, 
he  is  an  honored  and  welcome  companion  in  every  refined  social  circle. 

*  This  association  in  18S:5  consisted  of  Mrs.  A.  Newbold  Morris,  H.  V.  C.  Phelps, 
Richard  M.  Hoe,  Martin  E.  Greene,  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  Jacob  D.  Vermilye,  John  W. 
Munro.  Henry  A.  Coster,  Charles  H.  Nichols.  Dudley  S.  Gregory,  Samuel  Filley,  William 
H.  Tailer,  R.  S.  Emmet,  C.  O'D.  Iselin,  John  S.  Foster,  Matthew  Clarkson,  Henry  Rose, 
and  Nathaniel  Bradford,  and  Misses  Evans,  Van  Cortlandt,  Gwynne,  and  Filley.  There 
is  a  board  of  clerical  and  lay  managers.  Of  the  former,  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  is  the 
head  ;  of  the  latter,  Mr.  Field. 

+  The  officers  of  the  Home  in  1883  were  :  Benjamin  H.  Field,  president  ;  Martin 
E.  Greene  and  William  H.  Gnion,  vice-presidents  ;  J.  D.  Vermilye,  treasurer  ;  Henry  M. 
McLaren,  secretary  ;  Israel  C.  Jones,  superintendent  and  resident  physician,  and  Mrs. 
Jane  E.  White,  matron. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


18S3,  was  known  to  the  world  as  Sister  Louise.  The  enterprise  had 
the  sanction  and  commendation  of  Bishop  Potter.  This  Home  was 
incorporated  with  the  Rev.  George  II.  Houghton,  D.D.,  rector  of  the 
( ihurch  of  the  Transfiguration,  as  president.  At  first  the  daily  food  of 
its  inmates  was  begged  at  the  public  markets  and  adjacent  business 
places.  Finally  contributions  came  in,  and  this  most  deserving  institu- 
tion was  removed  to  its  present  residence,  No.  5-i  West  Eleventh 
Street,  where  it  has  accommodations  for  about  forty  patients.* 

In  1865  a  Home  fob  Fallen  and  Friendless  Girls  was  founded, 
with  the  late  Apollos  R.  Wetmore  as  president.  Its  benevolent  object 
is  indicated  by  its  name — the  protection  of  the  young  against  the  temp- 
tations which  beset  them,  and  rescuing  them  when  thev.are  led  astrav. 
Mr.  Wetmore  took  a  lively  interest  in  the  Home  from  the  beginning. 
At  the  time  of  his  sudden  death,  in  January,  1S81,  about  $10,000  had 
been  collected,  largely  through  his  exertions,  for  the  purpose  of  estab- 
lishing a  permanent  place  of  residence.  This  sum,  with  other  contribu- 
tions, enabled  the  managers  to  purchase  and  fit  up  a  building  at  No.  49 
Washington  Square,  which,  out  of  respect  to  Mr.  Wetmore,  they  call 
the  Wetmore  Home.  Since  the  opening  of  the  institution,  in  1805,  to 
the  beginning  of  18S3,  1297  young  women  and  girls  (average  age 
seventeen  years),  much  the  larger  portion  of  whom  had  been  rescued 
either  from  a  life  of  sin  or  from  temptation,  have  been  admitted  to  its 
shelter,  f 

Tin:  Chapin  Home  is  non-sectarian,  though  formed  and  conducted  by 
members  of  the  Universalist  Church  of  the  Divine  Paternity,  of  which 
the  late  Edwin  H.  Chapin,  D.I).,  was  pastor  for  fully  a  quarter  of  a 
century. 

The  first  movement  toward  establishing  this  Home  for  the  needy 
was  made  at  a  meeting  of  a  few  of  the  ladies  of  the  congregation  in 
February,  1S09.  At  that  meeting  an  able  paper  was  read  by  Mrs. 
George  Hoffman.  A  society  was  soon  afterward  organized,  and  was 
named  the  Chapin  Home  for  the  Relief  of  the  Aged  and  Infirm,  both 
men  and  women.  Mrs.  E.  II.  Chapin  was  chosen  the  first  president. 
It  was  incorporated  May  1,  1809. 

Having  secured  a  lease  of  lots  on  Lexington  Avenue,  between  Sixty- 
sixth  and  Sixty-seventh  streets,  from  the  commissioners  of  the  sinking 

*  The  officers  of  the  society  at  the  time  of  the  death  of  Miss  Hall  were  :  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Houghton,  president  ;  the  Rev.  A.  McMillan,  secretary,  and  James  Morris,  treasurer. 

t  The  officers  of  the  Home  for  1883  were  :  Z.  S.  Ely,  president  :  G.  W.  Clarke,  vice- 
president  ;  W.  F.  Barnard,  secretary  :  S.  Cutter,  treasurer  ;  Dr.  S.  T.  Hubbard,  phy- 
sician, with  a  board  of  managers,  consisting  of  four  gentlemen  and  eleven  ladies 


i 


770 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CTTY. 


fund,  and  obtained  money  for  the  purpose,  the  spacious  building  now 
occupied  by  the  Home  was  erected.  It  was  first  occupied  in  1872. 
At  the  time  of  the  first  annual  report  of  the  trustees,  in  1874,  there 
were  thirty  beneficiaries  in  the  Home,  composed  of  nine  Universalists, 
eight  Episcopalians,  five  Presbyterians,  four  Methodists,  two  Baptists, 
and  two  unknown. 

Only  respectable  persons  in  reduced  circumstances,  and  not  under 
sixty-five  years  of  age,  are  admitted.  Each  pays  an  entrance  fee  of 
$300,  which  is  held  as  a  permanent  fund  until  the  beneficiary  is  no  longer 
an  inmate  of  the  Home,  when  it  is  transferred  to  the  general  fund. 

The  constitution  of  the  association  provides  that  only  "  ladies  of  the 
Universalist  denomination  shall  be  eligible  to  election  as  trustees  of  the 
institution.''  Vet  it  is  conducted  on  the  broadest  principles  of  love 
and  charity.  The  question  asked  of  applicants  for  shelter  is  not  What 
is  your  creed    but  What  is  your  need,  my  brother,  or  my  sister  ? 

This  Home  is  an  appropriate  monument  to  the  memory  of  one  of  the 
most  eloquent  and  most  catholic  in  spirit  of  the  pulpit  teachers  of  the 
Golden  Rule.* 

The  Foundling  Asylum  of  the  Sisters  ok  Charity  in  the  City  of 
New  York  was  incorporated  in  October,  18(1'.),  and  placed  by  the 
charter  under  the  management  of  the  Sisters  of  (  barity  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  The  corporators  were  Mary  Ann  Ely,  Catharine 
Fitzgibbon,  Maria  Wallace,  Ann  Obermeyer,  Margaret  Wightnian, 
and  .Mary  Sadden.  The  objects  of  the  society  were  defined  as  the 
reception,  care  for,  maintenance,  and  support  of  deserted  children  or 
foundlings.  It  was  the  first  asylum  exclusively  for  foundlings  estab- 
lished in  the  United  States,  and  its  influence  in  suppressing  the  crime 
of  infanticide  and  savin"-  the  lives  of  human  beings  has  been  incalcula- 
ble.  Its  usefulness  was  demonstrated  during  the  first  year  of  its 
existence,  when  over  six  hundred  foundlings  received  its  sheltering 
care.  A  crib  is  placed  in  the  vestibule  of  the  building,  in  which 
infants  may  be  left,  without  injury  or  observation. 

The  asylum  is  situated  in  Sixty-eighth  Street,  between  Third  and 
Lexington  avenues.  In  lsxi  a  Maternity  Hospital  was  opened  in  con- 
nection with  the  asylum.  It  is  intended  for  those  persons  only  who 
are  special  objects  of  care  and  solicitude,  such  as  women  in  whose  cases 
there  is  a  desire  and  hope  of  preserving  individual  character  or  family 

*  The  officers  of  the  Home  for  1882-83  were  :  Mrs.  N.  L.  Cort,  president  ;  Mrs.  C.  P. 
Huntington,  C.  L.  Stieknoy,  and  C.  H.  Pelamater,  vice-presidents  ;  Mrs.  D.  D.  T. 
Marshall,  treasurer  ;  Miss  E.  Cnrt,  recording  secretary  ;  Mrs.  E.  K.  Holden,  correspond 

ing  secretary,  and  Mrs.  0.  P.  Wallace,  matron. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


771 


reputation,  or  married  women  who  may  receive  sill  the  care,  attention, 
and  professional  services  not  otherwise  at  their  command,  such  as 
strangers  in  the  city  who  may  not  find  conveniences  at  a  hotel,  or  have 
in  their  own  houses  the  necessary  attention. 

Since  the  opening-  of  the  asylum,  late  in  1869,  to  October  t,  1882, 
there  had  been  received  and  cared  for  13,810  infants  and  more  than 
1000  mothers.  There  is  also  a  children's  hospital,  a  kindergarten,  and 
a  regular  school.  This  institution,  intended  primarily  for  the  salvation 
and  good  of  the  unconscious  babe,  has  expanded  into  a  protector  and 
saviour  of  the  mother  herself.* 

The  New  York  Catholic  Protectory,  designed  for  the  protection  of 
destitute  Roman  Catholic  children,  was  incorporated  in  1863.  It  was 
founded  by  the  Rev.  L.  Silliman  Ives,  D.D.,  formerly  a  bishop  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  The  functions  of  the  institution  are,  in 
their  nature,  designs,  and  methods,  similar  to  those  of  all  other  institu- 
tions of  its  class,  differing  chiefly  in  the  greater  number  of  industries 
carried  on  under  the  direction  of  the  managers.  It  has  excellent 
schools,  and  the  various  trades  carried  on  are  for  the  benefit  of  the 
children  and  of  the  institution. 

The  Protectory  occupies  a  very  large  and  elegant  Gothic  building, 
five  stories  in  height,  at  Westchester,  ISr.  Y.  It  has  a  salesroom  for  its 
products,  and  a  reception  office  at  No.  415  Broome  Street.  Hundreds 
of  benefited  children  of  both  sexes  are  annually  sent  out  from  its  shel- 
tering fold  to  begin  the  battle  of  life  with  fair  preparation.  A  large 
number  of  them  find  good  homes  among  the  farmers  in  the  Western 
States  and  Territories.  The  Protectory  receives  pecuniary  aid  from 
the  State  and  the  city,  and  from  charitable  members  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  f 

The  Xkw  York  Infant  Asylum  was  incorporated  in  1865.  Its 
objects  are  to  receive  and  take  charge  of  foundlings  and  other  infant 
children,  of  the  age  of  two  years  and  under,  which  may  be  intrusted 
to  their  charge,  and  to  provide  for  their  support  and  moral,  physical, 
intellectual,  and  industrial  education  ;  also  to  provide  such  lying-in 
wards  and  methods  of  guidance  and  care  as  shall  tend  to  prevent  the 

*  The  officers  of  the  Foundling  Asylum  in  1882  were  :  Sister  M.  Irene,  sister  superior  ; 
•John  O'Brien,  treasurer  ;  John  E.  Develin,  legal  adviser,  and  Very  Rev.  T.  S.  Preston, 
V.G.,  spiritual  director.  It  has  a  large  board  of  associates  and  managers  consisting  of 
ladies,  an  advisory  committee  of  gentlemen,  and  an  efficient  corps  of  physicians  and 
surgeons. 

\  The  officers  of  the  Protectory  in  1883  were  :  Henry  L.  Hoguet,  president  ;  James  R. 
Floyd  and  Jeremiah  Devlin,  vice  presidents  ;  Eugene  Kelly,  treasurer  :  Richard  H. 
Clarke,  secretary. 


772 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


maternal  abandonment  of  homeless  infants,  and  diminish  the  moral 
dangers  and  personal  sufferings  to  which  homeless  mothers  are  exposed. 
To  these  purposes  the  institution  has  ever  devoted  its  untiring-  energies 
with  great  efficiency. 

The  asylum  has  a  House  of  Keception  and  lying-in  department  at  the 
corner  of  Sixty-first  Street  and  Tenth  Avenue,  and  a  country  home  at 
Mount  Vernon,  Westchester  County.* 

At  No.  40  New  Bowery,  not  far  from  Chatham  Square,  in  the 
Fourth  Ward,  is  situated  the  Howard  Mission  and  Home  for  Little 
Wanderers,  which  was  established  in  1861  and  incorporated  in  1864. 
Like  other  institutions  founded  for  the  purpose  of  affording  aid  and 
protection  for  the  needy,  this  mission  is  performing  a  grand  work  in  its 
fruitful  field.  It  has  been  doing  that  work  faithfully  for  about  a 
quarter  of  a  century.  When  it  began,  in  1861,  there  were  in  that 
ward  20,000  inhabitants,  men,  women,  and  children,  who  were  desti- 
tute, in  a  large  sense  temporally,  mentally,  and  religiously.  The 
mission  has  been  largely  instrumental  in  changing  the  social  aspect  of 
that  part  of  the  city  for  the  better.  Over  eight  hundred  poor  and 
worthy  families,  and  over  three  thousand  children  who  are  members  of 
these  families,  look  to  this  mission  for  help  (and  receive  it)  in  time  of 
trouble,  f 

There  is  a  society  in  New  York  known  as  the  St.  John's  Guild, 
whose  field  of  effort  to  help  the  poor  is  as  wide  as  human  needs.  It 
has  no  special  work  in  the  sphere  of  human  charity.  Its  object  is  "to 
relieve  the  deserving  poor  in  the  city  of  New  York."  Its  canon  places 
no  needy  one  beyond  the  society's  practical  benevolence,  and  it  is 
enabled  to  do  a  vast  amount  of  work  for  good  by  constant  co-operation 
with  other  charitable  institutions.  If  it  lias  a  special  object  it  is  to 
extend  help  to  persons  placed  so  low  in  the  social  scale  by  circum- 
stances as  to  forbid  the  hope  of  improving  their  condition,  and  yet  they 
are  not  low  enough  to  be  thrown  upon  the  commissioners  of  charities 
and  correction. 

The  society  has  a  Floating  Hospital  and  Seaside  Nursery  for 
summer  use  in  giving  the  sick  poor,  adults  and  children,  the  blessings 
of  a  little  pure  sea  air.  Twice  as  many  children  as  adults  are  the  re- 
cipients of  this  blessing.  % 

*  The  officers  of  the  asylum  for  1882  were  :  Clark  Bell,  president  ;  Joel  Foster,  M.D., 
and  William  N.  Blakeman,  M.D.,  vice  presidents  ;  Henry  D.  Nicoll,  M.D.,  secretary,  and 
Levi  Iff.  Bates,  treasurer. 

f  The  officers  of  the  institution  for  1883  are  :  A.  S.  Hatch,  president  ;  George  Shepard 
Page,  vice-president  ;  J.  F.  Wyckoff,  secretary,  and  H.  E.  Tompkins,  treasurer. 

1  The  Seaside  Nursery  gave  its  hospitable  care  in  1882  to  310  children  and  mothers. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


The  St.  .John's  Guild  was  organized  in  October,  1866,  but  was  not 
incorporated  until  December,  1877.  Its  home  is  at  No.  8  University 
Place,  where  its  winter  work  is  done.  The  value  of  the  fresh-air  work 
for  sick  children,  by  the  Seaside  Nursery  and  Floating-  Hospital, 
cannot  be  estimated.* 

The  German  Hospital  and  Dispensary  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
the  offspring  of  the  German  Dispensary,  was  founded  in  the  year  1869. 
Like  most  of  the  benevolent  institutions  in  the  city,  it  had  severe  strug- 
gles for  existence  and  permanent  life  for  several  years,  and  at  one  time 
its  demise  seemed  inevitable.  Then  a  tide  of  prosperity,  slow- flowing 
at  first,  set  in,  and  it  is  now  one  of  the  flourishing  institutions  of  the 
metropolis,  and  the  pride  of  the  German  population  of  the  city  as  a 
"  school  of  German  learning  and  the  home  of  German  humanity." 

In  1880  a  Ladies'  Aid  Society,  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  hospital,  was 
founded.  In  this  as  in  much  other  benevolent  work  among  the  Ger- 
mans of  New  York,  the  munificent  hand  of  Mrs.  Anna  Ottendorfer, 
the  wife  of  the  conductor  of  the  New  Yorker  Staats-Zeitung,-\  was  con- 

and  tho  Floating  Hospital,  which  is  used  for  excursions,  gave  infinite  and  healthful 
delight  to  hundreds  of  children  and  others.  The  season  of  1882  was  its  ninth.  It  had 
given,  in  the  aggregate,  294  excursions,  and  carried  223,073  children,  with  mothers  or 
guardians. 

*  The  officers  of  the  society  for  1883  were  :  the  Rev.  John  W.  Kramer,  D.D.,  master  ; 
Delano  C.  Calvin,  warden  ;  trustees,  William  H.  Wiley,  president  ;  Mark  Blumenthal, 
M.D.,  vice-president  ;  John  P.  Faure,  secretary  ;  Benjamin  B.  Sherman,  treasurer  ; 
Charles  Sehwacofer,  assistant  treasurer,  and  eighteen  associates. 

\  Oswald  Ottendorfer,  the  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Xew  Yorker  Staats-Zeiiung,  the 
leading  German  newspaper  in  this  country,  was  born  at  Zwittau,  a  small  Moravian  town 
on  the  borders  of  Bohemia.  His  education  was  most  thorough,  and  he  was  fitted  for 
public  employment  by.  legal  studies  at  the  University  of  Prague  and  elsewhere.  It  was 
intended  that  he  should  conclude  those  studies  at  Padua,  Venice  at  that  time  belonging 
to  Austria,  but  the  revolutions  in  Europe  in  1848  caused  a  general  uprising  among  the 
Germm  students  in  favor  of  liberty.  Among  these  was  young  Ottendorfer,  who  joined 
the  students'  legion  at  Vienna  and  was  active  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Metternich  admin- 
istration. He  joined  a  corps  sent  against  Denmark,  and  in  the  autumn  was  sent,  with 
others,  into  Hungary  to  oppose  Kossuth.  But  the  students  sympathized  with  the  latter. 
Ottendorfer  became  attached  to  the  battalion  under  the  celebrated  Blum,  composed 
largely  of  members  of  the  press.  Escaping  arrest,  he  made  his  way  to  Saxony,  and  went 
on  a  mission  the  next  year,  with  other  students,  to  stir  up  a  revolution  in  the  city  of 
Prague. 

All  through  the  stirring  scenes  in  Central  Europe  at  that  period  young  Ottendorfer 
bore  an  active  and  conspicuous  part.  The  record  of  his  hair-breadth  escapes  from  death 
or  imprisonment  appears  like  a  chapter  of  a  wild  romance.  He  finally  assisted  in  the 
rescue  of  one  of  the  leaders  from  a  life  imprisonment,  escaped  with  him  into  Switzer- 
land, and  after  encountering  many  difficulties  came  to  the  city  of  Xew  York  in  18-10,  and 
sought  literary  employment.  He  was  familiar  with  the  Latin,  Greek,  and  several  Slav 
languages,  and  had  some  knowledge  of  the  French  and  Italian,  but  had  none  of  English 


774 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


spiouous.  IS  lie  founded  the  Woman's  Ward  of  the  hospital,  which, 
with  the  Woman's  Pavilion,  also  erected  by  her,  was  dedicated  in 
May,  1882.  By  the  addition  of  these  structures  the  institution  was 
enabled  to  nurse,  during  1882,  1534  patients.  Mrs.  Ottendorfer  has 
since  caused  the  erection  of  a  new  dispensary  building  at  her  own 
expense.  * 

The  German  Hospital  and  Dispensary  is  situated  on  the  corner  of 
Seventy-seventh  Street  and  Fourth  Avcnur.  It  is  provided  with  an 
efficient  medical  corps  and  skilled  nurses.  From  September  18,  1869, 
to  December  81,  1882,  the  whole  number  of  patients  admitted  was 
10,355,  of  whom  an  average  of  more  than  eighty  per  cent  were  cured. 
The  patients  in  1882  were  from  twenty  different  nationalities. 

Tin;  Pkkshy tkkian  Hospital,  on  Seventy-sixth  Street  and  Madison 
Avenue,  organized  and  incorporated  in  1808,  owes  its  origin  to  the 
benevolent  impulses  of  the  late  James  Lenox.    The  idea  of  the  hospital 

Mr.  Ottendorfer  finally  found  employment  in  the  counting-room  of  the  Staats-Zeitmuj, 
then  owned  by  Jacob  Uhl,  who  died  in  1851.  After  his  death  the  management  of  that 
journal  devolved  upon  Mr.  Uhl's  widow,  who  had  formerly  been  active  in  the  business 
management,  and  is  possessed  of  great  tact  and  energy.  She  was  materially  assisted  by 
Mr.  Ottendorfer,  and  through  that  assistance  great  prosperity  followed.  In  1859  they 
were  married,  and  several  sons  and  daughters  of  Mrs.  Ottendorfer  found  in  him  a  most 
affectionate  father,  wise  instructor,  and  abiding  friend.  No  children  have  blessed  the 
union  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ottendorfer. 

In  1859  Mr.  Ottendorfer  assumed  full  control  of  the  Siaats-Zeiinn<j,  and  to  his  great 
ability,  indomitable  energy,  and  practical  ideas  of  journalism,  together  with  his  integrity 
and  devotion  to  certain  political  principles,  to  which  the  great  majority  of  German-Ameri- 
cans are  unalterably  attached,  are  due  the  wonderful  success  in  every  particular  which 
that  journal  has  achieved. 

Mr.  Ottendorfer  is  universally  regarded  as  a  representative  German- American — clear- 
headed, a  thorough  student  of  history,  an  admirer  of  American  institutions,  yet  by  no 
means  blind  to  the  dangers  which  beset  them.  With  a  bold  spirit  of  independence  he 
has  never  failed  to  rebuke  the  shortcomings  of  both  political  parties  since  the  Civil  War, 
and  he  stands  to-day  a  prominent  figure  in  our  current  history  as  a  wise  and  patriotic 
citizen  of  the  Republic,  and  the  advocate  of  every  judicious  measure  for  the  promotion 
of  the  purity  of  the  ballot  and  the  honest  administration  of  government. 

*Mrs.  Ottendorfer  received  through  the  German  embassy  at  Washington,  about  the 
first  of  November,  18K;l,  the  following  note  and  decoration  from  the  Empress  of  Germany  : 

"  To  Mrs.  Anna  Ottendorfki:,  Xew  York. 

"  I  have  teamed  with  special  gratification  of  your  humane  works,  especially  for  the  benefit  of  our  coun- 
trymen and  women  in  America,  and  desire  to  show  to  you  that  works  of  charity  done  abroad  are  also 
gratefully  lemembered  in  our  Dative  country,  by  sending  you  herewith  a  token  of  merit.  Augusta. 

"HOIUMJOS  vou  der  Hohe,  Sept.  lfi,  1883." 

The  decoration,  made  of  silver,  is  suspended  by  a  white  ribbon,  and  is  inclosed  in  a 
blue  velvet  case.  In  its  centre  it  shows  a  cross,  which  is  surrounded  by  a  wreath  of  oak 
leaves  in  blue  enamel,  and  the  following  inscription  :  "For  Merit."  The  monogram  of 
the  Empress,  surmounted  by  a  crown,  is  below  the  cross,  and  the  whole  is  surmounted 
by  the  royal  crown  of  Prussia. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1800-1870. 


775 


was  purely  his  own  conception.  lie  matured  the  whole  plan  and 
arrangement  before  he  communicated  the  thought  to  others.  He 
selected  the  gentlemen  whom  he  wished  to  be  associated  with  him  in 
the  enterprise,  and  addressing  a  note  to  each  lie  asked  if  they  would 
consent  to  become  directors  of  such  an  institution,  and  to  signify  their 
assent  by  meeting  him  at  a  given  time  and  place  to  effect  the  organiza- 
tion. When  they  assembled  he  unfolded  his  plan  in  all  its  details,  and 
then  proposed,  in  order  to  start  the  enterprise,  to  give  the  site  in 
Seventy-sixth  Street,  valued  at  $21)0,000,  and  to  add  to  this  the  sum  of 
§100,000  in  money.  The  organization  took  place,  and  work  was  imme- 
diately begun  in  the  erection  of  the  present  spacious  hospital  build- 
ings. Mr.  Lenox  afterward  added  more  than  $300,000  to  his  original 
donation.  The  hospital  building  consists  of  three  separate  structures — 
the  main  building,  the  west  pavilion,  and  the  east  pavilion.  These 
extend  on  the  block  200  feet  from  north  to  south  and  400  feet  from 
east  to  west  and  four  stories  in  height.  From  the  opening  of  the 
hospital,  October  10,  1872,  to  the  close  of  1882,  5505  patients  were 
admitted."* 

Near  the  Presbyterian  Hospital  is  the  Presbyterian  Home  for 
Aged  Women  of  the  City  of  New  York.  It  is  in  Seventy-third 
Street,  east  of  Madison  Avenue.  It  was  organized  and  incorporated  in 
the  year  18<i(i.  The  name  of  Mrs.  Mary  Lenox  Sheafe  is  at  the  head 
of  the  list  of  incorporators,  who  were  all  women.  She  is  the  sister  of 
James  Lenox.  The  general  purpose  of  the  institution  is  to  provide  a 
home  for  aged  and  infirm  female  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
It  is  under  the  management  of  thirty- seven  women. f 

Tin:  Roosevelt  Hospital,  on  Fifty-ninth  Street  and  Ninth  Avenue, 
is  one  of  the  best  appointed  institutions  of  the  kind  in  the  country.  It 
was  founded  under  the  will  of  the  late  James  Roosevelt,  of  New  York, 
and  by  him  was  directed  to  be  emplo\Ted  "  for  the  reception  and  relief 
of  sick  and  diseased  persons."  The  trustees  understood  his  object  to 
have  been  mainly  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  "  sick  and  diseased,"  and 
they  accordingly  reserved  a  fund  sufficient  to  support  in  the  hospital 
such  persons,  without  any  expense  to  themselves,  who  will  occupy  at 
least  one  half  of  the  hospital.    There  is  no  limit  to  this  charity  except 

*  The  officers  of  the  institution  for  1882  were  :  Robert  L.  Stuart,  president  ;  Edwin 
D.  Morgan,  vice-president  ;  Robert  Lenox  Belknap,  treasurer  ;  Walter  Edwards,  corre- 
sponding secretary  ;  Henry  M.  Tabsr,  recording  secretary.  The  president  and  vice- 
president  above  named  died  in  1883. ' 

\  The  officers  in  1882  were:  Mrs.  Mary  Lenox  Sheafe.  first  directress  ;  Mrs.  Mary  F. 
Taber,  second  directress  :  Mrs.  Laura  P.  Halstead.  treasurer  :  Mr;.  S.  V.  Wright,  secre- 
tary, and  Miss  Rachel  L  Kennedy,  financial  secretary. 


770 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY 


in  the  extent  of  its  funds.  All  sick  and  diseased  persons,  without  dis- 
tinction of  race,  or  country,  or  religion,  will  always  be  received  to  the 
extent  of  the  ability  of  the  hospital. 

The  Roosevelt  Hospital  was  incorporated  in  1864,  when  a  board  of 
trustees  was  organized,  but  owing  to  certain  legal  obstacles  the  con- 
struction of  the  buildings  was  delayed.  Before  these  were  completed 
the  hospital  was  formally  opened,  November  2,  1S71.*" 

On  the  first  of  May,  l*t;s,  a  most  beneficent  institution  was  incorpo- 
rated, under  the  title  of  the  Oihiioivedic  Dispensary  and  Hospital  of 
the  City  of  New  Youk,  f  the  object  of  which  was  to  provide  treat- 
ment for  the  poor  for  diseases  and  deformities  of  the  spine  and  hip 
joint,  and  others  of  the  more  serious  diseases  of  the  bones  and  joints 
requiring  surgical  and  mechanical  treatment,  and  for  giving  instruction 
in  the  same.  The  sufferings  of  all  classes,  for  want  of  scientific:  knowl- 
edge and  propel-  mechanical  appliances  in  the  treatment  of  such  dis- 
eases, had  been  very  great.  The  "  prone  couch1' — a  bed  on  which  the 
sufferer  was  treated  for  spinal  disease — was  an  instrument  of  torture. 
The  patient  lay  face  downward,  in  order  to  relieve  the  spine  from 
strain  or  pressure.  A  hole  was  provided  through  which  the  sufferer 
might  breathe  or  gaze  upon  the  floor.  In  such  a  position  they  some- 
times lay  for  months,  and  even  years.    The  treatment  for  hip  disease 

*  The  officers  for  1882  were  :  Adrian  H.  Muller,  president  ;  Royal  Phelps,  vice-presi- 
dent ;  James  A  Roosevelt,  secretary,  and  Merritt  Trimble,  treasurer.  The  trustees  were 
Robert  Lenox  Kennedy,  Alonzo  Clark,  M.D.,  Royal  Phelps,  Charles  Tracy,  Augustus 
Schell,  John  M.  Knox,  Adrian  H.  Mailer,  James  A.  Roosevelt,  and  John  H.  Abeel. 
Horatio  Paine  is  superintendent. 

James  H.  Roosevelt,  the  founder,  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York  on  November  10, 
1800,  and  died  there  suddenly  on  the  30th  of  November,  180:{.  His  father,  James  C. 
Roosevelt,  died  in  1*W,  and  his  mother  (Catharine  Byvanck)  died  in  1854.  The  ancestor 
of  the  Roosevelts  in  New  York  who  came  to  New  Amsterdam  was  Nicholas  Martensen 
Van  Roosevelt,  a  place  in  Holland  called  Roosevelt  being  the  home  of  the  Martensens. 

Sir.  Roosevelt  was  graduated  at  Columbia  College  in  1819,  studied  law,  but  never 
devoted  himself  to  its  full  practice.  In  his  earlier  years  a  severe  attack  of  rheumatism 
caused  a  permanent  lameness.  His  father  was  a  member  of  the  consistory  of  the  Collegi- 
ate Reformed  Dutch  Church,  but  Mr.  Roosevelt  never  united  in  membership  as  a  com- 
municant with  any  religious  body.  Neither  did  he  ever  rnarry.  He  kept  house  with  his 
mother  until  her  death,  and  afterward  with  trustworthy  servants.  He  inherited  a  com- 
petence, which  was  largely  increased  by  his  simplicity  of  living  and  frugal  habits.  For 
years  he  contemplated  the  institution  which  he  founded,  and  by  his  will,  after  making 
some  bequests  to  relatives,  he  devised  the  remainder  of  his  estate;  to  trustees  for  the  hos- 
pital which  bears  his  name. 

f  The  corporators  named  in  the  charter  were  :  James  Brown,  S.  W.  Coe,  William  E. 
Diulge,  Alexander  Frear,  James  Boorman  Johnston,  Robert  Lenox  Kennedy,  U.  A. 
Mnrdock,  Robert  S.  Newton.  Howard  Potter,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  Charles  F.  Taylor,  W. 
Edward  Vermilye,  Otto  Follgraff,  C.  G.  Halpine,  David  N.  Williams,  and  Morgan  Snyder. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


777 


was  scarcely  more  tender.  Now,  with  improved  appliances  and  scien- 
tific knowledge  dispensed  by  this  institution,  all  injurious  strain  and 
pressure  may  he  removed  from  the  spine  and  the  diseased  joints,  while 
the  patient  is  allowed  to  go  about  as  usual  and  continue  to  earn  a 
living. 

During  the  year  which  ended  on  September  30,  1882,  1318  patients 
were  treated  in  the  Orthopaedic  Dispensary  and  Hospital.  This  insti- 
tution is  situated  in  East  Fifty-ninth  Street,  between  Fourth  and  Lex- 
ington avenues.* 

The  Xew  York  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary,  founded  in  1820,  has  been 
noticed.  An  institution  with  similar  aims,  known  as  the  Manhattan 
Eye  and  Eab  Hospital,  was  chartered  on  May  5,  1809.  The  number 
of  corporators  was  eighty-two.  It  began  its  work  on  October  15,  1869, 
at  Xo.  233  East  Thirty-fourth  Street,  by  opening  a  daily  clinic  for  the 
gratuitous  treatment  of  the  poor,  and  providing  thirteen  beds  in  suit- 
able wards  for  such  cases  as  might  require  surgical  operations  or  other 
careful  in-door  treatment. 

From  the  first  the  institution  refrained  from  asking  or  receiving' 
pecuniary  aid  from  the  State.  Its  medical  officers  have  generously 
given  their  services  gratuitously,  and  its  income  has  been  derived  from 
free  gifts  from  the  benevolent  and  from  such  in-door  patients  as  could 
pay  in  part  or  in  whole  for  the  cost  of  their  maintenance.  In  the 
course  of  a  few  years  a  larger  and  more  commodious  building  became  a 
pressing  necessit}'.  The  managers  owned  a  lot  on  the  corner  of  Park 
Avenue  and  Forty-first  Street.  A  successful  appeal  was  made  to  the 
wealthy  and  benevolent  citizens  for  funds.  Governor  Morgan  had 
already  given  825,000  to  clear  the  lot  from  debt  ;  he  now  gave  as 
much  more  on  certain  conditions.  The  funds  were  secured,  and  its 
present  beautiful  and  spacious  home,  four  stories  in  height  with  the 
basement,  was  constructed,  and  first  occupied  in  1880.  In  1872  a 
department  for  the  treatment  of  diseases  of  the  throat  was  added  to 
the  hospital. 

The  first  board  of  surgeons  were  :  Dr.  Cornelius  R.  Agnew.  f  E.  G. 

*  The  officers  for  1883  were  :  Howard  Potter,  president  ;  Benoni  Loekwood  and 
Melville  Brown,  vice-presidents  ;  Temple  Prime,  secretary  ;  James  K.  Gracie,  treasurer. 
There  is  a  board  of  trustees,  consisting  of  thirty  prominent  citizens. 

f  Among  physicians  who  make  the  treatment  of  the  eye  and  ear  a  specialty,  Dr.  Corne- 
lius Rea  Agnew  appears  pre-eminent.  He  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York  on  Au- 
gust 8,  1830.  He  is  of  Huguenot  and  Scotch-Irish  descent.  His  father,  William  Agnew, 
was  for  many  years  a  leading  merchant  in  Xew  York  ;  his  mother  was  Elizabeth  Thom- 
son, of  an  old  Scotch  family,  her  father  being  an  extensive  farmer  in  Pennsylvania. 

Young  Agnew  entered  Columbia  College  as  a  student  when  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age, 


778 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Loring,  Jr.,  and  D.  B.  St.  John  Roosa.  The  first  house  surgeon  was 
Dr.  S.  B.  St.  John.  Since  the  opening  of  the  hospital  about  forty-four 
thousand  patients  have  been  received.  The  number  of  new  patients  in 
the  year  ending  October  15,  18S2,  was  5660.* 

At  the  close  of  the  third  decade  the  New  York  Homceopathic  Medi- 
cal College,  of  which  Salem  II.  "Wales  f  is  president,  was  established, 

and  was  graduated  in  1849.  He  studied  medicine  under  the  eminent  Dr.  J.  Kearney 
Rodgers,  who  was  for  many  years  surgeon  to  the  New  York  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary.  He 
pursued  his  studies  in  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  and  in  the  New  York  Hos- 
pital. For  two  years  he  was  a  student  in  the  chemical  laboratory  of  the  late  John 
Torrey.  In  1852  he  received  the  degree  of  M.D.,  and  was  soon  afterward  appointed 
house  surgeon  of  the  hospital.  For  the  benefit  of  his  health  he  spent  about  a  year  in  the 
Lake  Superior  region,  and  on  his  return  to  New  York  he  received  the  appointment  of 
surgeon  to  the  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary.  Then  he  went  to  Europe  to  perfect  his  studies 
in  the  healing  art,  and  on  his  return,  in  1855,  he  established  himself  as  a  regular  practi- 
tioner in  the  city  of  New  York.  The  next  year  he  married  Miss  Mary  Nash,  daughter  of  a 
prominent  New  York  merchant.  Their  union  has  been  blessed  with  a  large  number  of 
children.  In  1858  Governor  Morgan  appointed  him  surgeon-general  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War  medical  director  of  the  State  Volunteer 
Hospital.  He  was  one  of  the  originators  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission, 
to  the  service  of  which  he  devoted  nearly  his  whole  time  during  the  war.  All  of  these 
labors  were  performed  without  the  least  pecuniary  reward.  To  the  skill,  sound  judg- 
ment, and  untiring  energy  of  Dr.  Agnew  is  largely  due  the  success  of  the  Sanitary  Com- 
mission. 

Dr.  Agnew  was  one  of  the  four  gentlemen  who  originated  the  Union  League  Club  of  the 
city  of  New  York.  In  1866 he  established  ophthalmia  clinics  in  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons,  and  was  afterward  made  clinical  professor  of  the  diseases  of  the  eye  and 
ear,  a  position  he  yet  holds.  He  originated  the  Brooklyn  Eye  and  Ear  Hospital,  and  also 
the  Manhattan  Eye  and  Ear  Hospital.  In  1805  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  managers  of 
the  State  Lunatic  Asylum  at  Poughkecpsie,  and  has  held,  from  the  inception  of  the  un- 
dertaking, the  secretaryship  of  the  executive  committee.  He  is  also  governor  of  the 
Woman's  Hospital,  New  York.  He  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the  School  of  Mines 
of  Columbia  College,  and  was  elected  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  college  in  1874.  All 
measures  tending  to  the  intellectual,  physical,  and  social  elevation  of  the  citizens  of  New 
Y'ork  have  Dr.  Agnew 's  active  sympathies.  He  was  secretary  of  the  first  society  organ- 
ized in  New  York  City  for  sanitary  reform,  and  was  at  one  time  president  of  the  State 
Medical  Society.    He  is  a  member  of  several  learned  societies. 

As  a  lecturer  Dr.  Agnew  is  fluent  in  speech  and  eminently  practical  in  all  his  teach- 
ings. For  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  has  devoted  himself  specially  to  diseases  of  the  eye 
and  ear.  His  contributions  to  the  medical  literature  of  the  country,  as  well  as  to  other 
matters  of  human  concern,  have  been  many  and  important. 

*  The  officers  in  1882  were :  John  Sinclair,  president  ;  Charles  Lanier,  treasurer,  and 
Cornelius  R.  Agnew,  secretary.  These  were  among  the  corporators.  There  is  a  board 
of  directors,  twenty-four  in  number. 

\  Salem  Howe  Wales  was  born,  October  4,  1825,  in  the  town  of  Wales,  Mass.,  and  is 
descended  from  one  of  the  English  Puritans  who  came  to  America  with  Richard  Mather. 
His  father.  Captain  Oliver  Wales,  was  a  woollen  manufacturer  whose  business  suffered 
from  the  financial  troubles  of  1837,  when  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  compelled 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1S70. 


T79 


and  is  one  of  the  best  appointed,  most  efficient,  and  prosperous  of  the 
medical  institutions  of  the  metropolis.  It  was  organized  and  put  into 
operation  in  1859.  Its  course  of  instruction  is  similar  to  that  of  all 
other  medical  colleges  of  high  character.  As  a  rule,  when  one  is 
described,  all  others  have  thereby  been  practically  described.  As  such 
descriptions  have  been  given  in  former  pages,  it  may  suffice  here  to  say 
that  the  instruction  in  this  college  is  broad  and  rigid,  and  covers  every 

to  rely  upon  bis  own  resources  in  the  battle  of  life  before  him.  He  went  to  New  York 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one  and  became  a  clerk  in  an  importing  house,  where  he  remained 
nearly  two  years.  He  subsequently  associated  himself  with  Mr.  Munn  in  the  publi- 
cation of  the  Scientific  American.  He  was  a  member  of  the  firm  twenty-three  years, 
retiring  from  business  in  1871.  During  that  period  he  devoted  himself  with  great  zeal 
and  industry  to  the  advancement  of  the  industrial  power  and  resources  of  the  country- 
In  1855  Mr.  Wales  was  selected  by  Governor  Seymour  a  commissioner  for  the  State  of 
New  York  to  the  French  Exposition,  and  spent  several  months  in  Paris  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  official  duties.  When  the  Civil  War  broke  out  he  took  an  active  and  lead- 
ing part  in  support  of  the  government,  contributing  liberally  of  his  time  and  means  to 
that  end.  He  was  an  active  member  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  United  States 
Christian  Commission,  and  was  honored  by  the  special  confidence  of  Secretary  Stanton. 
In  18G7  Governor  Buckingham,  his  personal  friend,  sent  to  Mr.  Wales  a  commission  as 
representative  of  the  State  of  Connecticut  at  the  great  French  Exposition  that  year,  but 
the  National  Government  took  the  matter  in  hand,  and  Mr.  Wales  went  to  Europe  as  a 
private  citizen.  He  remained  abroad  more  than  a  year,  visiting  Great  Britain,  France, 
Spain,  Italy,  Switzerland,  Austria,  Germany,  and  Holland.  He  published  a  series  of 
descriptive  letters  in  the  Scientific  American. 

In  1873  Mr.  Wales  was  appointed  a  Commissioner  of  Public  Parks,  and  was  elected 
president  of  the  department  in  August  that  year.  He  resigned  his  office  in  the  spring  of 
1874.  and  again  visited  Europe.  Returning  in  the  fall,  he  was  nominated  b^-  the  unani- 
mous vote  of  the  Republican  convention  for  the  office  of  mayor  of  New  York.  Upon  the 
death  of  ex-Mayor  Havemeyer  Mr.  Wales  was  appointed  commissioner  of  the  Department 
of  Docks  by  acting-Mayor  Vance,  and  was  chosen  president  of  the  same.  During  his  ad- 
ministration the  expenditures  of  the  department  were  largely  curtailed.  He  was  presi- 
dent of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Hahnemann  Hospital,  and  was  largely  instrumen- 
tal in  establishing  that  institution.  Ho  now  (1883)  holds  the  office  of  Commissioner  of 
Public  Parks,  to  which  he  was  appointed  by  Mayor  Cooper.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Me- 
tropolitan Museum  of  Art.  president  of  the  Homoeopathic  Medical  College  (succeeding 
W.  C.  Bryant),  and  is  a  member  of  the  Union  League  Club,  in  which  he  has  been  ever 
active.  At  one  time  he  was  its  vice-president,  also  chairman  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee. He  was  selected  to  lead  the  movement  in  the  purchase  of  the  site  for  and  the 
erection  of  the  club-house  where  it  now  has  its  home.  As  a  testimony  of  their  appre- 
ciation of  his  services,  his  associates  requested  him  to  sit  for  his  portrait,  which  was 
painted  by  Eastman  Johnson.  It  graces  the  large  library-room.  Mr.  Wales  devotes  con- 
siderable attention  to  charitable  and  benevolent  institutions. 

In  1851  Mr.  Wales  married  the  only  daughter  of  the  late  James  D.  Johnson,  of  Bridge- 
port, Connecticut.  He  has  two  children- -a  daughter,  who  is  the  wife  of  United  States 
District  Attorney  (Southern  District  of  New  York)  Elihu  Root,  and  Edward  H.  Wales,  a 
member  of  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange. 


780 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


topic  usually  discussed  and  taught  in  medical  schools,  homoeopathic 
therapeutics  being  the  most  prominent. 

The  college  is  situated  at  the  corner  of  Third  Avenue  and  Twenty- 
third  Street.  Its  college  dispensary  has  been  in  operation  over  twenty 
years.  The  largest  eye,  ear,  and  throat  clinic  in  America  is  held  daily 
in  its  Ophthalmic  Hospital,  and  every  facility  for  improvement  is 
given  the  students.  The  rooms  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion, two  blocks  from  the  college,  are  open  to  the  students  free  of 
charge,  where  they  are  allowed  the  use  of  a  fine  gymnasium.  The 
affairs  of  the  college  are  managed  by  a  board  of  fifteen  trustees.*  It 
has  a  full  and  efficient  faculty,  of  which  F.  E.  Doughty,  M.D.,  is 
president,  and  T.  F.  Allen,  M.  D..  dean. 

The  College  of  Dental  Surgeons  was  incorporated  in  1865,  and 
was  opened  in  1807  at  the  corner  of  Twenty-third  Street  and  Second 
Avenue.  Its  purpose  is  to  educate  men  to  practice  dental  surgery  as  a 
specialty  of  general  surgery.  It  is  well  equipped  for  practical  den- 
tistry. The  operating  room  has  110  feet  of  continuous  window  front, 
and  in  the  laboratory  are  l.">o  running  feet  of  students'  work-tables 
furnished  with  drawers.  The  college  is  open  continuously,  offering  a 
practical  school  for  students  and  gratuitous  professional  services  to  the 
poor.  Over  ten  thousand  operations  are  annually  performed  in  the 
dispensary.  The  college  is  empowered  to  confer  two  degrees.  For 
several  years  it  was  under  the  exclusive  control  of  Prank  Abbott,  M.D., 
as  superintendent,  who  in  1882  was  dean  of  the  faculty.  + 

Tin:  Colton  Dental  Association  of  New  Yoke,  founded  during  this 
decade,  has  a  remarkable  history.  It  was  established  by  Dr.  Gardner 
Quincy  Colton,  who  in  his  early  manhood  had  prepared  for  the  practice 
of  medicine,  and  was  widely  known  as  a  lecturer  on  chemistry  and 
natural  philosophy.  He  made  pleasing  exhibitions  of  the  effect  of 
nitrous  oxide  or  "laughing  gas."  While  lecturing  at  Hartford,  in 
December,  1844,  Dr.  Colton  administered  the  gas  to  several  persons. 
Among  those  present  was  Dr.  Horace  Wells,  a  dentist  of  that  city. 
One  of  those  who  inhaled  the  gas,  under  the  violent  excitement  caused 
by  its  inhalation,  struck  himself  against  the  benches  with  such  force 
that  the  blood  flowed  from  his  bruised  shins,  and  yet  he  declared  he 
felt  no  pain  until  the  operation  of  the  gas  had  ceased.    Impressed  with 

*  In  1883  Salem  H.  Wales  was  president,  Edmund  Dwight  vice-president,  William 
Clarke  secretary,  and  II.  N.  Twombly  treasurer. 

f  The  officers  of  the  board  of  trustees  in  1882  were  :  William  H.  Allen,  president  ; 
William  T.  Laroche,  D.D.S.,  vice-president  ;  M.  McN.  Walsh,  secretary  ;  Alexander  W. 
Stein,  M.D.,  treasurer. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


781 


this  fact,  Dr.  Wells  the  next  day  induced  Colton  to  administer  the 
gas  to  him,  and  while  under  its  effects  he  had  a  neighboring  dentist 
extract  a  molar  tooth.  It  was  done  without  pain.  Here  was  a 
wonderful  discovery — perhaps  the  most  beneficent  in  its  effects  of  any 
discovery  of  the  century.  Dr.  Colton  was  the  occasion  of  the  dis- 
covery. This  was  two  years  before  experiments  in  ether  had  been 
made,  and  three  years  before  chloroform  was  discovered. 

Dr.  Wells  adopted  this  wonderful  anaesthetic  in  his  practice  with 
great  success.  lie  was  ridiculed,  and  even  persecuted,  lie  died  a 
martyr  in  1848,  before  he  could  convince  the  medical  and  dental  pro- 
fession of  the  value  of  the  gas  as  an  anaesthetic,  and  it  was  forgotten.* 
More  than  twenty  years  afterward  Dr.  Colton  revived  it,  established 
the  value  of  the  discovery,  and  in  1863  founded  in  the  city  of  New 
York  the  Colton  Dental  Association.  Not  being  a  dentist  himself, 
Dr.  Colton  employed  expert  practitioners.  He  simply  administered 
the  gas  while  they  operated.  The  method  soon  became  very  popular, 
and  now  almost  every  leading  dentist  in  the  city  sends  him  patients 
avIio  need  an  anaesthetic,  and  there  is  scarcely  a  physician  in  the  city 
who  does  not  do  the  same.  From  February,  1864,  until  now  (Novem- 
ber, 18S3)  Dr.  Colton  has  administered  the  gas  to  about  one  hundred 
and  thirty- five  thousand  persons,  whose  names  and  autographs  he  has 
on  record. f 

*  In  Bushnell  Park,  in  the  city  of  Hartford,  is  a  fine  bronze  statue  of  Dr.  Wells,  erected 
as  a  testimonial  of  appreciation  of  his  services  as  a  benefactor  of  mankind. 

f  Gardner  Quincy  Colton  is  the  youngest  of  a  family  of  twelve  children  of  Deacon 
Walter  and  Thankful  (Cobb)  Colton.  He  was  born  in  Georgia,  Vermont,  February  7, 
1814.  He  learned  the  business  of  a  chairmaker  at  St.  Albans,  worked  at  his  trade  in 
New  York  from  1835  to  1812,  and  then  he  studied  medicine  in  the  office  of  Dr.  Willard 
Parker  and  attended  the  required  course  of  lectures  at  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons.  At  the  close  of  his  studies  he  began  lecturing  on  chemistry  and  natural  phi- 
losophy, and  at  Hartford,  on  December  10,  1844,  occurred  the  event  mentioned  in  the 
text,  which  led  to  a  great  discovery.  Dr.  Colton  instructed  Dr.  Wells  how  to  make  the 
gas,  and  then  continued  his  lecturing  tour. 

In  1849  Dr.  Colton  went  to  California,  where  his  brother,  the  Rev.  Walter  Colton,  had 
filled  the  office  of  civil  governor  of  the  Territory.  On  his  return  to  New  York  he  became 
a  correspondent  from  that  city  of  the  Boston  Transcript.  After  engaging  in  several  enter 
prises  he  resumed  his  scientific  lectures,  and  his  exhibitions  of  nitrous  oxide  gas,  in 
1801.  Having  observed  that  the  danger  attending  the  use  of  ether  and  chloroform  was 
making  them  unpopular  as  anaesthetics,  he  determined  to  revive  the  use  of  nitrous  oxido 
gas  as  such,  and,  if  possible,  demonstrate  its  value  to  the  dental  profession.  At  New 
Haven  Dr.  Colton  induced  a  dentist  to  extract  teeth  for  one  week  while  he  should  admin- 
ister the  gas  in  subduing  pain.  The  experiment  was  entirely  successful.  They  contin- 
ued the  business  three  weeks,  during  which  time  they  extracted  over  three  thousand 
teeth  without  pain.  So  triumphant  was  the  result  that  Dr.  Colton  determined  to  go  to 
New  York  and  establish  the  business  of  extracting  teeth,  under  the  influence  of  gas.  There 


782 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


he  associated  himself  with  three  distinguished  dentists  under  the  name  of  the  Colton 
Dental  Association.  Then  began  a  great  battle.  The  dental  profession  declared  that  it  w  as 
only  a  revival  of  an  old  imposture— a  method  long  ago  tried  and  abandoned  as  a  failure. 
Every  species  of  abuse  and  ridicule  was  employed  against  the  association,  and  it  was 
nearly  a  year  before  the  receipts  exceeded  the  expenditures.  Dr.  Colton's  associates, 
discouraged,  withdrew  ;  but  he,  strong  in  his  faith,  persevered,  "  fought  the  good  fight," 
and  conquered.  He  spent  every  cent  he  could  spare  in  advertising  ;  his  business 
steadily  increased,  and  every  customer,  satisfied,  became  an  advertisement.  He  in- 
creased his  working  force,  overcame  all  prejudice  and  opposition,  and  established  a 
business  which  has  won  for  him  fame  and  fortune. 

In  1867  Dr.  Colton  attended  the  International  Exposition  at  Paris,  where  he  exhibited 
his  apparatus  and  demonstrated  the  value  of  the  gas  as  an  anaesthetic  to  the  scientific 
world.  He  accepted  an  invitation  of  the  late  T.  W.  Evans,  the  Emperor's  dentist,  to 
remain  with  him  a  year  and  give  him  thorough  instruction  in  the  manufacture  and  use 
of  the  gas.  Then  he  travelled  in  Europe  with  his  family  six  months,  went  to  London, 
and  assisted  Charles  James  Fox,  an  eminent  dentist  of  that  city  (who  had  begun  using 
the  gas),  in  developing  and  establishing  its  value  there. 

The  children  of  the  elder  Colton  started  in  business  life  without  an  inherited  dollar, 
but  richly  freighted  with  the  results  of  sound  moral  and  religious  training  and  inherited 
virtuous  qualities  as  well  as  wise  instruction  from  their  parents.  They  all  prospered. 
The  Rev.  Walter  Colton  was  a  chaplain  in  the  United  States  Navy,  and  was  well  known  in 
the  literary  world.  The  doctor  himself  is  a  chaste  writer.  In  theology  he  is  a  Unitarian. 
He  is  an  earnest  Christian  worker  and  a  most  exemplary  citizen  in  all  the  relations  of  life. 


CHAPTER  V. 


E  have  observed  that  the  effects  of  the  Civil  War  which  oc- 
curred during  this  decade  wonderfully  stimulated  business  of 
every  kind  throughout  the  country,  and  particularly  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  creating  new  industries  and  greatly  expanding  old  ones. 
A  few  examples  will  suffice  to  illustrate  this  point. 

The  wholesale  dry-goods  business  finds  a  notable  representative  in 
the  well-known  house  of  Bates,  Reed  So  Cooley,  at  Nos.  343,  345,  and 
347  Broadway,  which  was  founded  in  1854,  and  is  second  only  to  the 
largest  establishment  in  the  dry -goods  jobbing  trade  in  the  city  of 
New  York.  This  house  has  had  a  most  honorable  and  successful  career 
of  about  thirty  years'  duration. 

In  1854  Levi  Miles  Bates,  with  Cyrus  Clark  and  Harris  II.  Pardee, 
joined  Frank  Vincent  as  partners  in  the  business  of  selling  silks  and 
fancy  articles  at  No.  20  Wan-en  Street.  The  firm  name  was  Vincent, 
Clark  tfc  Co.,  the  "  company''  being  Messrs.  Pardee  and  Bates.  They 
were  successful  from  the  beginning,  for  they  had  all  brought  to  the 
business  energy,  intelligence,  integrity,  and  good  judgment.  The  first 
year  their  sales  amounted  to  about  $250,000.  In  a  few  years  Mr. 
Vincent  withdrew  with  a  handsome  competence,  and  still  lives  at  a 
beautiful  country  seat  on  the  Hudson.  On  his  retirement  T.  E.  Roberts 
and  Phineas  Bartlett  were  admitted  into  the  firm,  when  its  title 
became  Pardee,  Bates  &  Co.,  the  business  being  conducted  at  the  same 
place,  where  in  five  years  (which  reached  into  the  period  of  the  Civil 
War)  the  sales  grew  from  half  a  million  to  $1,250,000. 

The  influence  of  this  house  now  began  to  be  sensibly  felt  in  the 
mercantile  world.  Their  business  rapidly  increased,  and  they  were 
compelled  to  seek  more  commodious  quarters.  At  about  this  time 
Mr.  Clark  retired  and  became  a  dealer  in  real  estate  and  a  projector  of 
great  building  enterprises.  The  name  of  the  firm  was  changed  to 
Pardee,  Bates  &  Co.,  the  latter  being  Messrs.  Moore,  Roberts,  Bartlett, 
and  Reed.  They  removed  to  the  large  store  at  No.  343  Broadway, 
where  they  remained  six  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  their  annual 
sales  increased  to  more  than  S3, 000, 000.    Subsequently  Pardee  and 


?84 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Moore  retired,  each  leaving  to  his  associates  the  precious  jewel  of  an 
unsullied  name  as  a  man  and  a  merchant. 

The  firm  was  now  reorganized  under  the  name  of  L.  M.  Bates  &  Co. 
Very  soon  their  increasing  business  demanded  more  room.  They  found  it 
at  JNos.  451  and  453  Broadway,  where,  in  the  course  of  ten  years,  they 
paid  an  aggregate  rental  for  the  double  store  of  half  a  million  of  dollars. 
During  that  time  their  yearly  sales  had  increased  to  $5,000,000^  They 
paid  liberal  salaries  in  order  to  secure  the  best  helpers  in  all  depart- 
ments, and  they  had  agents  in  various  parts  of  Europe  procuring 
supplies  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  multitude  of  buyers  who  were 
attracted  to  their  establishment.  Finally  Mr.  Bates  associated  with 
himself  John  H.  Reed  (formerly  Bartlett  &  Reed)  and  Martin  I.  Cooley, 
of  the  firm  of  Cooley,  Bigelow  *fc  Nichols,  and  the  title  of  the  firm  was 
changed  to  Bates,  Reed  &  Cooley,  which  it  still  bears.  In  1880  they 
removed  to  the  premises  now  occupied  by  them,  and  in  this  grand 
building — one  of  the  finest  commercial  buildings  in  the  city — which 
covers  three  city  lots  on  Broadway,  their  business  expanded  more 
rapidly  than  ever,  their  annual  sales  having  increased  in  a  few  years 
from  $5,000,000  to  $15,000,000.  The  members  of  the  firm  seem  to 
possess  a  combination  of  qualities  adapted  to  the  formation  and  success 
of  a  great  commercial  house — the  sagacity  of  Bates,*  the  monetary 
skill  of  Reed,  and  the  business  enthusiasm  of  Cooley. 

*  Levi  Miles  Bates,  the  senior  of  the  firm  of  Bates,  Reed  &  Cooley,  is  a  native  of 
Richmond,  Vt.,  twelve  miles  east  of  Burlington,  where  he  was  born  September  18,  1823. 
When  a  lad  he  worked  on  a  farm  to  earn  means  for  obtaining  an  education.  He  toiled 
hard,  made  many  sacrifices,  and  finally  received  a  knowledge  of  all  that  the  tutors  at 
Bicknell  Academy,  at  Jericho,  Vt.,  could  impart.  At  a  suitable  age  he  began  the  life  of  a 
merchant  as  clerk  in  a  dry  goods  store  in  Burlington.  Thoroughly  endowed  with  ster- 
ling virtues  of  every  kind,  and  possessed  of  great  vigor  of  body  and  mind,  and  with  $400 
in  his  pocket,  he  went  to  New  York  when  he  was  twenty-seven  years  of  age  and  procured 
a  clerkship  in  a  dry-goods  jobbing  house  in  Cedar  Street,  with  a  salary  of  $400  a  year. 
In  the  course  of  two  years  he  entered  a  silk  jobbing  house  on  the  corner  of  Cedar  and 
Nassau  streets,  where  his  excellent  moral  habits,  his  evident  business  ability,  his  indus- 
try, and  his  faithfulness  so  pleased  his  employers  that  his  salary  was  raised  from  time  to 
time  until  it  was  S1200.  He  was  finally  offered  a  partnership  in  the  business,  which  he 
declined,  and,  as  we  have  observed  in  the  text,  he,  with  others,  established  a  silk  and 
dry-goods  jobbing  house,  in  18.">4,  in  Warren  Street.  Mr.  Bates's  business  career  has 
been  briefly  sketched  in  the  text. 

From  the  beginning  of  his  business  life  Mr.  Bates  has  been  uniformly  successful  in 
his  enterprises.  This  success  was  not  the  offspring  of  luck,  but  of  sound  business  prin- 
ciples judiciously  exercised  Through  the  firm  changes  and  business  vicissitudes  of 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  all  his  obligations,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  have  been 
met  promptly  and  in  full.  He  possesses  in  a  remarkable  degree  the  natural  qualifica- 
tions of  a  merchant,  having  great  organizing  and  executive  abilities,  and  that  peculiar 


FOURTH  DECADE,  18G0-187O. 


785 


The  grocery  business  is  represented  by  the  house  of  Francis  H.  Leg- 
gett  &  Co. ,  and  their  store  fronts  on  three  streets  :  Yarick,  Franklin, 
and  West  Broadway.  Francis  II.  Leggett  and  his  elder  brother  formed 
a  copartnership  in  L862,  which  continued. until  L870,  when  ho  withdrew, 
and  formed  a  new  firm  with  his  youngest  brother,  Theodore;  commenc- 
ing anew  at  No.  74  Murray  Street,  under  the  same  firm  name  it  now 
bears.  The  business  increased  so  largely  in  the  course  of  three  years, 
that  they  removed  to  the  more  commodious  quarters  Nos.  07,  00  and  101 
Reade  Street.  Very  soon  afterward  the  store  No.  117  Chambers  Street 
was  added  to  the  premises.  Still  greater  facilities  for  conducting  the 
business  were  soon  demanded,  it  had  grown  to  such  vast  proportions. 
Land  was  purchased  in  the  fall  of  1880,  and  the  great  building  now  oc- 
cupied by  the  business  was  erected  upon  it.  It  is  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  substantial  and  best  appointed  edifices  for  the  purpose  in  the  world. 
This  building  was  first  occupied  on  May  1,  lssj>,  and  for  eligibility  of 
location  it  is  unsurpassed. 

The  house  at  present  is  doing  a  very  huge  business,  their  annual 

sales  amounting  to  between  seven  and  ei<dit  million  dollars.    Two  hun- 
ts o 

dred  and  eighty-five  persons  are  employed  in  the  establishment.  The 
firm  also  has  an  extensive  canning  establishment  at  Riverside,  near 
Burlington,  N.  J.,  at  which  place  vegetables  of  superior  quality  are 
prepared  by  the  canning  process  in  large  quantities  for  their  trade. 
The  house  of  Francis  II.  Leggett  6c  Co.  is  one  of  the  largest,  if  not  the 
largest  in  its  operations,  engaged  in  the  wholesale  grocery  business  in 
the  city  of  New  York.* 

talent  which  enables  one  to  take  advantage  of  the  times  and  turn  them  to  business 
development. 

Mr.  Bates  is  associated  in  an  official  capacity  with  several  moneyed  organizations  and 
charitable  institutions.  In  support  of  the  latter  he  gives  freely  both  time  and  money. 
Most  of  the  benevolent  organizations  in  the  city  have  felt  the  blessings  of  his  bounty  and 
active  sympathy,  and  he  is  among  those  men  who  continually  giv<>  substantial  aid  to  the 
poor  and  needy  of  which  the  world  knows  nothing.  He  is  an  admirer  and  encouragcr  of 
the  fine  arts,  as  his  choice  private  collection  of  paintings  and  sculptures  attests.  Public- 
spirited,  everything  that  promises  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  city  commands  his 
attention  and  co-operation.  Honor,  integrity,  enterprise,  foresight— all  the  qualities 
which  constitute  the  model  merchant— are  found  in  the  character  of  Mr.  Hates. 

*  Francis  H.  Leggett,  the  founder  of  the  house  of  Francis  H.  Leggett  A  Co.,  was  born 
in  New  York  City  March  27,  1840.  He  is  descended  from  the  ancient  English  family  of 
Lcgats  of  Essex,  England,  one  of  whom.  Hcmingius  Legat,  was  high-sheriff  of  that 
county  in  1104.  Gabriel  Leggett,  the  head  of  the  American  family  of  that  name,  came  to 
this  country  from  England  in  1661,  and  from  his  son  William,  born  in  1691,  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  is  descended.  His  ancestors  for  three  generations  were  born  at  Mount 
Pleasant,  Westchester  County.  His  father,  Abraham  Leggett,  who  married  Sarah  Lee, 
daughter  of  Richard  Lee,  was  born  in  1805,  and  died  in  New  York  City  in  1878.    He  was 


78G 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  drug  business  is  represented  by  the  famous  house  of  McKesson 
&  Robbins,  wholesale  drug-gists  and  manufacturing  chemists,  in  Fulton 
Street,  organized  under  its  present  firm  name  in  1853.  It  is  one  of  the 
oldest. and  most  extensive  in  its  operations  now  in  the  trade  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  and  is  supposed  to  have  the  largest  jobbing  trade  of 
any  like  house  in  the  United  States. 

This  house  was  founded  in  January.  L833,  by  Charles  M.  Olcott  and 
John  McKesson,  at  Xo.  45  Maiden  Lane,  which  for  many  years  was 
the  centre  of  the  dru<j  business.  In  the  fall  of  L835  this  firm  bought 
the  entire  stock  and  business  of  William  X.  Clark  &  Co.,  taking  into 
partnership  Philip  Schieffelin,  the  junior  partner  of  that  house,  when 
the  firm  name  became  Olcott,  McKesson  &  Co.  Mr.  Schieffelin  with- 
drew in  January.  1S4-1,  when  Daniel  C.  Robbins,  who  had  graduated 
in  pharmacy,  had  six  years'  experience  as  an  apothecary,  and  had  been 
with  the  house  of  Olcott  it  McKesson  from  its  beginning,  was  admitted 
as  a  partner.  The  new  firm  established  themselves  at  Xo.  127  Maiden 
Lane  in  1842.  Their  warehouse  with  all  its  contents  was  burned  in 
1850,  and  was  rebuilt,  when  the  name  of  the  firm  became  Olcott, 
McKesson  <Sc  Robbins.  Mr.  Olcott  died  in  1853,  when  McKesson  & 
Robbins  became  the  title  of  the  firm,  and  so  remains.  Four  partners 
have  since  been  admitted — George  I>.  Gilbert,  John  McKesson,  Jr., 
William  II.  Wickham,  and  Charles  A.  Robbins. 

The  large  warehouse  of  McKesson  Sc  Robbins.  occupying  Xos.  !)1 
and  93  Fulton  Street  and  extending  to  Ann  Street,  was  built  in  1*55. 
It  is  of  brick,  with  an  iron  front  on  Fulton  Street.  It  is  five  stories  in 
height  on  Fulton  Street  and  six  on  Ann  Street,  with  basement  and 
subcellar,  and  having  a  total  of  about  fifty  thousand  square  feet  of  Iloor 
room  on  the  premises.  The  front  half  of  the  first  Moor  on  Fulton 
Street  is  occupied  as  an  office  for  commercial  purposes,  the  other  hall 
for  boxing  and  shipping  goods  and  the  reception  of  goods  for  stock. 
The  stories  above  are  used  for  the  accommodation  of  the  vast  stores  of 

then  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  respected  merchnnts  in  the  city  of  New  York,  having 
been  engaged  in  the  business  of  a  grocer  for  nearly  half  a  century  on  the  block  in  Front 
Street  between  Beekman  and  Fulton  streets.  He  was  one  of  the  originators  of  the 
Market  Bank. 

Francis  H.  Leggett  received  an  academic  education.  After  leaving  school,  in  the  fall  of 
1850,  he  entered  as  a  clerk  a  produce  commission  house,  where  he  remained  about  five 
years,  and  in  1802,  as  we  have  observed,  he  formed  a  copartnership  with  his  elder 
brother,  which  continued  until  1870,  when  he  founded  the  house  of  which  he  is  still  the 
senior  member.  His  brother  Theodore  died  July  29,  1883.  Francis  is  a  member  of  the 
Produce  Exchange,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Union  League  Club,  the  Merchants' 
Club,  and  Dr.  John  Hall's  Presbyterian  Church.  Mr.  Leggi  tt  married  in  1801.  His 
wife  died  in  1803  ;  and  an  infant  son  five  years  later. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  I8li0-18T0. 


787 


every  article  pertaining  to  the  business  of  the  apothecary  and  druggist, 
with  separate  apartments  for  the  manufacture  of  quinine  and  other 
chemicals. 

To  accommodate  their  increasing  business,  McKesson  &  Bobbins  in 
1879  doubled  the  size  of  their  premises  by  the  erection  of  a  building  of 
equal  dimensions  ad  joining  their  warehouse,  which  is  used  principally 
for  manufacturing  quinine  and  other  chemicals.  They  are  considerable 
exporters  to  Central  and  South  America.  Japan,  and  other  foreign 
countries.  Their  various  chemical  and  pharmaceutical  preparations 
have  the  highest  reputation  tor  purity  and  certainty  of  perfect  division 
according  to  the  formulas.  The  house  of  McKesson  &  Robbins  has 
superior  facilities  in  its  manufacturing  department,  and  holds  a,  fore- 
most position  among  wholesale  druggists  in  the  Tinted  States.* 

The  great  leather  industry  in  the  city  of  New  York  has  a  conspicu- 
ous representative  in  the  house  of  J.  B.  Hoyt  &  Co.,  INo.  28  Spruce 

*  John  McKesson  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York,  February  22,  1807.  He  is  of 
Scotch  lineage  on  his  paternal  side.  His  remote  ancestor  was  -John  McKesson  of  Argyle 
(who  belonged  to  the  clan  McDonald),  whose  grandson,  Alexander  McKesson,  came  to 
America  at  some  time  during  the  last  century  and  became  the  progenitor  of  the  McKesson 
family  in  this  country. 

John  McKesson,  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in  1772,  and  was 
well  educated  by  his  bachelor  uncle,  John  McKesson,  who  was  one  of  the  most  active 
patriots  of  the  Revolution  in  civil  life  in  New  York,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the 
struggle.  His  nephew  studied  law  with  him,  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  practised  the 
legal  profession  through  life,  dying  in  1829.  For  twenty-six  years  he  was  clerk  of  the 
Superior  Court  of  New  York.  He  married  Sarah  Hull,  a  daughter  of  General  William 
Hull,  a  patriotic  soldier  of  two  wars— the  war  of  the  Revolution  and  the  second  war  for 
independence  in  1812-15.  She  became  the  mother  of  John  McKesson,  the  eminent 
druggist.  The  latter,  after  leaving  school,  entered  the  drug-store  of  his  uncle  by  mar- 
riage, John  M.  Dradhurst,  in  1822,  who  taught  him  the  drug  business. 

With  Charles  M.  Olcott,  as  we  have  observed  in  the  text,  Mr.  McKesson  founded  the 
present  house  of  McKesson  &  Robbins,  just  fifty  years  ago.  He  married  Maria  Lcfferts, 
of  Brooklyn,  and  ten  children  blessed  their  union.  Though  venerable  in  years.  Mr. 
McKesson  possesses  remarkable  physical  and  intellectual  energy,  the  product  of  a  strong 
constitution  and  a  judicious  exercise  of  all  his  powers  during  his  whole  life.  His  charac- 
ter is  strongly  marked  by  those  traits  which  reward  the  possessor  of  them  with  business 
success  and  enduring  honor  among  men  -namely,  a  sound  judgment,  unswerving  integ- 
rity, enterprise  tempered  with  caution,  kindness  and  geniality  in  social  intercourse, 
frankness  and  generosity  in  all  his  dealings,  and  an  open  hand  to  the  claims  of  the 
needy.  Mr.  McKesson  has  ever  wisely  and  resolutely  refrained  from  indulging  in  specu- 
lative schemes.  His  trustworthiness  is  proverbial.  He  is  venerated  by  the  trade  for  his 
many  virtues,  and  in  the  realm  of  business  disputes  he  constitutes  a  sort  of  court  of 
arbitration.  Mr.  McKesson  has  been  favored  for  more  than  forty  years  with  a  business 
partner  (Mr.  Robbins)  of  rare  qualifications  and  sterling  worth.  It  has  been  well  said 
that  they  constitute  an  unrivalled  team,  whose  labors  have  been  crowned  with  the  highest 
success. 


:88 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Street,  who  are  also  extensive  leather  belting  manufacturers.  The  firm 
consists  of  Joseph  B.  Hoyt,  D.  B.  Fayerweather,  and  Harvey  S.  Ladew. 
They  manufacture  the  '"oak  sole  leather,"  have  extensive  tanneries 
in  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  West  Virginia,  and  Tennessee,  and  are  the 
largest  manufacturers  of  that  special  kind  of  leather  in  the  world.  They 
have  large  manufactories'  of  leather  belting  in  the  city  of  Xew  York. 
Mr.  Hoyt  was  the  founder  of  this  house  more  than  forty  years  ago.* 

The  manufacture  of  painters*  colors  is  an  important  industry  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  In  this  industry  the  house  of  C.  T.  Raynolds  <k  Co., 
Nos.  lot;  and  los  Fulton  Street,  is  prominent.  This  house  is  the  suc- 
cessor of  that  of  William  Post,  established  before  the  war  of  the  Revo- 
lution, through  his  sons.  W.  and  Q.  Post,  and  Francis  Butler,  who  did 
business  in  a  small  wooden  building  in  Fletcher  Street.  In  1*54,  when 
Mr.  Raynolds  was  at  the  head  of  the  firm,  it  was  removed  to  its 
present  location,  and  after  several  changes  the  firm  name  became 
C.  T.  Raynolds  &  Co. 

This  house  ranks  among  the  most  extensive  manufacturers  and 
dealers  in  colors,  chemicals  for  colors,  varnishes,  whiting,  and  putty  in 
the  I  nited  States.    Their  factories  at  Bergen  Point  and  Brooklyn  are 

*  Joseph  Blachley  Hoyt  was  born  at  Stamford,  Conn.,  bis  place  of  residence  now 
(1883),  on  November  18,  1813.  After  receiving  a  good  common-school  education  he  was 
apprenticed  to  learn  the  trade  of  tanning  and  currying  hides  at  Darien,  Conn.  Pru- 
dent, industrious,  and  thrifty,  be  had  accumulated  about  $1000,  saved  from  his  wages, 
when  he  was  nearly  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  and  with  this  capital  he  began  the  busi- 
ness of  tanning  and  currying  on  his  own  account  in  1841,  at  the  corner  of  Cliff  and  Ferry 
streets,  New  York,  with  a  partner  named  Weed.  A  year  later  Mr.  Hoyt  took  in  his 
brother  William  as  a  partner.  In  1848,  their  business  having  been  highly  successful, 
Mr.  Hoyt  associated  himself  with  Mr.  Rees  in  the  manufacture  of  leather  belting,  an 
industry  which  had  been  carried  on  quite  extensively  in  New  England  for  a  few  years. 
The  firm  name  was  Rees  A  Hoyt.  At  the  end  of  six  years  this  connection  was  dissolved, 
and  the  firm  of  Hoyt  Brothers  was  organized.  It  was  composed  of  Joseph  B.  Oliver  and 
William  Hoyt,  who  continued  to  tan  and  curry  and  sell  leather  and  manufacture  leather 
belting  on  a  continually  extending  scale  in  both  kinds  of  business.  In  1870  the  pres- 
ent firm  of  J.  B.  Hoyt  &  Co.  was  organized,  and  the  two  kinds  of  business  have  been 
carried  on  with  vigor  and  success  until  they  have  reached  the  vast  proportions  indicated 
in  the  text. 

For  more  than  forty  years  Mr.  Hoyt  has  been  engaged  in  business  on  his  own  account, 
and  is  yet  an  active  participant  in  the  daily  labors  of  the  house.  At  one  time  he  was 
chosen  a  representative  of  his  district  in  the  Connecticut  Legislature  for  two  terms. 
Religious,  charitable,  benevolent,  and  educational  institutions  have  always  found  in 
him  a  generous  and  ardent  friend.  He  has  long  been  an  earnest  working  member  of 
the  Baptist  Church,  contributing  liberally  in  personal  labor  and  in  pecuniary  means  for 
the  promotion  of  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  the  special  vineyard  wherein  he  has 
chosen  to  labor.  As  a  merchant  his  integrity  and  honor  are  proverbial,  as  a  citizen  his 
character  is  unsullied. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


789 


of  great  extent,  turning  out  annually  pulp  and  dry  colors  to  the  amount 
of  about  sixteen  million  pounds.  They  are  also  large  importers  of  such 
commodities,  handling  in  the  course  of  a  year  about  forty  million 
pounds.  In  addition  to  this  business  they  are  extensive  dealers  in 
artists'  materials  of  every  kind,  and  they  have,  under  the  same  firm 
name,  an  extensive  branch  house  in  Chicago. 

The  manufacture  of  carriages  and  wagons  is  carried  on  quite  exten- 
sively in  the  city.  In  1880  there  were  140  establishments  engaged 
in  the  business,  employing  over  §1,333,000  capital,  and  producing 
annually  wares  to  the  value  of  over  $2,700,000.  Among  these  the 
establishment  of  James  B.  Brewster  appears  the  most  conspicuous,  as 
being  the  oldest  in  the  city,  extensive  in  its  business  operations,  and  for 
the  excellence  of  its  work.  Mr.  Brewster's  father  was  engaged  in  the 
same  business  before  him,  and  had  established  a  high  reputation. 
This  son  was  taken  into  partnership  in  the  business  in  1838,  or  forty- 
five  years  ago,  and  has  pursued  it  ever  since,  lie  is  the  inventor  of 
several  important  improvements  in  the  manufacture  of  cai*riages  and 
wagons.  The  "  Brewster  wagon,"  which  is  the  standard  wagon,  com- 
mands a  higher  price  than  any  other  because  of  its  superior  excellence. 
His  larger  carriages  also  excel  in  beauty  and  structure.  The  factory  of 
J.  B.  Brewster  &  Co.  is  in  Twenty-fifth  Street,  and  their  warerooms 
are  at  the  corner  of  Forty-second  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue.  In  1870 
Mr.  Brewster  conceived  the  advantage  of  giving  his  clerks  and  work- 
men an  interest  in  the  business,  and  he  formed  a  stock  company,  which 
was  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Xew  York,  and  the 
members  of  this  corporation  constitute  the  firm  of  J.  B.  Brewster  <Sz  Co.* 

*  James  B.  Brewster  is  the  eighth  in  descent  from  Elder  Brewster,  of  the  SSaijjfiower 
company.  His  father  was  James  Brewster,  of  New  Haven,  Connecticut.  The  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  horn  in  that  city  on  June  8.  1817.  In  childhood  he  was  ill  most  of  the 
time.  At  the  age  of  ten  years  he  was  sent  to  school  at  Amherst.  Mass.,  where  gymnastic 
exercise  formed  a  part  of  the  curriculum  of  the  seminary.  There  he  remained  two  years, 
gained  good  health,  and  has  enjoyed  that  blessing  through  life  in  a  most  remarkable 
degree.    He  has  practised  gymnastic  exercises  daily  for  more  than  fifty  years. 

Young  Brewster  served  an  apprenticeship  at  carriage-making  with  his  father,  and  in 
1838  became  his  business  partner.  It  was  a  time  of  great  uncertainty,  doubt,  and  con- 
fusion among  business  men  who  had  escaped  ruin  in  the  crash  of  1837.  A  year  or  so 
afterward  his  father  retired,  leaving  the  son  to  prosecute  the  business  alone.  Inexperi- 
ence and  the  condition  of  trade  and  finances  compelled  him  to  seek  the  benefit  of  the 
Bankrupt  act  in  1842.  He  had  as  much  money  due  him  as  he  owed,  but  it  seemed  as  if 
"  everybody  had  failed."  He  was  discharged  from  debt,  and  he  wrote  on  the  back  of  the 
document  which  gave  him  that  relief,  "  Discharged  legally,  but  not  morally."  In  the 
space  of  seven  years  afterward  he  was  enabled  to  write  upon  it,  "  Discharged  morally,' 
for  he  had  paid  every  creditor,  principal  and  interest.  From  that  time  until  now  he  has 
been  successful  in  business,  and  has  built  up  the  groat  house  of  which  ho  is  the  head. 


790  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOKK  CITY. 

A  notice  of  the  manufacture  of  carriage  varnish,  which  is  a  com- 
paratively new  and  important  industry  in  the  city  of  New  York,  may 
be  properly  introduced  here,  as  represented  by  the  extensive  establish- 
ment of  Valentine  tfc  Co.  The  house  was  established  in  Boston  in 
1832,  and  was  practically  a  continuation  of  a  manufactory  established 
by  Houghton  &  McClure  in  Cambridge,  Mass.* 

Until  about  L835  all  American-made  carriages  were  polished  as 
piano-cases  are  now  polished.  John  R.  Lawrence,  a  carriage-maker  of 
New  York,  had  observed  that  imported  English  carriages  (of^which 
there  were  many)  remained  uniformly  bright,  while  the  American 
polished  carriages  became  spotted  with  discolorations.  He  became 
satisfied  that  it  was  the  superiority  of  the  English  varnish  that  made 
the  difference,  and  in  1835  he  made  the  first  importation  of  English 
coach  varnish.  After  unsuccessful  attempts  to  polish  this  varnish,  Mr. 
Lawrence  observed  on  English  coaches  traces  of  brush  marks.  It  was 
evident  that  they  were  not  polished  at  all.  After  that  he  used  the 
English  varnish  as  the  English  coach-makers  evidently  did.  with  great 
success,  and  the  firm  of  Lawrence  6z  Coliis  kept  their  method  a  secret 
for  several  years,  privately  importing  varnish  at  xl5  and  sis  a  gallon. 
About  1852  an  agency  for  the  sale  of  English  varnish  was  opened  in 
Hew  York.  Such,  in  brief,  is  the  history  of  the  introduction  into  this 
country  of  the  English  flowing  varnish  that  superseded  the  American 
polishing  varnish. 

Lentil  about  1870  the  English  varnish  was  unrivalled.  I'p  to  that 
time  American  manufacturers  had  signally  failed  in  attempts  to  equal 
it.  In  that  year  the  house  of  Valentine  &  Co.,  varnish-makers,  of 
Boston,  with  their  factory  near  Cambridge,  becoming  assured  that 
they  had  obtained  a  long-desired  result,  made  the  announcement 
(October  15th)  :  "  We  claim  that  our  varnishes  are  fully  equal  to  the 
best  imported."  In  the  following  year  they  removed  their  main  ware- 
house to  New  York  and  their  factory  to  Brooklyn,  where  they  yet 
remain.  They  have  branch  houses  in  Boston,  Chicago,  London,  and 
Paris.  The  present  company  retained  the  old  firm  name,  and  was  in- 
corporated in  January.  1882,  with  Lawson  Valentine  f  as  president,  and 
Henry  C  Valentine  vice-president. 

*  The  manufacture  of  varnish  as  a  distinct  industry  in  our  country  was  first  begun  by 
Houghton  &  McClure,  in  a  part  of  the  blacksmith  shop  at  Cambridge  immortalized  by 
Longfellow  in  "The  Village  Blacksmith,"  and  which  stood  until  1865.  Their  establish- 
ment grew  into  quite  large  proportions  in  time,  and  at  the  end  of  seven  years  they  both 
left  the  business  with  a  competence. 

f  Lawson  Valentine  was  born  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  April  13,  1828.  He  received  B 
good  common-school  education,  and  entered  very  early  into  business.   After  engaging  in 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1800-1870. 


791 


In  1870  Valentino  &  Go.  became  the  agents  and  manufacturers  of  a 
material  for  permanently  tilling-  the  pores  of  wood  before  painting,  and 
which  has  completely  revolutionized  the  methods  of  painting  practised 
by  carriage  and  car  builders. 

Within  the  space  of  a  generation  a  special  kind  of  business  has  grown 
to  enormous  proportions  in  the  city  of  New  York.  It  is  difficult  to 
classify  it.  It  may  with  propriety  be  called  "  variety,"  "  fancy,"  or 
"general  furnishing"  business.  The  most  conspicuous  representative 
of  thi:^ business  is  the  house  of  Ti.  II.  Macy  &  Co.,  at  the  corner  of 
Fourteenth  Street  and  Sixth  .V venue,  which  was  founded  in  1858  by 
Rowland  H.  Macy.*    At  first  it  was  located  at  a  store  on  Sixth 

the  manufacture  of  varnish  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston  and  obtaining  the  important 
results  mentioned  in  the  text,  he  came  to  New  York  City  with  his  business  in  1870.  Be 
has  interested  himself  since  then  in  practical  agriculture  and  in  literature,  at  the  same 
time  continuing  to  prosecute  successfully  his  original  business.  He  is  a  partner  in  the 
publishing  house  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  and  a  member  of  the  Orange  Judd  Co., 
publishers  of  the  American  Agriculturist  J  he  founded  The  Hub,  a  journal  devoted  to  the 
carriage  interests,  and  is  one  of  the  principal  owners  of  the  Christian  Union. 

He  has  also  actively  engaged  in  plans  for  the  improvement  of  New  York  City  property. 
Shortly  after  coming  to  New  York  he  devised  the  plan  of  founding  an  experimental 
farm,  which  should  render  to  agriculturists  in  the  United  States  a  service  analogous  to 
that  rendered  by  the  famous  farm  of  Laws  St  Gilbert  in  England.  He  purchased  tor  this 
purpose  a  property  of  a  thousand  acres  in  Orange  County,  about  fifty  miles  from  New 
York  City.  It  is  situated  in  a  narrow  valley,  between  rocky,  wooded  hills,  in  the  high- 
lands of  the  Hudson,  seven  miles  west  of  the  United  States  "Military  Academy  at  West 
Point,  and  a  little  farther  south  of  Newburgh,  on  a  branch  of  the  Erie  Railway. 

To  this  he  has  given  the  family  name  of  his  wife,  calling  it  Houghton  Farm.  It  is 
under  the  management  of  Major  Henry  E.  Alvord,  formerly  connected  with  the  Massa- 
chusetts Agricultural  College  at  Amherst.  It  has,  besides  the  ordinary  farm  equipment, 
a  botanist,  a  chemist,  and  a  scientifically  educated  gardener.  A  portion  of  it  is  devoted 
to  agricultural  experiments,  the  results  of  which  are  annually  published  to  the  world  in 
pamphlet  reports. 

It  is  also  made  a  school  of  instruction  in  practical  agriculture,  a  feature  which  is  to  be 
enlarged,  and  a  number  of  young  men  have  already  graduated,  including  three  Indians 
and  one  Japanese. 

The  farm  is  conducted  on  business  principles,  not  on  those  of  "  fancy  farming,"  and 
its  experimental  department  is  distinct  from  the  farm  proper.  The  aim  of  the  proprietor 
is  to  reach  practical  results,  and  so  to  teach  how  they  may  be  attained  by  others. 
Houghton  Farm  is  visited  every  summer  by  great  numbers,  who  come  to  study  the  best 
appliances  and  best  methods.  The  horses,  including  some  magnificent  specimens  of  the 
famous  Norman  stock,  specially  imported,  are  bred  and  trained  for  draught  or  the  road, 
not  for  the  race-course.  The  cows,  of  Jersey  stock,  are  selected  and  fed  with  reference 
to  producing  the  highest  possible  butter-making  qualities  ;  and  the  large  llock  of  South- 
down  sheep  is  under  the  care  of  an  experienced  English  shepherd,  who  has  shown  what 
seemingly  sterile  hills  can  do  in  producing  wool  and  mutton. 

*  Borland  H.  Macy,  son  of  John  and  Eliza  Macy,  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends 
or  Quakers,  was  born  at  Nantucket.  Mass..  August  29,  1822.    He  received  an  ordinary 


799 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Avenue,  next  door  to  the  corner  of  Fourteenth  Street.  The  stock 
consisted  principally  of  fancy  goods.  The  business  prospered,  and  in 
1863  Mr.  Macy  rented  Xo.  62  "West  Fourteenth  Street,  which  was 
joined  to  the  original  store,  making  it  L-shaped.  At  that  time  a 
department  of  hats  and  millinery  goods  was  added.  Two  years  later 
another  new  department  was  added,  that  of  jewelry,  Vienna  goods, 
and  toilet  articles.  In  1868  the  corner  store  was  added,  and  a  depart- 
ment of  gentlemen's  furnishing  goods  was  opened  in  Fourteenth 
Street.  The  following  year  a  second  store  was  added  in  Fourteenth 
Street,  and  from  that  time  until  now  (1883)  there  have  been  added, 
year  after  year,  the  remaining  buildings  on  Sixth  Avenue,  between 
Thirteenth  and  Fourteenth  streets,  until  the  establishment  occupies  the 
whole  ground  fronting  on  that  avenue  and  150  feet  on  Thirteenth  and 
Fourteenth  streets  respectively. 

In  lscy  toys  were  added  to  the  general  stock,  and  subsequently 
house-furnishing  goods,  confectionery,  soda-water,  books  and  station- 
ery, boys'  clothing,  ladies'  underwear  manufactured  on  the  premises, 

common-school  education,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  he  followed  the  example  of  many 
Nantucket  boys  and  went  on  a  whaling  voyage  in  a  ship  from  New  Bedford.  Tiring  of 
the  sea  in  three  or  four  years,  he  started  out,  a  bright  ami  energetic  young  man,  to 
"  make  his  fortune.' '  He  went  to  Boston,  tried  different  kinds  of  employment  f or  two 
or  three  years,  and  then  entered  a  printing  office  to  learn  the  art,  but  in  six  months  he 
got  tired  of  it  and  gave  it  up.  At  about  that  time  he  became  acquainted  with  George  W. 
Houghton,  an  importer,  married  his  sister,  and  was  by  him  started  in  a  small  thread -and- 
needle  store  in  Boston,  which  was  continued  about  five  years  with  moderate  success. 

When  the  California  gold  fever  broke  out,  early  in  1840,  he  went  to  the  Pacific  coast 
and  became  a  prominent  grocer  at  Marysville.  In  1851  he  returned  with  between  $3000 
and  $4000.  and  opened  a  dry-goods  store  in  Haverhill.  Mass.  He  failed  in  business  there 
in  1855,  and  wont  to  Superior  City,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Superior,  where  he  speculated  in 
real  estate.  The  panic  of  1857.  which  prostrated  all  kinds  of  business,  ended  his  career 
as  a  speculator,  and  he  came  to  New  York  City  with  a  very  small  capital,  where  he 
opened  a  fancy  store  on  Sixth  Avenue,  near  Fourteenth  Street,  with  the  result  mentioned 
in  the  text.  He  was  now  thirty-five  years  of  age,  and  possessed  of  good  health  and 
indomitable  energy.  He  entered  upon  his  new  undertaking  with  a  determination  to  suc- 
ceed,  and  with  untiring  industry,  wise  forethought,  and  upright  dealing  he  did  succeed. 
In  1862  he  originated  the  peculiarity  of  odd  prices,  such  as  49,  29.  and  99  cents,  which  is 
still  kept  up.  This  idea  proved  to  be  singularly  successful,  and  has  probably  attracted 
more  attention  than  any  other  innovation  known  to  the  trade. 

Mr.  Macy  continued  actively  engaged  in  the  business  alone,  maintaining  a  vigilant 
supervision  of  every  part  of  it.  until  1872,  when  he  took  into  partnership  A.  T.  La  Forge, 
and  in  the  year  1874  Robert  M.  Valentine  was  admitted,  when  the  firm  of  R.  H.  Macy  & 
Co.  was  organized.  In  the  early  part  of  1877  Mr.  Macy's  health  began  to  fail,  and  he  was 
ordered  by  his  physician  to  try  the  efficacy  of  the  German  baths.  When  he  arrived  in 
Paris  he  was  too  ill  to  proceed  further.  His  strength  rapidly  declined,  and  he  died  in 
the  latter  part  of  March,  1877. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


?'J3 


crockery,  glassware  and  silverware,  dressmaking,  dress  goods,  uphol- 
stery goods,  and  lastly  a  ladies'  restaurant.  The  business  of  the  house 
of  R.  11.  Macy  &  Co.  is  the  most  extensive  of  its  kind  in  the  United 
States,  perhaps  in  the  world.  They  employ  about  fifteen  hundred  per- 
sons, and  during  the  holidays  from  two  to  three  thousand. 

The  retail  dry-goods  trade  is  conspicuously  represented  by  the  house 
of  Edward  Ridley*  &  Sons,  in  Grand  Street.  It  was  founded  in  1819, 
starting  as  a  little  fancy  store  in  a  room  twelve  and  a  half  by  thhiy  feet 
in  size,  at  No.  31 1£  Grand  Street.  In  1851  Mr.  Ridley  had  three  assist- 
ants in  the  little  store.  Ten  years  later  No.  311  Grand  Street  and  No.  63 
Allen  Street  were  added  to  the  premises,  and  from  time  to  time  other 
buildings  were  taken  as  the  business  rapidly  grew  in  extent.  The  last 
acquisition  was  in  March,  1883,  when  the  premises  were  so  extended 
that  they  now  occupy  the  space  bounded  by  Grand,  Orchard,  and 
Allen  streets,  and  comprising  four  acres  and  a  half  of  floor-room. 
There  are  seventeen  hundred  persons  employed  in  the  establishment. 
Among  these  are  some  who  have  been  with  Mr.  Ridley  over  twenty 
years.  Mr.  Ridley's  sons,  Edward  A.  and  Arthur  J.  Ridley,  were 
associated  with  him  in  business.  The  chief  business  of  the  concern  is 
the  sale  of  millinery  and  straw  goods,  fancy  goods,  substantial  dry 
goods,  and  in  fact  everything  that  can  possibly  be  wanted  for  the 
household  ornamentation,  dress  or  toilet. 

*  Edward  Ridley  was  born  at  Newark,  Nottinghamshire,  England,  in  1816.  He  served 
an  apprenticeship  in  a  store  in  England,  and  at  thirty  years  of  age  came  to  America. 
He  first  opened  a  small  store  at  Albany,  where  he  prospered.  In  184:9  he  went  to  New 
York  and  opened  a  small  fancy  store  in  Grand  Street,  as  has  been  observed  in  the  text, 
where  he  built  up  a  very  extensive  business  in  the  space  of  time  of  a  generation.  He  was 
always  active  in  his  business,  personally  superintending  generally  its  vast  operations, 
and  was  so  engaged  the  day  previous  to  his  decease.  He  had  a  beautiful  villa  at 
Gravesend,  Long  Island,  which  he  had  made  his  summer  residence  for  thirteen  years. 
His  fortune  was  very  large,  and  was  rapidly  increasing.  Mr.  Ridley  was  an  earnest 
member  of  the  Methodist  Church,  often  occupying  the  pulpit  of  the  said  church,  which 
was  near  his  country  home.  Such  was  the  case  on  the  Sunday  before  his  death,  which 
occurred,  from  apoplexy,  on  Tuesday  morning,  July  31,  1883. 

In  that  place  of  worship,  known  as  the  Parkville  Methodist  Church,  he  was  a  pillar  of 
strength,  sustaining  it  largely  by  his  munificence,  his  personal  labors  in  its  Sabbath- 
school,  of  which  he  was  the  superintendent,  and  as  its  steward,  trustee,  and  a  faithful 
class-leader.  On  the  Sunday  before  his  death  he  became  so  earnestly  engaged  in  preach- 
ing that  his  discourse  occupied  sixty-five  minutes,  when  he  intended  to  occupy  only 
twenty  minutes.  He  addressed  the  Sabbath-school  in  the  afternoon,  and  was  in  the 
congregation  in  the  evening.  On  Monday  night  he  retired  before  eleven  o'clock  in 
apparent  good  health,  and  at  half  past  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  his  spirit  took  its 
departure.  Mr.  Ridley  left  a  wife,  one  daughter  by  his  surviving  widow,  and  two  sons 
and  two  daughters  by  his  first  wife.    Six  hundred  of  the  employes  of  E.  Ridley  &  Sons 


7!t4 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  house  of  Bliss,  Fabyan  &  Co.,  of  No.  32  Thomas  Street  and  No. 
117  Duane  Street,  is  a  conspicuous  representative  of  the  dry-goods 
commission  business.  It  is  one  of  the  most  extensive  establishments 
engaged  in  that  line  of  trade  in  the  citv  of  New  York.  It  is  acting  as 
selling-  agent  for  New  England  manufacturers,  like  the  Peppered  Manu- 
facturing Company,  the  Otis  Company,  the  Androscoggin  Company, 
the  Bates  Mill  American  Printing  Company,  and  others.  The  members 
of  the  firm  are  noted  for  business  skill  and  wisdom,  and  high  personal 
and  mercantile  character.  The  senior  of  the  firm  is  not  only  an  ener- 
getic and  judicious  business  man,  but  an  earnest  helper  in  religious  and 
charitable  work  in  the  city  of  his  adoption,  where  a  large  portion  of  his 
life  has  been  spent.* 

New  York  City  is  the  chief  centre  of  the  transportation  business  of 
the  country,  and  which  is  one  of  the  most  important  and  extensive  of 
our  national  industries.  Of  the  numerous  managers  of  this  industry  no 
one  is  more  conspicuous  than  John  II.  Starin,  of  New  York  City.  He 
first  engaged  in  it  just  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  "War.  He 
had  conceived  the  project  of  the  establishment  of  a  general  agency  in 
this  city  to  solicit  and  influence  freight  for  the  great  railroad  trunk 
lines  centring  there.  lb1  satisfied  a  leading  railroad  olficer  of  the 
feasibility  and  utility  of  his  plan,  and  secured  a  contract  with  a  promi- 
nent road.  Vexy  soon  afterward  the  Civil  War  was  begun,  during 
which  Mr.  Starin's  capacity  for  the  organization  of  means  of  transpor- 
tation on  a  huge  scale  was  proved  to  be  equal  to  the  pressing  demands 
of  the  National  Government.  His  services  in  this  line  were  of  immense 
value  to  the  government  during  the  entire  war.  At  its  close  several  of 
the  great  railroad  lines  having  their  centres  in  New  York  made  exten- 
sive freight  transportation  contracts  with  him.  The  business  in  his 
hands  soon  expanded  to  enormous  proportions,  including  all  the  prin- 
cipal roads  connected  with  the  metropolis. 

attended  tlie  funeral  at  the  Parkville  Church,  and  200  Sunday-school  children  filled 
the  front  seats.    He  was  buried  in  Greenwood  Cemetery. 

*  Cornelius  N.  Bliss  is  a  native  of  Fall  River,  Mass.  lie  was  educated  at  public 
schools  and  a  private  academy  in  that  tow  n,  and  in  a  high  school  in  New  Orleans,  where 
he  spent  two  years  before  he  entered  the  wholesale  dry-goods  house  of  J.  M.  Beebe  & 
Co.,  of  Boston,  in  1S48,  as  clerk.  In  18f>4  he  became  a  partner  in  the  house,  and  two 
years  later  he  was  admitted  as  a  partner  with  the  firm  of  J.  S.  &  E.  Wright  &  Co.,  in  the 
wholesale  domestic  dry -goods  commission  business,  in  Boston.  He  soon  afterward  came 
to  New  York  and  established  a  branch  :.f  the  Boston  house,  and  it  became  the  well- 
known  wholesale  domestic  dry-goods  commission  house  of  Wright,  Bliss  <S:  Fabyan,  of 
Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia,  acting  as  selling  agents  for  New  England  manufact- 
urers, as  we  have  observed.  The  firm  is  now-  Bliss,  Fabyan  <fc  Co.,  engaged  in  the  same 
business. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


795 


Mr.  Starin  is  now  (1883)  the  proprietor  of  an  immense  establishment 
for  the  removal  of  freight  from  point  to  point  in  the  harbor  and  city  of 
New  York,  with  every  facility  for  the  speedy  fulfilment  of  every  order. 
He  employs  vast  machinery  in  this  enterprise — vessels  of  almost  every 
description,  and  for  the  carriage  of  freight  through  the  city  he  employs 
between  twenty-five  and  thirty  trucks  and  over  fifty  horses.  He  has  a 
dry  dock  for  shipbuilding.  He  has  also  organized  an  admirable  system 
of  transportation  of  passengers  and  summer  excursions  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  New  York.  The  latter  business  has  already  assumed  vast 
proportions.  Altogether  this  is  the  most  extensive  and  successful 
organization  for  transportation  in  the  world.* 

There  are  many  men  like  Mr.  Valentine  and  Mr.  Starin  engaged  in 
successful  business  enterprises  in  the  city  of  New  York  who  have  tastes 

*  John  Henry  Starin  is  a  native  of  the  beautiful  Mohawk  Valley,  in  the  State  of  New 
York.  He  was  born  at  Sammonsville,  Fulton  County,  August  27,  1825,  and  is  the  fifth  of 
the  eight  children  of  Myndert  Starin,  who  laid  the  foundation  of  the  manufacturing 
interest  at  Sammonsville,  and  was  the  chief  founder  of  Fultonville  in  Montgomery 
County.  John  Henry  displayed  in  early  youth  the  characteristics  which  have  marked  his 
life  career — enterprise  and  indomitable  energy.  He  received  a  careful  academic  educa- 
tion, and  studied  medicine  in  Albany.  His  nature  demanded  a  more  active  and  wider 
employment.  In  185G  he  engaged  in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  medicines  and  toilet 
articles  in  the  city  of  Now  York.  This  business  he  abandoned  when  he  undertook  the 
great  transportation  enterprise  mentioned  in  the  text. 

Mr.  Starin  entered  upon  public  official  life  in  1848,  when  he  was  appointed  postmaster 
at  Fultonville,  which  position  he  held  four  years.  In  the  fall  of  187G  he  was  elected  to  a 
seat  in  Congress  as  representative  of  the  Twentieth  District,  comprising  five  counties- 
Fulton,  Hamilton,  Montgomery,  Saratoga,  and  Schenectady.  He  was  re-elected  in  1878 
by  a  large  majority.  A  nomination  for  a  third  term  was  tendered  him,  but  it  was  declined. 
Since  that  time  he  has  devoted  himself  to  his  private  affairs.  In  the  prosecution  of  his 
iindertaking  in  the  business  of  transportation  of  passengers,  and  excursions,  Mr.  Starin 
has  expended  vast  sums  of  money  lavishly  but  wisely  in  a  business  point  of  view.  He 
bought  Locust  Island,  fifty  acres  in  extent,  together  with  five  smaller  islands  in  Long 
Island  Sound,  near  New  Itochelle,  and  has  made  it  a  paradise  of  beauty,  known  as  Starin's 
Glen  Island.  Sinuous  paths  and  roads,  amply  shaded  with  stately  trees,  and  here  and 
there  a  statue,  heighten  the  beauty  and  picturesqueness  of  the  scene.  In  the  centre  of 
the  island  is  an  elegant  mansion,  and  around  it  are  bowers,  conservatories,  fish  ponds, 
and  a  zoological  garden.  There  are  billiard  rooms,  bowling  alleys,  dancing  pavilions, 
restaurants,  and  a  fine  club-house  overlooking  the  Sound.  Mr.  Starin  is  also  the  owner 
of  several  pretty  little  parks  on  the  Hudson  and  East  rivers,  to  which  large  picnic  parties 
are  sent.  These  and  Glen  Island  have  become  the  summer  resorts  of  vast  numbers  of 
New  York  pleasure-seekers,  who  employ  many  of  Mr.  Starin's  vessels  in  their  transpor- 
tation. He  has  a  fine  mansion  at  Fultonville,  surrounded  by  1400  acres  of  land  under 
excellent  cultivation. 

Mr.  Starin  attributes  his  success  in  life  chiefly  to  his  almost  intuitive  knowledge  of 
men  and  his  ceaseless  activity.  He  says  :  "  Persistency  and  tact,  hour  by  hour,  day  by 
day,  month  by  month,  year  by  year,  eternal,  never-failing,  ultimutcly  arc  sure  to  suc- 
ceed.' ' 


796 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


for  rural  life  and  agricultural  pursuits,  who  own  landed  estates  in  the 
country  and  delight  in  cultivating  them.  There  is  a  larger  number 
who  have  limited  domains  in  the  country,  who  spend  much  of  their 
leisure  time  in  the  warmer  months  in  the  agreeable  employment  of 
horticulture,  either  for  pleasure  or  for  profit,  or  both. 

There  is  in  the  city  of  New  York  a  flourishing  Horticultural  Society, 
comprising  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  members.  It  was  incorpo- 
rated in  1822.  Early  in  this  century,  as  we  have  observed,  Dr.  David 
Ilosack  established  a  botanic  garden  (the  Elgin)  at  the  centre  of  Man- 
battan  Island.  The  curator  of  the  garden  was  Mr.  Dennison,  who  had 
a  florist's  establishment  on  the  site  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel.  A 
contemporary  of  his  was  William  Wilson,  who,  with  Dr.  Ilosack,  were 
the  originators  of  the  New  York  Horticultural  Society,  in  1818.  He 
was  the  author  of  a  book  on  "  Kitchen  Gardening."  Another  promi- 
nent horticulturist  of  that  day  was  Thomas  I'ridgman,  author  of  "  The 
Gardener's  Assistant." 

It  was  not  until  about  18-iO  that  commercial  horticulture  had  come 
to  be  liberally  patronized,  and  nurseries,  greenhouses,  and  market 
gardens  appeared  in  numbers  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York.  Floricult- 
ure then  began  to  have  a  commercial  value,  but  designs  made  by  cut 
{lowers  were  unknown.  It  is  estimated  that  the  value  of  the  annual 
sales  in  the  city  of  New  York  of  cut  flowers  at  the  time  the  Croton 
water  was  introduced  did  not  exceed  £1000  ;  now  (1883)  it  probably 
exceeds  $50,000  for  decorations  on  New  Year's  day. 

Of  the  members  of  the  New  York  Horticultural  Society,  the  owner 
of  the  most  extensive  and  costly  establishment  devoted  to  horticulture 
in  connection  with  stock-raising  is  that  of  William  B.  Dinsmore, 
president  of  the  Adams  Express  Company,  at  Staatsburg,  Duchess 
County,  N.  Y.,  and  the  largest  establishment  devoted  to  gardening  for- 
profit  and  to  floriculture  is  that  of  Peter  Henderson,*  the  correspond- 
ing secretary  of  the  society,  at  Jersey  City  Heights  and  New  York. 

*  Peter  Henderson  was  born  at  Path  Head,  twelve  miles  from  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  in 
1823.  His  father  was  land  steward  of  a  gentleman  in  the  neighborhood.  Peter  was  edu- 
cated at  the  parish  school,  where  he  was  a  foremost  scholar,  winning  more  prizes  than 
any  of  his  fellows  of  the  same  age.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  became  the  clerk  of  a 
licpior  dealer — really  a  bartender — in  Edinburgh,  and  was  there  subjected  to  great  tempta- 
tions ;  but  his  moral  stamina  was  proof  against  these  temptations.  At  the  age  of  sixteen 
he  was  apprenticed  to  a  gardener,  when  temptations  again  assailed  him.  It  was  the 
practice  of  the  lads  of  the  establishment  to  go  to  a  tavern  every  Saturday  night.  Against 
this  practice  he  set  his  face  so  firmly  that  he  nearly  abolished  it.  From  that  time  ho 
has  been  an  uncompromising  and  outspoken  champion  of  temperance.  So  well  did  he 
acquit  himself  as  an  apprentice  and  careful  student  of  botany  that  at  the  age  of  eighteen 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870.  797 

The  house  of  Tiffany  tfc  Co.,  gold  and  silver  smiths  and  dealers  in 
precious  stones,  undoubtedly  the  representative  house  in  its  line  of  busi- 
ness not  only  in  America  but  in  the  world,  and  pre-eminently  the  most 
striking  example  of  the  growth  of  this  country  in  wealth,  taste  for 
luxury,  and  artistic  surroundings,  like  most  other  great  successes,  had 
a  very  humble  origin.  The  business  was  begun  in  the  autumn  of  1837 
by  Mr.  Charles  L.  Tiffany,  the  present  head  of  the  house,  and  his 
brother-in-law,  the  late  John  B.  Young,  who,  from  the  townships  of 
Brooklyn  and  Killingly,  in  Windham  County,  Connecticut,  had  little 
besides  their  health,  energy,  and  ambition,  to  assist  them  to  success. 

At  the  date  of  the  opening  of  the  store,  Mr.  Young  alone  had  had 
any  experience,  and  that  of  but  six  months,  in  the  business  they  pro- 
posed to  follow.  The  stock  of  Tiffany  &  Young  at  the  start  was  a 
miscellaneous  collection  of  fancy  wares,  stationery,  cutlery,  Chinese 
goods,  Berlin  iron,  fans,  walking-sticks,  etc.  The  capital  of  the  firm 
was  only  one  thousand  dollars,  and  from  the  little  cash-book,  still  pre- 
served by  the  house,  we  learn  that  the  amount  of  their  sales  for  the 

he  was  awarded  the  gold  medal  offered  by  the  Botanical  Society  of  Edinburgh  for  the  best 
scientifically  arranged  herbarium.  At  about  that  time  he  became  a  member  of  a  society 
for  the  advancement  of  horticultural  science,  and  was  selected  to  prepare  a  paper  for  tho 
London  Gardener's  Gazette,  denouncing  the  common  practice  of  holding  as  secrets  many 
horticultural  operations  of  the  day.  It  drew  from  the  editor  a  two-column  reply.  This 
was  Henderson's  first  appearance  in  print.  Since  then  the  American  people  have  heard 
much  through  the  press  about  what  he  knows  of  gardening. 

Young  Henderson  arrived  in  New  York  when  he  was  twenty  years  of  age,  with  no 
capital  but  virtue,  indomitable  energy,  and  pluck.  He  worked  for  gardeners  and  florists 
until  he  had  saved  money  enough  to  start  the  business  of  a  market  gardener  on  his  own 
account  near  Jersey  City,  in  1847.  He  worked  on  an  average  sixteen  hours  a  day.  He 
gradually  added  the  florist  branch  to  his  establishment,  and  tbat  is  now  his  principal 
business.  His  is  thought  to  be  the  largest  establishment  of  the  kind  in  the  world.  His 
greenhouse  on  Jersey  City  Heights  presents  a  covering  of  more  than  four  acres  of  glass, 
which,  with  his  seed  warehouse  in  Cortlandt  Street,  New  York,  gives  employment  to  about 
one  hundred  men.  One  peculiarity  of  Mr.  Henderson's  establishment  is  the  quick 
acknowledgment  and  reward  of  merit  among  his  employes. 

It  is  generally  acknowledged  that  the  rapid  strides  which  horticulture  has  made  in 
America,  particularly  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York,  are  in  no  small  degree  due  to  Mr. 
Henderson's  writings  and  example.  He  has  written  much  and  well  on  the  subject.  His 
first  work,  "  Gardening  for  Profit,"  appeared  in  1866,  and  down  to  1883  nearly  100,000 
copies  had  been  sold.  In  1868  his  "  Practical  Floriculture"  appeared,  of  which  about 
50,000  copies  have  been  sold.  In  1875  his  "  Gardening  for  Pleasure"  was  published,  and 
more  than  20,000  copies  have  been  sold.  His  last  work  is  "  A  Hand-Book  of  Plants" — 
a  condensed  cyclopaedia— published  in  1881.  The  popularity  of  his  writings  is  due  to 
their  being  eminently  practical. 

Although  Mr.  Henderson  is  approaching  the  age  of  threescore  years,  his  mental  and 
physical  vigor  seem  unsurpassed.  He  has  never  been  sick  a  day  in  his  life.  Ho  super- 
intends his  vast  business  with  ease,  and  desires  to  "  die  in  the  harness." 


T98 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


first  three  days  in  September,  1837,  was  $1.98,  and  for  the  next  two 
months  correspondingly  small.  On  the  23d  of  December  the  sales 
were  $236,  and  for  the  few  days  before  New  Year's  day  (which  at  that 
time  was  the  principal  gift-day)  they  amounted  to  $675.  To  mark  the 
growth  of  the  business  we  may  add  that  for  some  years  past  the  sales 
for  the  corresponding  days  reach  hundreds  of  thousands  per  day. 

In  1840  the  firm  enlarged  their  premises  to  meet  the  requirements  of 
increasing  business.  In  1841  Mr.  J.  L.  Ellis  became  a  partner,  and  the 
style  of  the  firm  was  changed  to  Tiffany,  Young  &  Ellis.  In  1845  they 
opened  the  first  stock  of  standard  gold  and  gem  jewelry,  and  for 
beauty  of  styles  and  quality  of  workmanship  and  of  the  gems  offered, 
the  firm  speedily  became  known  as  the  representative  jewellers  of  the 
country — a  position  they  have  ever  since  maintained.  In  1851  Mr.  G. 
F.  T.  Reed,  of  Boston,  entered  the  firm. 

In  1854  their  increased  business  demanded  larger  and  better  accom- 
modations, and,  foreseeing  the  growth  of  the  city,  they  erected  an 
elegant  building  at  No.  550  Broadway,  then  considered  far  up  town. 
Again,  under  similar  pressure  in  1870,  they  became  the  pioneers  of  the 
retail  business  in  advancing  up  town,  and  erected  the  building  they 
now  occupy,  on  the  south-west  corner  of  Fifteenth  Street  and  Union 
Square,  which  has  since  been  enlarged,  and  now  has  a  frontage  of  78 
feet  on  Union  Square,  165  feet  on  Fifteenth  Street,  five  stories  in 
height,  Avhile  additions  for  their  increasing  works  are  now  in  progress. 

In  1868  Tiffany  &  Co.  reorganized  the  business  under  the  corporate 
laws  of  the  State  of  New  York.  That  this  was  a  wise  move  may  be 
seen  from  the  fact  that  since  then  the  business  has  increased  so  rapidly 
that  it  is  now  the  largest  of  its  kind  in  the  world. 

Prior  to  the  entry  of  Mr.  Reed  to  the  firm,  the  European  purchases 
had  been  made  by  Mr.  Tiffany  and  Mr.  Young  during  visits  made  once 
or  twice  each  year,  but  the  constant  demand  for  European  novelties 
made  necessary  a  partner  resident  in  Europe,  and  it  was  for  this  pur- 
pose that  Mr.  Reed  joined  them.  He  took  up  his  residence  in  Paris, 
and  the  advantages  of  having  a  representative  constantly  in  the  market 
w  as  soon  apparent.  In  a  short  time  the  same  necessity  arose  in  regard 
to  English  goods,  and  a  branch  purchasing  depot  was  opened  in 
London.  The  constantly  increasing  travel  of  Americans  to  Europe 
and  the  frequent  calls  of  New  York  customers  at  the  office  in  Paris  for 
information  or  in  search  of  gifts  to  take  home  as  souvenirs,  led  to  the 
opening  of  a  salesroom,  which  was  gradually  enlai'ged  until  their  wai'e- 
rooms  now  in  the  Avenue  de  l'Opera  are  as  well  known  as  any  in 
Paris. 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


799 


The  business  of  Tiffany  &  Co.  is  perhaps  unique,  us  the  various 
branches  of  their  manufactures  require  the  highest  class  of  skilled  labor 
and  a  technical  knowledge  for  its  direction  that  can  be  had  only  under 
such  an  organization.  Their  manufacture  of  sterling  silverware  com- 
menced in  1  s 5 1 ,  and  is  now  doubtless  the  most  extensive  in  the  world. 
Four  hundred  workmen  are  employed,  and  about  one  thousand  ounces 
of  silver  used  per  day.  In  the  manufacture  of  jewelry,  diamond  and 
gem  cutting,  about  two  hundred  persons  are  employed,  and  five  hundred 
more  in  making  fine  stationery,  leather  goods,  and  silver-plated  ware  ; 
and  when  to  this  is  added  the  number  of  painters,  engravers,  and  deco- 
rators, clerks,  accountants,  and  others  engaged  in  the  salesrooms,  the 
aggregate  is  nearly  fifteen  hundred  persons. 

Their  manufactures  of  gold  and  silver  ware  have  invariably  received 
the  highest  commendation,  and  at  the  Paris  Exhibition  of  1S7S  they 
were  awarded  the  Grand  Prix,  one  gold,  one  silver,  and  four  bronze 
medals,  and  the  decoration  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  to  Mr.  Tiffany,  who 
has  also  since  received  from  the  Emperor  of  Russia  the  gold  medal, 
Praemia  Digno. 

Since  the  Exhibition  their  wares  have  attracted  so  much  attention 
abroad  that  they  have  received  letters  of  appointment  as  jewellers  and 
silversmiths  to  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  of  England,  the  Prince  and 
Princess  of  Wales,  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh,  the  Emperor  and  Empress 
of  Russia,  the  Grand  Dukes  Vladimir,  Alexis,  Paul,  and  Sergius,  the 
Emperor  of  Austria,  the  Emperor  of  Brazil,  the  Kings  of  Prussia,  Italy, 
Belgium,  Greece,  Spain,  and  Portugal,  and  the  Khedive  of  Egypt. 

One  of  the  very  large,  and  important  industries  of  the  city  of  Xew 
York  is  the  business  of  fish  merchandise.  It  began  to  assume  large 
relative  proportions  during  the  third  and  fourth  decades.  It  has  con- 
stantly increased  in  volume  until  at  the  close  of  the  fifth  decade  (1880) 
it  had  become  an  immense,  important,  and  profitable  business.  In  the 
year  1880  there  were  sold  in  the  markets  of  Xew  York  City  nearly 
fifty  kinds  of  fish,  besides  shellfish  and  Crustacea — oysters,*  clams, 
lobster's,  crabs,  crawfish,  scallops,  terrapins,  and  green  turtles.  There 
were  about  forty-three  million  pounds  of  fish  sold,  exclusive  of  (in 

*  The  oyster  business  in  Xew  York  is  enormous  in  its  extent,  and  has  increased  300 
per  cent  in  five  years.  Daring  the  year  ending  September  1,  1883,  there  were  consumed 
in  New  York  City  alone  8,000,000  baskets  of  oysters.  At  two  important  points  of  oyster 
cultivation— Prince's  Bay  and  Great  South  Hay— there  are  about  eleven  thousand  per- 
sons employed.  The  estimated  amount  of  capital  invested  in  the  oyster  business  in  the 
city  is  $25,000,000.  Old  and  extensive  dealers  are  beginning  to  employ  steam  vessels 
instead  of  sailing  vessels  in  carrying  oysters  to  the  city.  It  is  estimated  that  50,000  per- 
sons in  the  State  of  Xew  York  earn  a  living  by  handling  oysters 


800 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


numbers)  1,333,000  shad,  5,000,000  mackerel,  0,300,000  herrings, 
75,000  crawfish,  and  6750  terrapin  ;  also  163,000  pounds  of  green 
turtle,  2,000,000  pounds  of  lobsters,  and  55,000  gallons  of  scallops. 

The  most  extensive  fish  merchant  in  New  York  City  and  perhaps  in 
the  world  is  Eugene  G.  Blackford,  who  is  also  one  of  the  most  active 
and  efficient  of  the  four  fish  commissioners  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
having  been  appointed  by  the  governor  in  1879.  He  occupies  in  his 
business  Xos.  72  to  86  inclusive  of  the  "  stands"  in  Fulton  Market.  In 
his  ice-vaults  may  be  seen  tons  upon  tons  of  frozen  fish  kept  perfectly 
fresh.  He  has  a  freezing  station  in  Canada,  where  salmon  are  frozen 
as  soon  as  caught,  packed  in  refrigerators,  and  sent  to  the  city.  Mr. 
Blackford  is  also  connected  with  others  in  the  fish  business  in  other 
parts  of  the  city.  Blackford  &  Co.  are  agents  for  the  Connecticut 
River  shad  companies.  The  Blackford  Fish  Company,  of  which  he  is 
chief  proprietor  and  treasurer,  leases  five  miles  of  the  shore  at 
Montauk,  L.  L,  whence  fish  are  sent  daily  to  Fulton  Market,*  where 
ninety  per  cent  of  all  the  fish  sold  in  New  York  City  is  disposed  of.f 

*  The  Fulton  Market  Louse  has  recently  been  rebuilt  at  a  cost,  including  the  stalls  and 
other  fixtures,  of  about  $290,000.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a  quadrangle,  with  five  towers, 
three  of  which  are  used  for  refrigerating  purposes  ;  one  is  occupied  by  Mr.  Blackford  as 
a  museum  and  biological  laboratory,  in  charge  of  a  competent  professor  of  Natural  His- 
tory, who  is  employed  by  Mr.  Blackford.  Here  the  oyster  has  been  artificially  propagated, 
and  experiments  in  fish  culture,  with  investigations  into  the  food  and  breeding  habits  of 
all  fish,  are  earned  on.  The  fifth  is  a  telegraph  station.  The  building  is  of  red  brick 
with  terra-cotta  trimmings,  and  occupies  a  whole  block  of  ground  between  Beekman  and 
Fulton  and  Water  and  South  streets.  It  was  formally  opened  in  April,  1883,  at  a  hotel 
near  by,  where  the  persons  present  had  a  luncheon,  and  speeches  were  made  by  Colonel 
Devoe,  the  superintendent  of  the  markets,  Mayor  Edson,  and  others.  The  rebuilding 
of  Fulton  Market  was  entirely  through  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Blackford.  The  Washington 
Market  house,  on  the  Hudson  River  side  of  the  city,  has  also  been  rebuilt  recently. 

f  Eugene  G.  Blackford  was  born  at  Morristown,  N.  J.,  August  8,  1839.  His  father  was 
a  carriage-maker  there,  and  removed  to  New  York  City  when  Eugene  was  an  infant,  and 
engaged  in  other  business.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  years  this  son  became  a  clerk  to  a  ship 
broker  in  South  Street.  .Already  exhibiting  a  taste  and  love  for  science,  especially  for 
chemistry,  and  devoting  as  much  time  as  he  could  to  study,  his  employer  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  he  was  not  fitted  for  a  merchant,  and  at  the  end  of  three  and  a  half  years' 
service  he  discharged  him.  Meanwhile  the  lad  had  taken  some  lessons  in  water-color 
painting,  and  had  aspirations  to  become  an  artist  ;  but  his  common-sense  and  his  circum- 
stances taught  him  that  he  must  make  his  tastes  yield  to  the  necessity  of  some  business 
pursuit. 

Young  Blackford  now  became  a  freight  clerk  in  the  employ  of  the  Hartford  steamboats. 
In  the  course  of  a  few  years  he  was  with  the  Camden  and  Amboy  Railroad  in  the  same 
capacity,  and  then  served  ten  years  as  a  merchant's  clerk  in  the  store  of  A.  T.  Stewart  & 
Co.  To  his  training  there  Mr.  Blackford  attributes  his  business  success  in  life.  On 
leaving  Stewart  he  became  bookkeeper  to  a  firm  of  extensive  fish  dealers  in  Fullon 
Market.    He  was  unexpectedly  offered  a  fish-stand  in  that  market.    He  accepted  it,  and 


FOURTH  DECADE,  1860-1870. 


801 


began  the  fish  business  on  his  own  account  with  a  cash  capital  of  $110  and  an  abun- 
dance of  pluck,  energy,  and  sterling  virtues.  That  one  stand  has  grown  to  thirteen, 
elegantly  fitted  up  at  a  cost  of  about  $22,000,  with  aquariums  built  of  marble,  hard 
woods,  and  glass,  and  filled  with  live  fishes  ;  and  adorned  with  works  of  art  indicative  of 
taste  and  refinement. 

In  1872  Mr.  Blackford  began  to  give  attention  to  tbe  history  and  propagation  of  fishes, 
and  now  he  stands  foremost  among  practical  philosophers  in  that  line  of  applied 
science.  He  early  made  the  acquaintance  of  l'rofessor  Baird,  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  who  was  then  United  States  Commissioner  of  Fish  and  Fisheries.  When  the 
American  Fish  Culturists'  Association  was  organized  he  became  a  prominent  member,  and 
has  been  their  only  treasurer.  At  their  annual  dinner  in  1876  he  procured  and  prepared 
for  the  banquet  no  less  than  fifty-eight  kinds  of  fish.  He  was  in  charge  of  the  fish 
exhibit  at  the  Centennial  Exhibition  in  1876.  The  year  before  he  began  an  annual  trout 
exhibition  in  April,  at  his  establishment  in  New  York,  which  attracts  admiring  crowds, 
coming  from  all  parts  of  the  Union.  He  collected  and  shipped  130  tons  of  exhibits  to  the 
International  Fishery  Exhibition  held  in  Berlin  in  1880.  In  1878  a  species  of  fish  from 
Florida,  which  was  first  described  scientifically  by  Professor  Good  and  Dr.  Bears  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution,  and  named  the  Lutjanus  Blackfordii,  in  honor  of  Mr.  Blackford, 
for  his  services  in  ichthyology.  lie  was  the  first  to  discover  that  we  have,  in  American 
waters,  a  fish  identical  with  the  English  whitebait.  In  1879  Mr.  Blackford  was  appointed 
one  of  the  four  fish  commissioners  of  the  State  of  New  York.  His  contributions  to  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  have  been  many  and  important. 

Mr.  Blackford  was  married  in  1860,  to  Miss  Frances  L.  Green.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Washington  Avenue  Baptist  Church,  in  Brooklyn,  and  is  very  active  and  liberal  in  church 
and  benevolent  work. 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  population  of  the  city  of  New  York  at  the  beginning-  of  this 
decade  (1870)  was  942,292,  of  whom  13,072  were  colored  persons, 
12  Chinese,  and  9  Indians.  Of  the  whole  number,  523, 19S  were 
native-born,  and  419,094:  were  foreign-born.  Over  43,000  could  not 
read,  Avhile  156,000  attended  school  during  that  year.  The  inhabited 
city  had  spread  over  the  whole  island,  sparsely  in  the  upper  wards. 
There  were  789  families  living  in  04,044  dwellings,  averaging  5.07  to  a 
family,  and  nearly  15  to  a  dwelling. 

The  foreign  commerce  of  the  district,  imports  and  exports,  amounted 
in  value  in  1870  to  $569,337,000.  The  census  of  that  year  showed  that 
New  York  had  then  become  the  most  extensive  manufacturing  city  in 
the  Union.  It  had  56  national  banks,  with  a  capital  of  $73,000,000,  a 
surplus  fund  of  $19,000,000,  and  undivided  profits  of  over  $9,000,000. 
It  had  32  savings  banks,  with  deposits  from  316,000  depositors  of 
nearly  $106,000,000. 

The  assessed  value  of  real  estate  in  the  chy  in  1870  was  $762,134,350, 
and  of  personal  $305,292,699,  making  a  total  of  $1,047,427,049.  The 
total  amount  of  the  funded  debt  was  nearly  $19,000,000.  This  enor- 
mous debt  was  largely  the  result  of  misrule  and  extravagant  and 
dishonest  expenditure  of  the  public  money.  It  was  soon  enormously 
increased. 

This  brings  us  to  a  consideration  of  one  of  the  most  unpleasant 
episodes  in  the  history  of  New  York  City — namely,  the  operations  of 
a  band  of  plunderers  of  the  city  treasury,  popularly  known  as  the 
' '  Tweed  Ring, ' '  or  the  ' '  Tammany  Ring. ' '  These  operations  are  of  so 
recent  occurrence  that  it  is  too  early  to  attempt  to  give  a  truthful  and 
impartial  narrative  of  them  ;  and  there  are  too  many  innocent  persons 
who  would  be  pained  by  a  recital  of  them,  in  connection  with  the 
names  of  the  chief  actors  in  the  dismal  drama,  to  render  here  a  detailed 
account  of  the  affair  desirable.  This  dark  chapter  in  the  history  of 
the  city  will  therefore  be  passed  over  with  brief  notice. 

For  several  years  the  metropolis  was  virtually  ruled  by  William  M. 
Tweed,  a  chairmaker  by  trade,  and  a  politician  of  the  baser  sort  by 


806 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


profession.  Active,  pushing,  and  unscrupulous,  he  had  worked  his  way 
up  through  petty  municipal  offices  to  the  position  of  supervisor,  chair- 
man of  the  board  of  supervisors,  and  deputy  street  commissioner  in 
1863.  The  latter  office  placed  him  virtually  at  the  head  of  the  public 
works  of  the  city  and  of  almost  unlimited  control  of  the  public  expendi- 
tures. At  about  the  same  tune  he  was  chosen  grand  sachem  of  the 
Tammany  Society,  which  position  endowed  him  with  immense  political 
power.  This  power,  by  means  of  his  offices  in  the  municipal  govern- 
ment and  the  patronage  at  his  command,  he  was  able  to  wield  with 
mighty  force.  He  took  advantage  of  this  power  to  procure  for 
himself  his  election  to  the  State  Senate  for  three  successive  terms — 
1867  to  IS 71.  Corrupt  officials  and  hungry  politicians  swarmed  around 
him.  With  three  or  four  shrewd  confidants — men  who  before  had 
enjoyed  a  fair  reputation  for  honor  and  honesty — he  organized  a 
system  for  plundering  the  public  treasury  unprecedented  in  boldness 
and  extent,  comprising  the  expenditures  for  streets,  boulevards,  parks, 
armories,  public  buildings,  and  improvements  of  every  kind,  in  which 
the  spoils  were  divided  pro  rata  among  the  conspirators. 

These  spoils  consisted  of  65  to  85  per  cent  of  the  public  money  paid 
to  contractors  and  others,  who  were  encouraged  to  add  enormous 
amounts  to  their  bills,  often  ten  times  the  amount  of  an  honest  charge. 
For  example  :  on  one  occasion  the  sum  of  $1,500,000  was  granted  for 
pretended  labor  and  expense  of  material,  when  a  fair  and  liberal  allow- 
ance would  have  been  only  $264,000.  The  sum  authorized  by  the 
Legislature  to  be  expended  in  the  erection  of  the  new  county  Court- 
House  was  $250,000  ;  in  1871,  when  it  was  yet  unfinished,  $8,000,000 
had  ostensibly  been  spent  upon  it.  "Whenever  any  contractor  or 
mechanic  ventured  to  remonstrate,  he  was  silenced  by  a  threat  of  losing 
the  city  patronage,  or  of  non-payment  for  work  already  done,  and  so 
conscientious  men  were  often  forced  to  become  the  confederates  of 
thieves.  A  secret  record  of  these  fraudulent  transactions  was  kept  in 
the  auditor's  office  under  the  title  of  "  county  liabilities."  The  incum- 
bent of  that  office  was  a  supple  instrument  of  the  plunderers,  and  did 
their  bidding. 

To  render  the  plundering  more  secure  from  detection,  Tweed  pro- 
cured from  the  Legislature  amendments  to  the  city  charter  in  1870,  by 
which  the  State  control  over  the  municipality  was  withdrawn,  and  the 
executive  power  was  vested  in  the  mayor  and  the  heads  of  the  several 
departments  who  were  appointed  by  the  mayor.  The  powers  of  the 
street  commissioner  and  of  the  Croton  Aqueduct  board  were  vested  in 
a  commissioner  of  public  works,  to  which  important  office  the  mayor, 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


80? 


who  was  one  of  the  "ring,"  appointed  Tweed,  who  was  to  hold  the 
office  four  years.  His  confederates  were  placed  at  the  head  of  other 
important  departments  connected  with  the  city  finances.  The  power 
of  auditing  accounts  was  taken  from  the  supervisors  and  given  to  a 
board  of  audit,  composed  of  the  mayor,  comptroller,  and  commissioner 
of  public  works,  who  were  then  the  chief  conspirators. 

The  scheme  for  plundering  the  public  treasury  was  now  complete, 
and  it  was  used  with  a  lavish  hand  for  the  next  fifteen  months.*  In 
order  to  evade  joint  responsibility  the  board  of  audit  delegated  their 
power  to  the  auditor  of  the  city,  who  was  one  of  their  willing  tools. 
He  signed  all  the  fraudulent  bills,  often  without  examining  them,  and 
paid  over  to  the  chief  conspirators  their  commission  of  65  to  85  per 
cent  on  the  amount  so  audited.  Within  the  space  of  less  than  four 
months  the  sum  of  $6,312,000  was  paid  from  the  city  treasury,  of 
which  $5,710,000  was  ostensibly  on  account  of  the  new  county  Court  - 
Ilouse.  At  least  §5,000,000  of  the  $6,312,000  went  into  the  pockets 
of  the  chief  conspirators  and  their  associates. 

The  waste  of  the  public  money  at  length  became  so  apparent  that 
the  most  respectable  of  the  daily  newspapers  constantly  called  public 
attention  to  the  evil,  with  very  little  effect.  Fortunately  an  honest 
man  named  Copeland  was  placed  as  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  auditor  by 
Sheriff  James  O'Brien.  He  stumbled  upon  the  record  of  "  county 
liabilities,"  and  making  an  exact  copy  of  it,  he  handed  the  transcript 
to  O'Brien.  The  latter  resolved  to  use  it  for  his  personal  advantage  in 
an  attempt  to  force  the  ring  to  pay  a  claim  he  held  against  the  city. 
The  conspirators  refused  compliance,  and  O'Brien  threatened  to  pub- 
lish the  document  in  the  New  York  Times.  A  little  alarmed  by  the 
threat,  they  sent  the  auditor,  in  the  afternoon,  to  negotiate  with  the 
sheriff,  who  was  supposed  to  be  at  a.  spoiling  tavern  in  a  remote  part 
of  the  city.    Failing  to  find  him,  the  auditor  was  returning  when  he 

*  A  strange  social  phenomenon  appeared  when  Tweed  was  at  the  height  of  his  disrepu- 
table career.  Dazzled  by  the  magnitude  of  city  "  improvements,"  and  without  inquiring 
whence  he  procured  the  means  for  dispensing  charities  on  a  munificent  scale,  some  of 
the  most  reputable  citizens  of  New  York  publicly  proposed  to  erect  a  statue  to  him  as  a 
public  benefactor.  And  when  his  daughter  was  married,  sixty-two  citizens,  some  of  them 
of  high  position  in  society,  bestowed  upon  her  wedding  presents  to  the  aggregate  value 
of  $70,000.  Only  one  present  was  as  low  as  $100  in  value.  Twenty-one  persons  each 
gave  presents  valued  at  $1000,  ten  persons  gave  $2000  presents,  two  $2500,  and  five  gave 
presents  to  the  value  of  $5000  each.  One  of  the  donoTsof  the  latter  amount  was  a  woman. 
Some  of  the  most  munificent  gifts  were  from  persons  connected  with  the  ring,  but  then 
accounted  respectable  members  of  society,  while  others  ever  maintained  their  high  social 
position. 


808 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


was  thrown  from  his  carriage  and  mortally  hurt.  The  conspirators 
surrounded  his  death-bed  to  prevent  damaging  confessions,  and  to 
effect  the  transfer  of  an  enormous  amount  of  property  which  he  held  in 
his  name,  but  the  auditor  never  regained  consciousness. 

For  months  O'Brien  unsuccessfully  pressed  his  claim.  At  length  he 
gave  the  document  to  the  proprietor  of  the  New  York  Tunes,  and  it 
was  published  in  full  detail  in  July,  1871.  It  produced  intense  excite- 
ment, amazement,  and  indignation  throughout  the  city.  Tweed, 
vainly  believing  his  fortress  of  power  was  impregnable,  sneeringly 
inquired,  "  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it  ?"  But  public  indig- 
nation was  so  fierce  and  so  universally  aroused  that  the  conspirators 
were  soon  compelled  to  yield.  Day  after  day  the  Times  struck  telling 
blows  at  the  ring,  with  accumulating  proofs  of  their  crimes.  Week 
after  week  the  inimitable  cartoons  of  Nast  in  Harper  *  Weekly  struck 
equally  telling  blows,  for  pictures  are  the  literature  of  the  unlearned, 
and  the  most  illiterate  citizen  could  read  and  understand  those  car- 
toons. Yery  soon  the  conspirators  in  oifice  were  driven  out  and  fled 
to  Europe.  Tweed  was  arrested,  lodged  in  jail,  indicted  for  forgery 
and  grand  larceny,  and  late  in  1*7?)  he  was  tried,  found  guilty,  and 
sentenced  to  a  long  imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary  on  Blackwell's 
Island. 

In  the  summer  of  1875  Tweed's  friends  procured  his  release,  on  bail, 
when  he  was  immediately  arrested  on  a  civil  suit  to  recover  over 
$8,000,000  which  he  had  stolen  f  rom  the  city  treasury.  Bail  to  the 
amount  of  $3,000,000  was  required.  He  could  not  furnish  it,  and  was 
confined  in  Ludlow  Street  Jail.  Allowed  to  visit  his  wife  at  twilight 
one  evening  in  charge  of  the  sheriff,  he  managed  to  escape,  fled  to 
Europe,  Avas  arrested  in  a  Spanish  seaport,  was  brought  back  to  New 
York  in  failing  health,  and  was  again  lodged  in  jail.  In  a  suit  tried  in 
March,  1876,  a  jury  returned,  a  verdict  against  him  for  the  sum  of 
$6,537,000,  which  he  could  not  pay.  He  lingered  in  prison  until  Jan- 
uary 12,  1 878,  where  he  died,  at  the  age  of  fifty-five  years.  It  was 
estimated  that  the  ring  had  robbed  the  city  of  over  $20,000,000.* 

When  the  iniquities  of  the  ring  were  exposed  by  the  Times  in  the 
summer  of  1871,  thousands  of  indignant  citizens  were  prepared  to  re- 

*  The  reckless  waste  of  city  money  and  property  at  this  period  was  not  all  done  by  the 
ring,  but  by  members  of  the  dominant  party  in  the  city  legislature,  largely  for  political 
purposes.  A  report  of  the  committee  of  political  reform  of  the  Union  League  Club,  made 
in  January,  1873,  showed  that  during  the  previous  three  years  no  less  than  $4,896,388 
had  been  given  in  lands  and  money  to  one  denomination  of  Christians  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  for  the  support  of  its  religious,  benevolent,  and  educational  organizations. 


FIFTH  DECADE.  1870-1880. 


spond  to  n  call  for  a  public  meeting  at  the  Cooper  Union  on  the  even- 
ing- of  September  4th.  James  Brown,  the  eminent  banker,  called  the 
meeting  to  order.  Ex-Mayor  Havemeyer  was  made  chairman,  and  227 
of  the  most  respectable  citizens  were  named  as  vice-presidents.  Stir- 
ring addresses  were  made.  It  was  shown  that  the  city  debt  was  then 
si  13,000,000,  an  increase  of  $03,000,000  in  two  years.  Strong  resolu- 
tions were  adopted  denouncing  by  name  the  chief  conspirators,  and 
recommending  measures  for  a  repeal  of  the  iniquitous  amendment  of 
the  charter  procured  by  Tweed.  An  executive  committee  of  seventy, 
composed  of  leading  citizens,  was  appointed  to  take  measures  to  obtain 
a  full  exhibition  of  all  the  accounts  of  the  city  and  of  the  persons  who, 
for  the  past  two  years  and  a  half,  hail  drawn  money  from  the  city 
treasury  ;  to  enforce  existing  remedies  to  obtain  this  information,  if 
refused  ;  to  recover  all  moneys  which  had  been  fraudulently  or  feloni- 
ously abstracted  from  the  treasury,  and  to  assist,  sustain,  and  direct  a 
united  effort  by  the  citizens  of  New  York,  without  reference  to  party, 
to  obtain  good  government  for  the  city,  and  honest  officers  to  adminis- 
ter it.  The  committee  was  organized  by  the  appointment  of  Henry  G. 
Stebbins  chairman,  William  F.  Havemeyer  vice-chairman,  Roswell  D. 
Hatch  secretary,  and  Emil  Sauer  treasurer.  The  committee  sent  forth 
an  "  Appeal  to  the  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,"  written  by 
Major  J.  M.  Bundy,  and  then  entered  with  vigor  upon  the  discharge 
of  its  duties. 

Through  the  exertions  of  the  Committee  of  Seventy  the  city  was 
soon  purged  of  the  unsavory  band  of  plunderers,  who  were  driven  into 
exile  or  were  brought  to  the  bar  of  justice.  "    The  fall  election  which 

*  A  week  after  the  appointment  of  the  Committee  of  Seventy  it  was  found  that 
vouchers  to  the  number  of  3500  had  been  abstracted  from  the  comptroller's  office,  many 
of  which  would  be  damaging  to  the  ring.  News  of  this  act  aroused  the  indignation  of 
the  citizens  to  the  highest  pitch.  The  mayor  was  compelled  to  demand  the  resignation  of 
the  comptroller,  and  to  till  his  place,  on  the  recommendation  of  Mr.  Havemeyer,  who  was 
a  Democrat,  by  the  appointment  to  the  office  of  Deputy  Comptroller  Andrew  H.  Green. 
He  investigated  the  "  voucher  robbery,"  and  discovered  that  the  vouchers  had  been 
burned,  but  the  perpetrators  were  never  brought  to  justice.  The  committee  called  upon 
the  governor  of  the  State  and  requested  him  to  appoint  Charles  () 'Conor  to  assist  the 
attorney-general  in  prosecuting  the  foremost  officers  of  the  city  government  for  malfeas- 
ance in  office.  The  governor  replied  that  he  had  not  power  to  comply  with  the  request, 
but  would  recommend  that  course  to  the  attorney-general,  whereupon  the  latter  author- 
ized Mr.  O'Conor  to  act  for  the  State,  and  to  employ  such  associates  as  he  might  deem 
proper.  Mr.  O'Conor  chose  William  M.  Evarts,  Wheeler  H.  Peckham,  and  Judge  James 
Emott  as  his  associates.  On  the  strength  of  an  affidavit  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  Tweed  was 
arrested  and  held  to  bail  in  the  sum  of  $1,000,000,  and  in  due  time  he  was  indicted  for 
felony.    The  remainder  of  his  career  has  been  noticed  in  the  text. 


810 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOKK  CITY. 


soon  followed  was  a  very  exciting  one  in  the  city.  Respectable  Repub- 
licans and  Democrats  united  to  crush  the  foul  conspiracy  and  to  fill 
the  public  offices  with  good  men.  The  result  was  the  utter  defeat  of 
nearly  every  Tammany  candidate.  Tweed  was  re-elected  Senator  by 
brute  force  and  vulgar  fraud,  exercised  by  the  worst  classes  of  New 
York  society. 

An  important  result  of  the  labors  of  the  Committee  of  Seventy  was 
the  procurement  of  amendments  of  the  charter  for  the  city  in  1873, 
which  is  now  (lss:1,)  the  fundamental  law  of  the  municipality.  The 
amended  charter,  known  as  the  "charter  of  1873,''  vests  the  corpo- 
rate power  in  the  mayor,  aldermen,  and  commonalty  of  the  city.  The 
legislative  powers  are  vested  in  a  board  of  twenty-two  aldermen,  hold- 
ing office  for  one  year  from  January  1st.  The  executive  power  is 
vested  in  the  mayor  and  the  heads  of  departments  created  by  the 
charter  and  appointed  by  the  mayor,  by  and  with  the  consent  of  the 
board  of  aldermen,  for  the  term  of  six  years.  The  departments  are  the 
same  as  those  created  by  the  charter  of  L 846,  already  noticed.  The 
salary  of  the  mayor  is  812,000  a  year,  and  of  aldermen  $4000. 

The  law  courts  remain  the  same  in  title  and  functions  as  before, 
with  slight  modifications.  These  are  the  Supreme  Court,  Court  of 
Common  Pleas,  Superior  Court  of  the  City  of  New  York,  Marine 
Court  of  the  City  of  New  York,  district  courts,  Surrogate's  Court, 
Court  of  Arbitration,  criminal  courts,  Court  of  General  Sessions  of  the 
Peace,  Court  of  Special  Sessions  of  the  Peace,  and  police  courts. 
There  is  also  held  in  the  city  one  of  the  nine  United  States  Circuit 
Courts,  and  one  of  the  United  States  District  Courts. 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  Supreme  Court  is  twofold — original  and 
appellate— and  embraces  the  entire  State.  The  appellate  branch  is 
called  the  General  Term,  and  for  its  purpose  the  State  is  divided  into 
four  judicial  departments,  of  which  the  city  of  New  York  is  the  first. 
It  is  composed  of  a  presiding  judge  and  two  associate  justices.  All  the 
sessions  of  this  court  are  held  in  the  county  Court-House.*  The  Supe- 
rior Court  has  jurisdiction  similar  to  that  of  the  Common  Pleas. 

*  The  present  (1K83)  presiding  judge  or  chief  justice  of  this  court  is  Noah  Davis,  one 
of  the  clearest-headed,  most  sagacious,  upright,  impartial,  and  fearless  of  judicial  officers 
in  the  discharge  of  his  duty.  He  is  a  native  of  Haverhill,  New  Hampshire,  where  hr 
was  born  on  September  10,  1818.  He  is  of  English  descent,  and  his  ancestors  were 
among  the  earliest  settlers  in  Massachusetts.  In  1825  his  parents  moved  from  Haverhill 
to  a  village  in  Orleans  County,  in  Western  New  York,  which  was  afterward  named  Albion, 
where  the  subject  of  this  sketch  received  a  good  common-school  education  and  a  few 
months'  tuition  in  an  academic  institution. 

Choosing  the  legal  profession  as  his  life  vocation,  young  Davis  studied  law,  first  at 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


811 


The  functions  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  of  which  Charles  P. 
Daly  is  chief  justice,  have  been  described  in  a  former  chapter.  The 
Marine  Court  has  no  jurisdiction  in  equity,  Its  powers  are  chiefly 
devoted  to  the  adjudication  of  cases  connected  with  seamen.  The 
district  courts  (so  first  named  in  1852)  are  inferior  tribunals  for  the  trial 
of  petty  actions,  and  correspond  to  courts  of  justice  of  the  peace  in 
towns.  The  Surrogate's  Court  lias  jurisdiction  in  the  cases  of  wills  in 
every  form  of  procedure.  The  Court  of  Arbitration,  established  in 
1875,  is  a  court  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  has  already  been 
described.  The  courts  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  and  of  Sessions  are 
branches  of  the  Supreme  Court  set  apart  for  the  trial  of  criminals. 
The  police  courts  are  six  in  number. 

One  of  the  most  important  events  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1873 
was  the  annexation  to  it  of  a  portion  of  the  adjoining-  county  of  West- 
chester, beyond  the  Harlem  River,  comprising  Hit-  villages  of  Mor- 

Lcwiston,  Niagara  County,  and  afterward  at  Black  Rock,  now  a  part  of  the  city  of 
Buffalo.  Admitted  to  the  bar  as  an  attorney,  he  began  practice  as  an  attorney,  first 
at  Gaines,  Orleans  County,  and  afterward  at  Buffalo  a  short  time.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
five  (1843)  he  formed  a  law  partnership  with  the  late  Sanford  E.  Church,  who  at  the 
time  of  his  death  was  chief  justice  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
with  whom  he  continued  in  the  practice  of  law  at  Albion  until  he  (Davis)  was  appointed 
by  Governor  King,  in  the  spring  of  1857,  to  the  office  of  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  State,  to  fill  a  vacancy.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  Judge  Davis  was  elected  to  the  same 
office  for  a  full  term  of  eight  years.  At  the  expiration  of  that  term  he  was  re-elected  for 
another  like  term.  On  account  of  impaired  health  he  resigned  the  office  in  the  fall  of 
18G9,  and  was  immediately  afterward  elected  to  a  seat  in  the  Forty-first  Congress  as  a 
representative  of  the  district  composed  of  the  counties  of  Monroe  and  Orleans. 

Soon  after  his  election  to  Congress  Judge  Davis  formed  a  partnership  in  the  practice 
of  law  in  the  city  of  New  York,  with  the  late  Hon.  Henry  E.  Davies,  then  lately  chief 
justice  of  the  Court  of  Appeals.  Having  been  appointed  by  President  Grant  to  the  ofrico 
of  United  States  attorney  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York,  he  resigned  his  seat  in 
Congress  at  the  close  of  the  long  session,  and  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  new  office  in 
July,  1870.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the  warfare  against  the  ring  of  public  plunderers, 
and  in  1872  he  was  nominated  by  the  Committee  of  Seventy  and  also  by  the  Republican 
convention  for  the  office  of  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York,  in  the  First  Judi- 
cial District,  was  elected,  and  took  his  seat  on  the  bench  on  the  first  of  January,  1873. 
On  the  retirement  from  the  bench  of  the  late  presiding  Justice  Ingraham,  of  that  court, 
Judge  Davis  was  assigned  by  Governor  Dix  to  the  position  of  presiding  justice  of  the 
First  Judicial  Department,  comprising  the  city  of  New  York,  for  the  remainder  of  the 
term,  which  important  position  he  now  fills. 

Judge  Davis  has  ever  been  a  vigilant  guardian  of  the  public  morals,  whether  in  munici- 
pal or  social  affairs.  He  is  a  "terror  to  evil-doers"  of  whatever  kind.  His  latest  effort 
in  the  cause  of  public  morals  was  his  charge  to  the  Grand  Jury  of  the  Court  of  Oyer  and 
Terminer  on  November  12, 1883,  directing  them  to  make  a  thorough  investigation  of  the 
gravest  rumors  against  departments  of  the  city  government,  especially  of  the  comp- 
troller's, public  works,  anil  excise  departments. 


812 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORE  CITY. 


risania,  West  Farms,  and  Ivingsbridge,  increasing  its  area  about  thirteen 
thousand  acres,  and  so  nearly  doubling  its  former  area  of  about  four- 
teen thousand  acres.  The  new  territory  forms  the  Twenty-third  and 
Twenty- fourth  wards  of  the  city.* 

The  same  year  (IS  73)  was  marked  by  financial  disaster  in  the  city 
and  all  over  the  country,  and  was  the  period  of  the  beginning  of  a 
panic  and  years  of  great  depression  in  business  until  the  resumption  of 
specie  payments  by  the  government  and  the  banks  in  1S79.  These 
disasters  were  mainly  due  to  the  reckless  operations  of  speculators  in 
the  Xew  York  Stock  Exchange  for  several  years  previously.  That 
Exchange  is  the  market-place  for  the  purchase  and  sale  of  public 
stocks,  bonds,  and  other  securities.  It  is  located  in  Broad,  near  Wall 
Street.  The  market  value  of  a  seat  at  the  Stock  Board  is  from  825,000 
to  §3o,oou.  About  three  hundred  thousand  or  four  hundred  thousand 
shares  of  stock  change  hands  daily,  and  the  value  of  railroad  and 
miscellaneous  bonds  dealt  in  is  from  $2,000,000  to  $3,000,000.  In 
government  bonds  the  transactions  now  (1883)  average  each  day 
§400,000,  while  private  operations  by  members  amount  to  several 
millions. 

The  Stock  Exchange  building  is  in  the  style  of  the  French  Renais- 
sance. It  is  five  stories  in  height,  and  has  an  L  running  through  to 
Wall  Street.  Its  frontage  is  70  feet  on  Broad  Street  and  102  on  Xew 
Street.  The  Board  room  is  141  feet  by  53  feet  in  size.  The  remainder 
of  the  building  is  divided  into  offices.  The  vaults  in  the  basement  for 
the  security  of  valuables  are  said  to  be  the  most  extensive  in  the. 
United  States. 

The  scene  upon  the  Hoor  of  the  Stock  Exchange  during  business 
hours  is  one  of  indescribable  noise  and  confusion,  especially  during 
times  of  financial  disturbance.  Then  it  presents  a  most  striking  phase 
to  the  student  of  human  nature.  The  business  methods  of  the 
Exchange  are  also  peculiar.  It  is  estimated  that  89,000,000,000  or 
810,000,000,000  are  nominally  transferred  from  hand  to  hand  for  spec- 
ulative purposes  in  the  course  of  a  year.  An  expert  broker  asserts 
that  10,000  shares  a  day  out  of  300,000  shares  sold  would  cover  all 
sold  on  legitimate  investment,  f 

*  The  city  is  now  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  city  of  Yonkers,  on  the  east  by  the 
Bronx  and  East  rivers,  on  the  south  by  the  Bay  of  Xew  York,  including  its  islands  (Gov- 
ernor's, Bedloe's,  and  Ellis's),  and  west  by  the  Hudson  Biver.  Its  extreme  length  is 
now  a  little  more  than  sixteen  miles,  and  its  greatest  width  (from  the  Hudson  to  the 
Bronx)  about  four  and  a  half  miles. 

f  Among  the  most  eminent  members  of  the  Stock  Exchange  a  short  time  before  the 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


813 


In  the  summer  of  the  opening  year  of  this  decade  (1870)  New  York 
was  disturbed  by  another  riot  (the  precursor  of  a  more  serious  one  the 
next  year)  between  two  religious  factions  of  the  Irish  population, 
known  respectively  as  Orangemen  and  Ribbonmen.  The  former  were 
Protestants,  the  latter  were  Roman  Catholics.  The  Orangemen  were 
in  the  habit  of  celebrating  the  battle  of  the  Boyne  (July  12,  N.S.  1690) 
in  Ireland,  when  William  III.  of  England,  the  Protestant  Prince  of 
Orange,  won  a  victory  over  the  Roman  Catholic  troops,  who  wen; 
adherents  of  James  II.  These  celebrations  always  produced  ill-feeling 
among  the  Irish  population. 

In  1870  the  Orangemen  celebrated  the  event  by  a  parade  and  a 
picnic  at  Elm  Park,  on  Ninth  Avenue  (the  old  Bloomingdale  Road), 
where  they  were  attacked  by  a  gang  of  Irish  laborers  on  the  Boule- 
vard, near  by.  Missiles  of  every  kind  and  firearms  were  used,  and 
three  persons  were  killed  and  several  wounded.  The  riot  was  quelled 
by  the  police.  This  affair  created  great  excitement  among  the  respec- 
tive factions,  and  when  the  next  anniversary  approached  the  Ribbon- 
men  openly  threatened  to  attack  the  Orangemen  if  they  dared  to 
parade  on  July  12  (1871)  ;  whereupon  Mayor  Hall  issued  an  order, 
through  the  chief  of  police,  forbidding  the  parade.  Great  Avas  the 
public  indignation  because  of  this  cowardly  surrender  of  the  right  of 
free  assemblage  to  the  dictation  of  a  religious  and  political  faction,  and 
Governor  Hoffman  immediately  revoked  the  mayor's  order. 

Most  of  the  Orangemen  had  arranged  to  celebrate  the  day  in  New 
Jersey,  but  Gideon  Lodge,  of  160  men,  taking  advantage  of  the  per- 
mission given,  paraded  in  the  city.  They  were  escorted  by  numerous 
policemen  and  four  regiments  of  militia,  one  of  them  (the  Ninth) 
mounted.  The  streets  were  lined  with  spectators.  "When  the  proces- 
sion reached  Eighth  Avenue,  between  Twenty-fourth  and  Twenty- 
fifth  streets,  a  shot  fired  from  a  tenement-house  was  the  signal  for  a 

panic  of  1873  was  Le  Grand  Lockwood,  a  short,  stout  man,  whose  almost  youthful 
appearance  showed  that  nearly  thirty  years'  wear  and  tear  in  Wall  Street  had  not  touched 
heavily  his  mental  or  physical  constitution.  He  was  a  remarkable  man.  The  house  of 
Lockwood  &  Co.,  which  he  founded,  for  many  years  had  a  controlling  influence  in  the 
Stock  Exchange.  He  had  been  in  Wall  Street  since  he  was  ahoy  sixteen  years  of  age.  In 
18G0  he  had  accumulated  a  vast  fortune.  His  credit  was  unlimited.  He  built  near  Nor- 
walk,  where  he  was  born  in  1821,  the  costliest  mansion  in  Connecticut.  He  had  engaged 
in  great  railway  enterprises,  and  was  regarded  as  a  model  man  in  even-  respect  in  Wall 
Street.  A  financial  storm  came  and  swept  away  his  millions,  and  in  February,  1872,  Mr. 
Lockwood  died,  a  comparatively  poor  man,  for  he  gave  up  everything  to  his  creditors. 
His  pastor  said  at  his  funeral  :  "  I  have  never  known  a  man  who  endeavored  to  be  more 
true  to  his  country,  his  family,  and  his  God,  than  Mr.  Lockwood." 


814 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


general  onslaught  by  a  mob  gathered  there,  composed  of  Ribbonmen 
and  many  of  the  dangerous  class.  Pavements  were  torn  up  and  chim- 
neys were  pulled  down  for  materials  for  assault.  These  were  rained 
on  the  procession  without  a  sign  of  retaliation  until  private  Page  of 
the  Ninth  was  shot  from  his  horse.  His  assailant  was  immediately 
shot  down,  and  a  volley  of  bullets  was  fired  on  the  rioters.  The  con- 
test was  sharp  and  decisive.  The  mob  was  dispersed,  and  the  proces- 
sion, having  vindicated  the  right  to  free  assemblage,  soon  afterward 
disbanded.  The  city  was  excited  by  a  fearful  panic,  and  business  was 
suspended,  but  order  was  soon  restored.* 

In  the  summer  of  1S75  one  of  the  most  important  works  for  facilitat- 
ing the  operations  of  the  immense  railway  freight  and  passenger  traffic 
centring  in  the  city,  known  as  the  Fourth  (or  Park)  Avenue  Improve- 
ment, was  completed.  The  Grand  Central  Depot,  between  Forty- 
second  and  Forty- fifth  streets  and  Fourth  and  Vanderbilt  avenues, 
afforded  a  joint  terminus  for  three  trunk  railways — the  New  York 
Central  and  Hudson  River,  the  Harlem,  and  the  New  Haven — but  the 
approaches  to  it  from  the  Harlem  River  were  dangerous  to  human  life 
on  account  of  the  continual  passing  of  surface  trains.  To  obviate  this 
four  tracks  were  sunk  into  an  immense  tunnel  extending  from  Forty- 
second  Street  to  One  Hundredth  Street,  and  thence  by  a  viaduct  and 
open  cut  to  Harlem  River.  This  immense  engineering  work  cost  about 
$6,000,000,  one  half  of  which  was  paid  by  the  city  and  one  half  by  the 
roads,  f 

The  next  year  (1870) — the  "  centennial  year" — a  great  public  work, 
having  a  bearing  on  the  commerce  of  the  city  of  New  York,  was 
partially  effected.  At  the  lower  end  of  Long  Island  Sound,  at  the 
entrance  of  the  East  River,  is  Hell  Gate,  a  strait,  so  called  because  of 

*  In  this  conflict  two  soldiers,  Samuel  Wyatt  and  Henry  C.  Page,  and  one  policeman, 
Henry  Ford,  were  killed,  and  twenty-six  policemen  and  soldiers  were  wounded.  Of  the 
rioters,  thirty-four  men,  one  woman,  a  girl,  and  a  boy  were  killed,  and  sixty-seven  were 
wounded.  Archbishop  McCloskey  and  others  of  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  had,  on  the 
previous  Sunday,  earnestly  requested  their  flocks  not  to  interfere  with  the  Orange  pro- 
cession.   They  afterward  excommunicated  the  leaders  of  the  rioters. 

f  The  distance  from  the  Grand  Central  Depot  to  the  Harlem  River  is  four  miles  and  a 
half,  and  this  is  the  extent  of  the  engineering  work.  Iron  bridges  on  brick  arches  over 
the  sunken  tracks  are  at  all  the  street  crossings,  while  iron  railings  fence  in  the  tracks 
on  both  sides.  A  part  of  the  way  the  roads  run  through  a  partly  brick-built  and  partly 
rock-cut  tunnel,  and  over  the  Harlem  Flats  the  roads  are  on  a  stone  viaduct,  the  cross 
streets  passing  underneath  through  arches.  The  space  for  trains  in  the  Grand  Central 
Depot  is  covered  by  a  glass  and  iron  roof  having  a  single  arch  of  a  span  of  200  feet  and 
an  altitude  at  the  crown  of  110  feet.  The  entire  length  of  the  building  is  G95  feet,  and 
its  width  210  feet.    About  125  trains  now  (1883)  ai-rive  and  depart  daily. 


FTFTII  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


815 


a  dangerous  whirlpool  in  it  at  certain  times  of  the  tide,  caused  by 
sunken  ledges  of  rocks.  In  1870  the  National  Government  directed 
the  removal  of  these  obstructions  to  navigation.  The  engineering 
work  was  confided  to  General  Newton.  The  drilling  and  charging  of 
the  rocks  with  nitro-glyeerine  occupied  about  six  years,  and  in  the 
summer  of  1870  the  whole  mass  was  exploded,  and  mainly  effected  the 
desired  result.  The  channel  is  now  perfectly  safe,  but  preparations  for 
another  explosion  are  in  progress. 

In  187<i  the  Emperor  and  Empress  of  Brazil  visited  the  city,  the  first 
of  reigning  sovereigns  who  ever  set  foot  on  the  soil  of  the  Republic 
excepting-  the  King  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  who  came  the  year  be- 
fore. The  royal  Brazilian  visitors  were  informally  received,  and  enter- 
tained as  unostentatiously  as  if  they  had  been  private  tourists  of  dis- 
tinction. Dom  Pedro  Avas  earnestly  interested  in  the  study  of  our 
institutions,  industries,  and  national  resources.  In  July,  after  visiting 
the  great  exhibition  of  the  world's  industries  at  Philadelphia,  he  read 
his  parting  address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  at  a  meeting  of 
the  Geographical  Society  at  Chickering  Hall,  New  York,  and  then 
departed  for  his  broad  dominions  in  South  America. 

In  the  same  year  (187fi)  the  French  residents  of  the  city  presented  to 
it  a  bronze  statue  of  Lafayette,  executed  by  the  eminent  sculptor  Bar- 
tholdi,  in  token  of  gratitude  for  the  substantial  sympatlrv  of  its  citizens 
shown  for  France  during  the  Franco-German  war.  This  statue  was 
unveiled  on  September  6th.  It  stands  at  the  southern  border  of  Union 
Square,  between  the  bronze  statues  of  Washington  and  Lincoln.* 

*  The  bronze  statue  of  Washington,  at  the  south-east  corner  of  Union  Square,  is  eques- 
trian, of  heroic  size.  The  bronze  statue  of  Lincoln,  a  simple  standing  figure,  is  at  the 
south-west  corner  of  Union  Square.  Both  were  executed  by  Henry  Kirke  Brown,  wbo  for 
many  years  has  been  a  resident  of  Newburgh.  The  statue  of  Washington  was  erected 
many  years  ago,  and  was  the  first  public  work  of  art  of  the  kind  ever  set  up  out  of  doors 
in  the  city  of  New  York.  The  money  to  pay  for  it  was  collected  chiefly  through  the 
exertions  of  James  Lee,  Benjamin  H.  Field,  and  other  enterprising  merchants  and  citi- 
zens. The  statue  of  Lincoln  was  erected  by  popular  subscriptions  shortly  after  his 
assassination.  Besides  these  and  the  statues  in  the  Central  Park,  already  mentioned, 
there  is  the  bronze  statue  of  Franklin  in  Printing  House  Square,  erected  in  18G7,  at  the 
expense  of  Captain  De  Oroot,  formerly  a  steamboat  captain  on  the  Hudson  River,  after  a 
design  by  Plassman  ;  the  bronze  statue  of  William  H.  Seward,  by  Randolph  Rogers,  at 
the  south-east  corner  of  Madison  Square,  erected  in  1870  ;  and  the  statue  of  Washington, 
by  J.  Q.  A.  Ward,  erected  in  front  of  the  United  States  Sub-treasury  building,  standing 
on  the  site  of  the  old  Federal  Hall,  where  Washington  was  inaugurated  the  first  President 
of  the  United  States.  It  was  erected  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  was  unveiled  on 
the  centennial  anniversary  of  the  evacuation  of  the  city  by  the  British,  which  took  place 
on  November  25.  1783.    At  the  unveiling  George  William  Curtis,  LL.T).,  pronounced  an 


816 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


It  was  during  this  decade  that  the  elevated-railway  system  was  in- 
troduced into  the  city  of  New  York,  the  question  of  rapid  transit  in 
the  city  practically  solved,  and  its  vast  usefulness  to  every  class  of  citi- 
zens demonstrated  beyond  question. 

For  many  years  the  necessity  for  means  of  more  rapid  transit  in  the 
city,  on  account  of  its  peculiar  shape,  than  the  surface  railways  and 
omnibus  lines  afforded,  had  been  seriously  felt  by  all  classes  of  citizens. 
Various  projects  to  accomplish  this  result  were  proposed  and  aban- 
doned. At  length  an  elevated  railway  seemed  to  be  the  most  feasible, 
and  the  "  Gilbert"  road  was  begun  in  Greenwich  Street  in  186(5.  In 
due  time  two  companies  procured  charters — the  Gilbert  and  New  York 
Elevated.  The  Gilbert  was  at  first  an  object  of  ridicule,  and  after  a 
sickly  existence  of  about  five  years  it  was  "  sold  out  by  the  sheriff." 
The  company  was  reorganized  in  1871,  but  the  enterprise  was  so  ham- 
pered by  the  strong  opposition  of  the  surface  railway  companies,  and 
by  injunctions  and  other  obstacles  in  the  courts  and  the  Legislature, 
that  it  seemed  at  one  time  as  if  the  work  must  be  abandoned.  But  the 
roads  had  continually  gained  friends  and  extended  their  lines.  A  few 
courageous  spirits  had  kept  up  the  good  fight.  They  had  carried  the 
legal  question  to  the  Court  of  Appeals  for  adjudication. 

oration  in  the  presence  of  a  large  multitude  covered  by  umbrellas,  for  rain  was  falling 
copiously  at  the  time.    On  the  pedestal  of  the  statue  is  the  following  inscription  : 

"  On  This  Site  in  Federal  ] lull. 
April  30,  K89, 
George  Washington 
Took  the  Oath  as  the  First  President 
of  the  United  States  of  America." 

In  the  evening,  after  the  unveiling  of  the  statue,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  many 
guests  banqueted  at  Delmonieo's. 

Preparations  are  now  (1883)  in  progress  for  the  erection  in  the  harbor  of  New  York  of 
the  most  colossal  statue  ever  produced.  It  is  by  Bartholdi,  the  French  sculptor,  and  is 
the  gift  of  the  "  people  of  the  Republic  of  France  to  the  people  of  the  Republic  of  the 
United  States,"  as  a  monument  in  memory  of  ancient  friendship,  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  United  States,  and  as  an  expression  of  the  sympathy  of  France  in  the  centennial 
anniversary  of  American  independence.  It  was  conceived  before  that  anniversary,  and 
the  colossal  hand  bearing  a  torch  was  on  exhibition  on  that  occasion,  and  also  afterward 
in  Madison  Square,  New  York.  The  statue  is  of  beaten  copper,  is  148  feet  in  height, 
and  cost  $250,000.  This  sum  was  subscribed  by  250,000  Frenchmen.  The  statue  is  en- 
titled "  Liberty  Enlightening  the  World."  It  is  a  female  figure,  bearing  a  torch  aloft, 
and  wearing  a  coronet  of  stars.  The  National  Government  set  aside  Bedioe's  Island,  in 
the  harbor  of  New  York,  as  a  site  for  the  great  work,  and  promised  to  maintain  it  as  a 
lighthouse.  It  will  stand  upon  a  pedestal  and  base  nearly  150  feet  in  height,  giving  to 
the  whole  work  an  altitude  of  about  300  feet.  The  pedestal  will  cost  about  8250,000.  It 
is  in  course  of  construction  under  the  supervision  of  General  C.  P.  Stone.  It  will  be  paid 
for  with  money  raised  by  voluntary  subscriptions. 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


81? 


In  the  spring  of  1877  the  elevated  road  passed  into  new  hands. 
Cyrus  W.  Field  became  its  president.  With  his  accustomed  energy 
and  sagacity  he  waged  the  war  vigorously,  and  gained  for  the  enter- 
prise hosts  of  friends  and  ample  support.  In  the  fall  the  Court  of 
Appeals  decided  all  questions  in  favor  of  the  elevated  roads.  Their 
charters  were  declared  to  be  constitutional.  Injunctions  were  dis- 
solved, and  all  impediments  were  brushed  away.  On  the  invitation  of 
President  Field  a  large  number  of  distinguished  men — representative 
citizens — gathered  at  Delmomco's  on  December  26th,  to  participate  in 
a  "  feast  of  thanksgiving. "  On  that  occasion  Mr.  Field  said  :  "  In  the 
month  of  May  [1878]  we  hope  to  be  able  to  convey  you  all  by  steam, 
in  roomy,  comfortable  cars,  with  seats  for  all — men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren—swiftly and  smoothly,  without  fatigue  and  without  weariness, 
from  the  Battery  to  the  Central  Park. ' ' 

It  was  done  ;  and  now  (1883)  four  elevated  railway  lines  are  in  suc- 
cessful operation  in  the  city,*  carrying  millions  of  people  annually  be- 
tween the  Battery  Park  and  the  Harlem  River.  They  have  amazingly 
increased  the  conveniences  and  comforts  of  the  working  people,  vastly 
enhanced  the  value  of  real  estate  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city,  and  are 
advantageous  to  all  classes  of  citizens  and  to  almost  every  material 
interest. 

This  decade  and  a  portion  of  the  next  were  marked  by  centennial 
celebrations  of  important  events  in  the  history  of  the  Revolution  or  the 
old  war  for  independence.  The  first  was  the  celebration  at  Lexington 
and  Concord  of  the  skirmishes  there  on  the  19th  of  April,  1775  ;  the 
last  was  the  celebration  of  the  evacuation  of  the  city  of  New  York  by 
the  British  troops  on  November  25,  1783. 

*  The.se  are  the  Second,  Third,  Sixth,  and  Ninth  Avenue  railways.  The  first  starts 
from  Chatham  Square,  connects  there  with  the  Third  Avenue  line,  and  extends  to 
One  Hundred  and  Twenty- seventh  Street  ;  the  second  begins  at  South  Ferry  and  the 
City  Hall,  and  extends,  by  way  of  the  Third  Avenue,  to  the  Harlem  River  ;  the  third 
begins  at  South  Ferry,  runs  through  Greenwich  and  other  streets  until  it  reaches  Sixth 
Avenue,  and  thence  along  that  thoroughfare  to  Central  Park  ;  and  the  fourth,  beginning 
at  South  Ferry,  runs  up  Greenwich  Street  to  Ninth  Avenue,  thence  to  the  Harlem 
River.  The  two  companies  owning  these  roads  -the  New  York  Elevated  and  the  Metro- 
politan— have  been  practically  consolidated  by  the  leasing  of  both  roads  to  the  Manhat- 
tan Company.  At  the  time  when  the  Court  of  Appeals  removed  the  impediments  in  the 
way  of  elevated  roads,  the  seventeen  surface  railroads  in  the  city  were  carrying  an  aver- 
age of  over  100,000,000  persons  a  year.  The  omnibus  lines  carried  14,000,(100  more.  In 
1883  there  were  nineteen  city  railways,  the  aggregate  earnings  of  which  during  the  year 
ending  June  30  was  about  810,000,000.  The  earnings  of  the  Manhattan  Elevated  road 
was  $0,240,000. 


818 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  State  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  of  which  Hamilton  Fish  *  is 
president  (and  also  president  of  the  general  society)  and  John  Schuyler 
secretary,  celebrated  the  centennial  of  the  founding  of  the  society  on 
May  13,  1883.  On  this  occasion  a  number  of  the  officers  and  members 
of  the  society  went  up  the  Hudson  in  the  government  steamer  Chester 

*  Hamilton  Fish,  son  of  Colonel  Nicholas  Fish,  a  distinguished  officer  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, was  born  in  New  York  City  August  3,  1808.  His  father  was  distinguished  at  the 
battles  of  Saratoga  and  Monmouth  in  Sullivan's  campaign,  and  the  siege  of  Yoiktown 
and  the  capture  of  Cornwallis.  After  the  war  he  was  adjutant-general  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  was  active. in  public  affairs  in  the  city,  was  supervisor  of  the  revenue  there, 
and  was  ever  an  efficient  worker  in  the  religious,  charitable,  and  benevolent  institutions  of 
which  he  was  a  member.  His  son  Hamilton  was  thoroughly  educated,  and  at  the  age  of 
nineteen  was  graduated  at  Columbia  College.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1830,  and 
married  Miss  Kean,  a  descendant  of  Herman  Livingston,  of  New  Jersey. 

Mr.  Fish  took  an  active  part  in  politics  in  early  life  as  a  member  of  the  Whig  party. 
In  1842  he  was  elected  to  a  seat  in  Congress.  He  was  nominated  for  the  office  of  lieu- 
tenant-governor of  New  York  in  1846,  but  was  defeated  by  the  Anti-Renters  and  their 
friends,  whose  principles  he  had  denounced.  He  was  subsequently  elected  to  that  office 
on  the  retirement  of  Addison  Gardner.  In  1848  he  was  elected  governor  of  the  State  of 
New  York  by  about  30,000  majority,  and  in  1851  was  chosen  United  States  Senator.  He 
strongly  opposed,  in  that  body,  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  He  has  been  an 
active  member  of  the  Republican  party  from  its  formation  until  now. 

At  the  close  of  his  term  in  the  Senate,  in  1857,  Mr.  Fish  visited  Europe  with  his 
family,  returning  a  short  time  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War.  He  earnestly 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  government,  and  contributed  liberally  of  his  means  and  per- 
sonal services  in  support  of  the  national  authority.  In  18G2  he  was  commissioned  with 
Bishop  Ames  by  the  Secretary  of  War  to  visit  the  Union  prisoners  at  Richmond,  with  a 
view  to  afford  them  relief,  but  they  were  not  permitted  to  enter  the  Confederate  lines  ; 
they  however  made  such  negotiations  that  on  their  return  a  general  exchange  of  prison- 
ers was  agreed  upon. 

General  Grant,  on  his  accession  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  in  18G9, 
invited  Mr.  Fish  to  the  chief  seat  in  his  cabinet,  as  Secretary  of  State,  and  he  performed 
the  difficult  and  delicate  duties  of  that  position  during  eight  years  consecutively,  with 
great  ability  as  a  sagacious  statesman.  He  suggested  the  Joint  High  Commission  for  the 
settlement  of  the  Alabama  claims,  and  conducted  the  matter  to  a  satisfactory  conclusion, 
with  honor  to  himself  and  to  the  nation.  He  disposed  of  other  international  questions 
with  equal  sagacity  and  success. 

When  Mr.  Hayes  entered  the  Presidential  chair  Mr.  Fish  retired  to  private  life,  but 
not  to  the  indulgence  of  ignoble  ease.  He  was  ever  an  interested  spectatoi  of  and  often  a 
participant  in  the  social  movements  of  the  day,  and  watches  the  course  of  public  affairs 
at  home  and  abroad  with  the  deepest  interest.  He  is  active  in  the  religious,  benevolent, 
and  educational  movements  in  society.  In  the  New  Y'ork  Historical  Society  he  has  been 
very  active  and  efficient  as  a  member  and  presiding  officer,  and  in  various  social  organiza- 
tions, such  as  the  Union  League  Club,  he  is  an  efficient  actor.  In  1854  Mr.  Fish  was 
elected  president  of  the  General  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  and  in  1855  he  was  chosen 
president  of  the  New  York  State  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  both  of  which  offices  he  still 
retains.  Mr.  Fish  has  done  much  for  the  honor  and  prosperity  of  his  native  city.  His 
son,  Hamilton  Fish,  Jr..  inherits  in  a  large  degree  the  abilities  of  his  father. 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


819 


A.  Arthur,  and  visited  the  headquarters  of  the  Baron  von  Steuben  at 
the  Verplanck  mansion  in  Fishkill,  where  the  preliminary  measures  for 
the  organization  of  the  society  took  place  ;  also  the  centennial  at  New 
Windsor,  where  that  organization  was  perfected.*  These  were  about 
twenty- five  in  number,  accompanied  by  a  few  invited  guests.  They 
were  saluted  with  cannon  peals  from  the  front  of  "Washington's  head- 
quarters at  Xewburgh. 

Many  social,  religious,  scientific,  artistic,  charitable,  and  benevolent 
institutions  in  New  York  have  first  appeared  since  the  beginning  of  the 
fifth  decade  and  during  the  two  or  three  subsequent  years.  As  most 
of  these  have  a  history  yet  to  be  made,  only  a  brief  notice  of  a  few  of 
them  will  be  given. 

*  This  society  was  founded  in  May,  1783,  by  the  officers  of  the  Continental  army,  for 
the  promotion  of  a  cordial  friendship  and  union  among  themselves,  and  for  mutual  help 
in  case  of  need.  To  perpetuate  the  society,  the  constitution  provided  that  the  oldest 
male  descendant  of  an  original  member  may  be  admitted  into  the  order  *  and  enjoy 
the  privileges  of  the  society.  The  original  constitution  is  written  on  parchment,  and  is 
signed  by  Washington  and  all  the  officers  of  the  cantonment  at  New  Windsor  at  that 
time.  There  were  original!)-  a  general  society  and  thirteen  State  societies.  Many  of  the 
latter  have  ceased  to  exist.  There  are  now  only  those  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island, 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  South  Carolina.  The  Hon.  Ham- 
ilton Fish,  we  have  observed,  is  president  of  the  general  society  and  of  the  New  York 
State  society.  Of  the  latter,  William  H.  Pophain  is  vice-president,  John  Schuyler  secre- 
tary, Alexander  J.  Clinton  treasurer,  Edward  W.  Tapp  assistant  treasurer,  and  the  Rev. 
M.  H.  Hutton  chaplain. 

*  The  order  or  badge  consists  of  a  golden  eagle,  with  enamelling,  suspended  upon  a  ribbon.  On  the 
breast  of  the  eagle  is  a  medallion,  with  a  device  representing  Cincinuatus  at  his  plough,  receiving  the  Ro- 
man senators  who  cams  to  offer  him  the  chief  magistracy  of  Rome. 


CHAPTER  II. 


AMONG  the  various  social  institutions  in  New  York  City  the  club 
holds  a  conspicuous  place.  Club  life  is  not  so  prevalent  here  as 
in  European  cities,  yet  there  arc  about  eighty  clubs,  of  various  shades 
of  character  and  intention,  in  the  metropolis. 

The  Lores  Club  is  one  of  the  earliest  creations  of  the  kind  of  the 
fifth  decade.  In  March,  ls7<>,  six  young  journalists  met  in  the  office 
of  the  New  York  Leader  to  take  steps  for  the  formation  of  a  club 
which  should  bring  into  agreeable  social  contact  journalists  in  particu- 
lar, and  literary  and  professional  men,  artists,  actors,  business  men, 
and  men  of  leisure  of  genial  disposition  and  of  assthetic  tastes.  These 
young  men  were  De  Witt  Van  Euren  of  the  Leader,  A.  C.  Wheeler  of 
the  World,  G.  "W.  Hows  of  the  Erenhxj  Eqtrexx,  F.  A.  Schwab  of  the 
Times,*  W.  L.  Alden  of  the  Citizen,  and  J.  II.  Elliott  of  the  Home 
Journal.  They  organized  an  association,  and  called  it  the  Lotus  Club, 
electing  De  Witt  Van  Buren,  a  brilliant  journalist,  the  first  president. 

*  The  New  York  Tones,  a  leading  metropolitan  journal,  was  founded  in  1851  by  George 
Jones  and  other  capitalists,  and  Henry  J.  Raymond,  who  was  its  editor-in-chief.  Its 
first  issue  was  early  in  September.  It  took  a  high  position  in  journalism  at  the  start  in 
its  business  and  editorial  aspects,  and  has  maintained  it  until  now.  Mr.  Raymond  had 
been  assistant  editor  of  the  Tribune  and  the  Morning  Courier  and  Enquirer  for  several 
years,  and  brought  to  the  new  establishment  scholarship,  great  ability,  experience,  a 
wide  knowledge  of  men,  and  indomitable  industry  and  perseverance. 

Mr.  Raymond  was  a  native  of  Lima,  N.  Y.,  where  he  was  born  January  21,  1820.  He 
graduated  at  the  University  of  Vermont  in  1840,  studied  law,  was  a  contributor  to 
Greeley's  AVir  Yorker,  and  on  the  establishment  of  the  Tribune  became  assistant  editor. 
He  had  acquired  great  distinction  as  a  reporter.  Whenever  Daniel  Webster  was  about  to 
make  an  important  speech  in  Congress  he  sent  for  Raymond  to  report  him.  He  was 
fond  of  controversy.  His  discussion  of  socialism  with  Mr.  Greeley  and  his  controversy 
with  Archbishop  Hughes  may  be  remembered  by  middle-aged  readers.  An  astute  poli- 
tician, he  devoted  his  paper  largely  to  political  topics,  until  after  the  administration  of 
President  Johnson,  whose  reconstruction  policy  he  at  first  supported  but  afterward  aban- 
doned. Elected  a  member  of  the  New  York  Assembly  in  1850,  he  was  chosen  its 
speaker,  and  in  1854  was  elected  lieutenant  governor  of  the  State.  He  assisted  in  the 
formation  of  the  Republican  party  in  1856,  and  wrote  the  address  to  the  people  for  its 
first  national  convention.  In  1857  he  refused  the  nomination  for  governor  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  went  to  Europe  in  lSot),  was  a  warm  supporter  of  the  government  during 
the  Civil  War,  and  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1804.  Mr.  Raymond  died  of  apoplexy, 
after  attending  a  political  meeting,  June  18,  1869. 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


He  died  soon  afterward,  and  A.  Oakey  Hall,  then  mayor  of  the  city, 
was  chosen  to  succeed  him. 

At  the  beginning-  a  reunion  of  the  members  every  Saturday  evening- 
was  pi*ovided  for,  and  the  "  Lotus  Saturday  nights'9  have  become 
famous.  At  these  reunions  might  always  be  found  most  agreeable 
company.  A  good  dinner  early  in  the  evening,  music,  recitations, 
exhibitions  of  new  works  of  art,  and  general  conversation  make  up  the 
chief  pleasure  of  the  evening.  Monthly  art  receptions  are  held  during 
the  winter,  and  there  is  also  a  "'ladies'  day"  once  a  month.  Many 
distinguished  persons  in  literature,  art,  science,  and  the  learned  profes- 
sions have  been  entertained  at  dinner  by  the  Lotus. 

The  home  of  the  Lotus  Club  is  in  a  brown-stone  front  edifice  on  the 
corner  of  Twenty-first  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue.  It  is  elegantly  fitted 
up,  its  walls  garnished  with  paintings,  and  the  whole  furnished  with 
every  appliance  requisite  for  a  first-class  club-house.  Its  membership  is 
limited  to  600  ;  in  1883  it  had  400  members.  The  initiation  fee  is 
$200,  its  annual  dues  $50.  In  1S82-S3  Whitelaw  Reid,  of  the  Tribune, 
was  president,  Thomas  W.  Knox  secretary,  and  Frederick  B.  Nbyes 
treasurer. 

The  Xew  York  Press  Club  was  instituted  in  December,  1S72. 
Active  membership  in  the  club  is  limited  to  persons  employed  on  the 
public  press  of  the  city  and  vicinity,  to  city  correspondents  of  news- 
papers abroad,  and  to  gentlemen  engaged  in  literary  pursuits  other 
than  that  of  journalism.  It  was  first  formed  by  James  Foot  on, 
Jeremiah  J.  Roche,  and  Howard  Carroll,  and  called  the  Journalistic 
Fraternity.  It  received  its  present  name  in  October,  1874.  The  first 
home  of  the  club  was  a  small  room  ;  now  (1883)  it  occupies  a  suite  of 
handsome  rooms  at  Xos.  110  and  121  Nassau  Street,  with  a  fine 
library,  rich  in  files  of  newspapers  and  reference  volumes.  The  Press 
Club  is  one  of  the  best  and  most  flourishing  of  the  clubs  of  New  York, 
and  numbers  over  three  hundred  and  fifty  active  members  and  several 
honorary  members. 

The  officers  of  the  club  in  1883  were  :  Truman  A.  Merriman,  presi- 
dent ;  George  W.  Pearce,  first  vice-president  ;  James  J.  Clancy,  second 
vice-president  ;  J.  W.  Keller,  third  vice-president  ;  William  II.  Stiver, 
treasurer  ;  George  Slater,  financial  secretary  ;  Albert  E.  Berg,  record- 
ing secretary  ;  Augustine  Healy,  corresponding  secretary,  and  H. 
Clay  Lukens,  librarian. 

SoEOSis,  a  club  for  women,  was  organized  in  March,  1808,  with  the 
long-cherished  object  in  view  of  promoting  pleasant  and  useful  relations 
among  women  of  thought  and  culture,  and  render  them  helpful  to  each 


822 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


other.  A  preliminary  meeting  was  held  at  the  house  of  Mrs.  Jennie  C. 
Croly  ("  Jenny  June")  composed  of  the  following  named  ladies  :  Mrs. 
H.  M.  Field,  Mrs.  Professor  Botta,  Miss  Kate  Field,  who  acted  as 
secretar}r  ;  Mrs.  Charlotte  Wilbour,  and  Mrs.  Croly.  These  signed  an 
invitation  to  several  ladies  to  meet  at  the  same  place.  Fourteen 
responded  in  person  ;  an  association  was  formed,  and  at  the  suggestion 
of  Mrs.  Croly  they  adopted  for  it  the  name  of  Sorosis,  a  Greek  word 
signifying  aggregation — the  union  of  many  in  one.  Miss  Alice  Cary 
was  chosen  the  first  president,  but  was  soon  compelled  to  relinquish  the 
position  on  account  of  ill-health,  when  Mrs.  Croly  was  elected  to  fill 
her  place.    She  has  held  the  office  continuously  since  March,  1S75. 

The  club  numbered  in  18S3  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  members, 
divided  into  ten  standing  committees,  each  a  representative  of  some 
active  interest  of  women.  These  committees  have  charge  of  the  social 
meetings,  which  take  place  twice  a  month  at  Delmonico's,  and  provide 
papers  for  oral  discussion.  Music  and  readings  compose  the  entertain- 
ment. Gentlemen  are  not  admitted  to  these  meetings,  but  there  are 
evening  receptions  to  which  they  are  invited.  The  officers  in  1883 
were  :  Mrs.  J.  C.  Croly,  president  ;  Mrs.  Vincent  C.  King,  treasurer, 
and  Miss  Mary  A.  Newton,  secretary. 

There  are  two  Jockey  Clubs  in  New  York — the  American  and  Coney 
Island.  The  former  was  founded  bv  Leonard  Jerome  and  others  in 
1866  ;  the  latter  was  organized  in  1879.  Mr.  Jerome  established 
Jerome  Park,  near  Fordham,  beyond  the  Harlem  River,  and  there  a 
track  was  laid  out  and  convenient  buildings  erected.  The  first  race  there 
occurred  in  September,  1866.  The  American  is  the  most  prominent 
racing  association  in  the  country.  It  has  a  fine  club-house  at  Jerome 
Park.  The  officers  of  the  club  in  1S83  were  :  August  Belmont,  presi- 
dent ;  A.  C.  Monson,  treasurer,  and  J.  EL  Coster,  secretary. 

The  Coney  Island  Jockey  Club  is  composed  of  the  younger  mem- 
bers of  the  American  Club.  Leonard  Jerome  is  its  president.  It  has 
one  of  the  best  race-courses  in  America  at  Sheepshead  Bay,  and  a  fine 
club-house  at  Manhattan  Beach.  New  York  City  and  its  vicinity  has 
always  been  a  popular  centre  for  the  owners  of  thoroughbred  horses. 
At  the  Union  Course,  on  Long  Island,  so  early  as  1825,  Flirtilla  and 
Ariel  ran  a  race  for  a  purse  of  $20,000  a  side. 

The  Germans  of  the  city  have  a  flourishing  club  known  as  the  II  ak- 
monie,  and  the  Spaniards  have  one  called  La  Akmonia.  The  German 
Arion  Society  or  club  is  a  social  and  musical  association  well  known 
in  the  city  through  its  concerts  and  annual  masquerade  balls. 

The  Blossom  is  a  famous  political  club.    It  was  originally  the  Ivy 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


Green,  organized  in  18GL  The  first  president  was  O.  W.  Brennan, 
with  William  M.  Tweed  as  vice-president.  Tweed  was  one  of  its  great 
lights  until  he  was  suddenly  extinguished.  The  president  in  1SS3  was 
Edward  Kearney,  a  distinguished  Tammany  sachem.  The  club  has 
elegant  quarters  on  the  corner  of  Twenty-third  Street  and  Broadway. 

There  are  several  athletic  clubs,  and  clubs  representing  some  special 
intent  or  calling,  like  the  Hide  and  Leather,  the  Merchants',  the  Chess, 
the  Free  Trade,  the  Racquet,  the  Cricket,  and  the  University  Club. 
One  of  the  youngest  of  all  these  is  the  Authors'  Club,  established  late 
in  1SS2,  designed  to  bring  the  older  men  of  letters  into  more  intimate 
relationship  with  younger  men  of  the  fraternity.  It  had  in  less  than  a 
year  from  its  organization  over  fifty  members. 

We  have  observed  that  religious,  benevolent,  and  charitable  institu- 
tions have  multiplied  since  1S70.  Besides  about  four  hundred  and 
seventy-five  church  organizations,  there  were  in  the  city  in  1883  about 
80  asylums  and  homes,  27  dispensaries,  24  hospitals,  20  medical  institu- 
tions, and  about  290  societies,  exclusive  of  the  80  clubs,  which  were 
formed  for  various  objects,  but  largely  for  beneficent  purposes.  Be- 
sides these  societies  there  was  a  large  number  of  secret  societies,  each 
having  a  benevolent  feature.  These  were  respectively  named  United 
American  Mechanics,  Ancient  Foresters,  Druids,  German  Turn  Verein, 
six  Hebrew  societies,  nine  Masonic  lodges,  numerous  Odd  Fellows' 
lodges,  Order  of  Hermann's  Sons,  Order  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  several 
orders  of  temperance  associations,  and  three  benefit  societies.  There 
were  also  fourteen  trades-unions,  all  of  which  have  benevolent  features. 
A  large  number  of  the  institutions  and  associations  referred  to  are  old 
organizations,  yet  comparatively  few  of  them  date  their  origin  previous 
to  1830. 

One  of  the  earliest  of  these  more  modern  benevolent  institutions  is 
the  Working  Women's  Protective  Union,  at  No.  38  Bleecker  Street. 
It  was  founded  primarily  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  and  protecting  the 
large  number  of  women  and  girls  who,  by  the  loss  of  husbands,  fathers, 
or  brothers  in  the  war,  had  been  thrown  upon  their  own  exertions 
for  support.  It  was  founded  by  leading  citizens.  Chief-Justice  C.  P. 
Daly  was  its  first  president.  Its  mission  has  been  (and  is  now)  most 
beneficent.  Before  this  Protective  Union  was  established  the  working- 
women  of  New  York  City  virtually  had  no  legal  protection  against 
unscrupulous  employers,  no  matter  how  just  their  claims,  for  they  could 
not  afford  the  expense  of  counsel.* 


*  The  officers  for  1882-83  were  :   Samuel  Willets  (since  deceased),  president  ;  J,  H 


824 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Tin;  West  Side  Belief  Association  began  its  work  in  1869,  and  in 
1870  a  "  Seaside  Sanitarium"  was  connected  with  it  for  the  relief  of 
the  sick  and  destitute  children  in  the  city  during  the  hot  months, 
This  sanitarium  was  first  established  at  Sea  Yiew,  on  the  Lono-  Branch 
Railroad.  It  was  removed  to  Far  Rockaway  beach  in  1878,  where  it 
still  remains.  During  the  years  1876-83,  inclusive,  over  sixteen  thou- 
sand persons  of  the  class  mentioned,  with  many  mothers,  were  afforded 
the  blessing  of  sea  air  by  this  institution.* 

The  Ladies'  Home  Society  of  the  Baptist  Church  in  the  city  of  New 
York  was  organized  in  February,  1869.  Its  object  is  to  provide  the 
aged,  infirm,  or  destitute  members  of  the  Baptist  churches  in  the  city 
with  board,  clothing,  medical  attendance,  and  their  accustomed  relig- 
ious services,  f 

St.  Mary's  Free  Hospital  fob  Children  was  founded  in  187<>.  It 
is  one  of  the  most  active  and  useful  charities  of  the  metropolis.  It  was 
established  under  the  auspices  of  an  association  of  members  of  the  Frot- 
estant  Episcopal  Church  known  as  the  Friends  of  St.  Mary,  to  aid  the 
religious  order  of  the  Sisterhood  of  St.  Mary,  belonging  to  the  same 
church,  and  which  is  devoted  to  the  care  of  the  sick  and  needy,  the 
orphan  and  the  fallen,  and  the  education  of  the  young,  without  distinc- 
tion of  creed  or  nationality.  It  began  in  a  small  way  on  November  7, 
1870,  at  No.  206  West  Fortieth  Street.  The  increase  of  its  work 
demanding  larger  accommodations,  the  Sisterhood  were  finally  enabled 
to  build  the  spacious  edifice  now  occupied  by  this  hospital  at  No.  407 
West  Thirty -fourth  Street.  It  was  opened  with  156  children  in  1880, 
and  is  pursuing  its  benevolent  work  with  zeal  and  success. 

The  Flower  and  Frfit  Mission  is  a  most  salutary  auxiliary  to  the 
system  of  nursing  in  hospitals  and  elsewhere,  always  bearing  a  healing 
influence  to  the  sick.  It  was  established  in  1870  by  benevolent  ladies, 
who  at  the  beginning  were  met  with  the  utilitarian  remark,  "  You  had 
better  turn  }rour  roses  into  bread."  They  did  better  ;  they  persevered, 
and  won  the  gratitude  of  hosts  of  the  sick  and  suffering,  who  were  so 
benefited  by  their  ministrations  that  they  looked  eagerly  for  the  visits 
of  the  "flower  ladies."    The  work  was  yet  prosecuted  with  zeal  in 

Parsons,  secretary  ;  Moses  S.  Beach,  treasurer,  and  Mrs.  Martha  W.  Ferrer,  superin- 
tendent. 

*  The  officers  for  1882  were  :  Henry  King,  president  ;  Thomas  Burgh,  D.D.S.,  vice- 
president  ;  H.  G.  Ham,  secretary,  and  James  Lewis,  assistant  secretary. 

f  The  officers  for  1882-83  were  :  Mrs.  D.  C.  Hayes,  first  directress  ;  Mrs.  S.  M.  Ambler 
and  Mrs.  D.  Murphy,  second  and  third  directresses  ;  Mrs.  John  M.  Bruce,  treasurer  ; 
Mrs.  Theron  R.  Butler,  corresponding  secretary,  and  Mrs.  William  J.  Todd,  recording 
secretary. 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


825 


1883.  In  1882  contributions  of  flowers  and  fruits  were  received  from 
the  city  conservatories  and  from  151  towns  ;  and  there  were  distrib- 
uted in  the  hospitals,  homes,  and  among  the  sick  poor  in  tenement- 
houses  150,000  bouquets  and  a  large  quantity  of  fruit.  Of  these,  -15,000 
distributions  were  made  in  tenement-houses.  The  reception-rooms 
of  the  mission  are  at  No.  239  Fourth  Avenue. 

There  is  also  a  Bible  and  Fruit  Mission  and  coffee-house  in  Fas! 
Thirty-fourth  Street,  established  in  1875,  for  a  similar  purpose.  In 
connection  with  its  beneficent  work  in  distributing  flowers  and  fruit 
and  delicacies  among  the  sick  is  a  Loan  Relief  Association,  a  lodffinff- 
house,  a  kindergarten  class,  and  a  restaurant." 

An  important  institution  for  the  treatment  of  diseases  of  the  eye  and 
ear  was  founded  in  1809  by  J.  Herman  Knapp,  a  native  of  Prussia, f 
under  the  title  of  the  New  York  Ophthalmic  and  Aural  Institute. 
Its  objects  were  defined  as  the  providing  of  a  dispensary  and  a  hospital 
for  the  treatment  of  diseases  of  the  eye  and  ear,  and  a  school  of 
ophthalmology  and  otology,  the  benefits  of  which  institution  should  be 
given  gratuitously  to  patients  unable  to  pay  therefor,  and  to  other 
patients  for  compensation,  but  all  moneys  so  received  shall  be  applied 
to  the  support  of  the  institution.  \ 

The  Home  for  Old  Men  and  Aged  Couples,  at  No.  487  Hudson 

*  The  officers  for  1883  were  :  Mrs.  M.  A.  Elder,  president  ;  Mrs.  Rebecca  Collins  and 
Mis.  William  F.  Mott,  vice-presidents  ;  Miss  Elizabeth  H.  Rodman,  treasurer  ;  Miss 
Sarah  H.  Murray,  recording  secretary,  and  Mrs.  P.  M.  Clapp,  corresponding  secretary. 
There  is  a  board  of  twenty-five  managers,  all  ladies,  and  an  advisory  I  oard  of  eight 
gentlemen. 

f  Herman  Knapp,  M.D.,  was  born  at  Dauborn,  Prussia,  in  1832.  After  a  full  collegiate 
course  he  began  the  study  of  medicine,  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years,  at  the  University  of 
Munich.  He  continued  it  at  Wiirzburg,  Berlin,  Zurich,  and  Vienna,  and  graduated  at 
the  age  of  twenty-four.  He  then  continued  his  studies  at  Paris,  London,  and  Utrecht, 
and  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight  became  a  lecturer  in  the  University  of  Heidelberg.  In 
18G5  he  was  appointed  professor  of  ophthalmology  in  that  institution,  and  became  dis- 
tinguished for  his  contributions  to  medical  literature,  the  results  of  his  scientific  re- 
searches. 

Dr.  Knapp  came  to  New  York  in  1867,  established  the  Ophthalmic  and  Aural  Institute, 
and  founded  a  purely  scientific  periodical  called  Archives  of  Ophthalmology  anil  Otology, 
published  in  the  English  and  German  languages.    It  has  appeared  regularly  ever  since. 

Dr.  Knapp  is  an  active  member  of  several  medical  societies,  and  is  consulting  surgeon 
to  a  number  of  charitable  institutions  in  the  city.  In  1882  he  was  chosen  professor  of 
ophthalmology  in  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York.  He  holds  a  first  rank  among 
specialists  who  treat  diseases  of  the  eye  and  ear. 

t  The  officers  for  1882-83  were  :  Frederick  S.  Winston,  president  :  William  A.  Wheelock 
and  Dr.  W.  H.  Draper  (since  deceased),  vice-presidents  ;  Eugene  S.  Ballin,  treasurer,  and 
Philip  Bissinger,  secretary.  There  is  a  board  of  twenty-one  trustees,  several  surgeons, 
and  clinical  assistants.    Mrs.  Josephine  Houghtaling  is  rmtron. 


S26  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

Street,  is  devoted  to  the  assistance  of  those  who,  having  been  accustomed 
to  the  comforts  and  in  many  cases  the  elegancies  of  life,  through  loss  of 
property  or  other  causes  find  themselves  in  old  age  without  means  for 
their  support.  The  admission  fee  is  $250  for  each  person.  These  fees 
are  placed  in  the  permanent  fund,  and  cannot  be  used  for  current 
expenses.  The  Home  is  entirely  dependent  upon  voluntary  contribu- 
tions for  its  maintenance. 

The  good  work  began  in  1872.  Probably  no  institution  of  a  similar 
nature  has  had  within  its  walls  so  many  good  representatives  of  profes- 
sional, mercantile,  and  social  life.  A  beautiful  site  for  an  edifice  has 
been  purchased  by  the  trustees,  on  a  height  west  of  Morningside 
Park,  where  they  hope  soon  to  erect  a.  suitable  building.* 

Tin:  Ciii'hch  Mission  to  I ) kaf  Mi  tes  was  established  in  1872  by  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Gallaudet,  D.D.  Dr.  Gallaudet  and  his  father  are  uni- 
versally known  as  the  friends  and  successful  instructors  of  the  so-called 
deaf  and  dumb.  Dr.  Gallaudet  began  his  special  work  among  them  in 
September,  lS.">f>,  when  he  established  a  week-night  Bible-class  for 
adult  deaf  mutes  in  the  vestry-room  of  St.  Stephen's  Church.  He 
founded  St.  Ann's  Church  (of  which  he  is  still  rector)  in  1852,  and  in 
1872  he  became  the  founder  of  the  Church  Mission  to  Deaf  Mutes  for 
their  temporal  and  spiritual  welfare.  Its  beneficent  operations  have  been 
extended  through  the  country  as  far  as  possible.  In  the  course  of  time 
deaf  mutes  were  ordained  deacons,  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the 
Christian  Church.  They  have  been  powerful  helpers  in  the  good  work 
of  the  mission,  which  is  far-reaching  in  its  designs.  It  is  a  perpetual 
blessing  to  the  class  of  citizens  for  which  it  was  founded,  f 

A  new  profession  for  women  has  been  opened  by  the  establishment 
of  training'  schools  for  nurses  in  New  York.  In  1872  the  attention  of 
the  local  visiting  committee  of  the  State  Charities  Aid  Association  ^  was 

*  The  officers  for  1882-83  -were  :  the  Eight  Rev.  Horatio  Potter,  president  ex- officio  ; 
the  Rev.  Isaac  Tuttle,  D.D.,  vice-president  ;  Herman  H.  Cammann,  treasurer,  and 
Henry  Lewis  Morris,  secretary. 

\  The  officers  for  1882-83  were  :  the  Right  Rev.  Horatio  Potter,  president  ;  D.  Colden 
Murray  and  the  Rev."H.  Krans,  vice-presidents  ;  A.  L.  Willis,  secretary  ;  William  Jewett, 
treasurer  ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Gallaudet,  general  manager,  and  the  Rev.  John  Chamberlain, 
assistant  manager.    There  is  a  hoard  of  twenty-five  trustees. 

\  The  originator  of  this  association  is  Miss  Louisa  Lee  Schuyler,  daughter  of  Colonel 
George  L.  Schuyler,  of  New  York  City.  It  was  suggested  to  her  benevolent  mind  by  a 
visit  to  the  Westchester  County  Poorhouse,  not  far  from  her  country  home.  The 
wretched  condition  of  the  inmates  shocked  her.  She  resolved  to  attempt  a  reform.  It 
was  accomplished  in  a  large  degree  in  the  course  of  a  few  months  by  Miss  Schuyler, 
assisted  by  a  few  ladies  of  the  neighborhood.    A  permanent  association  for  the  purpose 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


827 


called  to  the  condition  of  the  sick  in  Bellevue  Hospital.  They  found 
that  condition  extremely  wretched  for  the  want  of  competent  nurses. 
They  set  themselves  to  the  task  of  establishing  in  that  hospital  a  train- 
ing- school  for  nurses,  and  it  was  accomplished.  They  were  met  at  first 
with  opposition  and  indifference  ;  at  the  same  time  they  were  encour- 
aged by  the  warm  approval  of  such  eminent  physicians  as  the  late  Dr. 
James  E.  "Wood,  and  Drs.  Austin  Flint  and  Stephen  Smith.  Dr.  AV. 
Gill  Wylie  offered  to  go  to  Europe  at  his  own  expense  and  gather  infor- 
mation as  to  the  methods  of  similar  institutions  there,  and  it  was  under 
his  direction  that  the  Training  School  for  Nurses  at  Bellevue  was 
organized.  A  competent  person  (Miss  Bowden)  was  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  school,  and  its  good  work  was  speedily  manifest.  There  is  a 
Nurses'  Home  at  No.  420  East  Twenty-sixth  Street.  On  their  gradua- 
tion the  nurses  are  furnished  with  a  diploma,  and  a  badge  bearing  the 
words,  "  Bellevue  Hospital  Training  School  for  Nurses,' '  with  the 
figure  of  a  stork,  the  symbol  of  watchfulness.  This  is  one  of  the  most 
useful  institutions  in  the  city,  and  is  giving  powerful  aid  to  the  work  of 
the  medical  profession. 

In  1875  the  New  York  Homoeopathic  Surgical  Hospital  and  the 
Homoeopathic  Hospital  for  "Women  and  Children  were  merged  into  one 
institution,  which  was  incorporated  under  the  title  of  the  Hahnemann 
Hospital  of  the  City  of  New  York.  Connected  with  it  is  a  Ladies' 
Hahnemann  Hospital  Association.  With  these  auxiliaries  it  is  a  strong 
and  very  flourishing  institution.  Its  objects  are  those  for  which  all 
hospitals  are  founded,  but  the  system  of  homoeopathic  therapeutics  is 
its  distinctive  feature.  The  institution  occupies  a  spacious  building  on 
Fourth  Avenue,  between  Sixty-seventh  and  Sixty-eighth  streets.  The 
corner-stone  was  laid  in  1S77,  on  which  occasion  Salem  H.  Wales,  the 
chairman  of  the  executive  committee,  in  an  address  gave  a  brief  history 
of  its  origin.  Mi-.  AVales  has  been  one  of  its  most  active  officers  from 
its  beorinnino:.* 

The  Provident  Dispexsary  for  Workixo  Womex  axd  Girls  was 
founded  and  established  in  Januaiy,  1880,  by  Miss  Ella  A.  Jennings, 
M.D.,  an  earnest  and  philanthropic  young  woman,  and  a  graduate  of 
the  Woman's  Medical  College  of  New  York.    The  design  of  the  insti- 

of  aiding  the  State  Board  of  Charities  in  its  work  of  reforming  the  pauper  system  in  the 
State  was  organized  in  1872,  and  clothed  with  power  by  the  State.  It  is  doing  noble  work 
in  its  chosen  field  of  labor. 

*  The  officers  in  1882-83  were  :  Salem  H.  Wales,  president  ;  Roger  H.  Lyon,  secretary  ; 
John  T.  Willets,  treasurer  ;  William  Bryan,  BOX,  resident  physician.  Mrs.  Jonathan 
Stnrges  was  president  of  the  Ladies'  Hahnemann  Association. 


828 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YOliK  CITY. 


tution  is  a  noble  one,  and  its  works  have  born  ico&t  beneficent.  It  fur- 
nishes to  working- women  and  girls  an  opportunity  for  examinations,  ad- 
vice, and  treatment,  b}T  one  of  their  own  sex,  at  almost  a  nominal  price. 
There  have  been  during  its  existence  an  average  of  2500  patients  pre- 
scribed for  and  treated  annually.  The  dispensary  is  open  evenings  as 
well  as  dining  the  day,  for  the  accommodation  of  those  who  cannot 
attend  in  the  daytime.  The  dispensary  is  conducted  under  the  auspices 
of  an  advisory  committee  of  well-known  ladies  and  gentlemen.  It  is 
at  No.  144  East  Seventeenth  Street.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are 
more  than  180,000  working  women  and  girls  in  the  city  of  New  York. 
In  contemplation  of  the  suffering  in  such  a  vast  army,  the  value  of  such 
an  institution  may  be  approximately  estimated. 

New  York  City  presents  facilities  for  acquiring  medical  education 
second  .to  none  in  the  world.  American  students  have  now  no  urgent 
necessity  for  seeking  instruction  in  medical  science  in  transatlantic  in- 
stitutions. This  recognized  fact  is  manifested  by  the  hosts  of  students 
who  fill  the  medical  schools  of  New  York  City,  and  for  the  last  two 
years  have  swelled  the  number  of  annual  graduates  to  over  five  hun- 
dred. The  catalogues  of  three  schools  show  the  names  of  pupils  from 
every  State  in  the  Union,  from  South  American  states,  from  Central 
America,  from  Mexico,  from  Brazil,  from  Canada,  and  in  some  instances 
from  France  and  Germany. 

There  are  in  the  city  seven  medical  colleges,  to  all  of  which  the  hos- 
pitals are  open  for  the  acquirement  of  practical  knowledge.  Of  these 
colleges,  four  are  allopathic,  one  is  homoeopathic,  one  is  eclectic,  and 
one  is  a  woman's  college.  These  have  all  received  notice  in  these 
pages.  They  all  have  the  advantages  of  the  best  medical  talent  in  the 
city,  either  in  their  chairs  or  as  consulting  physicians  and  surgeons. 

Foremost  among  the  medical  associations  in  the  city  is  the  New 
York  Academy  of  Medicine,  of  which  Tordyco  Barker,  M.D.j  LL.D.,* 

*  Fordyee  Barker,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  is  one  of  the  most  experienced  and  eminent  physi- 
cians of  our  country.  He  is  of  English  descent,  and  was  Lorn  at  Wilton,  Maine,  May 
20,  1810,  where  his  father  was  a  prominent  physician,  but  in  later  years  resided  in  New 
York,  and  died  there  in  1858.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  graduated  at  Bowdoin 
College  in  1837.  Choosing  the  healing  art  as  a  profession,  he  studied  it  under  Drs. 
Bowditch  and  Perry  in  Boston,  also  at  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  attending  two  full 
courses  of  lectures.  He  was  also  for  a  year  a  private  pupil  of  the  eminent  Dr.  Charles 
H.  Stedman,  and  acquired  valuable  experience  throngh  his  residence  in  the  Chelsea  Hos- 
pital, of  widen  Dr.  Stedman  was  physician.  Eeturning  to  Maine,  he  entered  the  Bow- 
doin Medical  College.  On  his  graduation,  in  1841,  he  received  the  degree  of  M.D.  His 
thesis  on  the  occasion  was  phthisis  pulmonalis,  a  disease  which  had  particularly  com- 
manded his  attention  because  it  had  ended  the  life  of  his  mother  a  short  time  before. 

Determined  to  be  thoroughly  prepared  before  entering  upon  the  practice  of  his  profes- 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880.  829 

is  president.  It  was  founded  in  1S47  by  the  association  of  the  best  and 
most  eminent  men  in  the  profession,  for  the  avowed  purposes  of  culti- 
vating the  science  of  medicine,  the  advancement  of  the  character  and 
honor  of  the  profession,  the  elevation  of  the  standard  of  medical  educa- 
tion, and  the  promotion  of  the  public  health.  Nobly  have  these  pur- 
poses been  pursued  for  more  than  a  third  of  a  century,  with  the 
happiest  results. 

The  labors  of  the  Academy  in  the  work  of  sanitary  reform  alone 
entitle  it  to  the  lasting  gratitude  of  every  dweller  in  the  metropolis. 
"  I  claim  for  it,"  said  Dr.  Willard  Parker,  its  former  president,  "  the 
right  to  recognition  as  the  fountain-head  of  whatever  excellence  New 
York  may  boast  as  to  sanitary  regulations  ;  the  right  to  style  itself  the 

sion,  Dr.  Barker  w  ent  to  Europe,  and  after  devoting  considerable  time  to  study  in  the 
great  hospitals  of  London  and  Edinburgh,  he  went  to  Paris,  where  he  remained  about 
two  years,  studying  under  the  most  eminent  physicians  and  receiving  the  degree  of  M.D. 
With  his  diploma  he  returned  home  and  began  the  practice  of  medicine  at  Norwich,  Conn. 
He  was  called  back  to  Maine  to  take  the  chair  of  obstetrics  in  Bowdoin  Medical  College, 
after  which  he  was  elected  professor  of  midwifery  and  the  diseases  of  women  in  the  New 
York  Hectical  College.  He  had  married,  a  few  years  before,  Miss  Elizabeth  Lee  Dwight, 
of  .Springfield,  Mass.,  an  accomplished  young  lady  of  high  social  position,  and  he  now 
made  New  York  City  his  permanent  home. 

In  1851  Dr.  Barker  was  appointed  obstetric  physician  to  the  Bellevue  Hospital,  and 
held  that  position  until  187L  In  18C1  he  became  professor  of  clinical  midwifery  and  tho 
diseases  of  women  in  the  Bellevue  Medical  College,  which  was  oiganized  that  year,  and 
still  fills  that  chair.  He  is  consulting  physician  to  Bellevue  Hospital,  to  the  Nursery  and 
Child's  Hospital,  to  St.  Elizabeth's  Hospital,  and  surgeon  to  the  Woman's  Hospital.  He 
is  one  of  the  most  active  and  efficient  members  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine.  In  1857  he 
was  elected  its  vice-president.  He  is  now  (1883),  and  has  been  for  several  years,  presi- 
dent of  that  institution.  In  1859  he  was  elected  president  of  the  New  York  State  Medical 
Society,  and  he  is  a  member  of  most  of  the  principal  medical  organizations  in  the  city,  as 
well  as  of  many  charitable  institutions.  He  is  also  an  honorary  Fellow  of  the  Koyal 
Medical  Society  of  Athens,  Greece,  and  of  the  obstetrical  societies  of  London,  Edin- 
burgh, Philadelphia,  and  Louisville  ;  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Physicians,  and  of 
several  State  medical  societies. 

Dr.  Barker  has  made  many  valuable  contributions  to  medical  literature.  The  most 
important  and  widely  known  and  appreciated  of  his  works,  and  the  one  on  which  his 
reputation  as  an  author  chiefly  rests,  is  entitled  "  The  Puerperal  Disease."  It  is  an 
octavo  volume  of  about  six  hundred  pages.  It  has  passed  through  several  editions, 
and  been  translated  and  published  in  the  Italian,  French,  and  German  languages,  at 
Milan.  Paris,  and  Leipzig.  A  leading  French  medical  journal  speaks  of  the  work  as 
follows  :  "  These  lessons  on  the  puerperal  diseases  will  place  Fordyce  Barker  in  the  rank 
of  the  great  clinical  teachers  — Chomel,  Andral,  Trousseau,  Graves,  of  Dublin,  and  Hughes 
Bennett,  of  Edinburgh."  Dr.  Barker's  vast  experience  in  the  special  line  of  puerperal 
diseases  exceeds,  probably,  that  of  any  living  physician,  covering  many  thousand 
cases.  He  stands  confessedly  at  the  head  of  practitioners  in  that  department  of  the 
medical  profession,  and  he  has  a  deservedly  high  reputation  in  every  other  department 
of  the  healing  art. 


830 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


bulwark  between  disease  and  the  public  weal,  and  thus  it  lias  been 
worth  to  this  city  by  its  services,  millions  of  dollars.  For  to  the  Acad- 
emy New  York  is  indebted  for  the  existence  of  its  protecting-  Board  of 
Health — a  board  that  has  warded  off  disease  that  might  have  involved 
the  lives  of  thousands  of  citizens  and  millions  upon  millions  of  prop- 
erty. The  Academy  set  in  motion  that  efficient  Board  of  Health  that 
did  that  great  work  of  stamping  out  cholera  which  saved  untold  lives 
to  the  State.  This  offspring  of  the  Academy  has  inspired  most  of  the 
legislation  upon  hygiene  ever  since,  reformed  our  buildings,  given  us 
improved  sewerage,  checking  the  adulteration  of  food,  and  especially  of 
punishing  those  who  have  destroyed  unnumbered  children  with  adul- 
terated milk." 

For  many  years  the  Academy  longed  for  a  permanent  home.  It  was 
gratified  in  1875  by  the  purchase  of  a  lot  and  building  in  West  Thirty- 
first  Street,  between  Broadway  and  Fifth  Avenue.  Since  then,  by  the 
munificent  benefactions  of  Dr.  Abraham  Dubois  (deceased)  and  the  gen- 
erous subscriptions  of  members  of  the  Academy,  the  building  has  been 
so  enlarged  as  to  cover  the  entire  lot  with  a  library  hall  and  audience- 
room,  which  was  completed  in  1879  and  dedicated  on  October  2d  of 
that  year.  * 

Three  institutions  designed  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  and  estab- 
lished early  in  the  fifth  decade  appear  conspicuous  in  the  social  history 
of  New  York  City.  These  are  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  His- 
tory, the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  and  the  Lenox  Library.  The 
second  one  named  is  within  the  Central  Park,  the  other  two  are  on  its 
borders. 

Tin:  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  of  which  Morris  K. 
Jesup  f  is  now  (1883)  president,  was  incorporated  in  April,  1869,  for  the 

*  The  Academy  possesses  a  valuable  library  of  about  eighteen  thousand  volumes,  open 
free  to  the  profession  and  the  public  for  consultation  and  reference.  A  portion  of  these 
volumes  is  the  gift  of  an  ex-president  of  the  Academy,  Samuel  S.  Purple,  M.D.  They  con- 
sist of  many  very  rare  and  precious  books,  and  were  valued,  at  the  time  of  their  presen- 
tation, at  $10,000.  The  publications  of  the  society  are  several  volumes  of  "  Transac- 
tions," of  the  "  Bulletins,"  and  more  than  fifty  addresses,  memoirs,  reports,  etc. 

The  officers  of  the  Academy  in  1882  were  :  Fordyce  Barker,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  president ; 
James  R.  Learning,  M.D.,  Frank  H.  Hamilton,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  and  Robert  F.  Weir,  M.D., 
vice-presidents  ;  Edwin  F.  Ward,  M.D.,  recording  secretary  ;  John  G.  Adams,  M.D., 
corresponding  secretary  ;  Ilorace  P.  Farnham,  M.D.,  treasurer. 

f  Morris  K.  Jesup  is  of  English  descent  through  both  parents,  who  were  of  the  genu- 
ine Puritan  stock  who  first  settled  New  England.  His  family  for  many  generations  lived 
and  died  in  Fairfield  County,  Conn.  He  is  the  only  survivor  of  the  eight  children  (six 
sons  and  two  daughters)  of  Charles  and  Abby  Sherwood  Jesup.  The  latter  was  a  daughter 
of  the  Hon.  Samuel  B.  Sherwood,  a  graduate  of  Yale,  an  eminent  lawyer,  and  a  member 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-18S0. 


8)31 


purpose  of  establishing  and  maintaining  in  the  city  of  Xew  York  a 
museum  and  library  of  natural  history  ;  of  encouraging  and  developing 
the  study  of  natural  science  ;  of  advancing  the  general  knowledge  of 
kindred  subjects,  and  to  that  end  of  furnishing  popular  instruction  and 
recreation.  Having  raised  money  enough  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks, 
chiefly  from  subscriptions  by  members  of  the  board  of  trustees,*  the 
managers  purchased  a  valuable  collection  of  specimens  of  natural 
history,  including  the  Elliot  collection  of  birds  of  North  America,  and 
the  entire  museum  of  Prince  Maximilian  of  Xeuwied.  By  permission 
of  the  Park  Commissioners  these  acquisitions  were  exhibited  in  the 
Arsenal  buildings  in  Central  Park  until  the  present  fire-proof  building 
(only  a  wing  of  a  contemplated  immense  structure)  was  completed  and 
opened  to  the  public  in  December,  1877.  f  The  collections  are  admi- 
rably disposed  in  halls  or  on  balconies.    The  halls  are  170  feet  in 

of  Congress  in  1817-19.  His  father  was  a  merchant  at  AVestport  (the  old  Saugatuck  dis- 
trict of  Fairfield)  until  he  became  a  member  of  a  large  mercantile  firm  in  New  York  City, 
a  few  years  before  his  sudden  death,  at  the  eaily  age  of  forty-two  years. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Westport,  Fairfield  County,  Conn.,  June  21, 
1830.  His  early  education  was  acquired  in  a  village  school  at  Westport.  Circumstances 
compelled  him  to  forego  the  benefits  of  a  collegiate  education,  and  to  enter  upon  business 
life.  In  1843  he  entered  the  service  of  Rogers,  Ketchum  &  Grosvenor.  There  he  re- 
mained, receiving  his  valuable  business  education,  until  1852,  when  he  began  business 
for  himself  under  the  firm  name  of  Clark  A  Jesup.  Four  years  afterward  he  organized 
the  firm  of  DC.  K.  Jesup  &  Co.  (now,  in  1883,  Jesup,  Paton  &  Co.) 

From  the  beginning  of  his  business  career  Mr.  Jesup  has  earnestly  devoted  a  large 
portion  of  his  time  and  means  to  the  work  of  charity  and  philanthropy.  He  was  one  of 
the  original  founders  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  contributed  liberally 
to  the  fund  for  the  erection  of  its  elegant  and  spacious  home.  For  many  years  he  has  been 
president  of  the  Five  Points  House  of  Industry,  president  of  the  New  York  City  Mission 
Society,  president  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  vice-president  of  the 
Evangelical  Alliance,  and  director  of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum  and  of  other  institu- 
tions. He  was  among  the  first  to  recognize  the  need  of  the  United  States  Christian 
Commission  during  the  Civil  War,  was  efficient  in  effecting  its  organization,  and  was  its 
treasurer. 

The  readers  of  this  work  will  find  the  name  of  Mr.  Jesup  connected  officially  with 
many  of  the  best  and  most  efficient  institutions  in  the  city  designed  for  the  promotion 
of  the  public  good. 

*  The  corporators  or  first  trustees  named  in  the  charter  were  :  John  David  Wolfe, 
Robert  Colgate,  Benjamin  H.  Field,  Robert  L.  Stuart.  Adrian  Iselin,  Benjamin  B. 
Sherman,  William  A.  Haines,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  Howard  Potter,  William  T.  Blodgett, 
Morris  K.  Jesup,  D.  Jackson  Steward,  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  A.  G.  P.  Dodge,  Charles  A. 
Dana,  Joseph  H.  Choate,  and  Henry  Parish. 

f  The  architectural  style  of  the  building  is  modern  Gothic.  The  materials  of  which  its 
walls  are  constructed  are  red  brick  with  yellow  sandstone  door  and  window  trimmings. 
It  is  on  Manhattan  Square,  which  is  now  only  an  annex  of  Central  Park  and  an  orna- 
mental adjunct  of  the  museum,  containing  about  fifteen  acres  of  land. 


S32 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


length  and  60  feet  in  width.  The  collections  have  been  arranged  under 
the  wise  supervision  of  the  learned  Professor  Albert  S.  Bickmore,  the 
superintendent  of  the  museum  ;  and  so  constant  are  the  accessions  to 
the  collections  that  more  room  is  greatly  needed  for  a  propel"  disposi- 
tion of  the  contents  of  the  institution.  It  embraces  in  its  present  posses- 
sions and  its  grand  design  every  department  of  natural  history,*  and 
it  promises  to  speedily  become  one  of  the  grandest  institutions  of  the 
kind  in  the  world.  It  is  already  a  very  popular  place  of  resort, 
especially  for  young  people.  The  number  of  its  visitors  during 
the  year  ending  September  1,  1883,  was  fully  60,000; f  It  is  a  poten- 
tial instructor  of  the  people. 

The  Lenox  Library  with  its  buildings  and  ground  is  the  free  gift  to 
the  citizens  of  Xew  York  from  the  late  James  Lenox,  and  is  the  noblest 
and  costliest  of  the  munificent  benefactions  the  city  of  his  birth  has 
received  at  his  hands.  The  library  building  is  on  Fifth  Avenue,  front- 
ing Central  Park,  between  Seventieth  and  Seventy-first  streets.  The 
institution  was  incorporated  in  1870,  and  by  its  charter  was  placed  in 
the  charge  of  nine  trustees — namely,  James  Lenox,  William  II.  Aspin- 
wall,  Hamilton  Fish,  Robert  Kay,  Alexander  Van  Rensselaer,  Daniel 
Huntington,  John  Fisher  Sheafe,  James  Donaldson,  and  Aaron  Belk- 
nap. The  trustees  hold  the  office  for  life,  filling  all  vacancies  in  their 
own  number  by  a  vote  of  two  thirds. 

*  In  addition  to  the  ordinary  departments  of  natural  history,  the  museum  has  an 
economic  department,  in  which  is  illustrated,  by  specimens,  the  products  of  the  forests 
of  our  Republic  which  are  useful  in  the  arts  and  manufactures.  This  department  was 
established  through  the  liberality  of  the  president  of  the  museum,  Morris  K.  Jesup. 
It  also  has  a  most  attractive  department  of  North  American  archaeology  and  ethnology. 
A  lecture  department  for  oral  instruction  in  natural  history  was  inaugurated  in  1879  by 
Professor  Rickmore,  who  gives  lectures  at  the  museum  at  stated  times  to  classes  made 
up  of  teachers  in  the  public  schools  of  the  city.  The  instruction  imparted  to  these 
teachers  is  given,  as  designed,  to  their  pupils,  and  so  the  children  of  the  public  schools 
are  reached  by  these  lectures. 

\  Admission  to  the  museum  is  free  of  charge  on  Wednesdays,  Thursdays,  Fridays,  ana 
Saturdays  each  week.  The  conditions  of  its  support  are  :  the  trustees  are  to  furnish  all 
the  exhibits  and  to  keep  them  accessible  to  the  public  ;  the  Department  of  Public  Parks, 
as  the  representative  of  the  city  and  State,  furnishes  the  grounds  and  buildings,  equips 
the  saaie,  and  keeps  them  in  repair.  A  contribution  of  $1000  at  one  time  constitutes 
the  giver  a  patron,  $500  a  fellow,  and  $100  a  life-member  ;  or  books  and  specimens  of 
twice  the  amount  in  value  may  be  accepted  instead  of  money. 

The  first  officers  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History  were  :  John  David  Wolfe, 
president  :  Robert  L.  Stuart  and  William  A.  Haines,  vice-presidents  ;  Theodore  Roose- 
velt, secretary,  and  Howard  Potter,  treasurer.  The  officers  for  1883  were  :  Morris  K. 
Jesup,  president  ;  Robert  Colgate  and  D.  Jackson  Steward,  vice-presidents  ;  Hugh 
Auchincloss,  secretary  ;  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  treasurer  ;  Professor  Albert  S.  Bickmore, 
superintendent. 


FIFTH  DECADE,  18T0-18S0. 


833 


The  Lenox  Library  was  established  for  "  the  public  exhibition  and 
scholarly  use  of  the  most  rare  and  precious  of  snch  monuments  and 
memorials  of  the  typographic  art  and  the  historic  past  as  have  escaped 
the  wreck  and  been  preserved  to  this  day."  It  is  unlike  any  other 
library.  It  is  not* a  great  general  library  intended  in  its  endowment 
and  equipment  for  the  use  of  readers  in  all  or  most  of  the  departments 
of  human  knowledge,  yet  it  is  absolutely  without  a  peer  or  even  a 
rival  in  the  special  collections  to  which  the  taste,  generosity,  and  liberal 
scholarship  of  its  founder  devote  I  his  best  gifts  of  intellectual  ability 
and  ample  pecuniary  resources.  "  It  represents  the  favorite  studies  of 
a  lifetime  consecrated,  after  duo  offices  of  religion  and  charity,  to  the 
choicest  pursuits  of  literature  and  art." 

The  imposing  structure  which  contains  this  rare  collection  of  literary 
and  art  treasures  is  built  of  Lockport  limestone,  which  resembles  light 
granite.  It  has  a  frontage  on  Fifth  Avenue  of  192  feet,  and  114  feet 
on  each  of  the  two  cross  streets,  and  is  three  stories  in  height,  with  a 
basement.  Nearly  completed  at  the  beginning  of  1S77,  the  collection 
of  paintings  and  sculpture  was  first  opened  t:>  visitors  in  .January  of 
that  year.  The  entire  expense  of  the  building  and  its  furnishing, 
amounting  to  fully  SI, 000, Quo,  was  borne  by  Mr.  Lenox  alone.  He 
also  endowed  the  institution  with  a  permanent  fund  of  nearly  $250,000. 
With  a  very  few  exceptions,  the  entire  contents  of  the  building— its 
exceedingly  rare  and  costly  books,  its  paintings  and  sculpture,  and  its 
ceramics — are  the  gifts  of  the  generous  founder.*    "Mr.  Lenox,  as  this 

*  The  library  is  specially  rich  in  specimens  of  the  earlier  products  of  the  art  of  print- 
ing, and  of  first  and  complete  editions  of  famous  works  — fcr  example  :  copies  of  ever}' 
known  edition  of  Bunyan's  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  of  Milton's  "  Paradise  Lost,"  of 
Walton's  "  Complete  Angler,"  etc.  It  contains  specimens  ot  nearly  every  known  edi- 
tion of  the  Bible,  of  Shakespeare's  works,  and  of  conspicuous  American  publications. 
There  may  be  seen  a  perfect  copy  of  the  famous  Mazarin  Bible  (so  called),  printed,  it  is 
believed,  by  Gutenberg  and  Faust  about  1450— the  first  complete  book  printed  from 
movable  type.  There  are  two  copies  of  the  "  Biblia  Pauperum,"  a  small  book  of  forty 
pages,  printed  from  engraved  blocks  in  the  manner  of  the  Chinese  printing.  It  was 
issued  about  1430,  or  about  twenty  years  before  movable  type  was  invented.  There  is 
also  a  fragment  of  "  Selections  from  the  Histories  of  Troy,"  printed  by  Caxton  about 
1474,  the  first  book  printed  in  the  English  language  ;  also  a  copy  of  the  first  book  printed 
on  the  American  continent,  by  Roman  Catholics  in  Mexico,  who  set  up  the  first  printing 
press  seen  in  America.  The  library  also  contains  a  very  valuable  collection  of  manuscript 
books,  including  beautiful  copies  of  the  Bible  several  hundred  years  old,  written  on 
paper  and  vellum.  The  number  of  books  in  the  collection  in  1883  was  about  thirty 
thousand  volumes,  including  the  library  of  the  late  Evert  A.  Duyckinck,  of  New  York, 
who  presented  it  to  the  Lenox  Library  a  short  time  before  his  death,  in  1878. 

The  art  gallery  occupies  a  greater  part  of  the  central  portion  of  the  second  story,  and 
contains  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  paintings,  chiefly  modern,  executed  by  distin- 


834 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


collection  attests,  was  one  of  the  most  learned  and  industrious  collectors 
during  a  long  life. 

Only  four  of  the  original  trustees  of  the  Lenox  Library  were  living 
in  1883.  Mr.  Lenox,  president  of  the  trustees,  died  early  in  1SS0.* 
Robert  Lenox  Kennedy  has  since  filled  that  office,  with  George  H. 
Moore,  LL.D.,  as  treasurer.  The  institution  has  been  fortunate  in  the 
selection  of  its  Immediate  managers.  Dr.  Moore  is  its  general  superin- 
tendent, lie  brought  to  that  service  the  experience  of  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century  as  librarian  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society.  The 
librarian  is  S.  Austin  Allibone,  LL.D.,  the  learned  author  of  "  A  Dic- 
tionary of  English  Literature  and  British  and  American  Authors, 
Living  and  Deceased  "  —a  work  of  vast  research  and  labor,  containing 
30,000  biographies  and  literary  notices.  These,  gentlemen  are  among 
the  most  accomplished  and  thoroughly  informed  bibliographers  in  the 
country. 

guished  American  and  foreign  artists.  Among  the  most  valuable  of  these  is  the  cele- 
brated painting  by  Munkacsy,  the  eminent  Hungarian  artist,  representing  "  Blind  Milton 
Dictating  Paradise  Lost  to  His  Daughters."  It  was  presented  to  the  institution  by  its 
president,  Mr.  Kennedy. 

*  Mr.  Lenox  on  his  death-bed  requested  that  no  particulars  of  his  early  life  and  career 
should  be  published.  He  was  the  only  son  of  a  successful  Scotch  merchant,  Robert 
Lenox,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  had  five  sisters,  all  but  one  of  whom  married. 
James  was  born  in  New  York  City  in  the  year  1800,  and  received  an  education  appropri- 
ate to  his  station  and  large  inheritance.  It  was  expanded  by  rare  opportunities  of  for- 
eign travel,  with  wide  experience  of  men  and  things.  His  inheritance  was  large,  and  he 
had  the  opportunity  to  indulge  his  tastes  to  the  fullest  extent.  He  never  married,  lived 
a  secluded  life,  and  had  very  few  intimate  friends.  His  private  charities  were  very 
extensive,  but  known  only  to  himself  and  the  recipients.  His  public  benefactions  were 
munificent.  In  every  relation  in  life  his  influence  was  that  of  a  thorough  Christian  gen- 
tleman inspired  by  the  sense  of  duty  and  governed  by  the  obligations  of  justice.  He 
died  calm  and  peaceful,  as  he  had  lived,  at  his  home  in  his  native  city,  on  February  17, 
1880,  in  the  eightieth  year  of  his  age.  His  enduring  monument  is  the  great  library  he 
had  gathered  and  presented  to  the  city  of  New  York, 


4 


CHAPTEE  III. 


HE  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  situated  on  the  eastern  border 


J-  of  the  Central  Park,  opposite  Eighty-second  Street,  is  the  product 
of  the  cultivated  taste  and  refinement  and  the  wealth  and  generosity 
of  the  citizens  of  the  metropolis.  It  is  a  permanent  coadjutor  of  other 
art  associations  in  the  city  designed  to  cultivate  a  knowledge  and  a 
love  for  the  fine  arts  of  design  in  every  department. 

A  memorial  from  American  citizens  in  Europe  suggesting  the  impor- 
tance of  establishing  a  museum  of  art  in  the  City  of  New  York,  was 
transmitted  to  the  Hon.  John  Jay  as  president  of  the  Union  League  Club, 
some  time  during  the  summer  of  1869.  It  was  referred  to  the  art  com- 
mittee for  consideration.  The  committee  consisted  of  Geo.  P.  Putnam, 
Chairman,  J.  F.  Kensett,  J.  Q.  A.  Ward,  W.  Whittredge,  Geo.  A. 
Baker,  V.  Colyer,  and  S.  P.  Avery,  Secretary.  At  the  October  meet- 
ing of  the  club  it  was  voted  to  allow  the  use  of  the  theatre  to  the  art 
committee  for  convening  a  gathering  of  citizens  to  consider  the  object 
urged  by  the  committee.  The  meeting  was  duly  held  there  on  Novem- 
ber, 23,  1869.  William  Cullen  Bryant  presided  and  S.  P.  Avery  and 
A.  J.  Bloor  acted  as  secretaries.  Notable  persons  made  addresses,  and 
a  general  committee  of  fifty  were  appointed  to  carry  on  the  work. 
Several  of  these  gentlemen  became  trustees  and  have  so  continued.  Mr. 
Putnam  was  one  of  the  most  active  and  esteemed  members  until  his 
death." 

The  association  was  organized  in  the  spring  of  1870  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  John  Taylor  Johnston  +  president,  and  a  board  of  executive 

*  The  corporators  named  in  the  charter  were  :  John  Taylor  Johnston,  William  Cullen 
Bryant,  John  A.  Dix,  George  W.  Curtis,  William  H.  Aspinwall,  Christian  E.  Detmold, 
Andrew  H.  Green,  William  J.  Hoppin,  John  F.  Kensett,  Edwin  D.  Morgan,  Howard 
Potter,  Henry  G.  Stebbins,  William  T.  Blodgett,  Samuel  L.  M.  Barlow.  George  F. 
Comfort,  Joseph  H.  Choate,  Frederick  E.  Church,  Robert  Gordon,  Richard  M.  Hunt, 
Robert  Hoe,  Jr.,  Eastman  Johnson,  Frederick  Law  Olmsted,  George  P.  Putnam,  Lu- 
cius Tuckerman,  J.  Q.  A.  Ward,  S.  G.  Ward,  Theodore  Weston,  and  Russell  Sturgis,  Jr., 

f  John  Taylor  Johnston  was  born  in  New  York  City  April  8,  1820.  His  father  was 
John  Johnston,  of  the  mercantile  film  of  Boorman  &  Johnston,  and  his  mother  (who 
lived  until  she  was  ninety-six  years  of  age)  was  a  daughter  of  John  Taylor,  another  emi- 
nent New  York  merchant.    Both  parents  were  of  Scotch  lineage. 

At  the  age  of  twelve  years  young  John  was  placed  in  the  high  school  at  Edinburgh. 


836 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


officers.  Having-  acquired  some  excellent  paintings  of  the  various 
European  schools,  the  first  public  exhibition  was  given  at  No.  681  Fifth 
Avenue,  in  February,  1872.  The  following  year  the  famous  di  Cesnola  * 

where  he  remained  a  year  and  a  half,  when  he  entered  the  University  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  of  which  his  father  was  one  of  the  founders  and  benefactors.  He  graduated  at  the 
age  of  nineteen,  chose  the  profession  of  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1843.  At 
the  early  age  of  twenty-eight  years  he  was  chosen  president  of  the  Central  Railroad  of 
New  Jersey,  and  held  that  position  twenty-eight  years,  when  impaired  health  compelled 
him  to  resign.  At  an  early  period  he  became  largely  interested  in  railroads  and  the 
anthracite  coal-trade,  the  development  of  which  became  the  chief  employment  of  his 
business  life.  His  literary  culture  and  his  a>sthetic  tastes  impelled  him  to  devote  much 
time  and  money  to  the  gathering  of  a  very  valuable  library  and  a  rare  and  costly  gallery 
of  paintings  and  sculpture  and  articles  in  other  departments  of  the  arts  of  design.  He 
was  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  earnest  promoters  of  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art, 
and  on  its  organization  in  1870  he  was  chosen  its  first  president,  which  position  he  still 
holds.  From  the  beginning  he  has  been  its  most  devoted  and  liberal  supporter.  He  is 
also  president  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and  is  an  active  and  generous 
officer  in  many  religious,  social,  literary  and  benevolent  organizations  in  the  city  of  his 
birth.  Mr.  Johnston  has  always  acted  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  his  remark  to  a 
friend  nearly  forty  years  ago  :  "  I  consider  it  just  as  much  my  duty  to  give  to  benevolent 
institutions  as  to  pay  my  butcher's  bill."  From  his  youth  he  has  had  .unple  means  to 
act  upon  this  sentiment. 

In  1850  Mr.  Johnston  married  Miss  Colles,  of  New  Orleans.  With  a  charming  domestic 
circle  around  him,  he  dispenses  hospitality  with  a  generous  hand.  From  his  young  man- 
hood he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  is  an  elder  therein.  In 
every  relation  in  life— business,  social  and  domestic — Mr.  Johnston  is  an  exemplar 
worthy  of  imitation. 

*  Emmanuele  Pietro  Paolo  Maria  Luigi  Palma  Count  di  Cesnola  was  born  at  Riva- 
rolo,  near  Turin,  Italy,  June  20,  1832.  His  family  came  originally  from  Spain,  but  since 
1282  they  have  resided  in  Piedmont,  and  as  early  as  the  fourteenth  century  were  invested 
with  feudal  privileges  and  power  over  the  region  where  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born.  There  are  now  two  distinct  families  of  Palma  in  Piedmont — that  of  the  counts  of 
Cesnola,  of  which  he  is  the  representative  head,  and  that  of  the  counts  of  Borgofranco, 
the  latter  being  a  branch  issuing  from  the  di  Cesnolas. 

L.  P.  di  Cesnola  (as  he  signs  his  name)  received  a  thorough  collegiate  education,  after 
which  he  was  placed  in  a  seminary,  with  a  view  to  his  preparation  tor  the  priesthood. 
He  preferred  a  secular  life,  with  more  activity,  and  when  in  1848  war  broke  out  between 
Austria  and  Sardinia,  he  left  the  seminary  and  entered  the  Sardinian  army  as  a  volun- 
teer. He  behaved  so  bravely  that  in  1840  he  was  promoted  to  a  lieutenancy  on  the 
battlefield.  He  was  then  the  youngest  commissioned  officer  in  the  Sardinian  army, 
being  a  little  mor  >  than  seventeen  years  old.  After  the  close  of  this  war  he  was  sent  to 
the  Royal  Military  Academy  at  Cherasco  to  complete  his  military  education,  where  he 
was  graduated  in  1851.  He  served  in  the  army  several  years,  and  early  in  18fi0  came  to 
America,  landing  at  New  York.  In  June,  1861,  he  married  Miss  Mary  Isabel  Reid, 
daughter  of  Captain  Samuel  C.  Reid,  U.  S.  N. ,  the  brave  commander  of  the  privateer 
General  Armstrong  in  her  struggle  with  several  British  ships  in  the  harbor  of  Fayal,  in 
1814. 

Di  Cesnola  entered  the  United  States  volunteer  service  in  August,  1861,  as  lieutenant- 


\ 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


837 


collection  of  Cypriote  antiquities  was  added  to  the  museum,  being  pur- 
chased by  the  president  and  deposited  in  the  museum,  and  subsequently 
becoming  its  property.  This  addition  made  more  ample  room  neces- 
sary, and  the  museum  was  removed  to  the  Douglas  mansion,  in  Four- 
teenth Street,  where  it  remained  until  its  removal  to  its  present  per- 
manent home  in  Central  Park,  furnished  by  the  Park  Commissioners 
in  accordance  with  an  act  of  the  Legislature  which  authorized  them 
to  provide  a  site,  erect  buildings,  and  keep  them  in  repair  for  the 
use  of  the  institution,  the  latter  to  bear  the  expenses  of  all  the  collec- 
tions within  its  walls — their  purchase,  arrangement,  and  preservation. 
The  present  building  was  completed  and  first  occupied  by  the  museum 
in  the  spring  of  1879. 

The  institution  has  established  industrial  art  schools  for  popular 
education  in  drawing,  modelling,  etc.,  acquisitions  which  are  useful  in 
most  of  the  industrial  pursuits.  It  has  been  the  recipient,  within  a 
comparatively  short  period,  of  various  valuable  gifts,  which,  with  the 
other  collections,  form  the  subject  of  several  descriptive  hand-books. 

colonel  of  the  Fourth  New  York  Cavalry,  and  throughout  the  war  he  performed  gallant 
services  .wherever  opportunity  offered.  Receiving  early  the  commission  of  colonel  he 
led  a  brigade  of  cavalry  much  of  the  time,  winning  honors  everywhere.  In  a  cavalry 
charge  he  was  severely  wounded,  made  a  prisoner  of  war,  and  was  confined  in  Libby 
Prison  a  long  time.  He  was  with  Sheridan  in  his  campaign  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley. 
President  Lincoln,  a  few  days  before  his  assassination,  appointed  di  Cesnola  Ameri- 
can consul  at  Cyprus.  The  delivery  of  his  commission  to  him  was  delayed.  It  was 
given  him  by  President  Johnson,  but  before  the  close  of  the  year  (1865)  he  was  at  his 
post  of  duty,  where  he  remained  until  1877,  when  the  consulato  was  abolished. 

It  was  while  di  Cesnola  was  in  Cyprus  that  he  rendered  to  the  history  of  the  fine  arts  the 
inestimable  service  of  discovering  and  collecting  the  specimens  of  Cypriote  antiquities 
now  displayed  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  and  which  furnish  the  long  missing  link 
connecting  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  art  with  that  of  Greece.  Scientific  and  literary  socie- 
ties conferred  membership  on  him  ;  the  Kings  of  Italy  (Victor  Emmanuel  and  Humbert) 
gave  him  several  knightly  orders  ;  so  also  did  the  King  of  Bavaria.  In  1882  King  Hum- 
bert caused  a  large  gold  medal  to  be  struck  in  his  honor,  which  was  sent  to  him  as  a 
New  Year's  gift.  Both  Columbia  and  Princeton  colleges  conferred  on  him  the  honorary 
degree  of  LL.D. 

In  1872  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  as  we  have  observed,  secured,  by  purchase, 
the  Cypriote  antiquities  collected  up  to  that  date,  and  di  Cesnola  was  granted  an  ex- 
tended leave  of  absence  to  visit  New  York  and  arrange  and  classify  them.  He  returned 
to  Cyprus  and  made  other  important  discoveries  and  collections.  These  were  also  secured 
to  the  museum.  In  1877  he  made  New  York  his  permanent  place  of  abode.  He  was 
appointed  a  trustee  of  the  museum,  and  when  it  was  removed  to  its  present  Lome  he  was 
made  its  secretary  and  director.  Since  that  day  all  the  time  and  energy  of  di  Cesnola 
have  been  spent  for  the  single  purpose  of  promoting  the  success  and  growth  of  the 
museum. 


838 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  latter  greatly  facilitate  the  study  of  the  collection  by  the  casual 
visitor  and  the  student.*  There  is  also  a  small  but  very  valuable  col- 
lection of  American  antiquities.  Twice  as  much  space  as  the  present 
building  affords  is  required  for  the  proper  display  of  the  possessions  of 
the  museum,  which,  at  the  beginning  of  1SS3,  were  valued  at  more 
than  $618,060.  The  institution  is  entirely  free  of  debt.  The  public 
are  admitted  to  the  museum  four  days  out  of  the  week — Wednesday, 
Thursday,  Friday,  and  Saturday.  + 

There  are  several  organizations  in  the  city  designed  to  promote 
the  cultivation  of  the  arts  of  design — the  National  Academy,  the  art 
schools  of  the  Cooper  Union,  the  American  Water-Color  Society,:}:  the 
Ladies'  Art  Association,  the  Decorative  Art  Society,  §  etc.  Among  the 

*  These  hand-books  are  descriptive  of  pictures  by  the  old  masters,  potteries  of  the 
Cesnola  collection,  sculptures  of  the  Cesnola  collection,  Oriental  porcelains,  loan  collec- 
tions, loan  collections  of  paintings  and  sculptures,  collections  of  casts  from  ivory  carv- 
ings, the  Vanderbilt  collection  of  drawings,  and  the  Johnston  collection  of  engraved  gems. 

f  A  contribution  of  $1000  at  one  time  constitutes  the  contributor  a  patron,  §500  a 
fellow  in  perpetuity,  and  $200  a  fellow  for  life.  Honorary  fellows  for  life  may  also  be 
elected  by  the  trustees.  The  trustees  are  elected  annually  by  the  corporators,  twenty-one 
in  number,  to  serve  for  seven  years,  one  seventh  retiring  every  year.  The  comptroller  of 
the  city  of  New  York,  the  president  of  the  Department  of  Public  Parks,  and  the  president 
of  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design  are  ex- officio  members  of  the  board  of  trus- 
tees. The  officers  for  1883  were  :  John  Taylor  Johnston,  president  :  William  C.  Prime 
and  D.  Huntington,  vice-presidents  ;  Henry  G.  Marquand,  treasurer  ;  L.  P.  di  Cesnola, 
secretary  and  director,  and  William  L.  Andrews,  librarian. 

The  museum  building  occupied  in  1883  is  but  a  portion  of  a  contemplated  vast  struct- 
ure. It  is  218  feet  long  and  95  feet  wide,  built  of  red  brick  with  sandstone  trimmings, 
externally.  It  is  lighted  through  an  immense  arched  glass  roof  and  large  wall  windows. 
Its  foundation  is  on  a  solid  rock. 

I  This  society  was  founded  in  1861?.  Before  this  time  a  room  had  been  set  apart  at  the 
annual  exhibitions  at  the  Academy  of  Design  for  the  display  of  water-colors.  Several 
prominent  artists  perceived  the  rapidly  growing  taste  for  paintings  in  water  colors,  and 
the  skill  exhibited  in  this  department  of  art.  and  not  wishing  it  to  take  a  secondary  place, 
conceived  the  idea  of  a  separate  exhibition  and  of  a  society  devoted  to  the  interests  of 
painting  in  water  colors.  The  subject  was  already  attracting  much  attention  abroad.  A 
society  was  organized  with  the  object  of  furthering  the  interest  of  this  department  of  art, 
the  holding  of  annual  exhibitions  where  the  works  of  its  members  might  be  displayed 
and  sold,  and  of  bringing  together  artists  who  paint,  themselves,  and  are  anxious  for  the 
further  development  of  painting  in  water  colors.  The  society  has  been  eminently  suc- 
cessful. Its  annual  exhibition  at  the  Academy  of  Design,  in  January  each  year,  forms 
one  of  the  most  interesting  attractions  for  cultivated  people  in  the  city.  The  officers  of 
the  society  for  1883  were  ;  T.  W.  Wood,  president  ;  Henry  Farrer,  secretary.  The  rooms 
of  the  society  are  at  No.  51  West  Tenth  Street. 

S  The  Society  of  Decorative  Art  was  founded  early  in  1877  for  the  establishment  of 
rooms  for  the  exhibition  and  sale  of  women's  work  in  the  arts  of  design— drawing, 
painting,  embroidery,  etc. — and  for  the  diffusion  of  a  knowledge  of  decorative  art  among 
women  and  their  training  in  artistic  industries.    It  aims  to  encourage  art-workers  to 


FIFTH   DECADE,  1870-1880. 


839 


more  recently  fanned  art  associations  the  Art  Students"  League 
appears  the  most  notable.  It  was  suggested  by  the  determination  of 
the  council  of  the  National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design,  in  1*7.3, 
not  to  reopen  the  department  of  schools  until  in  December.  This 
determination  caused  much  disappointment  among-  the  art  students  in 
Xew  York  and  those  who  designed  to  return,  and  in  July  some  of  the 
former  announced  their  intention  of  forming  an  association  to  be  called 
the  Art  Students'  League,  with  the  approbation  and  under  the  charge 
of  the  accomplished  Professor  L.  E.  Wilmarth,  the  conductor  of  the 
schools  of  the  Academy.  The  League  was  organized  in  September, 
1875,  and  incorporated  in  1878.  Its  objects  Avere  the  establishment 
and  maintenance  of  an  academic  school  of  art  that  should  furnish  a 
thorough  course  of  instruction  in  drawing,  painting,  sculpture,  artistic 
anatomy,  perspective,  and  composition.  It  is  not  intended  for  begin- 
ners, and  no  elementary  instruction  is  given.    The  students  must  have 

master  the  details  of  one  kind  of  decoration,  and  thereby  secure  a  reputation  that  will 
have  a  commercial  value  ;  to  assist  those  who  have  worked  unsuccessfully  in  choosing 
a  popular  direction  for  their  labor  ;  to  open  classes  of  instruction  ;  to  establish  a  circu- 
lating library  of  hand-books  on  decorative  art ;  to  seek  methods  for  largely  disposing  of 
the  products  of  the  labor  of  the  workers,  and  to  develop  the  art  of  needlework.  The 
officers  of  the  society  for  1883  were  :  Mrs.  W.  T.  Blodgett,  president  ;  R.  B.  Magoon, 
treasurer,  and  Mary  Cadwallader  Jones,  secretary. 

Auxiliary  to  the  last-named  society  is  that  of  the  New  York  Exchange  for  Woman's 
Work,  designed  for  the  benefit  of  women  of  cultivation  in  reduced  circumstances,  by 
enabling  them  to  help  themselves  in  any  proper  manner  in  procuring  remunerative  em 
ployment,  especially  in  the  production  of  drawings,  paintings,  embroidery,  etc.,  which 
do  not  present  the  excellence  required  by  the  standard  of  the  Society  of  Decorative  Art. 
That  society  received  in  one  year  1200  applications,  comparatively  few  of  which  could  be 
favorably  considered,  in  accordance  with  the  rules  of  the  society.  To  aid  those  who 
failed  was  the  impulse  which  gave  birth  to  the  exchange.  The  benevolent  heart  and 
mind  of  Mrs.  William  G.  Choate  conceived  it.  Early  in  1878  she  invited  a  few  friends 
to  her  house  to  consider  the  matter.  Several  other  meetings  were  held.  A  society  was 
formed  in  April,  and  it  began  its  labors  on  Decoration  day — May  30.  Its  prescribed 
duty  was  and  is  that  of  a  commission  merchant.  It  receives  and  sells  the  productions  of 
women's  genius  and  their  fingers,  and  returns  to  the  worker  the  proceeds,  less  a  com- 
mission for  the  Support  of  the  exchange.  Its  first  article  sold  fetched  $10.  The 
exchange  was  incorporated  in  November,  1878.  The  first  officers  appointed  were  :  Mrs. 
W.  G.  Choate,  president  :  Mrs.  Lucius  Tuckerman,  Mrs.  William  E.  Dodge,  Mrs.  Dr.  F. 
N.  Otis,  and  Mrs.  H.  H.  Anderson,  vice-presidents  :  Mrs.  Dr.  C.  K.  Agnew,  recording 
secretary  ;  Miss  Eleanor  Agnew,  assistant  recording  secretary  ;  Mrs.  F.  B.  Thurber,  cor- 
responding secretary,  and  Mrs.  E.  A.  Packer,  treasurer. 

This  institution  is  doing  a  vast  amount  of  good  in  a  quiet  way.  The  originally  chosen 
officers  still  (18S3)  conduct  its  affairs  upon  the  principle  embodied  in  its  business  motto  : 
"  Keep  out  of  debt  ;  waste  nothing,  and  spare  nothing  which  shall  contribute  to  its  pro- 
cess as  a  benevolent  enterprise, " 


840 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


attained  a  certain  standard  before  they  can  be  admitted  to  the  lowest 
(Antique)  class. 

The  membership  of  the  League  is  limited  to  artists  and  students — 
ladies  and  gentlemen  who  intend  to  make  art  a  profession.  The 
instructors  are  selected  from  the  best  known  of  the  younger  American 
artists.  The  ladies  and  gentlemen  work  together  excepting  in  the  life 
classes,  which  are  arranged  for  the  alternate  use  of  the  room.  They 
draw  from  nude  or  draped  figures.  The  school  is  divided  into  several 
classes — Antique,  Life,  Portrait.  Composition,  and  Sketch.  Lectures 
on  artistic  anatomy  are  given  once  a  week  during  the  season  of  eight 
months — October  1st  to  May  1st.  The  schools  are  open  every  day  in 
the  week — morning,  afternoon,  and  evening. 

The  entire  support  of  the  institution  is  drawn  from  the  tuition  and 
members'  fees.  A  monthly  reception  is  given.  These  receptions  pre- 
sent a  charming  collection,  not  only  of  cultivated  people,  but  of  rare 
sketches,  finished  paintings,  and  other  products  of  the  arts  of  design, 
bric-a-brac,  and  curiosities  in  art.  The  League  is  full  of  enthusiasm,  is 
highly  successful,  and  is  performing  the  most  efficient  and  salutary 
service  in  the  realm  of  art  cultivation. * 

*  Art  culture  in  the  city  of  New  York  has  made  wonderful  progress  during  a  score  of 
years  just  passed.  Perhaps  nothing  will  better  illustrate  this  and  the  number  and  value 
of  works  of  art  in  the  city  than  the  following  statistics  of  sales  and  collections,  which 
have  been  kindly  prepared  for  this  work  by  Mr.  S.  P.  Avery,  who  is  universally  known 
and  esteemed  in  the  art  world  : 

Fifty  years  ago  the  sale  of  paintings  was  mainly  confined  to  the  works  of  old  masters,  or 
copies  from  them.  For  many  years  Michel  Paff  was  the  only  dealer.  He  imported  many 
fairly  good  old  pictures,  some  of  which  turn  up  nowadays.  The  Hunter  collection  (of 
Hunters  Island)  was  a  noted  one  in  its  day.  Later  on  "  Old  Levy"  distributed  by 
auction  large  numbers  of  old  pictures  :  this  was  before  the  days  of  Allston,  Cole,  Inman, 
Mount,  Durand,  and  others.  Philip  Hone's  was  one  of  the  earliest  collections  in  which 
appeared  paintings  by  living  artists -Leslie,  Newton,  etc.  Lnman  Reed  was  one  of  the 
earliest  patrons  of  American  art,  and  the  sum  of  $500  for  a  single  picture  was  considered 
a  very  extravagant  price,  the  paying  of  which  almost  endangered  the  credit  of  a  man  in 
business.  Gradually  came  the  formation  of  modest  collections  of  paintings  by  American 
artists  ;  then  others  were  formed,  which  were  supplemented  by  foreign  pictures,  generally 
by  third-rate  English  artists  :  then  others  of  more  pretension  were  gathered,  such  as  that 
of  the  late  W.  P.  Wright,  who  built  a  gallery  at  Weehawken,  N.  J.,  his  most  famous 
picture  being  the  "Horse  Fair,"  by  Rosa  Bonheur,  now  in  the  gallery  of  Mrs.  A.  T. 
Stewart.  Marshall  O.  Roberts  was  long  noted  for  his  love  of  art  and  for  his  liberality  to 
artists,  which  continued  until  his  recent  death.  Mr.  August  Belmont,  on  his  return  from 
the  Hague,  where  he  resided  some  years  as  the  American  minister,  brought  over  a 
number  of  very  choice  French,  Dutch,  and  Belgian  pictures,  which  formed  the  nucleus 
of  a  collection  that  for  a  long  time  remained  the  most  valuable  in  the  city.  Mr.  Boker 
brought  to  New  York  and  publicly  exhibited  for  several  years  the  collection  known  as  the 
"  Diisseldorf  Gallery."    This  led  to  large  importations  of  paintings  by  German  artists. 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1S70-18S0. 


841 


The  rooms  of  the  League  are  at  }so.  38  "West  Fourteenth  Street. 
The  officer's  for  1883  were  :  AV.  St.  John  Harper,  president,  and  Miss 
G.  Fitz  Randolph,  corresponding  secretary. 

The  auction  sale  of  the  collection  of  Mr.  James  M.  Burt  in  the  panic  times  of  1857  proved 
that  works  of  art  were  a  good  investment.  In  1803  came  the  sale  of  Mr.  John  Wolfe's 
collection — French,  German,  Flemish,  Dutch,  and  a  few  English  and  American  pictures. 
They  realized  $114,000,  an  amount  never  before  reached  in  this  country,  and  for  many 
years  unsurpassed.  The  dispersion  of  these  tine  works  assisted  very  much  in  the  found- 
ing of  collections  by  Messrs.  J.  T.  Johnston,  li.  L.  Stuart,  A.  T.  Stewart,  Robert  Hoe,  A. 
Healy,  and  others.  In  18(54  S.  P.  Avery  sold  by  auction  a  number  of  French  paintings  and 
water-color  drawings  ;  $36,000  was  realized,  a  Troyou  bringing  the  largest  sum,  $3150.  In 
1867  he  sold  his  private  collection  of  120  cabinet  pictures  by  American  artists  for  $18,250, 
a  head  by  Elliott  bringing  the  largest  price,  $800.  In  1868,  181  paintings  of  various 
schools  were  sold  for  $44,850,  one  by  Bouguereau  for  $1550.  In  1872,  156  paintings 
brought  $47,670,  a  Boughton  reaching  the  sum  of  $2200.  The  same  year  the  Vanderlip 
collection  sold  for  $23,600,  ono  by  Riefstahl  reaching  $2700.  In  1875  Mr.  Gandy  sold  his 
collection  for  $36,570;  a  Bierstadt  reaching  $2100.  In  1876  Colonel  J.  Strieker  Jenkins's 
collection  sold  for  $;J0,025,  an  Escosura  fetching  the  highest  price,  $2600.  During  the 
same  year  the  galleries  of  Mr.  John  Taylor  Johnston,  who  for  some  twenty  years  hail  been 
a  most  generous  patron,  were  scattered.  The  collection  consisted  of  101  works  in  oil,  132 
in  water-colors,  and  some  marble  statues.  The  artists  of  various  nations  were  included  in 
this  famous  gathering, and  the  sales  realized  the  unprecedented  sum  of  $328,286,  Church's 
"  Niagara"  bringing  the  highest  price,  $12,500.  In  1877  the  II.  Id.  Olyphant  collection 
of  paintings,  exclusively  by  American  artists,  realized  $43,620,  Kensett's  "  Autumn  on 
Lake  George"  selling  for  $6350.  In  1868  the  late  Governor  Latham's  (of  California) 
collection  of  83  pictures  brought  $101,205—  Ger.mie  the  largest  amount,  $5500.  In  1879 
the  joint  collections  of  Messrs.  Sherwood  and  Hart  realized  the  sum  of  $77,080,  a  Knaus 
reaching  $3300.  In  the  same  year  Mr.  Albert  Spencer  sold  71  paintings  for  $82,500,  a 
Geronie  bringing  $6000.  In  1880  the  Nathan  collection  brought  $30,117.  a  Bouguereau  at 
$6600.  The  same  year  Mr.  J.  Abner  Harper  sold  144  works  for  $106,790,  a  Van  Marcko 
realizing  $3725.  In  1882  a  part  of  the  collection  of  Messrs.  Morton  and  Hoe  sold  for 
$50,570  ;  one  by  Regnault  brought  $5900.  In  1883,  66  pictures  belonging  to  Mr.  J.  C. 
Bnukle  sold  for  $66,195,  one  by  Millet  for  $3850.  The  fact  that  during  the  dates  given 
above  thirty-four  collections  of  works  of  art,  sold  at  auction  by  Messrs.  Leeds,  Somer- 
ville,  Leavitt,  and  other  auctioneers,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Avery,  realizing  the 
total  of  $1,427,870,  will  give  an  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  art  trade.  The  highest  price 
ever  paid  at  auction  was  for  Church's  "  Niagara,"  bought  for  the  Corcoran  Gallery. 
At  the  Blodgett  sale  his  "  Heart  of  the  Andes"  brought  $10,000.  Mr.  James  G.  Bennett 
paid  for  a  small  Meissonier,  eight  by  ten  inches,  at  the  Johnston  sale,  $11,500  ;  at  the 
same  sale  Turner's  "  Slave  Ship"  brought  $10,000.  At  Mr.  John  Wolfe's  second  auction, 
1882,  a  Bouguereau  sold  for  $10,100. 

The  well-known  house  of  Messrs.  George  A.  Leavitt  &  Co.  sold  in  1871  the  Alexander 
White  collection  for  $91,000  ;  in  1872,  Legrand  Lockwood's  gallery  for  $76,520,  a  Bier- 
stadt bringing  $5100  ;  the  same  year  a  portion  of  the  gallery  of  Mr.  Belmont  for  $52,250. 
In  1873  the  Everard  collection  brought  $96,480  ;  in  1877  the  Ncwcombe  collection  real- 
ized $34,900,  and  the  Maynard  collection  $49,000.  In  1881,  the  Reid  collection,  $70,600  ; 
and  the  Coale  collection,  $71,477.  In  1882  the  John  Wolfe  collection  of  82  works  realized 
$131,815  :  a  work  by  Cot  sold  for  $9700. 

These  statistics  show  how  important  the  art  interest  has  become.    There  is  no  way  of 


842 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


One  of  the  most  important  discoveries  in  the  realm  of  art  is  the 
process  of  photographic  engraving,  made  by  Mr.  John  C.  Moss,  the 
chief  of  the  Moss  Engraving  Company,  of  Xos.  533-537  Pearl  Street. 

arriving  at  the  sura  of  money  annually  spent  in  New  York  for  objects  of  art  of  various 
kinds  at  private  sale  ;  the  Messrs.  Leavitt's  sales  alone  often  foot  up  over  half  a  mill- 
ion. The  sums  invested  by  the  leading  dealers — Knoedler,  Schaus,  Avery,  Reichard, 
and  others  —  would  be  a  surprise  to  most  persons.  Then  there  are  the  sales  made  at  the 
annual  exhibitions  of  the  National  Academy  of  Design,  Society  of  American  Artists,  the 
Water-Color  Society,  Artists'  Fund,  etc.  The  purchases  made  at  one  of  the  exhibitions 
of  the  National  Academy  have  reached  as  high  as  $40,000.  There  is  no  accounting  for  the 
amount  annually  sold  by  the  artists  themselves,  and  they  number  over  five  hundred, 
their  productions  going  all  over  the  Union,  and  even  to  foreign  countries.  As  an  evidence 
of  the  interest  taken  by  the  public  in  the  exhibitions  of  works  of  art,  we  may  refer  to  the 
Loan  Collection  exhibited  in  1S7C  at  the  Academy  of  Design  and  the  Metropolitan 
Museum  of  Art  (then  in  Fourteenth  Street).  The  sum  netted  was  nearly  $40,000,  which 
was  applied  to  the  extinguishment  of  the  debts  of  these  institutions.  The  paintings 
shown  at  one  of  the  annual  receptions  of  the  Union  League  Club  have  been  insured  for 
the  sum  of  $400,000.  At  the  present  time  (December,  1883)  there  is  on  exhibition  in  the 
galleries  of  the  National  Academy  of  Design  a  loan  collection  of  paintings  and  various 
objects  of  art,  rare  and  valuable,  which  are  insured  for  over  one  million  dollars,  the 
object  being  to  raise  funds  to  assist  in  erecting  on  Bedloe's  Island  a  pedestal  for  Bar- 
tholdi's  statue  of  Liberty  enlightening  the  World. 

The  money  annually  spent  for  European  and  Oriental  porcelain  is  large,  sing'e  vases 
often  selling  for  from  one  thousand  to  five  thousand  dollars.  It  frequently  happens  that 
paintings  by  such  celebrated  artists  as  Meissonier,  Rousseau,  Troyon,  Millet,  Decamps, 
Gi'rome,  Bouguereau,  Knaus,  Rosa  Ronheur,  Diaz,  Munkacsy,  Fortuny,  etc.,  are  sold  at 
prices  ranging  from  one  thousand  to  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  late  Mr.  A.  T.  Stewart 
paid  Meissonier  the  sum  of  300,000  francs  ($60,000)  for  his  picture  called  "  1807,"  troops 
defiling  past  Napoleon  on  their  way  to  battle,  the  duty  and  other  expenses  increasing 
the  cost  to  $07,000.  This,  we  believe,  is  the  largest  amount  ever  paid  for  any  painting 
imported  into  this  country,  and  it  is  believed  that  if  it  were  now  offered  for  sale  it  would 
bring  a  much  larger  price.  Recently  Mr.  H.  (1.  Marquand  of  this  city  purchased  from 
the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne  a  head  of  a  burgomaster  on  a  small  canvas,  by  Rembrandt, 
for  which  ho  paid  .€5000  ($25,000)  and  expenses. 

To  go  into  detail  regarding  the  number  and  value  of  the  thousands  of  works  of  art  in 
collections,  now  numbering  hundreds,  would  require  too  much  space,  and  would  be 
monotonous  in  the  repetition  of  the  names  of  world-renowned  artists.  Masterpieces  of 
art  can  be  found  in  the  homes  of  persons  whose  unobtrusive  lives  and  modest  establish- 
ments would  seem  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  such  possessions.  In  addition  to  the 
large  amount  invested  in  works  of  art  in  this  city,  we  must  also  bear  in  mind  the  conse- 
quence New  York  is  assuming  as  the  art  centre  of  the  Union,  from  whence  is  distributed 
works  of  art  to  the  most  remote  States.  It  is  not  within  the  province  of  this  article  to 
refer  to  collections  formed  outside  of  this  city,  bnt  we  may  mention  the  one  so  recently 
and  so  liberally  made  by  that  generous  resident  of  Brooklyn,  Mr.  George  I.  Seney.  It  is 
in  numbers  hardly  second  to  any  in  this  city,  and  in  artistic  and  pecuniary  value  is  not 
outranked  by  many.  The  freedom  with  which  he  loans  his  treasures  for  any  good  cause 
is  worthy  of  commendation  and  imitation.  Messrs.  A.  Healy,  John  T.  Martin,  H.  T. 
Cox,  Kenyon,  Graves,  Howell,  and  others  have  collections  of  more  or  less  note  in  our 
sister  city. 


PROMINENT  BUILDINGS. 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


843 


So  early  as  1813  Nicephoras  Tsiepce,  a  Frenchman,  attempted  to  pro- 
duce engraved  plates  for  printing  from  by  the  aid  of  sunlight.  He 
died  without  accomplish  big  such  a  result,  but  he  won  renown  as  a 
coworker  with  Daguerre  in  perfecting  a  great  discovery.  Others  sub- 
sequently attempted  to  produce  engravings  or  etchings  by  heliographic 

It  may  be  interesting  to  put  in  alphabetical  order  the  names  of  some  o£  the  best  known 
collectors—  viz.  :  J.  J.  and  William  B.  Astor,  R.  Arnold,  S.  F.  Larger,  >S.  L.  M.  Barlow,  J. 
A.  Bost-vick,  August  Belmont,  T.  R.  Butler,  H.  R.  Bishop,  J.  G.  Bennett,  G.  11.  Blan- 
chaid,  E.  S.  Chapin,  George  C.  Clarke,  T.  B.  Clarke,  James  B.  Colgate,  S.  J.  Colgate, 
Israel  Corse,  R.  L.  Cutting,  Charles  A.  Dana,  Joseph  W.  Drexel,  W.  B.  Dinsmore,  E. 
Davis,  J.  M.  Fiske,  H.  C.  Fahnestock,  H.  51  Flagler,  R.  Gordon,  M.  Graham,  C.  K. 
Garrison,  Jay  Gould,  F.  Harper,  J.  A.  Harper,  H.  Hilton,  R.  H.  Halstead,  C.  P.  Hunting- 
ton, H.  0.  Havemeyer,  Theodore  Havemeyer,  G.  G.  Haven,  Robert  Hoe,  estate  of  Samuel 
Hawk,  ML  K.  Jesup,  R.  L.  Kennedy,  L.  Kountze,  H.  G.  Marquand,  Mrs.  E.  D. 
Morgan,  J.  P.  Morgan,  Mrs.  Charles  Morgan,  D.  H.  McAlpin,  J.  Milbank,  O.  D.  Munn, 
T.  B.  Musgrave,  D.  O.  Mills,  H.  V.  Newcombe,  C.  J.  Osborne,  W.  H.  Osborn,  Dr.  F.  N. 
Otis,  J.  W.  Pinchot,  J.  L.  Riker,  W.  Rockefeller,  Mrs.  M.  O.  Roberts,  James  A.  Raynor, 
Albert  Spencer,  Charles  S.  Smith,  James  H.  Stebbins,  Mrs.  Paran  Stevens,  Mrs.  A.  T. 
Stewart,  Mrs.  R.  L.  Stuart,  Mrs.  Jonathan  Sturges,  L.  Tuckerman,  W.  H.  Vanderbilt, 
C.  Vanderbilt,  W.  K.  Vanderbilt,  F.  W.  Vanderbilt,  P.  Van  Volkenbergh,  Mrs.  B.  D. 
Worsham,  C.  F.  Woerishoffer,  Miss  C.  Wolfe.  Many  of  these  collections  are  not  large, 
but  each  one  contains  gems  of  cost  and  high  merit,  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  most  famous 
galleries.  It  would  be  impertinent  to  dwell  upon  the  cost  of  individual  paintings,  or  to 
estimate  their  aggregate  value,  but  some  general  knowledge  may  be  gathered  from  the 
facts  given  above.  We  may,  however,  venture  to  say  that  these  eighty  collections  will 
easily  average  in  value  one  hundred  thousand  dollars— say  S8, 000,000  in  the  aggregate — 
but  it  is  quite  probable  that  forty  of  these  would  realize  that  amount. 

The  most  valuable  of  any  of  these  collections  is  that  belonging  to  Mr.  William  H. 
Vanderbilt.  His  two  superb  galleries  contain  about  two  hundred  pictures,  the  average 
cost  and  artistic  merit  of  which  are  much  beyond  those  of  any  collection  in  the  country. 
Their  value  must  considerably  reach  over  a  million  dollars.  We  have  not  the  space  to 
catalogue  these  gems  of  art — they  are  well  known  to  thousands  of  our  people,  thanks  to 
the  facilities  given  by  the  owner,  who  so  generously  shares  with  the  whole  country  the 
study  and  enjoyment  of  the  masterpieces  of  art  produced  by  the  great  painters  of  the 
past  fifty  years— the  best  known  of  which,  like  Meissonier  (one  of  whose  works  is,  for  its 
size,  probably  the  most  valuable  painting  in  the  country),  Millet,  Diaz,  Tadema,  Rous, 
seau,  Dupre,  Domingo,  Knaus,  Rosa  Bonhenr,  etc.,  are  represented  by  the  half  dozen. 
The  formation  of  this  grand  collection,  made  with  such  care  and  cost,  gives  assurance 
that  it  will  always  remain  intact,  a  possession  for  our  city. 

But  few  of  our  collectors  have  regular  picture  galleries,  like  Mr.  Vanderbilt.  Belmont, 
Stewart,  and  Roberts,  but  have  their  possessions  distributed  about  their  houses.  This 
precludes  the  admission  of  the  public,  but  most  of  the  owners  freely  loan  them  from 
time  to  time  for  charitable  and  other  purposes,  and  thus  they  become  known  and  are 
enjoyed  by  large  numbers  of  persons.  For  want  of  space  the  names  of  many  worthy 
patrons  of  art  are  omitted,  as  well  as  other  facts  of  much  interest  :  but  those  we  have 
mentioned  will  show  the  reader  how  extended  and  important  is  the  art  impetus  of  the 
time. 


S-14 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


processes,  but  it  was  reserved  for  Mr.  Moss  to  perfect  what  others  had 
failed  to  do. 

Mr.  Moss  entered  upon  his  investigations  and  experiments  in  the  fall 
of  1S58,  after  reading  accounts  of  the  attempts  of  Professor  Grove,  of 
England,  to  etch  upon  a  daguerrian  plate  by  means  of  electricity.  He 
was  then  a  resident  of  a  village  in  the  interior  of  Pennsylvania.  He 
needed  a  galvanic  battery  for  his  experiments.  Unable  to  buy  one,  he 
constructed  a  rude  one  himself.  His  first  experiments  promised  speedy 
success,  but  he  was  compelled  to  wait  and  suffer  in  expectation,  pov- 
ert}r,  and  wasting  privations  and  worriment  for  many  years  before  lie 
grasped  the  coveted  prize.  The  story  of  his  struggles  forms  one  of  the 
most  interesting  chapters  in  the  romance  of  inventions,  worthy  of  the 
minutest  record,  but  space  will  allow  only  the  most  meagre  outline 
sketch. 

Mr.  Moss,  working  as  a  journeyman  printer  in  Philadelphia,  after 
trying  various  processes  for  etching  on  zinc  and  lithographic  stone, 
tried  the  gelatine  process,  by  whic  h  a  matrix  was  formed,  and  in  it  a 
metal  plate  cast,  and  from  this  impressions  might  be  printed  typo- 
graphically. After  spending  nearly  three  years  in  experiments  with 
this  process,  he  became  satisfied  that  pictures  equal  in  finish  to  good 
Avood-engravings  could  not  be  produced  by  it.  He  tried  other  meth- 
ods, and  finally,  in  1867,  he  succeeded  in  making  good  relief  plates 
for  typographic  printing.  Mr.  Moss  had  removed  to  New  York  City, 
where  he  brought  his  discovery  into  practical  use,  and  finally  to  its 
present  perfection.  "With  others  he  formed  the  Actinic  Engraving 
Company,  which  was  incorporated  in  1871.  It  was  succeeded  the  next 
year  by  the  Photo-Engraving  Company.  Mr.  Moss  dissolved  his  con- 
nection with  this  company  in  1880  and  founded  the  establishment  now 
known  as  the  Moss  Engraving  Company.  It  is  believed  to  be  the  most 
extensive  engraving  establishment  in  the  world,  employing  about  300 
persons,  who  do  the  work  of  2000  wood-engravers.  This  company  has 
turned  out  millions  of  engravings,  for  every  conceivable  purpose,  in 
apparent  perfection,  and  yet  Mr.  Moss  contemplates  great  improve- 
ments. 

The  process  of  producing  pictures  which  was  discovered  by  Mr.  Moss 
is  not  patented.  Some  of  the  most  important  elements  in  it  are  not  of 
a  kind  that  a  patent  would  protect.  Much  of  the  work  is  performed 
openly,  and  that  which  is  not  is  performed  by  a  few  persons  whose 
interest  and  trustworthiness  make  its  secrets  safe  in  their  hands.  The 
secrets  do  not  consist  in  one  thing  only,  but  in  a  considerable  number  of 
things,  some  of  which  are  chemical  combinations  of  a  subtle  and  deli- 


FIFTH  DECADE,  187(M8S0. 


845 


cate  character,  differing  almost  daily,  as  determined  by  temperature 
and  other  atmospheric  conditions.*  The  process  reproduces  in  perfect 
fac-simile  any  drawing,  or  steel,  wood,  or  lithographic  engraving,  old 

*  Many  surreptitious  attempts  have  been  made  to  obtain  a  knowledge  of  the  secrets--- 
by  bribery  of  the  workmen,  personal  observations  under  false  pretences,  and  othej 
deceptive  methods— but  without  success.  Mr.  Moss  has  patented  mechanical  contri- 
vances for  carrying  on  his  process,  and  that  is  all. 

John  Calvin  Moss,  the  discoverer  of  the  process,  was  born  in  Washington  County, 
Pennsylvania,  in  1838.  His  father  was  a  mecLaiiio  in  moderate  circumstances.  His 
mother  designed  him,  at  his  birth,  for  a  Presbyterian  clergyman,  and  gave  him  the  namo 
of  John  Calvin.  Hut  John  did  not  fancy  the  profession.  Various  projects  claimed  his 
attention  in  youth.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  began  to  learn  the  printing  business,  but 
a  desire  for  knowledge  and  a  taste  for  art  caused  him  to  give  only  one  half  his  time  ti> 
his  trade,  and  the  remainder  to  study  in  an  academy  and  of  the  fine  arts.  He  was  ambi- 
tious to  become  a  painter,  but  adverse  circumstances  interposed.  Before  he  was  nine- 
teen years  of  age  he  married  Miss  Mary  A.  Bryant,  who  proved  to  be  a  most  devoted  wife 
and  an  expert  and  enthusiastic  coworker  with  her  husband  in  his  scientific  investigations, 
which  resulted  in  his  great  discovery.  "  Without  her  assistance,"  wrote  Mr.  Moss  to  the 
author,  "  it  is  doubtful  whether  I  should  have  succeeded.  She  became  quite  as  enthusi- 
astic in  the  matter  as  myself." 

Mr.  Moss  had  engaged  in  the  business  of  photography,  and  became  a  zealous  student  in 
photographic  chemistry.  At  the  ago  of  twenty  (^8.08)  his  mind  became  completely 
absorbed  in  the  subject  of  photo-engraving,  and  he  was  continually  experimenting.  It 
became  a  passion  which  subordinated  everything.  For  years  it  was  like  a  will-o'-the- 
wisp,  which  he  followed  with  faith  and  hope,  but  which  continually  eluded  his  grasp. 
He  was  often  compelled  to  turn  aside  from  the  pursuit  to  keep  the  wolf  of  famine  from 
his  door. 

Having  obtained  a  permanent  situation  as  a  printer  in  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Moss  pursued 
his  experiments  in  photo-engraving  with  renewed  ardor.  His  wife  stood  by  him  with 
willing  hands  and  an  unswerving  faith,  while  all  his  relatives  tried  to  persuade  him  to 
abandon  his  hopeless  and  impoverishing  quest.  While  the  earnest  couple  were  fighting 
the  wolf  they  achieved  a  triumph.  They  had  received  an  order  for  a  plate  for  printing, 
for  which,  if  satisfactory,  they  were  to  receive  $40.  That  success  depended  upon  their 
making  a  perfect  matrix.  For  weeks  they  had  been  bafiled  in  attempts  to  accomplish 
this.  They  had  passed  sleepless  nights  in  search  of  a  solution  of  the  problem.  At  two 
o'clock  one  morning  Mr.  Moss,  exhausted  and  almost  despairing,  sat  down  on  the  bed 
and  fell  asleep.  His  wife,  believing  the  experiment  had  not  been  fairly  tried,  deter- 
mined to  sit  up  all  night,  if  necessary,  and  repeat  it.  She  succeeded,  and  in  the  morn- 
ing she  presented  her  hu;  b  md  with  perfect  moulds  !  Thei  r  breakfast  was  a  rich  banquet, 
for  it  was  seasoned  with  joy.  The  order  was  completed  ;  the  $40  were  received,  and  the 
victors  were  supremely  happy.  "  Had  not  that  experiment  succeeded,"  wrote  Mr.  Moss 
to  the  author  of  this  work,  "  the  Moss  process  might  never  have  been  heard  of." 

Mr.  Moss  expected  to  sell  his  "  process"  for  a  large  sum  of  money.  He  was  disap- 
pointed. No  one  seemed  willing  to  risk  money  in  it.  They  went  to  New  York  in  18('<3, 
and  there  struggled  for  existence.  In  their  humble  dwelling  they  made  some  good  plates 
for  printing  from,  which  attracted  the  attention  of  publishers  and  excited  nnmanly  op- 
position from  certain  wood-engravers,  who  saw  in  the  process  a  formidable  rival. 

The  attention  of  some  shrewd  speculators  was  drawn  to  the  invention,  who  induced 
Mr.  Moss  to  form  a  stock  company  for  the  development  of  it  on  a  large  scale.  The 


846 


HISTOKl   OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


or  new,  sometimes  in  the  space  of  a  few  hours,  and  at  one  half  the 
cost,  or  less,  of  the  original.    The  work  is  most  exquisite  in  finish. 

Four  remarkable  societies  organized  in  the  city  of  New  York,  unique 
in  character,  and  in  beneficent  influence  most  powerful  and  salutary, 
have  distinguished  the  fourth  and  fifth  decades.  These  are  the  Society 
for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  the  Society  for  the  Suppres- 
sion of  Vice,  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children,  and 
the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Crime. 

The  germ  of  the  first  named  society  found  itself  quickened  in  the 
heart  and  brain  of  Henry  Bergh  while  he  was  secretary  of  the  Ameri- 
can legation  at  the  Russian  court  during  cur  late  Civil  War.  It  grew 
apace.  On  his  return  home,  and  after  a  careful  consideration  of  the 
subject,  he  took  measures  for  obtaining  the  passage  of  a  law  and  the 
organization  of  a  society  for  the  relief  of  dumb  beasts  from  cruel  treat- 
ment, lie  obtained  the  signatures  of  seventy  leading  citizens  of  Xew 
York  (forty-two  of  them  deceased  in  1S83)  to  a  petition  to  that  effect, 
and  with  these,  and  the  forms  of  a  law  and  of  a  charter  for  a  society 
prepared  by  himself,  he  went  to  Albany  and  procured  the  passage  of 
both.  Before  this  time  no  State  in  the  Union  had  on  its  statute-books 
any  act  to  protect  dumb  animals  from  the  excessive  cruelty  of  mankind. 

In  April,  1S0C>,  an  association  was  organized,  with  the  title  of  The 
American  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals.  Mr. 
Bergh  was  chosen  president  of  the  society.  At  the  close  of  a  brief 
speech  he  said  :  "  This,  gentlemen,  is  the  verdict  you  have  this  day 

Actinic  Company  was  formed,  with  Mr.  Moss  as  superintendent.  He  soon  perceived 
that  he  was  made  a  packhorse  to  bear  the  chief  burdens  of  the  concern,  without  adequate 
remuneration.  He  withdrew,  and  the  Actinic  expired,  for  he  carried  away  with  him  the 
essential  secrets  of  the  process,  which  was  its  life. 

With  an  honest  clergyman,  who  loaned  him  capital  for  the  purchase  of  machinery,  etc., 
on  condition  that  he  should  have  a  half  interest  in  the  invention,  Mr.  Moss  formed  the 
Photo-Engraving  Company.  The  capitalist  was  so  cautious,  and  so  unwilling  to  spend 
money  for  the  production  of  work  that  should  successfully  compete  with  wood-engraving, 
that  Mr.  Moss  found  himself  as  badly  off  as  before.  At  length  he  prevailed  upon  the 
clergyman  to  consent  to  the  issning  of  a  specimen-book  of  their  best  work.  This  made 
the  process  widely  known.  It  was  the  dawning  of  a  bright  day  of  prosperity,  which 
brought  healing  to  the  spirit  of  the  patient  discoverer,  who,  through  vexations,  disap- 
pointments, overwork,  and  worriment,  had  almost  lost  his  hold  upon  life.  He  slept  only 
about  two  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four,  and  was  reduced  from  160  pounds  to  115  pounds 
in  weight.  At  the  end  of  eight  years  Mr.  Moss  disposed  of  his  interest  in  the  company 
and  founded  the  present  Moss  Engraving  Company,  which  is  one  of  the  wonders  of  the 
city.  Mr.  Moss  considers  it  as  yet  only  a  "  little  child,  '  which  he  expects  to  see  vastly 
improved  in  growth  .and  excellence  within  a  very  few  years. 

Mr.  Moss,  at  the  age  of  forty-five  years,  has  Tealized  the  dreams  of  his  early  manhood, 
and  has  been  rewarded  for  his  exertions  and  patience  with  fame  and  fortune. 


FIFTH   DECADE,  1870-1880. 


847 


rendered,  that  the  blood-red  hand  of  cruelty  shall  no  longer  torture 
dumb  beasts  with  impunity."  On  that  very  evening,  with  the  puis- 
sance of  the  whole  State  of  New  York  to  sustain  him  in  the  form  of 
law,  Mr.  Bergh  went  forth  on  his  self-imposed  humane  mission,  and 
from  that  hour  until  now  he  has  patrolled  the  streets  of  Xew  York,  its 
lanes  and  alleys,  in  storm  and  sunshine,  with  vigilant  eye,  determined 
will,  and  dauntless  courage.  From  the  beginning  he  was  assailed  with 
insults  and  threats  by  the  ignorant  and  vicious  ;  with  ridicule  and  con- 
tumely by  a  portion  of  the  people,  the  press,  and  of  the  legal  profession, 
and  even  from  the  seat  of  justice  ;  and  he  was  misrepresented  and 
maligned  by  "sportsmen,"  high  and  low  in  the  social  scale,  who 
resented  his  interference  with  their  unmanly  fun  in  shooting  tied 
pigeons  and  otherwise  torturing  dumb  animals.  He  was  sneered  at  as 
"the  ubiquitous  biped,"  the  "Moses  of  the  oppressed  beasts,"  etc., 
and  was  derided  as  a  fanatic,  a  seeker  after  notoriety,  a  Don  Quixote 
to  be  pitied.  Even  some  of  the  medical  profusion,  with  whom  he 
waged  a  long  contest  on  the  subject  of  vivisection  without  ana?sthetics,* 
sometimes  treated  him  discourteously,  and  even  with  scorn.  In  the  face 
of  these  discouragements  Mr.  Bergh  never  faltered  in  his  holy  work. 
It  was  founded  on  eternal  justice,  and  he  was  conscious  that  justice 
could  do  no  wrong.  He  gave  his  time,  energy,  and  money  freely  to 
the  cause.  With  the  most  perfect  self-disinterestedness  he  fought  the 
good  fight,  and  triumphed.  His  work  and  his  methods  are  now 
approved  by  all  good  and  wise  men.  The  press,  the  pulpit,  and  the 
bar  applaud  him,  and  to-day  Henry  Bergh  f  stands  before  the  world 

*  In  the  office  of  the  president  of  the  society  may  be  seen  a  portrait  of  Magendie,  an 
eminent  French  physician,  under  ■which,  in  the  bold  handwritiDg  of  Mr.  Bergh,  are  the 
■words  :  "  A  French  physiologist,  otherwise  known  as  the  '  Prince  of  Brute  Torturers,' 
■who  dissected,  alive,  over  40,000  dumb  animals,  and  ere  he  died  confessed  that  vivisec- 
tion was  a  failure." 

t  Henry  Bergh  is  of  German  and  English  Puritan  lineage.  His  father  was  Christian 
Bergh,  an  eminent  shipbuilder  in  New  York,  mentioned  in  another  part  of  this  work. 
His  mother  was  Elizabeth  Ivers,  of  a  Connecticut  family.  Henry  was  born  in  the  city  of 
New  York  in  1823,  and  received  a  good  academic  and  collegiate  education.  Before  he 
had  completed  his  course  at  Columbia  College  he  went  to  Europe,  where  he  spent  some 
time.  In  his  twenty-fifth  year  he  married  Matilda,  daughter  of  Thomas  Taylor.  Blessed 
with  fortune  and  leisure,  they  spent  many  years  in  Europe,  at  intervals  visiting  almost 
every  part  of  the  continent  and  travelling  extensively  in  the  East.  Literature  was  Mr. 
Bergh' s  passion,  and  was  his  chief  study  and  pursuit.  He  is  the  author  of  nearly  a  dozen 
dramatic  pieces,  a  book  of  tales  and  sketches,  and  other  works. 

In  18G2  Mr.  Bergh  went  to  St.  Petersburg  as  secretary  of  legation,  where  he  received 
special  attentions  and  honors  from  the  emperor,  who  placed  the  imperial  yacht  at  the 
disposal  of  the  secretary  and  his  wife  to  visit  the  great  naval  station  at  Cronsta<lt,  accom- 
panied by  an  officer  of  distinction — an  honor  never  before  shown  even  to  a  prince.  Mrs. 


848 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


us  a  philanthropist  of  the  highest  type  and  a  self-sacrificing  benefactor 
of  mankind.  His  labors  for  the  comfort  of  dumb  beasts  have  reflected 
incalculable  benefits,  economically  and  morally,  upon  human  society 
at  large. 

The  association  of  which  Mr.  Bergh  is  president  has  effected  most 
salutary  changes,  in  the  condition  of  domestic  animals  especially,  far 
and  wide/-    Similar  associations  have  been  organized  in  many  places  in 

Bergh  could  not  endure  the  climate  of  a  Rtissian  winter,  especially  in-doors,  and  Mr. 
Bergh  resigned  his  office.  While  there  a  circumstance  called  his  attention  to  the  suffer, 
ings  of  brutes  at  the  hands  of  men,  and  methods  for  tbeir  protection,  which,  as  we  have 
scon  in  the  text,  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  notable  society  of  which  he  is  president. 
Since  that  time  Mr.  Bergh's  life  has  formed  an  essential  part  of  the  history  of  the 
Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals. 

Of  the  scores  of  stirring  events  which  have  marked  the  career  of  Mr.  Bergh  in  connec- 
tion with  the  society  of  which  he  is  the  founder  and  head,  we  have  space  to  notice  only 
one,  which  is  characteristic  of  this  good  citizen  and  bis  methods,  and  shows  his  active 
sympathy  for  every  suffering  ereatm-e.  It  is  related  as  follows,  by  C.  C.  Bit  el,  in  Scribner's 
Monthly  for  April,  1879  : 

"One  day  he  Haw  from  his  window  a  skeleton  horse  scarcely  able  to  draw  a  rickety  wagon  and  the 
poverty-stricken  driver.   Mr.  Bergh  hastened  out  and  said  : 
"  'You  ought  not  to  compel  this  horse  to  work  in  his  present  condition.' 

'•  'I  know  that,'  answered  the  man  ;  '  but  look  at  the  horse,  look  at  the  wagon,  look  at  the  harness, 
and  then  look  at  me,  and  say,  if  you  can.  which  of  us  is  most  wretched.'  Then  he  drew  up  the  shirt-sleeve 
of  one  arm  and  continued  :  '  Look  at  this  shrunken  limb,  past  use  ;  but  I  have  a  w  ife  and  two  Children  at 
home,  as  wretched  as  we  here,  and  just  as  hungry.' 

"  '  Come  with  me,'  said  Mr.  Bergh  ;  '  I  have  a  stable  down  this  street ;  come  and  let  me  give  one  good 
square  meal  to  your  poor  horse  and  something  to  yourself  and  family  '  He  placed  oats  and  hay  before  the 
stay  of  the  family,  and  a  generous  sum  of  money  in  the  hand  of  the  man.  Mr.  Bergh  has  often  plead  d  in 
court  for  some  person  arrested  for  cruelty  whose  miserable  poverty  and  the  dependence  of  wife  and  chil- 
dren were  made  to  appear  by  the  testimony." 

Nearly  ten  years  ago  Mr.  Bergh  rescued  two  little  girls  from  the  hands  of  an  inhuman 
woman.  The  circumstance  excited  much  public  attention  and  led  to  the  formation  of 
the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children,  of  which  his  earnest  coworker  in 
the  cause  of  humanity,  Elbridge  T.  Gerry,  is  president.  Shrinking  from  notoriety,  and 
wholly  devoted  to  the  great  cause  in  which  he  is  engaged,  Mr.  Bergh  prefers  to  make  his 
personality  subordinate  to  his  high  mission.  When,  a  few  years  ago,  several  influential 
citizens  proposed  to  erect  a  bronze  statue  in  his  honor,  he  said  :  "  No,  gentlemen,  your 
well-meant  kindness  would  injure  the  cause."  It  was  only  after  earnest  and  repeated 
solicitations  by  the  author  of  this  work  that  Mr.  Bergh  consented  to  allow  his  portrait  to 
appear  in  it. 

In  person  Mr.  Bergh  is  tall,  sinewy,  and  well  proportioned,  and  of  dignified  and  com. 
manding  presence.  He  is  cruiet  and  courteous  in  manner,  of  refined  sensibilities  and 
tenderness  of  feeling,  and  of  persistent  and  dauntless  courage  in  the  performance  of 
what  he  conceives  to  be  his  duty.  He  has  fought  and  won  a  great  battle  for  justice  and 
humanity  that  assigns  him  a  place  among  the  heroes  of  history,  and  he  enjoys  the  respect 
and  even  reverence  of  the  vanquished.  It  has  been  justly  remarked  that  Mr.  Bergh  has 
almost  invented  a  new  type  of  goodness. 

*  In  the  year  1882  protection  was  given  to  1400  horses  found  at  work  and  disabled  by 
sickness,  lameness,  sores  under  harness,  old  age,  overloading  and  overcrowding,  etc.  ': 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1370-1880. 


849 


thirty-six  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  in 
Canada,  and  in  Cuba.  Eacli  of  the  societies  has  adopted  the  seal  of 
the  parent  society  designed  by  Mr.  Bergh — a  human  brute  beating-  a 
horse  attached  to  an  overloaded  dray  and  fallen  to  the  ground.  By 
the  side  of  the  horse  stands  the  Angel  of  Mercy  with  a  drawn  sword 
restraining  the  cruel  man.  The  substantial  sympathies  of  many  friends 
have  been  manifested  by  munificent  gifts  to  the  society  for  its  benefi- 
cent use.* 

Side  by  side  with  Mr.  Bergh,  as  a  valiant  champion  of  justice  and 
morality,  stands  Anthony  Comstock,  the  secretary  of  The  New  York 
Society  for  the  Si  itression  of  Yice,  which  was  incorporated  in  May, 
1873. f  Its  object  is  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New 
York  and  of  the  United  States  for  the  suppression  of  the  trade  in  and 
circulation  of  obscene  literature  and  illustrations,  advertisements,  and 
articles  of  indecent  and  immoral  use.  Its  charter  required  the  police 
force  of  the  city  of  New  York  (as  well  as  all  other  places  where  police 
organizations  exist),  as  occasion  should  require,  to  aid  the  society,  its 
members  or  agents,  in  the  enforcement  of  all  laws  which  now  exist  or 
which  may  hereafter  be  enacted  for  the  suppression  of  acts  and  offences 
specified  in  the  charter.  One  half  of  the  fines  collected  through  its 
instrumentality  for  the  violation  of  the  laws  accrue  to  its  benefit. 

The  society  had  its  origin  in  a  movement  of  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 

and  under  the  direction  of  the  agents  of  the  society,  1858  horses  and  260  dogs,  goats, 
cats,  cows,  sheep,  and  other  animals  were  humanely  killed.  From  the  organization  of 
the  society,  in  18fifi,  to  1883,  it  had  prosecuted  in  the  courts  nearly  10,000  violations  of 
the  humane  laws  of  New  York,  and  its  officers  had  interfered  in  more  than  22,700  cases 
in  New  York,  Kings,  Queens,  and  Richmond  counties  alone.  The  office  of  the  society  is 
at  the  corner  of  Fourth  Avenue  and  Twenty-second  Street. 

The  officers  of  the  society  in  1883  were  :  Henry  Bergh,  president  ;  T.  C.  Acton,  H.  B. 
Clafiin,  Peter  Cooper,  the  Rev.  Morgan  Dix,  D.D.,  Elbridge  T.  Gerry,  E.  S.  Jaffray, 
Benjamin  D.  Hicks,  John  T.  Hoffman,  W.  C.  Schermerhorn,  and  Alfred  Wagstaff,  vice- 
presidents  ;  Charles  Lanier,  treasurer  ;  J.  W.  Edwards,  assistant  treasurer  ;  Henry  Bergh, 
Jr.,  secretary  ;  Elbridge  T.  Gerry,  counsel  ;  Charles  H.  Hankinson,  superintendent. 

*  A  Frenchman  from  Rouen,  who  had  accumulated  a  fortune  and  had  watched  witli 
interest  the  work  of  Mr.  Bergh,  sent  for  the  latter  to  visit  him  while  he  lay  sick  and 
dying  in  the  hospital  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  in  1871.  He  made  a  will  leaving  his  entire 
property—  SI 50,000 — to  the  society,  believing  he  had  no  living  relative.  It  is  known  that 
provision  is  made  in  wills  for  bequests  to  the  society  aggregating  fully  half  a  million 
dollars. 

\  The  corporators  named  in  the  charter  were  :  Morris  K.  Jesup,  Howard  Potter,  Jacob 
F.  Wyckoff,  William  E.  Dodge,  Jr.,  Charles  E.  Whitehead,  Cephas  Brainerd,  Thatcher 
M.  Adams,  William  F.  Lee,  J.  Tierpont  Morgan,  J.  M.  Cornell,  W.  H.  S.  Wood,  Elbert 
B.  Monroe,  George  W.  Clarke,  Cornelius  R.  Agnew,  M.D.,  and  R.  B.  McBurncy,  of  New 
York  City,  and  Moses  S.  Beach  and  Henry  R.  Jones,  of  Brooklyn. 


850 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


tian  Association  of  New  York.  An  investigation  made  early  in  lSfifi 
revealed  a  fearful  evil  to  which  the  young  of  both  sexes  were  exposed. 
Chiefly  through  the  untiring  and  fearless  exertions  of  Anthony 
Comstock,  a  citizen  of  New  York,  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New 
York  and  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  had  passed  laws  for  the 
suppression  of  obscene  literature  and  its  concomitants.  In  1806  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Young  Glen's  Christian  Association,  with  the  powerful 
co-operation  of  Mr.  Comstock,  attempted  to  enforce  these  laws,  but 
the  castle  to  be  assailed  seemed  almost  impregnable.  Bad  books  and 
obscene  articles  were  sold  openly  in  defiance  of  laws.  Perceiving  this, 
Mr.  Comstock  assumed  the  often  perilous  work  of  a  voluntary  detective 
and  complainant.  Tie  has  pursued  this  task  with  increased  diligence 
and  iidelity  ever  since,  and  has  conferred  an  inestimable  boon  upon 
society  at  large. 

When  the  Society  for  the  Suppression  of  Vice  was  formed,  at  the 
house  of  Morris  K.  Jesup,  Mr.  Comstock  was  made  its  secretary  and 
chief  agent.  For  a  long  time  it  attacked  obscenity  only.  At  length, 
fully  armed  with  legal  power,  Mr.  Comstock  assailed  huge  frauds  and 
sw  indles  of  every  kind — bogus  bankers  and  brokers,  and  medical  insti- 
tutions, lotteries,  gift  schemes,  gam  1  ding- houses,  etc.  Clothed  with 
the  power  of  special  agent  of  the  Post-Olfice  Department  and  of  his 
society,  he  has  successfully  waged  a  relentless  war  upon  the  peculiar 
strongholds  of  Satan's  kingdom.  One  by  one  their  buttresses  have 
crumbled  beneath  his  blows,  and  there  seems  to  be  a  bright  promise 
that  the  "good  time  coming"  is  near  at  hand  when  these  fortresses 
shall  lie  in  hopeless  ruin.  The  Society  for  the  Suppression  of  Vice, 
which  is  engaged  in  this  holy  war,  stands  pre-eminent  among  the  insti- 
tutions in  New  York  formed  for  the  promotion  and  defence  of  private 
and  public  purity  and  virtue,  and  Anthony  Comstock  is  the  Great- 
heart  of  the  association.* 

*  In  ;i  volume  entitled  "  Frauds  Exposed  ;  or,  How  the  People  are  Deceived  and 
Robbed,  and  Youth  Corrupted,''  Mr.  Comstock  has  given  a  vivid  picture  of  the  character 
of  the  evils  assailed.  This  book  and  the  reports  made  to  the  society  present  a  most 
alarming  picture  of  the  fearful  virus  which  has  permeated  and  still  permeates  the  social 
life  of  our  people. 

Chief  among  the  poisons  which  wei-e  infused  into  the  fountains  of  purity  was  licentious 
literature  and  pictures  of  every  kind.  ITnder  the  sanction  of  law  tons  upon  tons  of 
books,  stereotype  plates,  and  photographs  have  been  destroyed.  When  the  warfare  was 
begun  there  were  165  different  obscene  books  published.  The  society  seized  and 
destroyed  the  stereotype  plates  of  1G3  of  these.  It  has  suppressed  in  the  State  of  New 
York  fifteen  lotteries,  and  to-day  there  is  not  a  lottery  office  in  the  city  of  New  York 
where  the  general  public  can  buy  a  ticket.    According  to  the  annual  report  of  the  society 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


S51 


A  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Crime  was  formed  in  1S7<>,  having 
for  its  specific  object  the  enactment  and  enforcement  of  laws  against 
illegal  venders  of  intoxicating  liquors  and  other  violations  of  the  excise 
laws,  the  proprietors  of  disorderly  houses  of  every  kind,  lottery  offices, 
pool-selling,  immoral  newspaper  advertisements,  dance-houses,  concert- 
saloons,  and  other  corrupting  social  evils.  Through  the  exertions  of 
this  society  salutary  laws  for  the  suppression  of  these  evils  have  been 
passed,  and  with  the  power  of  the  new  penal  code  the  society  will  be 
enabled  to  do  much  good.  The  officers  for  1882  were  :  the  Rev. 
Howard  Crosby,  J).  I).,  LL.D.,  president  ;  Lloyd  Aspinwall  and 
Benjamin  N.  Martin,  vice-presidents  ;  Benjamin  Tatham,  treasurer  ; 
Charles  E.  Gildersleeve,  secretary,  and  a  board  of  eighteen  directors. 

We  have  observed  that  an  act  of  Mr.  Bergh  led  to  the  formation  of 
the  New  York  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children. 
Benevolent  persons  had  long  felt  the  necessity  of  some  organized 
power  to  protect  children  from  the  cruelty  of  intemperate  parents  and 
other  guardians  of  minors,  and  sufferings  incident  to  extreme  poverty 
or  positive  neglect.  The  incident  alluded  to  powerfully  stirred  the 
public  mind  and  heart.  The  State  Legislature  passed  a  general  law  in 
1S75  authorizing  the  incorporation  of  societies  for  the  purpose  of  pre- 
venting cruelty  to  children,  and  giving  them  full  power  to  prefer  and 
prosecute  complaints  against  violators  of  the  law.  Under  this  the 
New  York  society,  of  which  Elbridge  T.  Gerry  *  is  the  president,  was 

in  1883,  twenty-four  tons  of  obscene  matter  and  six  tons  of  gambling  implements  were 
destroyed  during  1882,  and  700  persons  were  arrested.  The  fines  imposed  upon  violators 
of  the  law  amounted  to  $65,256,  and  bail  bonds  to  the  amount  of  Sol!, 400  were  forfeited, 
making  a  total  of  $118,656  sent  to  the  public  treasury  through  the  efforts  of  the  society. 
So  vigorously  has  the  warfare  and  the  purification  gone  on  that  the  evil  is  largely  sup- 
pressed, but  there  is  much  yet  to  be  done,  as  a  recent  occurrence  indicates.  A  package  of 
sixty  obscene  pamphlets  intended  for  a  student  in  a  college  in  a  neighboring  city  reached 
the  hands  of  Mr.  Comstock,  who  traced  out  the  publisher  and  had  him  arrested.  Ho 
then  visited  the  college,  and  found  four  boys  in  the  preparatory  department  and  one  in 
the  senior  class  who  had  the  grossest  obscene  matter  in  their  possession.  The  principal 
of  the  girls'  high  school  in  the  same  city  had  found  similar  matter  in  the  hands  of  his 
pupils,  several  of  whom,  daughters  of  respectable  parents,  had  been  expelled,  suspende  1. 
or  reprimanded.  This  is  only  a  glance  at  the  great  evil  which  the  society  is  fighting  in 
a  special  field  of  conflict.  It  presents  a  subject  for  the  most  anxious  thought  and  decisive 
action  on  the  part  of  every  parent  or  guardian  of  the  young. 

The  officers  of  the  society  for  1882  were  :  Samuel  Colgate,  president  ;  A.  S.  Barnes, 
William  E.  Dodge,  Jr.,  and  Morris  K.  Jesup,  vice-presidents  ;  Killian  Van  Rensselaer, 
treasurer,  and  Anthony  Comstock,  secretary. 

*  Elbridge  T.  Gerry  is  in  the  prime  of  life,  having  been  born  in  the  city  of  New  York 
on  Christmas  day,  1837.  His  father  was  an  officer  of  the  United  States  Navy,  and  his 
niDther  was  a  sister  of  the  late  Peter  Goelet,  of  New  York.    Mr.  Gerry's  grandfather  was 


S.V.' 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


organized  in  1874  and  incorporated  in  1875,  and  lias  worked  with  zeal 
and  efficiency  ever  since.  In  1876  the  Legislature  passed  a  more 
comprehensive  law,  restricting  the  industries  in  which  children  may  be 
employed,  and  protecting  them  against  exposure. 

With  enlarged  powers  the  society  is  doing  a  most  beneficent  work 
for  the  unfortunate  little  ones.  It  has  never  received  one  dollar  from 
the  State  or  city  authorities,  while  it  pays  its  taxes  even  for  the  water 
with  which  the  children  picked  from  the  gutters  are  washed.  The 
institution  is  supported  by  the  benevolent  citizens  of  Xew  York,  who 
never  allow  a  worthy  object  to  be  neglected.  The  society  co-operates 
with  the  Board  of  Health  in  exposing  and  closing  up  fraudulent  estab- 
lishments for  the  pretended  care  of  children,  and  in  promoting  the 
health  and  comfort  of  the  young  in  tenement -houses  or  worse  habita- 
tions. It  gathers  from  the  dark  recesses  of  the  city  suffering  little  ones 
and  places  them  in  asylums  or  good  homes.  It  guards  children  from 
the  grasp  of  men  and  women  who  seek  to  employ  them  for  selfish 
purposes.  Already  its  labors  have  borne  rich  fruit,*  and  the  promises 
of  glorious  results  in  the  future  are  bright  and  abundant. 

a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  governor  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  and 
Vice-President  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Gerry  graduated  at  Columbia  College  in  1857,  studied  law  with  the  late 
William  Curtis  Noyes,  aad  became  one  of  the  law  firm  of  Noyes  &  Tracy.  On  the  death 
of  Mr.  Noyes  he  formed  a  law  partnership  with  the  late  William  F.  Allen,  judge  of  the 
Court  of  Appeals,  and  Benjamin  B.  Abbott.  On  the  dissolution  of  this  firm  Mr.  Gerry 
continued  the  practice  of  law  as  counsel,  and  has  appeared  in  many  very  important 
cases.  Having  amplo  means  at  his  command,  he  has  gathered  one  of  the  most  complete 
and  extensive  private  law  libraries  in  this  country,  comprising  about  12,000  volumes, 
many  of  which  are  very  rare  and  costly.  It  is  specially  rich  in  works  on  canon  and 
ecclesiastical  law.  Mr.  Gerry  was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  the 
State  of  New  York  in  1867.  In  1870  he  became  counsel  for  the  Society  for  the  Preven- 
tion of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  and  holds  that  position  now  -1883.  He  is  regarded  by  the 
founder  of  that  society  as  its  corner-stone.  Mr.  Gerry  naturally  took  a  lively  interest  in 
the  movements  which  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of 
Cruelty  to  Children.  The  legislation  on  the  subject  was  secured  by  his  earnest  efforts, 
and  was  fashioned  by  his  legal  ability.  When  its  first  president,  John  D.  Wright,  a 
preacher  among  Friends  or  Quakers,  died,  Mr.  Gerry  was  appointed  to  fill  his  place. 
Like  Mr.  Bergh  and  Mr.  Comstock  in  their  respective  spheres  of  action,  he  performs  its 
duties  fearlessly,  conscientiously,  faithfully,  and  most  efficiently. 

In  18C.7  Mr.  Gerry  married  Miss  Louisa  M.  Livingston,  daughter  of  Robert  J.  Living- 
ston, and  great  granddaughter  of  General  Morgan  Lewis,  who,  in  the  course  of  a  long  life, 
held  the  important  offices  of  attorney-general,  chief-justice,  and  governor  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  and  at  the  age  of  eighty-one  years  was  president  of  the  New  York  Historical 
Society. 

*  Since  the  society  began  its  work,  in  1875,  to  the  beginning  of  1883,  no  less  than 
10,450  complaints  had  been  received  and  investigated,  involving  more  than  31,335  chil- 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


K53 


A  great  work  has  recently  been  completed  by  the  society.  By  per- 
sistent efforts  it  bus  induced  the  city  authorities  to  establish  a  hospital 
for  victims  of  contagious  diseases.  No  more  important  result  than  this 
was  ever  accomplished  for  the  prevention  of  physical  pain,  suffering, 
and  death  to  the  helpless  children  of  the  poor,  living  in  tenement- 
houses  and  necessarily  exposed  to  contagions  of  every  kind.  It  will 
afford  a  safeguard  against  the  spread  of  such  diseases  from  their  centres 
of  contagion  among  the  children  of  the  rich  and  poor  alike. 

The  home  and  reception  place  of  the  society  is  in  a  spacious  building 
five  stories  in  height,  at  No.  100  East  Twenty-third  Street.  " 

dren  ;  30G8  cases  had  been  prosecuted,  2818  convicted,  and  5019  children  had  been 
relieved  and  placed  in  homes  or  institutions.  In  the  reception-rooms,  which  had  been 
in  operation  only  two  years,  there  had  been  sheltered,  clothed,  and  fed  696  children,  and 
6339  meals  furnished.  During  the  year  1882  there  were  prosecuted  1035  cases,  1009  con- 
victions secured,  and  1853  children  relieved  and  placed  in  homes  or  in  over  thirty  of  the 
different  institutions  in  the  city.  These  prosecutions  have  been  conducted  under  the 
charge  of  Lewis  L.  Delafield,  the  counsel,  and  John  B.  Pine,  the  attorney  of  the  institu- 
tion. It  is  the  province  of  the  society  to  rescue  children,  of  the  other  institutions  to  care 
for  them  afterward.    Both  are  working  for  the  same  happy  result. 

*  The  officers  of  the  society  for  1883  were  :  Elbridge  T.  Gerry,  president  ;  Jonathan 
Thorne,  Henry  Bergh.  Samuel  Willets,  Lewis  L.  Delafield,  Benjamin  D.  Hicks,  William 
H.  Maey,  Benjamin  H.  Field,  Benjamin  B.  Sherman,  Thomas  C.  Acton,  and  Sinclair 
Tousey,  vice-presidents  ;  William  L.  Jenkins,  treasurer,  and  F.  Fellows  Jenkins,  super- 
intendent. There  is  a  board  of  fifteen  directors,  composed  of  Charles  Haight,  John  H. 
Wright.  B.  R.  Haines.  William  H.  Webb,  William  H.  Guion,  Henry  L.  Hoguet,  Harmon 
Hendricks,  Ambrose  C.  Kingsland,  Jr.,  Wilson  M.  Powell,  Nathan  C.  Ely,  J.  W.  Mack, 
George  G.  Haven,  F.  D.  Tappen,  J.  H.  Choate,  and  Henry  S.  Alien. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


AT  the  close  of  the  fifth  decade  (1880)  the  whole  of  Manhattan 
Island  and  a  portion  of  the  southern  part  of  Westchester  County 
included  in  the  city  of  New  York  was  quite  densely  settled.  The 
island  was  nearly  covered  with  buildings,  excepting  in  its  parks  and 
squares,  Trinity  Cemetery,  and  a  rough  region  beyond  Washington 
Heights  toward  Kingsbridge.  There  were  then  sixteen  public  parks 
or  squares,  of  which  Central  Park  was  the  chief.* 

The  northern  part  of  the  city  beyond  Fifty-ninth  Street  presented 
broad  avenues  used  for  fashionable  drives  outside  of  Central  Park. 
These  were  the  Boulevards,  Central,  St.  Nicholas,  and  Riverside 
avenues,  and  the  Kingsbridge  Road.  Central  Avenue  begins  beyond 
the  Harlem  River,  at  the  end  of  Central  (formerly  Macomb's  Dam) 

*  These  were  :  Abingdon  Square,  Batter}'  Fark,  Bowling  Green,  Central  Park,  City 
Hall  Park,  Gramerey  Park,  Jackson  Square,  Madison  Square,  Morningside  Park,  Mount 
Morris  Square,  Reservoir  Square,  Stuyvesant  Square,  Riverside  Park,  Tompkins  Square, 
Union  Square,  and  Washington  Square,    Several  of  these  have  already  been  noticed. 

Abingdon  Square  is  formed  by  the  junction  of  Hudson  Street  and  Eighth  Avenue  and 
several  cross  streets.  It  is  a  triangular  inclosure  of  trees  and  grass.  It  was  formerly  in  a 
fashionable  quarter.  Jackson  Square  is  a  small  triangular  opening  at  the  junction  of 
Hudson  and  Thirteenth  streets  and  Greenwich  Avenue.  Morningside  Park  is  an  irreg- 
ular piece  of  land  extending  for  about  500  feet  from  the  north-western  corner  of 
Central  Park  at  One  Hundred  and  Tenth  Street.  It  extends  northward  to  One  Hundred 
and  Twenty-third  Street,  with  an  average  width  of  about  fioO  feet.  Riverside  Park  is 
also  an  irregular  and  narrow  strip  of  land  lying  between  Riverside  Avenue  and  the 
Hudson  River  from  Seventy  second  to  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth  Street.  Its  average 
width  is  about  500  feet,  its  entire  length  nearly  three  miles,  and  its  area  about  178  acres. 
Mount  Morris  Square  is  on  the  line  of  Fifth  Avenue,  between  One  Hundred  and 
Twentieth  and  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fourth  streets,  and  contains  about  20  acres.  In 
the  centre  is  a  rocky  hill  about  100  feet  in  height.  Fifth  Avenue  is  here  broken  by  this 
rocky  eminence.  Reservoir  Park  lies  between  the  Reservoir  and  Sixth  Avenue  and 
Fortieth  and  Forty-second  streets.  The  Crystal  Palace,  in  which  the  first  international 
exhibition  in  America  was  held,  occupied  a  portion  of  this  ground.  Stuyvesant  Square 
is  between  Fifteenth  and  Seventeenth  streets.  It  is  intersected  by  Second  Avenue  and 
occupies  about  four  acres.  It  once  formed  a  part  of  the  farm  of  Governor  Stuyvesant. 
Trinity  Cemetery  is  between  Tenth  Avenue  and  the  Hudson  River  and  One  Hundred  and 
Fifty-third  and  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-fifth  streets.  It  belongs  to  the  corporation  of 
Trinity  Church,  and  was  established  when  interments  in  the  city  were  prohibited. 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


s:,.;, 


Bridge  over  the  Harlem  River,  extends  to  Jerome  Park,  and  thence  to 
lookers.  It  is  a  favorite  resort  for  persons  owning-  fleet  horses,  espe- 
cially on  Sunday,  when  the  avenue  is  thronged  with  wealthy  men 
with  fast  trotting-horses,  untrammelled  by. the  social  restraints  of  the 
Knickerbocker  period.  On  the  line  of  the  road  are  many  houses  of 
"  refreshment"  as  famous  as  was  Cato's  in  the  olden  time. 

The  Boulevard  begins  at  the  junction  of  Fifty-ninth  Street  and 
Eighth  Avenue,  extends  across  Ninth  and  Tenth  avenues,  and  runs  be- 
tween Tenth  and  Eleventh  avenues  to  One  Hundred  and  Sixth  Street, 
where  it  enters  Eleventh  Avenue  and  continues  to  One  Hundred  and 
Sixty-seventh  Street.  It  is  laid  out  with  great  taste,  with  two  wide 
roadbeds  separated  by  small  parks  of  grass  and  trees  in  the  centre. 
The  Southern  Boulevard  starts  from  the  north  end  of  Third  Avenue 
bridge  over  the  Harlem  River,  and  turning  eastward  follows  the  line 
of  the  Westchester  shore  of  Long  Island  Sound  some  distance,  when  it 
turns  westward  and  joins  Central  Avenue  at  Jerome  Park.  At  its 
southern  portion  it  commands  some  fine  views  of  Long  Island  Sound. 

St.  Nicholas  Avenue  was  formerly  Harlem  Lane.  It  begins  at  the 
northern  end  of  Central  Park  at  the  junction  of  Sixth  Avenue  and  One 
Hundred  and  Tenth  Street,  extending  north-westerly  along  the 
grounds  of  the  Convent  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  thence  to  Fort 
Washington.  There  it  joins  the  picturesque  Kingsbridge  Road,  which 
leads  across  the  Harlem  River  and  thence  to  Yonkers. 

The  Transval  (across  the  valley)— happily  so  called  by  General  Yiele 
— comprises  all  the  region  of  the  island  north  of  Manhattan  Valley  at 
One  Hundred  and  Twenty- fifth  Street.  That  valley  is  a  depression  of 
a  high  ridge  almost  to  the  sea-level.  Beyond  this  valley,  and  stretch- 
ing northward,  is  a  long  elevated  plateau  sloping  in  a  series  of  natural 
terraces  (now  largely  covered  with  forest  trees)  to  both  rivers.  This 
whole  suburb  of  the  city  is  very  picturesque,  affording  at  many  points 
magnificent  views  of  land  and  water.  It  is  clustered  with  historic  asso- 
ciations of  the  old  war  for  independence.  It  is  already  dotted  with 
elegant  private  residences.  This  region  will  undoubtedly  become,  in 
the  near  future,  the  favorite  dwelling-place  of  wealthy  and  fashionable 
citizens.  Improvements  already  begun  and  in  contemplation  prophesy 
this.  It  is  proposed  to  have  the  streets  and  avenues  conform  to  the 
topography  of  the  original  surface,  avoiding  straight  lines  and  arbitrary 
grades.  A  series  of  broad,  longitudinal  avenues  have  already  been  laid 
out,  connected  by  lateral  streets,  leaving  large  tracts  of  ground  to  be 
subdivided  in  accordance  with  the  views  of  the  owners,  without  dicta- 
tion from  the  authorities.    This  will  afford  an  opportunity  for  the  cul- 


856 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


tivation  of  the  picturesque  and  beautiful.  Harlem  River  is  destined 
to  speedily  become  the  bearer  of  vast  ships  of  war  and  of  commerce.* 

New  York  has  undergone  a  complete  revolution  in  the  style  of  its 
architecture,  domestic,  commercial,  and  ecclesiastical,  within  a  very 
few  years.  In  the  extent  of  ornamentation,  in  spaciousness,  in  height, 
and  in  interior  decorations  and  furnishings,  the  dwellings  of  the  very 
wealthy  in  New  York  now  surpass  those  of  any  other  city  in  the 
world.  The  extravagance  of  all  past  times  seems  to  have  been  ex- 
ceeded in  this  city  in  the  opening  years  of  the  sixth  decade.  "We  have 
not  space  to  present  even  a  single  example.  Suffice  it  to  say,  the  most 
elaborate  stone  carvings  without,  and  the  most  elegant  and  costly 
carved  woods,  mosaics,  paintings,  sculptures,  tapestries,  rich  hangings, 
rare  embroideries,  stained  glass  and  luxurious  upholstery,  with  the 
rarest  curiosities  of  the  arts  of  design  from  all  lands,  are  everywhere 
displayed  in  the  dwellings  of  the  rich  which  have  been  built  since  the 
centennial  year.  We  ai'e  told  of  a  $10,000  chimney-piece,  a  $35,000 
bronze  railing,  a  stained-glass  window  that  cost  $60,000,  and  a  house 
that  has  $2oo,iiiio  worth  of  upholstery  and  decorative  art  in  it. f  The 
cost  of  these  things  is  the  monument  of  the  man  who  builds  for  present 
purposes.  The  horoscope  of  the  future  is  clear  to  the  mind's  eye  of  a 
wise  observer. 

Among  the  commercial  structures  are  many  of  enormous  dimensions, 
such  as  the  Mills  building  on  Broad  Street,  Temple  Court  on  Nassau 
and  Beekman  streets,  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company  on  Nassau, 

*  See  "The  TraDsval  of  the  City  of  New  York,"  by  General  Egbert  L.  Vide. 

\  Among  the  more  spacious,  costly,  and  richly  furnished  houses  abounding  in  works 
of  art  are  those  of  Mrs.  A.  T.  Stewart  and  of  the  Vanderbilts.  For  the  use  of  less  wealthy 
citizens,  apartment-bouses  known  as  French  flats  have  been  built.  They  promised  to 
be  a  boon  to  persons  of  moderate  income,  but  extravagance  has  frustrated  the  designs  of 
the  originators,  and  now  none  but  comparatively  rich  families  can  afford  to  occupy 
them.  Of  this  class  of  dwellings  the  Dakota  apartment-house  on  Eighth  Avenue,  oppo- 
site Central  Park,  furnishes  a  conspicuous  example.  Great  height  is  now  a  marked 
feature  of  these  houses.  One  on  Fifty-seventh  Street  and  Seventh  Avenue  is  ten  stories 
in  height  in  front  and  fifteen  stories  in  the  rear,  and  will  accommodate  thirty-eight 
families. 

The  first  French  flat  was  built  in  the  city  in  18G9,  as  an  experiment.  There  was  very 
little  demand  for  them  for  some  years.  After  the  panic  of  1873  they  were  sought  after. 
In  that  year  112  were  built.    Fully  700  were  built  in  1883. 

It  is  estimated  that  a  majority  of  the  people  in  New  York  City  now  live  in  tenement- 
houses,  which  term  includes  the  apartment-houses  or  flats  for  the  well-to-do  citizen. 
Only  about  one  seventh  of  the  dwellings  in  the  city  are  "  first  class,"  occupied  by  a 
single  family. 

The  Tribune  building  is  the  pioneer  of  tall  business  edifices.     Buildings  from  five 

to  ten  stories  in  height  are  now  common. 


FIFTH  DECADE.  1870-1880. 


857 


Cedar,  and  Liberty  streets,  the  Produce  Exchange,*  fronting  Bowling 
Green;  the  Welles,  Post,  United  Bank,  and  the  Equitable  Insurance 
buildings,  the  Union  Dime  Savings  Bank  on  Sixth  Avenue  and  Thirty- 
second  street.  Those  of  the  Methodist  Book  Concern,  the  American 
News  Company, t  and  of  many  retail  dry-goods  merchants  up  town 

*  The  New  York  Produce  Exchange,  the  largest  establishment  of  its  kind  in  the  world, 
probably,  was  organized  in  1861,  and  was  incorporated  in  1862  under  the  title  of  New 
York  Commercial  Association.  This  name  was  changed  in  1868  to  New  York  Produce 
Exchange.  Previous  to  1861  there  was  no  institution  of  the  kind  in  the  city.  Its  mem- 
bership is  limited  to  3000,  and  it  is  now  (188:3)  full.  This  exchange  is  the  resort  of  all 
the  principal  merchants  dealing  in  agricultural  productions,  and  most  of  all  the  larger 
transactions  in  these  articles  are  effected  on  its  floors.  A  magnificent  new  building  for 
the  exchange  was  completed  in  the  autumn  of  1883,  covering  the  whole  square  bounded 
by  Whitehall,  Beaver,  New,  and  Stone  streets,  and  fronting  on  the  Bowling  Green.  The 
structure  is  of  brick  with  granite  trimmings.  It  forms  a  grand  architectural  feature  of 
New  York.  The  general  style  of  its  architecture  is  a  modified  Italian  Renaissance,  with 
strongly  developed  horizontal  cornices.  The  ground  floor  is  occupied  by  large  offices 
and  the  room  of  the  Maritime  Exchange.  On  the  second  floor  are  the  main  Exchange 
Hall,  215  by  134  feet  in  size  and  60  feet  in  height,  and  the  offices  of  the  exchange,  com- 
mittee rooms,  etc.    The  stories  above  are  divided  into  300  offices. 

f  Early  in  the  first  decade  of  our  history  the  Sun  newspaper  created  the  newsboy. 
Before  1850  he  developed  into  the  proprietor  of  a  news-stand,  which  in  time  expanded 
into  the  newspaper  and  periodical  agency.  Finally,  in  1864,  there  appeared  an  associa- 
tion known  as  the  American  News  Company,  composed  of  seven  members  — Sinclair 
Tousey,  Henry  and  George  Dexter,  S.  W.  Johnson,  John  Hamilton,  Patrick  Farrelly,  and 
John  J.  Tousey.  These  were  the  original  stockholders  ;  now  (1883)  the  number  is 
seventy  five.  At  first  the  company  confined  their  business  to  the  distribution  of  news- 
papers and  magazines  ;  now  they  distribute  books,  stationery,  fancy  goods,  etc.  Since 
the  advent  of  this  company,  less  than  twenty  years  ago,  news  agencies  have  been  estab- 
lished in  all  part  of  the  Republic.  They  now  number  about  thirteen  thousand,  in  most 
of  which  the  American  News  Company  has  a  controlling  or  a  prominent  interest.  Its 
business  has  grown  to  enormous  proportions.  Its  home  employe's,  men  and  boys,  number 
nearly  two  thousand.  In  the  city  of  New  York  alone,  between  forty  and  fifty  horses  are 
employed  in  carrying  newspapers,  magazines,  and  books  from  the  offices  of  publication 
to  the  various  railroad  stations.  The  company  handles  an  average  of  sixty  tons  of  paper- 
each  day.  The  entire  trade  of  the  company  amounts  to  about  $15,000,000  a  year.  Sin- 
clair Tousey  is  its  president. 

The  newspaper  advertising  agency  is  akin  to  the  news  company.  It  was  begun  in 
New  York  about  1828,  by  Orlando  Bourne.  V.  B.  Palmer  established  such  an  agency  in 
Boston  and  Philadelphia  about  1840.  With  him,  in  Boston,  was  Samuel  M  Pettengill.  an 
enterprising  young  man,  who  in  1840  established  a  newspaper  agency  in  Boston  on  his 
own  account  ;  and  now  the  firm  of  S.  M.  Ptttpngill  &  Co.,  of  New  York  and  Boston,  is  the 
most  conspicuous  in  the  business.  It  has  a  house  in  Boston  and  another  in  New  York, 
and  these  are  active  agents  in  procuring  advertisements  from  merchants  and  others  for 
nearly  ten  thousand  newspapers  in  the  United  States  and  the  British  provinces,  and  have 
paid  them  many  million  dollars  for  advertising.  The  amount  of  advertising  by  New  York 
merchants  alone  is  not  less  than  §10.000,000  yearly,  and  is  constantly  increasing.  There 
are  business  men  who  expend  yearly  S100.000  in  advertising,  to  the  profit  cf  themselves 


858 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


are  fine  structures.  The  Chemical  Bank  and  the  Bleecker  Street 
Bank  of  Savings  occupy  their  old  buildings.  The  stock  of  the  former 
was  quoted,  in  1883,  at  over  two  thousand  per  cent  above  par.  The 
assets  of  the  Bleecker  Street  Savings  Bank,  as  we  have  said  in  a  pre- 
ceding notice  of  it,  are  the  largest  of  any  similar  institution  in  the 
country.  There  are  about  one  hundred  and  forty  reputable  hotels  in 
the  city,  some  of  which  present  to  the  eye  elegant  and  imposing  edi- 
fices, such  as  the  Fifth  Avenue  and  the  Windsor. 

The  population  within  the  limits  of  the  city  of  New  York  in  1880 
was  1,200,577,  an  increase  in  ten  years  of  393,000.  Since  that  time  its 
growth  has  been  more  rapid  than  ever  before.  At  the  close  of  1883 
the  city  proper  contained  probably  fully  l,45o,ooo  inhabitants.  But 
this  number  by  no  means  indicates  the  extent  of  the  real  population  of 
the  city,  for  the  surrounding  municipalities  within  fifteen  or  twenty 
miles  of  New  York  are  largely  peopled  by  New  Yorkers — men  doing 
business  in  the  metropolis.  Even  Brooklyn,  distinct  in  many  social 
aspects  from  New  York,  with  its  700,000  inhabitants,  is  in  a  large 
degree  but  the  stalwart  child  of  the  great  city  on  Manhattan,  slightly 
separated  hitherto  from  its  mother's  embrace  by  the  waters  of  the  East 
River.  It  is  no  longer  thus  separated,  for  the  great  Suspension  Bridge 
which  spans  the  East  River,  completed  in  May,  1883,  has  firmly  united 
the  two  cities  as  one  in  fact,  if  not  one  in  legal  form  and  name.  In- 
cluding what  may  be  called  the  suburban  population  of  New  York,  its 
citizens  numbered  probably,  at  the  close  of  1883,  at  least  2,000,000. 
This  growth  had  been  gradual  until  1S80,  when  the  enormous  sudden 
increase  began.* 

The  East  River  Suspension  Bridge,  alluded  to  above,  is  regarded  as 
the  grandest  monument  of  engineering  skill  in  the  world.  A  structure 
for  connecting  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  consisting  of  a  single  arch, 
was  projected  more  than  seventy  years  ago.f    The  project  was  revived 

ami  the  newspapers.  Mr.  Pette'ngill  is  a  native  of  Naugatuck,  Conn.,  where  he  was  born 
in  March,  1823. 

*  The  population  of  the  city  of  New  York  has  doubled  six  times  in  a  century — doub- 
ling on  an  average  once  in  seventeen  years.  New  York  City  in  1883  was  sixty-five  times 
as  large  as  the  New  York  City  one  hundred  years  ago.  The  rate  of  increase  in  the  popu- 
lation of  the  country  at  large  (doubling  once  in  twenty-five  years)  is  insignificant  in  com- 
parison with  that  of  New  York.  At  the  rate  of  increase  shown  by  the  enumeration 
during  the  last  twenty-five  years — a  rate  made  less  by  the  influence  of  the  Civil  War  and 
other  causes— there  may  be  now  children  in  their  nurses'  arms  who  may  see  a  metropolis 
here  having  10,000,000  inhabitants. 

f  In  1811  Thomas  Pope,  an  architect  and  landscape  gardener,  proposed  to  erect  a 
"  flying  pendant  lever  bridge"  across  the  East  River  between  New  York  and  Brooklyn — 
a  single  arc,  of  which  the  chord  was  to  be  1800  feet  and  its  altitude  above  hia;h  water  223 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


S59 


by  Thomas  McElrath,  in  the  New  York  Trihme,  more  than  forty 
years  ago,  and  John  A.  Roebling,  an  eminent  engineer,  suggested  a 
structure  of  the  general  plan  of  the  one  under  consideration  so  early  as 
1857,  estimating  the  cost  at  $2,000,000. 

The  necessity  for  such  an  inter-municipal  connection  became  more 
and  more  apparent,  and  the  Legislature  of  New  York  chartered  a 
bridge  company  for  the  purpose,  fixing  the  capital  at  $5,000,000,  with 
power  to  increase,  and  giving  authority  to  the  cities  of  New  York  and 
Brooklyn  in  their  corporate  capacity  to  subscribe  for  the  stock  of  the 
company,  which  was  organized  in  May,  1867.  Mr.  Roebling  was  ap- 
pointed chief  engineer.    He  submitted  plans  in  September. 

In  the  spring  of  1869  a  board  of  consulting  engineers,  at  the  request 
of  Mr.  Roebling,  examined  his  plans.  Soon  afterward  the  War  De- 
partment appointed  a  commission  of  three  United  States  engineers  to 
report  upon  the  feasibility  of  the  plan  and  its  relations  to  navigation. 
The  plans  were  fully  approved  by  both  commissions,  and  the  construc- 
tion of  the  bridge  was  begun  on  January  3,  1870.  Before  a  stone  of 
the  great  structure  had  been  laid  Mr.  Roebling  died,  from  the  effects 
of  an  accident.  His  son,  Colonel  Washington  A.  Roebling,  who  had 
long  been  associated  with  his  father  in  bridge  building,  and  had  taken 
a  conspicuous  part  in  making  the  plans  of  the  East  River  Bridge,  was 
chosen  as  his  fit  successor. 

We  will  not  attempt  to  trace  the  history  of  the  building  of  the 
bridge,  nor  to  give  a  description  of  it.  The  event  of  its  construction  is 
so  recent  and  the  newspapers  of  the  day  and  other  publications  have 
given  such  minute  details  of  the  whole  affair  that  the  story  of  its 
formal  opening  to  the  public  use,  on  the  24th  of  May,  1883,  told  in 
brief  outline,  must  suffice.* 

feet.  The  abutments  were  to  be  built  in  the  form  of  warehouses.  Pope's  invention  was 
pronounced  excellent  and  the  project  feasible  by  seventeen  leading  shipbuilders  of  New 
York,  among  them  Henry  Eckford,  Christian  Bergh,  Adam  and  Noah  Brown,  and  Joseph 
Webb.    More  than  twenty  years  earlier  a  bridge  between  the  two  cities  was  contemplated. 

*  The  cost  of  the  bridge  was  nearly  $20,000,000.  It  was  thirteen  years  a-building.  Its 
entire  length  from  its  New  York  terminus,  opposite  the  City  Hall,  to  Sands  Street, 
Brooklyn,  is  5989  feet,  or  a  little  over  a  mile.  The  width  is  85  feet.  There  is  room  for 
a  train  of  cars  and  two  lines  of  vehicles  to  pass  on  each  side  of  the  foot  promenade.  The 
space  under  the  promenade  is  used  for  telegraph  and  telephone  wires,  and  the  whole 
structure  is  illuminated  at  night  by  electric  lights.  The  length  of  the  river  and  land 
spans  combined  is  1800  feet,  the  same  as  that  projected  by  Pope  in  1811.  The  bridge  is 
suspended  on  four  cables,  the  first  wire  of  which  was  run  out  in  May,  1877.  The  length 
of  wire  in  the  four  cables,  exclusive  of  the  wrapping  wire,  is  14.3G1  miles,  the  length  of 
each  single  wire  being  3579  feet.  The  weight  of  the  four  cables  is  3538  tons  ;  diameter 
of  each,  15f  inches.    Ultimate  strength  of  each  cable,  12,200  tons.    Depth  of  the  tower 


860 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  day  was  most  auspicious.  The  weather  was  all  that  could  be 
desired.  Both  cities  were  radiant  with  thousands  of  American  flags 
fluttering  in  the  breeze.  The  President  of  the  United  States  and  his 
Cabinet  ministers  were  the  most  distinguished  guests  on  the  occasion. 
Governors  of  States  and  many  other  eminent  men  were  also  guests, 
and  a  vast  multitude  were  admitted  to  the  bridge  by  tickets.  Several 
vessels  of  the  North  Atlantic  Squadron,  under  the  command  of  Admiral 
Cooper,  conspicuously  participated  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  day  and 
evening.  All  the  water-craft  in  the  harbor  were  gay  with  flags  and 
bunting. 

The  famous  Seventh  Regiment  National  Guard,  commanded  by 
Colonel  Emmons  Clark,*  was  the  chosen  escort  for  the  President  of 

foundation  on  the  New  York  side  below  high  water,  78  feet,  and  on  the  Brooklyn  side,  45 
feet.  The  total  height  of  the  towers  above  high  water  is  278  feet.  Clear  height  of 
bridge  at  the  centre  of  the  river  span  (which  is  1595  feetj  above  high  water,  135  feet. 
The  mass  of  masonry  in  the  towers  and  land  approaches  has  no  parallel  in  history  since 
the  pyramids  of  Egypt  were  built.  The  two  towers  contain  82,159  cubic  yards  of 
masonry.    Nearly  000  men  were  employed  upon  the  great  structure  at  one  time. 

This  bridge  will  ever  remain  a  grand  monument  to  the  engineering  skill  of  the 
Roeblings,  father  and  son.  The  former  was  a  native  of  Muhlhausen,  a  city  of  Thuringia. 
The  authorities  of  that  city  have  honored  him  by  changing  the  name  of  the  street  in 
which  ho  was  born  to  Roebling  Street. 

*  Emmons  Clark,  the  present  colonel  commanding  the  Seventh  Regiment  National 
Guard,  was  born  at  Port  Hay  (now  Huron),  Wayne  County,  N.  Y.,  October  14,  1827.  He 
is  of  New  England  parentage,  and  descended  from  one  of  the  earlier  Puritan  settlers  of 
Massachusetts  Bay.  His  father,  the  Rev.  William  Clark,  was  a  Presbyterian  clergyman, 
widely  known  and  respected  in  Western  New  York  during  the  first  half  of  the  present 
century.  His  son,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  received  his  education  at  Hamilton  College, 
where  he  was  graduated  in  1847.  He  began  the  study  of  medicine,  but  his  active  tem- 
perament gave  him  a  stronger  inclination  for  a  business  rather  than  a  professional  life, 
and  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  he  went  to  New  York  and  entered  upon  an  active  and  sue- 
cessful  mercantile  career.  In  this  pursuit  he  continued  about  sixteen  years,  when,  in 
180(1,  he  retired  from  business  and  accepted  the  position  of  secretary  of  the  New  York 
Board  of  Health.    That  office  he  has  held  until  now-1883. 

In  January,  1857,  Mr.  Clark  enlisted,  as  a  private,  in  the  Second  Company  of  the 
Seventh  Regiment  National  Guard,  then  commanded  by  Captain  Alexander  Shaler.  He 
was  promoted  to  first  sergeant  in  1858,  to  second  lieutenant  in  1859,  first  lieutenant  in 
18G0.  and  to  captain  in  December  of  the  same  year.  Captain  Clark  commanded  the 
Second  Company  at  Washington  in  the  spring  of  1861,  at  Baltimore  in  1862,  at  Frederick 
in  18G3,  and  during  the  Draft  Riot  in  New  York  in  July  of  the  same  year.  In  June,  1804, 
he  was  elected  colonel  of  the  Seventh  Regiment,  and  has  now  held  that  exalted  position 
over  nineteen  years,  with  honor  to  that  famous  military  organization,  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  has  ever  been  the  trustworthy  guardian  and  preserver  of  the  peace  of  the  city. 
Colonel  Clark  is  possessed  of  commanding  personal  appearance  and  dignified  and  courtly 
manners.  He  is  a  thorough,  courteous,  and  considerate  disciplinarian,  is  master  of  tho 
profession  of  a  soldier,  and  is  honored  and  beloved  by  all  who  know  him.  He  is  tho 
author  of  a  "  History  of  the  Second  Company,  Seventh  Regiment." 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


8G1 


the  United  States  and  the  other  notables,  who  occupied  twenty-four 
carriages.  The  procession,  led  by  Cappa's  band  of  seventy  pieces  and 
a  drum  corps  of  twenty-two,  moved  down  Broadway  from  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Hotel.  The  windows,  balconies,  roofs,  and  sidewalks  were 
crowded  with  spectators.  When  the  procession  reached  the  New  York 
end  of  the  bridge,  the  vicinity  was  packed  with  human  beings,  fully 
50,000  having  come  into  the  city  by  the  railways  alone.  All  the  ves- 
sels moored  at  the  wharves  were  also  crowded  with  men,  women,  and 
children.  The  war-vessels,  gayly  decorated  with  flags  and  bunting, 
were  anchored  in  a  line  below  the  bridge,  and  at  a  signal  given  the 
flagship  Tennessee  opened  a  general  salute  of  twenty-one  guns  which 
was  fired  from  the  squadron,  the  Navy- Yard,  and  from  Castle  William 
on  Governor's  Island. 

The  municipal  authorities  of  the  two  cities  met,  with  cordial  greet- 
ings, on  the  bridge,  while  the  band  phiyed  "  Hail  to  the  Chief"  and 
the  vast  multitude  cheered.  Under  the  arched  roof  of  the  Brooklyn 
station  a  dense  throng  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  had  gathered.  To  that 
shelter  the  guests  were  conducted,  where  appropriate  ceremonies  were 
opened  with  prayer  by  Bishop  Littlejohn.  An  oration  was  delivered 
by  the  Hon.  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Storrs  pronounced  an 
address.  There  was  a  grand  reception  at  the  house  of  Chief-Engineer 
Roebling,  in  Brooklyn,  at  which  the  distinguished  guests  assembled. 
The  evening  witnessed  a  grand  display  of  fireworks  and  illuminations 
at  the  bridge  and  elsewhere.  At  midnight  the  pageant  and  its  acces- 
sories had  disappeared — the  events  at  the  opening  of  the  great  East 
River  Bridge  had  passed  into  history,  and  the  first  toll  of  one  cent  was 
taken  on  the  Xew  York  side  when  the  City  Hall  clock  struck  the  hour 
of  twelve  at  midnight. 

What  the  bridge  may  effect  toward  a  union  of  the  two  cities  is  an 
unsolved  problem.  It  is  practically  a  new  street,  closely  built  up 
excepting  over  the  water,  and  extending  from  the  Harlem  River  down 
Third  Avenue  and  Chatham  Street  in  Xew  York,  across  the  bridge 
and  along  Fulton  Street  in  Brooklyn  to  East  Xew  York,  a  distance  of 
fully  fourteen  miles.  But  Brooklyn,  the  grown-up  child  of  Xew  York, 
has  so  firmly  set  up  in  life  for  itself  that  it  is  almost  as  independent  of 
the  latter,  in  its  industrial  pursuits  and  its  social  organizations  and 
aspects,  as  any  other  city.  Rapid  transit  may  be  the  philosopher  that 
will  solve  the  problem. 

The  increase  in  legitimate  trade,*  foreign  commerce,  and  mechanical 


*  This  term  is  applied  to  all  business  transactions  not  purely  speculative,  for  New 


862 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


and  manufacturing  pursuits  at  the  port  and  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
as  shown  by  the  last  enumeration  in  1880,  has  been  equally  great  with 
that  of  the  population.  The  total  foreign  commerce  of  the  port, 
exports  and  imports,  including  coin  and  bullion,  for  the  fiscal  year 
ending  June  30,  1880,  was  $'.144,229,124.  The  number  of  vessels  of 
every  kind  belonging  to  the  port  at  that  time  was  412:5.  This  number 
has  decreased,  for  the  carrying  trade  of  New  York  has  rapidly  dimin- 
ished. It  is  stated  that  during  1882,  of  the  more  than  46,000,000 
bushels  of  grain  exported  from  this  port,  not  a  single  bushel  was 
shipped  to  Europe  in  a  vessel  under  the  American  flag.  Nearly  sixty 
per  cent  of  the  grain  was  carried  in  British  vessels.  Various  causes 
are  assigned  for  this  state  of  things.  Among  them  unwise  legislation 
appears  most  prominent.* 

New  York  had  become,  before  1S70,  the  most  extensive  manufactur- 
ing city  in  the  Kepublic.  According  to  the  census  of  1880,  the 
number  of  its  mechanical  and  manufacturing  industries  was  11,162, 
and  their  manufactured  products  were  valued  at  $44S,20<>,248.  They 
employed  $164,917, S56  capital  and  217,1*77  persons.  Of  the  latter, 
77,866  were  women,  youth,  and  children.  The  largest  industries, 
measured  by  the  value  of  their  products,  were  clothing,  $79,621), 250  ; 
meat-packing,  $29,297,527  ;  printing  and  publishing,  $21,696,354  ; 
tobacco  and  cigars,  $is,347, los  ;  refined  lard,  $14,758,718;  sugar 
and  molasses,  $11,330,883  ;  furniture,  $9,605,779  ;  bakery  products, 
$1>,415,424,  and  machinery,  $'9,216,713.  These  eight  industries  aggre- 
gate only  $194,080,993,  leaving  $254,028,255  to  be  divided  up  among 
about  150  minor  industries,  of  which  only  66  run  up  into  the  millions. 

York  is  conspicuous  now  for  its  enormous  speculations  or  gambling  in  agricultural  pro- 
ductions as  well  as  in  stocks.  For  example  :  in  the  year  1882  the  reported  sales  of  wheat 
at  the  port  of  New  York  were  more  than  050,000,000  bushels,  while  the  actual  quantity 
received  was  less  than  45,000,000,  showing  that  nineteen  twentieths  were  mere  gambling 
transactions.  The  sales  of  Indian  corn  were  reported  to  be  nearly  450,000,000  bushels, 
or  thirty  times  the  quantity  received  ;  of  oats,  exceeding  150,000,000  bushels,  about  one 
tenth  of  which  amount  was  actually  received.  There  were  30,000,000  bales  of  cotton 
reported  sold,  when  the  whole  amount  actually  delivered,  both  on  the  spot  and  future 
sales,  was  less  than  half  a  million  bales.  More  than  once  the  reported  sales  of  petroleum 
in  a  single  day  exceeded  the  entire  product  for  the  whole  year !  Other  large  cities, 
notably  Chicago,  are  centres  of  such  gambling. 

*  Thirty  or  forty  years  ago  the  Americans  took  the  lead  in  shipbuilding.  Then  their 
vessels  were  chiefly  propelled  by  wind.  Fully  one  hundred  ships  were  annually  built  in 
the  shipyards  of  New  York,  many  of  them  of  2000  tons  burden  ;  in  1882  the  shipyards  of 
the  city  turned  out  only  a  few  yachts  or  a  ferryboat.  Steam  has  superseded  wind  as  a 
means  for  the  propulsion  of  vessels,  and  Great  Britain  now  takes  the  lead  of  all  the 
world  in  the  construction  of  this  class  of  ships. 


FIFTH  DECADE,  1870-1880. 


8G3 


It  is  no  doubt  clue  to  the  character  of  these  industries  and  the  nature  of 
the  manufactures  that  they  have  so  little  effect  upon  public  opinion 
concerning-  tariffs  and  other  economic  influences  upon  labor. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  decade  (the  sixth)  William  It.  Grace  *  was 
mayor  of  the  city,  wielding  executive  power  under  the  amended 
charter  of  1873.  JSTew  York  was  then  almost  peerless  in  every  quality 
of  greatness  among  the  cities  of  the  Republic.  In  population  it  was 
pre-eminent.  In  the  extent  of  its  commercial  operations  it  was  mar- 
vellous, it  being  computed  that,  including  relevant  financial  operations, 
seven  eighths  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  United  States  is  trans- 
acted through  .New  York  with  its  vortex  in  Wall  Street.  It  exceeded 
all  others  in  manufactures  and  the  mechanic  arts.  It  was  unrivalled 
in  literary,  scientific,  and  art  associations  and  culture,  in  religious  and 
benevolent  institutions,  in  its  various  aspects  of  social  life,  and  in  its 
magnificent  charities,  public  and  private,  f 

*  William  Russell  Grace  was  born  in  Ireland,  and  received  an  academic  education  in 
Dublin.  His  father  was  James  Grace,  and  his  mother  was  Eleanor  Mary  (Russell)  Grace. 
At  the  age  of  fourteen  young  Grace  came  to  New  York,  became  a  merchant's  clerk,  and 
subsequently  a  shipping  and  commission  merchant  on  his  own  account.  He  has  prose- 
cuted business  with  energy  and  success  between  this  and  foreign  countries,  residing  a 
portion  of  the  time  abroad.  Since  1865  he  has  made  the  city  of  New  York  his  permanent 
residence.  His  commercial  firm  is  W.  R.  Grace  <fc  Co.,  at  No.  142  Pearl  Street.  In  1HS0 
Mr.  Grace  was  elected  mayor  of  the  city,  and  performed  the  important  duties  of  that 
office  with  wisdom,  fidelity,  and  a  fearless  regard  for  the  public  good,  which  made  his 
administration  a  notable  one.  Mr.  Grace  married  Miss  Lillius  Gilchrist.  The}'  have 
six  children — four  daughters  and  two  sons. 

f  In  1883  there  were  in  the  city  of  New  York  33  benevolent  associations  for  the  benefit 
of  the  poor,  and  43  for  mutual  benefit  ;  18  asylums  for  the  aged,  3  for  women,  3  for  the 
blind,  3  for  the  deaf  and  dumb,  2  for  lunatics,  3  for  inebriates,  and  1  for  soldiers  ;  8 
Rible  societies,  3  charity  organizations,  5  Christian  associations  for  young  men  and  0  for 
young  women,  11  city  missionary  societies,  12  dispensaries,  32  "  homes,"  37  hospitals, 
20  industrial  daily  schools,  and  several  church  weekly  sewing  schools  ;  G  ladies'  missions 
(flower,  fruit,  etc.)  for  the  sick  and  convalescent  ;  51  institutions  for  children,  4  lodging- 
houses  for  boys,  12  for  girls  and  women,  and  1  for  sailors  ;  15  orphan  asylums,  18 
reform  societies,  11  seamen's  societies,  and  a  number  of  free  reading-rooms  and  libraries. 
Among  the  most  useful  of  the  last-mentioned  institutions  is  the  New  York  Free  Circulat- 
ing Library,  incorporated  in  1880  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  free  reading  to  the  people 
of  the  city  at  their  homes.  The  office  of  this  association  is  at  No.  30  Bond  Street,  and  it 
is  proposed  to  establish  branches  in  different  parts  of  the  city.*  Besides  the  institutions 
above  named,  there  are  about  500  denominational  institutions  and  the  several  public 
charities  so  called,  under  tbe  charge  of  the  commissioners  of  charities  and  correction,  in 
which  nearly  40,000  persons  were  cared  for  in  1883. 

There  is  a  Charity  Organization  Society  for  co-operating  with  all  other  charitable  asso- 

*The  officers  for  18S2-83  were  :  nenry  E.  Pellew,  president  ;  Benjamin  n.  Field,  Francis  C.  Barlow, 
Frederick  W.  Stevens,  aud  Samuel  P.  Blagden,  vice-presidents  j  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  treasurer  :  William 
Greenough,  secretary,  and  Mis<  Ellon  If.  Coe,  librarian. 


8C4 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


In  this  city  is  concentrated  the  greatest  puissance  of  the  press  of  the 
country  in  every  form— newspapers,  magazines,  and  hooks.  There 
were  no  less  than  540  different  newspapers  and  periodicals  puhlished  in 
the  city  in  1SS3.  Several  of  these  were  in  foreign  languages,  one  of 
them  in  Chinese.  There  were  29  daily  morning  and  i)  daily  evening 
papers.  There  were  10  semi- weekly,  254  weekly,  11  hi- weekly,  25 
semi-monthly,  185  monthly,  three  bi-monthly,  and  11  quarterly  publi- 
cations. Of  the  weekly  papers,  between  forty  and  fifty  were  classed 
as  "  religious,"  though  most  of  them  are  hotli  religious  and  secular  in 
character.*    The  extent  of  its  hook  publishing  is  enormous.  Indeed, 

ciations  against  imposture  and  for  promoting  relief  for  the  real  suffering.  It  proposes 
to  investigate  every  ease  referred  to  it,  to  provide  work  for  the  deserving,  and  to  expose 
and  punish  impostors. 

*  Of  this  class  the  Independent  and  the  Christian  Union  are  conspicuous.  The  latter  is 
the  acknowledged  leader  in  the  new  departure  in  theological  thought  and  inquiry  now 
attracting  so  much  attention  and  discussion  in  the  religious  world.  It  was  founded  by 
the  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  and  others.  It  has  been  for  several  years  under  the  man- 
agement of  Lyman  Abbott,  D.D.,  as  editor-in-chief,  who  has  associated  with  himself  in 
that  labor  Mr.  Hamilton  W.  Mabie. 

Lyman  Abbott  was  born  at  Roxbury,  Mass.,  December  18,  1835.  His  father,  Jacob 
Abbott,  was  one  of  the  most  useful  and  influential  men  of  his  time,  especially  in  leading 
and  directing  the  youth  of  our  country  to  the  happiness  of  good  living,  intellectually, 
morally,  and  spiritually.  His  rare  harmony  of  spiritual  and  practical  gifts  made  him  in 
an  unusual  degree  the  interpreter  of  high  truths  to  plain  people.  Lyman,  his  third  son, 
enjoyed  the  education  of  his  father's  companionship  and  guidance,  and  received  by  direct 
inheritance  a  habit  of  tireless  industry,  a  simplicity  and  directness  of  speech  (which 
makes  him  one  of  the  most  popular  and  effective  writers  and  speakers  of  the  day  on 
religious  and  moral  themes),  and  a  vivid  insight  into  spiritual  truths. 

Mr.  Abhott  graduated  from  the  University  of  New  York  in  1853,  and  spent  some  years 
in  the  study  and  practice  of  law  with  his  brothers  Benjamin  Yanghan  and  Austin.  He 
contributed  to  several  legal  works  published  by  them  and  to  various  periodicals.  After 
a  brief  study  of  theology  with  his  uncle,  John  S.  C.  Abbott,  he  eutered  the  Christian 
ministry  in  1800,  accepting  a  call  to  the  pulpit  of  the  Congregational  Church  at  Terre 
Haute,  Indiana.  In  1805  he  entered  the  service  of  the  American  Freedmen's  Union  Com- 
mission as  general  secretary,  and  gave  himself  actively  to  the  work.  In  1800  he  became 
pastor  of  the  New  England  Congregational  Church  in  New  York  City,  adding  the  duties 
of  a  pastorate  to  that  of  his  secretaryship,  until  1809.  In  1871  he  became  the  first  editor 
of  the  Illustrated  Christian  Weekly,  a  journal  designed  and  organized  by  him  and  published 
by  the  American  Tract  Society.  This  position  he  resigned  in  1877  to  accept  the  joint 
editorship  of  the  Christian  Union  with  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  In  1881  Mr. 
Beecher  withdrew  entirely  from  journalistic  work,  and  Mr.  Abbott  became  and  remains 
editor-in-chief  of  the  paper.  Under  his  guidance  the  Christian  Union  has  steadily  gained 
in  influence  and  authority  until  it  has  become  widely  recognized  as  the  leading  exponent 
of  a  spiritual  and  progressive  Christianity.  Its  notable  characteristics  are  the  recognition 
of  the  presence  and  power  of  God  in  the  history  of  to-day,  interpreting  current  events 
from  a  moral  and  spiritual  standpoint,  and  endeavoring  to  indicate  the  lines  of  growth 
or  decay  in  accordance  with  the  divine  law,  an  attempt  to  point  out  and  emphasize  the 


F1FTII  DECADE,  1870-18S0. 


8(35 


for  the  pursuit  of  every  kind  of  intellectual  cultivation  New  York  is 
unsurpassed  in  the  multiplicity  and  efficiency  of  facilities. 

The  great  city,  alas  !  also  presents  some  of  the  hlackest  shadows  of 
social  life  to  he  found  elsewhere.  These  shadows  are  intensified  and 
made  more  hideous  by  their  contrast  with  the  bright  side  of  society, 
which,  happily,  greatly  preponderates.  New  York,  unfortunately,  is 
becoming  in  a  large  degree  a  city  of  only  two  conspicuous  classes,  the 
rich  and  the  poor.  The  great  middle  classes,  which  constitute  the 
hone  and  sinew  of  the  social  structure,  have  been  squeezed  out,  as  it 
were,  by  the  continually  increasing  pressure  of  the  burden  of  the  cost 
of  living  in  the  city.  They  constitute  the  great  bulk  of  the  suburban 
dwellers  to  whom  the  elevated-railroad  system  is  an  inestimahle  boon. 

New  York  has  become  a  mighty  magnet,  attracting  everything  ; 
hence  its  marvellous  growth  by  accretion.  Possessors  of  wealth,  of 
genius,  and  of  enterprise  have  come  to  it  from  all  parts  of  the  Republic 
to  enjoy  its  manifold  advantages  of  education  for  their  children,  the 
cultivation  of  aesthetic  tastes,  the  blessings  of  scientific  instruction,  the 
facilities  of  commercial  life,  the  chances  for  winning  fortunes,  and  the 
pleasures  of  almost  boundless  social  privileges  and  enjoyments.  Toward 
the  great  metropolis  the  authors  of  inventions  and  the  projectors  of 
enterprises  of  every  kind  continually  gravitate,  for  here  encouragement 
and  capital  are  ever  ready  to  extend  aid  to  the  deserving.  Here  the 
three  great  inventions  or  discoveries  of  our  day — the  telegraph,  the 
telephone,  and  the  electric  light — have  had  their  greatest  development. 

These  advantages,  with  an  abundance  of  places  of  amusement  and 
recreation  on  every  hand  (twenty-three  theatres  and  scores  of  other 
haunts  of  pleasure,  in  1883),  and  a  multitude  of  church  spires  pointing 
toward  heaven,  together  with  a  salubrious  climate,  admirable  arrange 

essential  unity  of  Christianity  underneath  all  sectarian  differences  ;  a  recognition  of  the 
progressive  development  of  spiritual  truth  and  a  consequent  development  of  theological 
statement  in  harmony  with  it. 

Mr.  Ahhott  is  the  author  of  a  number  of  books  :  "  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  His  Life 
and  Teachings,"  1800  ;  "  Old  Testament  Shadows  of  New  Testament  Truths,"  1870  ; 
"  Morning  and  Evening  Exercises,"  selected  from  the  writings  of  Henry  Ward  Reecher, 
1871  ;  "  Laicus  :  The  Experiences  of  a  Layman  in  a  Country  Parish,"  1872  ;  "  A  Popu- 
lar Religious  Dictionary,"  1873  ;  "  A  Review  of  New  Testament  Notes  by  Jacob  and  John 
S.  C.  Abbott,"  1881  ;  "  Henry  Ward  Beecher  :  a  Portrait,"  1883  ;  "  Family  Worship," 
1883.  Mr.  Abbott  is  engaged  in  preparing  a  commentary  on  the  New  Testament.  He  is 
widely  known  as  an  effective  and  elocpient  speaker,  with  a  singular  gift  of  putting  abstract 
truths  in  vital  forms.  He  has  the  lucidity  and  simplicity  of  style  which  his  father  pos- 
sessed beyond  all  his  contemporaries  ;  he  also  has  a  depth  of  mental  and  spiritual  life,  a 
vitality  of  conviction,  and  a  richness  of  imagery  which  are  distinctively  his  own.  Mr. 
Abbott  has  received  from  the  University  of  New  York  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity. 


86G 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


ments  for  the  promotion  of  health,  and  markets  unsurpassed  in  the 
variety  and  quality  of  meats,  fruits,  and  vegetables  which  they  daily 
display,  make  New  York  one  of  the  most  desirable  dwelling-places  on 
the  globe. 

There  are  in  the  vicinity  of  the  great  city  charming  seaside  resorts, 
cool  mountain  retreats,  and  thousands  of  quiet  rural  homes  open  to  the 
wearied  denizens  of  the  town,  easily  accessible.  The  most  remote  may 
be  reached  in  a  few  hours  and  at  a  trifling  expense.  Up  the  Hudson 
are  the  towering  Highlands  and  the  Kaatsbergs,  and  beautiful  valleys 
where  pleasant  farmhouses  are  open  for  the  reception  of  visitors  and 
sojourners  ;  on  the  sea-shore  are  Long  Branch,  Coney  Island,  Rockaway , 
and  Fire  Island  ;  and  there  are  numerous  sylvan  picnic  grounds  scarcely 
beyond  the  chimes  of  Trinity.  Coney  Island,  lying  at  the  door  of  the 
city,  seems  like  a  work  of  magic.  A  dreary  waste  of  sand  less  than  a 
dozen  years  ago,  it  has  been  transformed  into  one  of  the  most  magnifi- 
cent and  attractive  watering-places  in  the  world,  receiving  every  year 
millions  of  delighted  visitors. 

New  York  is  now  the  metropolis  of  the  Republic.  By  the  close  of 
this  century  it  will  probably  be,  in  population,  wealth,  cultivation,  and 
every  other  element  of  a  high  civilization,  the  second  city  in  the  world. 
To  the  eye  of  the  optimist  the  time  appears  not  far  distant  when  it  will 
be  the  cosmetropolis. 


INDEX 


A. 

Abbott.  Lvman.  editor  of  Christian  Union,  biog- 
raphy of.  864. 

Abuel,  the  Rev.  David,  and  the  Seaman's  Friend 
Society,  135. 

Abingdon  Square,  854. 

Abolition  riots.  328-33i» ;  churches  attacked  dur- 
ing. 336. 

Academy  of  Medicine,  history  of  the,  828-830  j 

officers  of  the,  830. 
Academy  of  Music,  early  performers  at  the,  688. 
Academy  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  568. 
Adams,  Alvin,  biography  of,  381. 
Adams  Express  Company,  the.  380. 
Adams,  John,  at  New  York,  47. 
Adams.  Joseph  A.,  engraver,  253 ;  sketch  of,  264. 
Advertising  agency,  857. 

Agate,  F.  S.,  and  Trumbull.  174  ;  notice  of,  262. 

Aged  indigent  Female  Society.  127. 

Agnew,  Cornelius  JR..  and  the  Sanitary  Commis- 
sion and  Union  League  Club,  748;  biography 
of,  777. 

Akerly,  Samuel,  M.D.,  sketch  of,  455. 

Allen,  the  Hev.  Richard,  colored  bishop,  562. 

Alsop,  John,  biography  of,  20!). 

America,  the  famous  yacht,  and  the  Roval  Yacht  i 

Club,  524;  owned  by  General  15.  F.  Butler.  526. 
American  Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  history  of  the, 

172.  173  ;  conduct  of  the,  178. 
American  Anti-Slavery  Society.  326  ;  principles  of 

the,  330. 

American  Art  Union,  history  of  the,  619. 

"  American  Association,"  the,  .35. 

American  Bible  Society,  history  of  the,  192-105  : 
committee  to  draft  constitution  of  the.  193; 
members  of  the  convention  that  formed  the, 
192;  presidents  of  the,  193;  working  of  the. 
194  ;  officers  of  the,  195. 

American  Female  Guardian  Society  and  Home 
for  the  Friendless,  history  of  the.  463  :  advisory- 
committee  of  the,  464  ;  officers  of  the,  465. 

American  Geographical  Society,  history  of  the  ; 
corporators  of  the,  644  ;  presidents  of  the,  645 ; 
membership  of  the,  646. 

American  Institute,  origin  and  history  of  the. 
169-171  ;  nrstofficers  of  the,  169  :  exhibition  of 
the  ;  losses  of  the,  170;  officers  of  the,  171. 

American  or  Know-Nothing  party,  342. 

American  Jockey  Cluh,  822. 

American. Journal  of  Homoeopathy,  298. 

American  literature  and  literary  men  in  New 
York  in  1830:  literary  men  and  artists.  246. 

American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  830;  cor- 
porators of  the.  831  :  officers  of  the,  832  ;  descrip- 
tion of  building  of  the.  831.  832. 

American  News  Company,  history  of  the,  857. 

American  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  National 
Union,  716. 

American  Tract  Society,  history  and  work  of  the  ; 

publications  of  the,  200;  officers  of  the,  201. 
AmeriousClub,  history  of  the  ;  entertainments  at 

the,  597. 
Amsterdam.  Fort,  church  in,  6. 


Anderson,  Alexander,  engraver,  253 ;  sketch  of, 

265. 

Andrews.  George  H.,  on  the  daily  press,  271. 

Anthon,  John,  draws  act  for  changing  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas.  236  :  biography  of,  237. 

Anthracite  coal,  introduction  of,  225. 

Anti-Masonic  movement  and  party,  213. 

Andros,  Governor,  reception  of,  14. 

Anti-Slavery  Society  in  Boston,  326  ;  the  Ameri- 
can, 326. 

Anti-Slavery  movements  in  1854,  651-653:  par- 
ticipators in  the,  653. 

Apartment-houses,  856. 

Appleton,  Daniel,  sketch  of.  282-284. 

Appleton,  D.  &  Co.,  publishers,  house  of,  283, 
284. 

Appleton,  William  H.,  283. 
Apprentices'  Library,  the,  154. 
Arbitration,  Court  of,  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
210. 

Architecture,  changes  in  style  of ;  extravagance 

in  and  decorations  of,  856. 
Arcularius,  Commissary-General,  319. 
Arcularius,  Philip  I.,  561. 

Armitage,  the  Rev.  Thomas,  biography  of,  558. 

Arms  for  insurgents  seized  by  the  Metropolitan 
Police,  716. 

Army,  disbandment  of  the  Union,  757. 

Arnold.  Benedict,  attempted  capture  of,  44. 

Arsenal,  the,  and  election  riots,  319. 

Art,  early  cultivation  of,  171 :  a  new  feature  In- 
troduced, 769 ;  present  cultivation  of,  840.  841. 

Art  Students'  League,  history  of  the,  839;  mem- 
bership and  schools  of  the,  840  ;  officers  of  the, 
841. 

Art  Union,  the  American,  history  of  the,  619. 

Arthur,  the  Rev.  Dr.  M.,  558. 

Artists'  Sketching  Club,  the  New  York,  methods, 

meetings,  and  members  of  the,  506. 
Asia,  the,  British  ship  of  war,  fires  on  the  city. 

39. 

Assistance  Society,  the,  129. 
Associations,  charitable  and  benevolent,  863. 
Astor,  John  Jacob,  biography  of.  701. 
Astor,  Mrs.  John  J.,  and  the  Children's  Aid  So- 
ciet  y.  640. 

Astor,  Mrs.  William,  and  the  Children's  Aid  So- 
ciety. 638. 

Astor  Library,  history  of  the,  701-704;  officers  of 
the.  704. 

Astor  Place  riot,  history  of  the,  509-517. 
Atlantic  Telegraph,  first  promoters  of  the,  646  ; 

history  of  the.  647-650. 
Athen»um,  the  New  York,  190  ;  directors  and 

lectures  of  the,  191. 
Audubon,  J.  J.,  164. 
Augusta.  Mile.,  sketch  of.  426. 
Auction  hotel,  the,  96. 

"Aunt  Margaret,"  a  famous  boarding-house 
keeper.  92. 

Avenues.  Central.  Riverside,  and  St. Nicholas,  856. 
Avery.  Samuel  P.,  relation  of  to  art  and  artists  ; 

contribution  of  to  this  work.  840  843. 
Ayres,  Mr.,  and  the  Baptist  Church,  ;,55. 


INDEX. 


B. 

Babcock,  S.  D..  president  (if  t lie  Chamber  of 

Commerce,  211. 
Baoheler,  <>..  founder  of  the  Family  Magazine, 

280. 

Baldwin,  J.  c.,  and  the  Society  for  tlic  Relief  of 
the  Ruptured  and  Crippled.  704. 

Bancroft,  Ccorge,  president  of  tlie  (ieographical 
Society,  til.) :  funeral  oration  of  I  Lincoln),  750. 

Bangs,  Nathan,  and  the  Methodist  Missionary  | 
Society  :  biography  of,  190. 

Bank  of  England,  action  of  the.  370. 

Bank  for  Savings,  first  in  New  York,  history  of 
the,  225.  220  :  first  officers  and  directors  of  :  of- 
ficers of  in  1883.  220. 

Banks  in  New  York  in  1830.  225. 

Banks  and  insurance  companies.  225.220. 

Banks  suspend  specie  payments,  863. 

Bankrupt  law,  a  general,  370. 

Bayard,  Peter,  public-house  of.  89 

Baptist  churches,  history  of.  550  55S. 

Baptist  Home  for  Aged  and  Infirm  Persons,  of- 
ficers of  the,  700. 

Baptist  Home  Mission  Society, 460  102  ;  founders 
of  the.  400  ;  officers  of  the,  402. 

Baptist  place  for  baptism  in  Kast  River,  222. 

Barclay,  Anthony,  elopement  of  daughter  of, 
438. 

Bard.  John,  biography  of.  110. 

Barker,  Fordyee,  president  of  the  Academy  of  I 
Medicine,  biography  "f.  880. 

Barnard.  F.  A.  P..  president  of  Columbia  Col- 
lege, 147  :  biography  of,  148. 

Barnum,  P.  T  .  and  Jenny  l.iud:  lecture-room  of,  ] 
678. 

Barlow,  Joel,  prophecy  of.  78. 

Barrett,  the  Hev.  I!.  F.,and  the  New  Jerusalem 

Church,  571. 
Bartholdl  statue  of  Liberty,  010. 
Bates,  Reed  &  Cooley.  dry-goods  jobbers,  783. 
Hates,  Levi  M.,  biography  of.  781. 
Battery,  the,  87  ;  distinguished  dwellers  near,  88, 

89. 

Beach,  Moses  Y..  of  the  Sun  newspaper  ;  and  the 
Moon  Hoax,  300  :  biography  of.  302. 

Bedell.  Mrs.,  and  the  Five  Points  House  of  Indus- 
try. 032. 

Bedell,  the  Rev.  G.  T.,and  the  Five  Points  House 
of  Industry.  032. 

Beecber,  the  Rev.  Lyman,  and  American  Bible 
Society,  192. 

Beekman,  William,  sketch  of,  216. 

Belknap,  the  Rev.  Jeremy,  and  John  Pintard,  157. 

Bell.  Jacob,  shipbuilder.  223. 

Bell  of  the  Middle  Dutch  Church.  54. 

Bellevue  Hospital,  history  of  the,  114-116 ;  condi- 
tion of  colored  children  in,  400. 

Bellows,  the  Rev.  H  .  W.,  pastor  of  Unitarian 
Church.  574;  president  of  U.S.  Sanitary  Com- 
mission. 728  ;  biography  of,  729. 

Belvidere  Club,  186. 

Bennett,  James  (J.,  and  the  Courier  and  Enquirer, 
269  :  begins  a  cheap  newspaper,  272;  biography 
of.  277. 

Bennett,  Mrs.  S.  R.  I.,  works  of  usefulness  of, 
465. 

Bergh,  Christian,  shipbuilder,  221. 

Bergh.  Henry,  philanthropist,  founder  of  the  So- 
ciety for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals, 
840  ;  biography  of,  R17. 

Bethune.  Mrs.  Divie.  and  City  Mission  and  Tract 
Society.  202 ;  manager  of  infant  school  sys- 
tem, 307. 

Bible  and  Fruit  Mission,  officers  of  the.  825. 
Bible  Society,  the  American,  history  of  the,  192- 
195. 

Bishop,  Madame  Anna,  519. 

Bishop  &  Simmons,  shipbuilders,  222. 

Black  I  l  ook.  the.  429. 

Blackweil.  Bra  Elizabeth  and  Emily,  694. 
Blackford,  Eugene  t;.,  fish  merchant,  biography 

of,  800. 
Blackwcll's  Island.  399. 


Blind,  N.  Y".  Institution  for  the  Instruction  of  the, 

456  :  officers  of  the,  457. 
Bliss,  Cornelius,  sketch  of,  794. 
Bliss.  Fabyan  it  Co.,  dry-goods  commission  house, 

794. 

Block,  Adrien.  ship  of.  burned  and  built,  4. 
Blodgett,  W.  T.,  and  Loyal  Publication  Society, 
754. 

Bloodgood,  Abraham,  sketch  of.  217. 
Bloomingdale,  603. 

Bloomingdale  Asylum  for  the  Insane,  113. 

Blossom  Club,  the,  822. 

Bobtail  cars,  invention  of  the.  403. 

Bogardus.  General,  and  the  election  riots,  315. 

Book  publishing,  the  first.  55  :  in  New  Y'ork.  864. 

Booth,  Edwin,  first  introduction  to  a  New  Y'ork 

audience,  684. 
Booth.  Junius  Brutus.  102. 

Booth,  Mary  \V.,  president  of  Colored  Home  and 
Hospital.  470. 

Borthrop,  Doctor,  and  Magdalen  Benevolent  So- 
ciety, 453. 

Botanic  Garden  (Elgin);  146. 

Boudinot,  Elias,  first   president    of  American 

Bible  Society,  192,  193. 
Boulevards,  the.  855. 

Bowery  Theatre  and  abolition  riots,  984 ; popu- 
larity of  the  plays  at.  519.  520. 
Bowery  riot,  007. 
Bowling  (ireen,  884. 

Boz  (Dickensi  ball,  committee  of  arrangements 
for  the,  518. 

Brace.  Charles  I...  and  the  Children's  Aid  Society  ; 

biography  of,  634. 
lira  dish.  Lather,  and  Central  Park.  6C8. 
Bradford,  William  first  printer  in  v  w  York 

10-19. 

Bradstreet,  John  M„  and  mercantile  agency,  599. 
Brazil,  visit  of  Emperor  and  Empress  of,  815. 
Brevoort,  Mrs.  Henry,  masked  ballot',  4:18. 
Brewster,  James,  carriage-maker,  biography  of, 

789. 

"Brick  Church'"  demolished.  005. 

Bridge,  East  Liver  Suspension,  histoiy  and  de- 
scription of  the,  858-801  ;  a  proposed  earlier, 
858,  859 ;  cost  of  the,  859. 

Bridewell,  the,  344,  397. 

Brinckerhoff,  Lieutenant-Colonel, and  Astor  Place 
riot,  511. 

British  forces  before  New  Y'ork.  41 ;  ships  of  war 

in  N.  Y*.  harbor,  71. 
Broadway,  now  and  then,  89. 
Broadway  Lyceum,  the,  518. 
Broadway  Theatre,  the.  520. 
Brooklyn,  population  and  character  of  in  1883, 

858. 

Brooks,  James,  biography  of,  276. 
Brooks,  Erastus,  biography  of.  277. 
Brougham,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  at  Park  Theatre,  518. 
Brower,  Abraham,  omnibuses  of,  99,  402,  403. 
Brown  A  Bell,  shipbuilders.  222. 

Brown,  Adam  and  Noah,  shipbuilders,  222. 

Brown,  David,  shipbuilder,  223. 

Brown.  General  Harvey,  and  draft  riot,  745. 

Brown,  James,  biography  of,  ."83. 

Brown,  Stewart,  and  Central  Park,  009. 

Brown,  W.  H.,  shipbuilder,  222. 

Bruce,  George,  biography  of,  483  :  and  David,  481. 

Bryan  Gallery  of  Christian  Art,  104. 

Bryant,  William  C,  140.217;  sketch  of,  257:  eulo- 
gy by  of  President  Lincoln.  750. 

Bryson,  David,  biography  of,  217. 

Buildings  blown  up  at  great  fire,  348. 

Bull.  Licius.  first  president  of  Mercantile  Library 
Association,  107. 

Burchard)  the  Rev.  S.  D.,  president  of  Rutgers 
F  emale  College,  444. 

Burr,  Aaron,  50-53. 

Burrall.  Charles,  and  Woman's  Prison  Associa- 
tion, 587. 

Burton,  W.  E.,  and  National  Theatre,  423  ;  sketch 
of.  429. 

Business  changes  in  location  of,  414  :  men  alarm- 
ed at  prospect  of  war:  men,  petition  of,  716. 


INDEX. 


869 


Butler,  R.  I'.,  :md  Massachusetts  troops,  786. 
Butterfield.  John,  express  of  ;  and  Warren's  Kx- 
press,  881. 

Calhoun,  J.  ('..and  J.  Watson  Webb,  267. 
California,  discovery  of  gold  in;  emigration  to, 
531. 

Calvary  (  einetcry,  580. 

Camp,  William  A.,  manager  of  the  Clearing- 
House,  biography  of,  669. 
Canal  commissioners  in  lsixi.  prediction  of  the,  71). 
Carpenter  &  Bishop,  shipbuilders,  232. 
Carriage  varnish,  manufacture  "I.  TSii. 
Carriages,  manufacture  of,  780. 
Carrying  trade,  the.  802. 

Carroll.  John,  Roman  Catholic  archbishop,  566. 
Castle  Garden,  89,  678;  distinguished  persons  at, 

078,079:  reception  house  for  emigrants,  079; 

opera  at,  083. 
Catholic  Protectory  ;  officers  of  the,  771. 
C'ato  and  his  famous  resort,  105. 
Celeste.  Mile.,  sketch  of,  and  Charles  Mathews, 

Jr.,  424. 
Centennial  celebrations.  817. 

Central  Park,  history  of,  007-010  ;  commissioners 
of  the,  009  ;  gates  of  the,  010  ;  commissioners  of  I 
estimates  and  assessments,  008 ;  superficial 
area  of,  009;  topography  and  hydrology  of  the, 
010  ;  statues  and  attractions  in  and  around,  011.  . 

Century  Club,  history  of  the,  507-509;  first  mem- 
bers of  the,  507  ;  corporators  of  the,  508  :  char- 
acter of  the  ;  first  officers  of  the,  508  ;  officers  of 
the,  509. 

Cesnola,  Lewis  P.,  Count  di,  biography  of.  830 ; 
Cypriote  antiquities  collected  by,  837;  direc- 
tor of  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art  ;  honors  to, 
837. 

Chamber  of  Commerce,  history  of  the,  206-211; 
corporators  of  the;  after  the  Revolution  ;  pro- 
poses the  union  of  the  lakes  with  the  ocean, 
and  upholds  the  canal  policy,  209  ;  and  forti- 
fications of  New  York,  210  ;  officers  of  the,  211. 

Children's  Aid  Society,  history  of  the,  634-041  ; 
circular  letter  of  the,  685,  686;  newsboys  and 
the,  6:38;  work  of  the,  03'.',  64.) ;  officers  'of  the, 
C41. 

Channing,  Dr.  William,  a  convert  to  homoeopathy, 
294. 

Channing.  the  Rev.  William  K.,  Unitarian  minister  j 

in  New  York.  572-574. 
C'hapin  Home,  history  of  the,  709,  770;  officers  of, 

770. 

Charaud,  John,  dancing  master  :  ball-room  of.  91. 
Charters,  city,  of  1830,  234;  of  1849,  498;  of  18">7, 

665  :  of  1873.  810. 
Charlier  Institute,  the,  611. 

Chase.  Salmon  P.,  Secretary  of  the  V.  S.  Treas-  I 

ury,  733. 
Chase  National  Rank.  the.  734. 
Chasteau,  Captain  L.,  and  the  Morse  telegraph 

operators,  391. 
Chut  ham  street  ( 'Impel  and  Anti-Slaverv  Society, 
-  332.  88a 

Cheever,  the  Rev.  George  B.,  and  Church  of  the 

Puritans,  573. 
Chelsea  houses,  73. 
Chemical  Bank  building.  B5& 

Chester,  Mrs.  W.  W..  founderof  the  Colored  Or- 
phans' Home  and  Hospital,  469. 

Children's  Aid  Society,  history  of  the,  634,640  ; 
work  of  the,  640. 

Cholera,  Asiatic,  introduced  and  opposed,  307-  , 
809  :  in  1849,  522;  in  1806.  757. 

"  Christian"  Church,  the,  575. 

Christian  Union,  the,  864. 

Chromolithograph v,  761. 

Church  Mission  to 'Deaf  Mutes,  officers  of  the.  S20. 

Church  Sisterhood  of  the  Holy  Communion.  588. 

Churches  in  colonial  times,  51  ;  in  1825,  60 ;  patri- 
otism of  pastors  of  the  in  1861,781;  in  New 
York,  history  of,  534-576. 

Cincinnati,  Society  of  the,  history  of  the ;  vi  it 
of  members  of  the  to  its  birthplace,  8pi. 


City  Hall,  the  old,  55;  the  new,  211. 
city  Hall  Park,  changes  in.  344. 
City  Hotel,  character  of  the,  92,  93. 
City  streets  and  avenues  laid  out,  57. 
City  treasury  plundered,  808. 
Civic  procession  in  1825,  74. 

Civil  War  inaugurated,  713  :  effects  of  the  on 
wages  and  business,  759,  ;s:j. 

Clark,  Emmons,  colonel  of  the  Seventh  Regi- 
ment N.  (;.,  biography  of ,  860. 

Clark.  L.  (iaylord,  and  the  Moon  Hoax,  361. 

chirk  &  Brown's  restaurant,  96. 

Classes  in  the  Knickerbocker  days,  100. 

Clearing-House,  the.  65S  662. 

Clifton,  Josephine,  sketch  of,  421. 

Clinch.  Jacob,  and  A.  T.  Stewart,  571. 

Clinton.  De  Witt,  mayor  of  New  York,  55  ;  biog- 
raphy of, 79  ;  and  Historical  Society,  156;  pres- 
ident of  American  Academy  of  Pine  Arts,  172  ; 
fights  a  duel  with  Colonel  John  Swartwout, 
240:  president  of  the  Free  School  Society,  303; 
and  Roman  Catholic  priesthood,  567  ;  statue 
offin  Greenwood  Cemetery,  580. 

Clinton,  George  (Admiral),  Governor  ;  sketch  of, 
24. 

Clinton,  Sir  Henry  (General),  attempts  to  take 

New  York,  40. 
Clinton  Hall  Association,  108. 
Clough,  the  Rev.  Simon.  574. 
Club  life  in  New  York,  t20 
Clubs.  820.  823. 

Cobb,  Nathaniel,  proposes  a  line  of  ocean  steam 
ships,  300. 

Cogswell,  Joseph  G.,  and  the  Astor  Library ; 

biography  of.  704. 
Colden,  Cadwallader,  biography  of,  24. 
Colden  and  De  Lancey,  28. 

Cole,  Thomas,    252;    biography  of,  261;  and 

Luman  Reed,  615  ;  "  Voyage  of  Life"  and  sale 

of  the,  019,  620. 
"  Collect,"  tlie,  filling  the,  46  ;  tanners  near,  210. 
College  of  Dental  Surgeons,  780. 
College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  history  of  the, 

591-593  ;  trustees  of  the,  593. 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  history  of 

the,  139-141  ;  and  Columbia  College,  officers  of 

the,  140. 

Collegiate  Church  (Dutch  Reformed),  the,  538. 

Colles,  Christopher,  and  city  water-works.  75. 

Collyer,  the  Rev.  Dr.,  pastor  of  the  Church  of  the 
Messiah,  575. 

Collyer,  Thomas,  shipbuilder,  222. 

Collyer,  Vincent,  and  the  L".  S.  Christian  Com- 
mission, 729. 

Colored  orphans,  association  for  the  benefit  of, 
465  ;  first  officers  of,  460. 

Colored  Orphans'  Home,  destruction  of  by  a  mob, 
407 ;  officers  of,  468. 

Colored  Home  and  Hospital.  469 :  gifts  to,  469, 
470  :  officers  of  the,  170. 

Colored  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  538. 

Colored  troops  and  the  draft  riot,  747;  presenta- 
tion of  colors  to  by  women  of  the  city.  749  ; 
committee  of  Union  League  to  recruit,  749,  750. 

Colton  Dental  Association,  780. 

Colton,  Gardner  Quincy,  biography  of.  781. 

"Column,  The,"  history  of  the, '436;  members 
of,  437. 

Columbia  Academy  of  Painting,  171. 

Columbia  College,  history  of,  142-150  ;  first  gov- 
ernors anil  pupils  of  ;  medical  school  of,  143  ; 
early  graduates  of  ;  gifts  offered  to.  145;  semi- 
centennial anniversary  of  :  financial  affairs  of, 
146;  removal  of;  medical  department  and 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  147  ; 
schools  of ;  proposition  to  make  a  university 
of,  150  :  commemorates  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, 288. 

Commerce  in  1825.  61. 

Commercial  buildings,  856. 

Commissioners  of  Emigration,  680. 

Commission  merchants,  location  of  the,  214. 

Committee  of  correspondence,  30  ;  and  Non- 
importation Leagues,  27. 


870 


INDEX. 


Committee  of  Fifty-one,  33 ;  of  One  Hundred,  3G ; 

of  Vigilance,  32. 
Committee  of  Seventy  in  1871,  808,  809:  officers 

of  the  :  appeal  of  the  to  the  people  :  purge  the 

city  of  plunderers,  809  ;  results  of  the  labors  of 

the,  810. 

Common  Pleas,  Court  of.  236:  array  of  eminent 
lawyers  in  the  in  isjo,  237  :  constitution  of  the, 
490.  497  :  modified,  495-198. 

Common-school  system  extended  to  New  York 
City.  577. 

Common  schools,  first  movement  for  establishing, 

302. 

Comptroller's  office  and  the  city  plunderers.  809. 

Comstock,  Anthony,  and  the  Society  for  the 
Suppression  of  Vice,  849:  most  salutary  and 
efficient  work  of.  849,  850;  useful  book 
("  Frauds  Exposed")  by,  850. 

Concanen,  the  Rev.  Luke,  Roman  Catholic  Bish- 
op of  New  York.  506. 

Conev  Island,  transformation  of.  800;  Jockey 
Club,  822. 

Congregational  Church,  first.  573. 

Congress,  extraordinary  session  of.  731. 

"Confederate  States  of  America,"  organization 
of  government  of  the,  717. 

Connelly,  the  Kev.  John,  Bishop  of  Now  York,  567. 

Conner,  James,  and  electrotyping ;  biography  of, 
484. 

Conspiracy  to  burn  Northern  cities,  755. 
Continental  Congress,  First,  31 ;  delegates  to  the. 
36. 

Contoit's  garden,  91. 

"Constitution"  and  "  Veto"  in  political  proces- 
sions. 314. 

Cooper,  Myles,  president  of  Columbia  College; 

politics  and  flight  of,  144. 
Cooper.  Peter,  and  the  Cooper  Vnion  ;  biography 

of,  670,  671. 
Cooper,  Thomas  A.,  biography  of,  419. 
Cooper  Union,  history  of  the,  670  :  schools  and 

trustees  of  the,  671. 
Corse,  Israel,  biography  of.  217. 
Costumes  sixty  veins  ago.  90. 
Courier  and  Enquirer,  editorial  staff  of,  269  : 

office  of  the  threatened  by  a  mob,  310 ;  defence 

of  the,  318. 

Court  of  Over  and  Terminer,  237;  of  Sessions, 
237. 

(  ox.  ilio  Rev.  Samuel  Ilanson,  and  the  abolition 
riot.  335. 

Cozzens,  Frederick  S.,  editor  of  The  Century^  606. 
Credit  system,  expansion  and  collapse  of  the, 
368-370. 

Crittendi'u  Compromise,  the.  716. 

Crolins,  Clarkson,  sr..  biography  of.  72:  grand 

sachem  of  the  Tammany  Society.  244. 
Crolins.  Clarkson,  Jr.,  and  the  Seamen's  Retreat 

Hospital,  133. 
Crosbv.  Enoch,  the  original  of  Cooper's  "Spy," 

288.  289. 

Crosby,  the  Rev.  Howard,  chancellor  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  the  City  of  New  York  :  biography  of, 
451  ;  president  of  the  Society  for  the  Preven- 
tion of  Crime.  851. 

Croton  Aqueduct,  history  of  the.  357-360. 

Croton  water,  introduction  of  the  into  the  city, 
485. 

Cruger.  John,  first  president  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  208. 

Crystal  Palace,  destruction  of  the;  American 
Institute,  loss  of  in  the.  614. 

Ctimmings.  Thomas  S..  and  the  American  Acad- 
emy of  Fine  Arts,  175  :  and  Colonel  Trumbull, 
177:  biography  of,  180:  mentioned,  252 :  the 
Morse  telegraph  and,  387 ;  New  York  Sketch 
Club  and.  505  ;  Macready  and.  517. 

Cunard,  Samuel,  and  ocean  steam  navigation, 
367. 

Cunningham.  British  provost-marshal,  43. 
Curtis,  George  William,  address  of  at  the  un- 
veiling of  Ward's  statue  of  Washington.  815. 
Curtis.  Joseph,  and  the  House  of  Refuge.  393. 
C  ashman.  (  harlotte.  sketch  of,  425. 


Cypriote  antiquities  in  Metropolitan  Museum  of 
,      Art,  836. 

I). 

llaguerre,  L.  J.  M..  and  his  invention  ;  Professor 
Morse  and,  407. 

Daguerreotype,  history  of  the,  407-410 ;  first  taken 
in  America.  4es. 

Daily  newspaper,  cost  of  producing  a  morning. 
278:  number  in  circulation  in  1835,  279. 

Daly.  Charles  P.,  president  of  St.  Patrick's  Society, 
191  :  t  hief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  :  biography  of,  496  :  president  of  American 
Geographical  Society,  645:  the  crew  of  the 
Savannah  and.  738  ;  first  president  of  the  Work- 
ing Women's  I'nion,  823. 

Dancing  sixty  years  ago.  93. 

Dandy  Point,  a  bathing  place,  222. 

Davis,  Noah,  Chief  Justice,  biography  of,  810. 

Day,  Benjamin  H..  founderof  the  Sun  newspaper, 
introduces  printing  by  steam-power,  273;  letter 
of  to  the  author ;  biography  of,  274. 
I   Dayton,  Abraham,  quoted  from,  108. 
I   Deaf  Mutes.  Chinch  Mission  to;  officers  of  the 
mission  to.  826. 

Deaf  and  Dumb.  NewYork  Institution  for  the  In- 
struction of  the  ;  history  of  the,  118-120  ;  officers 
of  the,  120,  121. 

Dean,  Julia,  an  American  actress,  519. 

Debt  of  New  York  in  1K70,  805. 

Debt,  prisoners  for,  remarks  of  Red  Jacket  and 
Whittier  upon.  397.  . 

Debtors'  prison  in  the  Park,  344.  397. 

Declaration  of  Independence  in  New  York,  40. 

Decorative  Art.  Society  of,  838;  officers  of  the,  839. 

Degrauw,  John  W.,  s5  ;  biography  of,  230. 

Dellaven,  commander  of  the  Grinuell  expedition, 
642. 

Delafleld,  Edward,  and  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary, 
122. 

Delancey,  James,  Chief  Justice  of  New  York,  16  ; 
gives  a  charter  to  Columbia  College.  143  ;  biog- 
raphy of,  24  ;  coalition  with  Colden,  29. 

Delmonieo.  cafe  of,  98.  99. 

Demilt,  Benjamin,  gift  to  Apprentices'  Library, 
I  154. 

Demilt  Dispensary,  6N9:  officers  of  the.  690. 
Democracy  in  New  York  under  Dutch  rule,  10. 

Democratic  Free  Club,  652:  societies,  243. 

Dental  Surgeons,  College  of.  officers  of  the,  780. 

Departments,  the  executive  of  the  city,  498. 

Depau.  Francis,  and  his  family.  92. 

DePeyster,  Frederic,  saves  the  New  York  Histor- 
ical Society,  161  ;  biographv  of.  182, 

DePeyster,  General  John  Watts.  103. 

Devoe,  Colonel  Thomas  T.,  and  the  markets, 
sketch  of,  605. 

De  Witt,  the  Rev.  Thomas,  biography  of.  536  :  at 
the  Five  Points.  630. 

Dewey,  the  Rev.  Orville.  pastor  of  the  Church  of 
the  Messiah.  575. 

Dickens.  Charles,  and  the  Five  Points,  626. 

Dinsmore,  William  B.,  horticulturist  and  stock- 
raiser,  president  of  the  Adams  Express  Com- 
pany. 796  :  Beach's  Express  and,  362;  Adams 
Kxpress  and.  380. 

Diplomatic  ag<  nts  sent  to  Europe.  735. 

Dispensary  districts,  689. 

Dispensary,  the  New  York,  116:  president  of  the, 
117. 

Dix.  Dorothea  I...  and  the  soldiers'  hospitals,  728. 
Dix,  John  Adams,  famous  despatch  of ;  biography 

of.  714:  presides  at   war  meeting  in  Union 

Square,  714. 

Dix,  the  Rev.  Morgan,  rector  of  Trinity  Church 
and  biographer  of  his  father.  General  J.  A.  Dix  ; 
Leake  and  Watts  Orphan  Asylum  and,  455. 

"  Doctors'  mob."  the,  48. 

Dodge,  William  E  .  biography  of,  219;  and  the 
Society  for  the  Relief  of  the  Ruptured  and 
Crippled,  766. 

Dodge.  Mrs.  William  E.,  and  the  Colored  Home 
and  Hospital.  470. 

Dom  Pedro,  Emperor  of  Brazil,  visit  of,  C15. 


INDEX. 


871 


Donaldson,  .lames,  and  t he  Five  Points  House  of 
Industry.  032. 

Douglass,  Major  D.  B..  engineer  of  Croton  Aque- 
duct, 357  ;  and  Greenwood  Cemetery,  57'J. 

Downing.  A.  J.,  suggests  a  great  park  for  New 
York,  007. 

Downing' a  "  oyster  cellar,'*  97. 

Draft  for  soldiers  ordered,  743  ;  opposition  to  the, 
744. 

Draft  riots  in  New  York,  history  of  the,  744-747. 

Draper,  John  \V.,  on  the  daguerreotype  ;  biog- 
raphy of.  40$. 

Draper.  Simeon,  and  the  election  riots,  319. 

Drama,  the,  in  New  Y"ork,  102. 

Drawing  Association,  the  New  Y'ork,  ITS;  and 
Colonel  Trumbull,  177. 

Drives,  favorite,  on  Manhattan  Island.  105. 

Dry-goods  merchants,  location  of,  214. 

Duane,  James,  biography  of,  34  ;  mayor,  45. 

Dubois,  Mrs.  Cornelius,  and  the  Nursery  and 
Child's  Hospital.  093. 

Dubois,  the  Rev.  John,  Bishop  of  New  York,  50S. 

Duer,  John,  and  Columbia  College,  140 ;  at  the 
Irvine  banquet,  259. 

Duer,  William  A.,  president  of  Columbia  College, 
146. 

Dunderberg,  the  steamship,  527. 
Dunham,  David,  and  ocean  navigation  by  steam, 
366. 

Dunlap,  William,  on  Luman  Reed,  615. 

Dun,  R.  (J.,  and  mercantile  agency,  599;  biog- 
raphy of.  000. 

Dunshee,  II.  \V.,  and  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church 
school.  541. 

Durand,  A.  B.,  and  New  York  Drawing  Associa- 
tion. 170. 183  :  a  founder  of  the  National  Acade- 
my of  the  Arts  of  Design,  179 :  biography  of,  505. 

Durand,  John,  and  the  Century  Club,  1*4. 

Durr  Collection  of  Paintings  in  the  Historical 
Society,  104. 

Duryee,  Abraham,  colonel  of  Seventh  Regiment 
N.  G.,  and  the  Astor  Place  riot,  513  ;  biography 
of,  515. 

Dutch  Reformed  Church,  history  of  the,  534-540  ; 

at  Bloomingdale,  538  :  school  of  the,  302,  540. 
Dutch  East  India  Company,  the,  3. 
Dutch  West  India  Company,  the,  4. 

E. 

East  India  Company,  the  Dutch.  4. 

East  River  Suspension  Bridge,  history  of  the,  858- 

801  ;  dimensions,  materials,  and  cost  of  the,  859; 

opening  of  the,  800  :  what  il.  may  effect.  801. 
Eastern  Dispensary,  466  :  officers  of  the,  456. 
Eckert,  Thomas  T„  and  telegraphy  :  biography 

of,  392. 

Kckford.  Henry,  shipbuilder,  sketch  of.  222;  and 

the  commodore's  horses,  223  ;  builds  an  ocean 

steamship  in  1821  22.  360. 
Eddy,  Thomas,  and  House  of  Refuge,  898. 
Edmonds,  John  W.,  and  Prison  Association,  685. 
Edwards.  Jonathan,  preaches  in  New  York.  554. 
Education,  first  board  of,  and  their  work,  577,  578. 
Egleston,  Thomas,  Jr..  and  Columbia  College 

School  of  Mines.  147. 
Egyptian  antiquities  in  the  Historical  Society, 

164. 

Election  riot  in  1834.  history  of,  314-320:  result  of  I 
the,  320. 

Electro-magnetic  telegraph,  history  of  the.  888 
390. 

Electrotyping.  beginning  of.  is  I 

Ellsworth,  Anna,  and  the  lirst  message  by  the 

Morse  telegraph.  390. 
Ellsworth,   Ephraim.   and    the  Fire  Zouaves ; 

death  of  and  honors  to.  732. 
Ely,  Z.  Stiles,  endows  a  chair  in  the  Union  Theo-  ' 

logical  Seminary,  449. 
Emanu-el.  Temple  of.  553. 
Embury.  Emma  ('.,  251. 
Embury,  Philip,  and  the  Methodists,  560. 
Emigrants,  arrivals  of  at  Castle  Garden,  680. 
Emigration,  commissioners  of,  079.  n*o. 


Emmet,  Mrs.  Dr.,  and  Nursery  and  Child's  Hos- 
pital. 893. 

Emmet,  Thomas  Addis,  biography  of,  237. 
Emott,  James,  engaged   in  the  prosecution  of 
Tweed,  809. 

Engravers  on  wood  prominent  in  1830,  200,  204. 

Envelopes,  manufacture  of,  706. 

Episcopal  (Protestant)  churches,  541,  542;  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  island,  551. 

Ericsson,  John,  civil  engineer,  and  the  steam  fire- 
engine,  233. 

Erie  Canal,  origin  of  the.  59,  GO ;  celebration  of 
the  opening  of  the,  07-79  ;  commemorative 
medals  of  the,  78 ;  evening  festivities  of  the 
celebration  of  the  opening  of  the,  70.  77. 

Ethnological  Society,  the  American,  founders  and 
officers  of  the.  598. 

Evening  schools  for  newsboys,  639. 

Evarts,  William  M..  foreign  corresponding  secre- 
tary of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  165 ; 
engaged  in  the  prosecution  of  Tweed,  809;  na- 
tional Secretary  of  State,  437 ;  biography  of, 
437. 

Everett.  Edward,  address  before  the  American 

Institute,  170  ;  Unitarian  clergymen,  574. 
Exchange,  the  Merchants',  destroyed,  346. 
Exchange  for  Women's  Work,  the  New  Y'ork, 

history  of  the  ;  officers  of  the,  839. 
Exempt  Firemen,  Association  of,  231. 
Bmngt  newspaper  established  in  New  Y'ork.  276  ; 

history  of  the,  277. 
Express  business,  history  of  the,  377  ;  extent  of 

in  New  York,  382. 
Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary,  history  of  the,  121-123. 

F. 

Faber,  A.  W.,  and  the  manufacture  of  pencils, 
762,  703. 

Faber.  Eberhard  and  John.  703. 

Families  move  from  the  din  of  business,  91,  92. 

Family  Magazine,  the,  founded  by  Origeu  Bachelor, 

280  :  editors  of  the,  280. 
Farmer,  Little  .fc  Co.,  stereotypers,  484. 
Fay,  Theodore  S.,  and  the  New  York Mirror,  249  ; 

sketch  of,  258. 
Federal  procession  in  1789,  47. 
Federalists,  the,  50. 

Female  Association  for  the  Relief  of  the  Poor, 
302. 

Female  Assistance  Society,  the.  128. 
Female  doctors,  prejudices  against,  686. 
Female  Guardian  Society,  advisory  committee  of 
the.  464. 

Ferris,  the  Rev.  Isaac,  president  of  Hutgers  Fe- 
male College,  444;  chancellor  of  the  University 
of  New  York,  451. 

Ferry-boats,  56. 

Few.  William,  first  president  of  the  American  In- 
stitute, 169. 

Field,  Benjamin  II..  vice-president  of  the  Histori- 
cal Society  :  president  of  the  Home  for  Incur- 
ables, 700  ;  biography  of.  766-708. 

Field,  Cyrus  W.,  and  submarine  telegraphy,  040- 
860  :  biography  of.  050. 

Field,  David  Dudley,  and  submarine  telegraphy, 
646. 

Field.  Matthew  D.,  and  submarine  telegraphy, 
040. 

Fields,  great  meeting  in  the.  80. 

Financial  embarrassments  and  New  York  mer- 
chants. 309.  003. 

Fire,  the  great,  in  1S35.  34.V355. 

F'ire  company,  names  of  members  of  the  first, 
228. 

Fire  Department,  history  of.  227  233  ;  the  Yolun- 

teer,  227  ;  the  Paid,  231. 
Fire-engines.  228. 

Fire-insurance  companies.  502-504. 

Firemen,  pride  and  ambition  of,  229  :  character 

of  at  Barnum's  Museum.  232. 
Firewardens  of  New  Amsterdam,  dignity  of  the, 

227. 

F'ire  Zouaves,  the,  in  military  service.  73- 


872 


INDEX. 


Fish,  Hamilton,  and  Union  Square  war-meeting, 
71!) :  president  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 
National  Secretary  of  State  :  biography  of.  818. 

Fish  merchandise,  extent  of,  79!). 

Fish,  Preserved,  644. 

Fisher,  Alexina,  an  actress,  sketch  of,  420. 
Fisher,  Clara,  sketch  of,  -Jin  j  Mrs.  Biaeder,  420. 
Five  Points,  history  of  the  purification  of  the, 

026-634  :  character  of  the.  630,  627  ;  temperance 

meetings  at  the.  026  ;  riot,  007. 
Five  Points  House  of  Industry,  history  of  the, 

631  ;  offic  ers  of  the,  633.  034  :  work  of  the,  034. 
Five  Points  Mission,  027,  628;  mission-house,  630. 
Five  Points  schools,  698. 

Fleming.  General,  marshal  at  the  Canal  celebra- 
tion. 74. 

Floating  Hospital  and  Seaside  Nursery  of  St. 

John's  Guild.  ;72. 
Flour  riot,  history  of  the,  372-370. 
Flower  and  Fruit  Mission.  824. 
Flynn,  Thomas,  and  the  theatre.  430. 
Foreign-born  citizens,  influence  of,  342  ;  character 

of,  243. 

Foreign  commerce  in  1840,  475. 
Foreign  correspondence  of  New  York  newspa- 
pers. 888. 

Foreigners,  political  tendencies  of,  311. 

Forrest.  Kdwin.  sketch  of,  421  ;  quarrel  of  with 
Mao  ready,  510. 

Fortilying  the  city  in  1814.  57. 

Foundling  Asylum  of  the  sisters  of  Charity,  his- 
tory of  the,  770 :  officers  of  the,  771. 

Fourth  Avenue  improvement]  S14. 

Francis,  John  W.,  and  the  American  Medical  ami 
Philosophical  Jlnjisltr,  11,  :  the  Bread  and  (  hcese 
(or Lunch)  club  and.  185;  the  Hone  dub  and. 
431  :  biography  of,  434  ;  the  American  Art  In  ion 
and.  01!). 

Franklin,  Walter,  merchant,  208. 

"  Frauds  Exposed,"  a  book  by  Anthony  Corn- 
stock,  850. 

Free  Academy,  the,  502. 

Bree  Church  Home  for  incurables,  founders  of 
the,  768 ;  history  of  the.  768,  76!) ;  officers  of  the, 
76!). 

Free  Circulating  Library,  officers  of  the.  863. 

Free  School  Society,  302.  303  ;  conspicuous  work- 
ing members  of  the,  303. 

Free  public  schools  and  Lafayette,  304. 

Fredricks.  C.  D.,  and  photography  ;  biography 
of,  111,  412. 

Frelinghuysen,  Theodore,  chancellor  of  the  I'ni- 

versity  of  New  York,  451. 
French  Revolution  commemorated,  286,  291. 

Prey,  the  Rev.  J.  s.  C, organizes  the  first  Congre- 
gational Chureli  in  New  York.  573. 

Ficket  &  Thomas,  shipbuilders,  222. 

Friends  or  Quakers  oppose  slavery.  326 :  society 
of  in  New  York.  552  ;  the  and  the  Civil  War.  727. 

Fugitive  slave  law,  the,  655. 

Fulton  .Market  rebuilt  ;  account  of  the  opening  of 

the  new,  800. 
Fallon,  Bobtrt,  the  steamship,  223. 
Fulton  Street  Noon  Prayer-meeting,  664. 
Fur  business,  location  of  the,  214. 

G. 

Gallatin,  Albert,  and  Ethnological  Society;  biog- 
raphy of,  287. 

Gallatin,  James,  founder  of  the  Sanitary  Reform 
Society.  758. 

Gano,  the  Rev.  John,  556. 

Garcia,  signor  Emanuel,  and  the  Italian  opera, 

103. 

Garcia,  Signorina.  103:  marries  Monsieur  Mali- 
bran.  104  :  misfortunes  of.  104.  105. 

Garden  Street  Church  and  the  great  fire,  348: 
account  of  the,  535. 

Garden  City  begun  by  A.  T.  Stewart,  417  ;  cathe- 
dral and  mausoleum  at,  418. 

Gardens,  Vauxhall.  Indian  Queen,  and  Tylee's.  52. 

Garrcttson.  Freeborn,  and  the  Methodist  Mission- 
ary Society,  196. 


■  Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  and  the  /iterator,  326  j 
course  of  in  England,  3x8. 
Gates  of  Central  Park,  names  of  the,  C10. 
General  furnishing  business,  791. 
1  General  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  history  of  the,  4  :."> ;  officers 
of  the.  447. 

George  Griswold,  a  shit)  of  mercv  sent  to  England, 
7:38. 

George  III.,  statue  of  pulled  down,  40. 

Gerard,  James  W.,  and  anti-slavery  meeting,  652. 

German  Hospital  and  Dispensary,  Ladies'  Aid 
Society  of  the.  773. 

German  Methodist  (  hutch,  563. 

German  Reformed  Church  and  the  Lutherans,  539. 

German  and  Spanish  clubs.  822. 

Gerry.  Flbridge  T.,  president  of  the  Society  for 
the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children  ;  biog- 
raphy of,  851,  852. 

Gisborne,  F.  N..  and  submarine  telegraphy.  640. 

Girls'  lodging-houses  established,  639. 

Glenn,  Anthony,  and  the  American  flag  at  the 
British  evacuation,  289,  290. 

Gold,  effect  of  discovery  of  in  California,  531. 

Golden  Hill,  first  battle  of  the  Revolution  fought 
in,  2!). 

Gouriie,  John  II.,  editor  of  The  Century,  508; 
chairman  of  the  finance  committee  of  the  Met- 
ropolitan Fair,  receipt  to.  756. 

Gouverneur,  Samuel  L..  orator  at  the  commem- 
oration of  the  French  Revolution,  288,  291. 
'  Government  House,  the.  51. 

Grace,  William  P..  mayor  of  New  York,  863. 

Grace  Church,  architecture  of,  673. 

Graham,  Isabella,  sketch  of,  130. 

Gram,  John,  introduces  homoeopathy  into  the 
I'nited  States,  293  :  sketch  of,  i96. 

Graniercy  Park,  528.  854. 

Grand  Central  Depot.  814. 
I  Gray.  John  F.,  and  homoeopathy,  293  :  biography 
I      and  character  of,  297 ;  professional  assaults 

upon.  298  ;  anecdote  of.  299. 
,    Great  Eastern,  the,  arrival  of,  709. 

Great  fire  of  1835,  extent  of  the.  350 ;  value  of 
property  destroyed  by, 861 ;  meeting  of  citizens 
after  the,  852;  committee  appointed.  858;  re- 
covery from  the  :  James  Lee  and  the,  355. 

Great  fire  in  1835.  345-355  ;  in  1845,  5(  0. 

Greeley,  Horace,  and  the  Log  Cabin,  476  :  and  the 
Tiibune,  477  ;  biography  of.  478. 

Green,  Andrew  II..  made  comptroller.  8c9. 

Green,  John  C,  gifts  of  to  the  Society  Library, 
153  :  and  to  the  Society  for  the  Relief  of  the 
Ruptured  and  Crippled,  764. 

Green,  Norvin,  president  of  Western  I'nion  Tele- 
graph Company,  biography  of,  392. 

Greenwood  t  emetory.  projectors  and  history  of 
the.  578-580  ;  officers  of  the.  580. 

Grinnell.  Henry,  sends  vessels  in  search  of  sir 
John  Franklin,  642.  643. 

Grinnell.  Moses  II  .  and  McCurdy,  517:  biography 
of,  643;  and  the  war  meeting  at  I'nion  Square, 
719. 

Griscom.  John,  and  the  House  of  Refuge,  398. 

Guerin's  cafe  and  drinking-saloon.  98. 

Guernsey.  Egbert,  homoeopathic  physician,  biog- 
raphy of.  299. 

Gnlick,  James,  Chief  of  Fire  Department,  and 
commemoration  of  the  French  Revolution,  290. 

Grocers,  location  of  the,  214. 


Hackett,  James,  merchant  and  actor,  sketch  of, 
427. 

Haggerty  &  Sons,  notice  of.  96. 

Hahnemann,  Samuel,  founder  of  the  homoeo- 
pathic system  of  medicine.  392;  translations  of 
works  of,  293,  294. 

Hahnemann  hospital,  officers  of  the,  827. 

Hale.  James  W.,  and  the  express  business,  377, 
378. 

Hale.  Nathan,  executed  as  a  spy,  42. 
I   Halleck,  Fitz-Greene,  and  Wail  Street,  108  ;  anec 


INDEX. 


dote  of  and  Dr.  Dc  Kay,  185:  and  Recorder 

Hiker,  341  :  acquaintance  of  formed  with  J. 

Hodman  Drake.  255,  250 :  sketch  of,  255. 
Hall,  t he  Hev.  John,  chancellor  pro  tent,  of  the 

Dnlversity  of  the  City  of  New  York,  453. 
Hall,  Louise  Garland  (''  Sister  Louise" i,  founder 

of  the  Free  Church  Home  for  Incurables,  708. 
Hall  of  Hecords  in  the  Park,  344. 
Hall's  omnibuses,  99. 
Halls  of  Justice  OF  the  Tombs.  305.  300. 
Hamblin,  Thomas  S.,  sketch  of,  428. 
HambHn,  Alexander,  at  the  meeting  in  the  Fields, 

33:  statue  of  destroyed,  846. 
Hamilton.  .James  A.,  and  Colonel  Smith  at  the 

great  fire,  34!),  350. 
Hard  cider  campaign,  476. 

Hardie,  lames  M.,  sketch  of  New  York  by,  100. 

Harlem  Plains,  battle  on,  41. 

Harnard,  Samuel,  shipyard  of,  222. 

Harnden,  William  V..  establishes  the  first  ex- 
press company,  378.  37!)  ;•  emigration  scheme 
of.  370  ;  death  "of.  880. 

Harper  &  Brothers"  publishing  house,  280-283;  de- 
struction of  the  establishment  of,  381. 

Harper  Brothers,  sketches  of  the,  383;  publica- 
tions of  the,  282. 

Harper,  James,  mayor  of  New  York  ;  biography 
of,  491. 

Harris,  Elisha,  and  V.  S.  Sanitary  Commission, 
738. 

Hart,  Peter,  and  Fort  Sumter,  717. 

Hart,  Ell,  and  the  Hour  riot,  373;  and  Company. 

store  of  sacked  by  a  mob,  874. 
Hartley,  H.  M..  a  founder  of  the  Society  for  the 

Relief  of  the  Raptured  and  Crippled.  704. 
Hatters,  location  of  the  business  of  the,  31 1. 
Hatch,  G.  \V.,  engraver,  noticed,  253;  sketch  of, 

838.  204. 

Hatch  lithographic  establishment,  761,  762. 
Havemeyer.  William  P.,  mayor  of  New  York, 

405;  and  the  Committee  of  Seventy,  800. 
Hawks,  the  Hev.  Francis  L..  president  of  the 

American  Geographical  Society,  biography  of, 

645. 

Health,  Board  of.  and  its  efficiency,  757,  758 ; 

first  hoard  of,  757 :  officers  of,  75.!. 
Health  Department,  309. 

Hebrew  Bene*  olent  and  Orphan  As\  Una  Society, 
history  of  the,  124-127  ;  officers  of  the,  127 

Hell  Gate,  improvement  of  navigation  at.  814. 815. 

llelmuth,  W.  Tod,  phvsiciau  and  surgeon,  biog- 
raphy of,  209. 

Henderson,  Peter,  horticulturist,  biography  of, 
796. 

Herat'/,  morning,  established  by  James  Gordon 
Bennett  ;  character  of  the,  275;  first  financial 
report  in  the.  270;  introduces  a  new  feature  in 
journalism,  308. 

Hewitt,  Abram  S..  oration  of  at  the  opening  of 
the  East  Hiver  Bridge.  861. 

Hicks,  Elias,  and  a  Virginia  slaveholder.  337'. 

Historical  Society  of  New  York,  history  of  the, 
156-105  ;  founders  of  the  ;  organizatiou  of  the  ; 
first  officers  of  the,  158;  migrations  of  the, 
159  ;  existence  of  secured,  161 ;  Egyptian  collec- 
tion of  the,  168;  paintings  and  statuary  of  the, 
164;  officers  of  the,  105. 

Hobart.  John  Henry,  bishop  of  the  Diocese  of 
New  York,  and  the  General  Theological  Sem- 
inary, 446. 

Hodge,  Paul  &  Co.,  steam  Ore-engine  builders, 
233. 

Hoe,  Robert,  Sr..  inventor.  478,  479  ;  and  Grant 

Thorburn,  479 ;  founder  of  the  house  of  R. 

Hoe  &  Co.,  479. 
Hoe,  Richard  M..  inventor  of  printing-presses; 

dinner  given  to,  273;  lightning  press  of,  478; 

sketch  of,  480. 
noe,  R.  &  Co.  (Hichard  M..  Peter  S.,  and  Robert 

S.),  establishment  of,  480,  481. 
Hollanders,  political  postulate  of  the,  9. 
Home  for  Fallen  and  Friendless  Girls,  officers  of 

the,  709. 

Home  for  Incurables,  history  of  the,  7C6-768  ; 


first  officers  of  the  ;  board  of  trustees  of  the, 

700;  gifts  to  the;  Officers  of  the,  708  ;  ladies' 

association  of  the.  70S. 
Home  (Free  Church i  for  Incurables,  70S. 
Home  for  Old  Men  and  Aged  Couples,  825  ;  officers 

of  the,  130. 

Home  for  Wounded  and  Sick  Soldiers,  738 ;  of- 
ficers of  the,  739. 

Home  Fire  Insurance  Company,  history  of  the, 
032,  023  ;  operations  of  the,  623  ;  officers  of  the, 
624. 

"  Home,  Sweet  Home,"  history  of  the  song  of, 
103. 

Homoeopathy,  history  of  the  introduction  of, 
203  300  ;  new  converts  to,  305  ;  and  the  medical 
profession  ;  and  tin'  cholera  in  1840,  533. 

Ilonui'opathic  Medical  College,  778-780 ;  officers 
of  the.  780. 

Homeopathic  Medical  Society.  298. 

Hone.  Philip,  mayor,  at  Albany,  08;  the  com- 
memoration of  flic  Fiench  Revolution  and.  288  ; 
character  of,  432  :  at  the  Irving  banquet,  2.">0. 

Hone  Club,  the,  described  by  Dr.  Francis,  431  ;  last 
survivor  of  the,  413. 

Hopper,  Isaac  T..  a  leading  abolitionist,  335 ; 
biography  of,  839  :  overawes  a  mob,  340  ;  Prison 
Association  and,  585. 

Hopper.  Isaac  T.  Home,  586. 

Horse  railroads  in  New  York,  401,  402. 

Horticultural  Society,  the  New  York,  790 

llosack,  David,  and  Bellevue  Hospital,  114;  biog- 
raphy of,  115;  and  Lying-in  Asylum,  118. 

Hospital,  first  in  New  York,  10  ;  first  on  Manhat- 
tan Island.  111. 

Hospital.  New  York  City,  history  of  the,  110-113. 

House  of  Mercy  (Roman  Catholic),  sisters  of 
the,  590. 

House  of  Refuge,  the.  398. 

Howard  Mission  and  Home  for  Little  Wanderers, 

officers  of  the,  772. 
Hoyt,  Jesse.  214. 

Hoyt,  Joseph  B..  biography  of,  788. 

Hoyt,  Joseph  B.  A  Co.,  leather  and  belting  man- 
ufacturers and  merchants,  788. 

Hughes,  the  Rev.  John.  Roman  Catholic  Bishop 
of  New  York  ;  consecrates  St.  Peter's  Church. 
565;  coadjutor  bishop.  568:  archbishop;  biog- 
raphy of,  569:  the  public  schools  and.  577:  St. 
John's  College  anil.  505;  diplomatic  agent  in 
France,  7:15.  730;  visits  Home,  730;  the  draft 
riots  and,  746. 

Hull.  A.  <;..  convert  to  homoeopathy,  204. 

Humane  Society,  the.  127. 

Huntington.  Daniel,  president  of  the  National 
Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design.  183. 

Huntington.  Emilv,  and  the  Wilson  Industrial 
School,  642. 

Hntton,  the  Rev.  Mancius.  colleague  pastor  of 
the  Garden  Street  Church,  535. 


I. 

Illuminating  gas  introduced,  60,  85. 

Tndept  /»/<  >*/.  the,  864. 

Indians,  massacre  by  the,  11. 

Industries  of  New  York  in  1880.  861.  862. 

Infant  Asylum,  New  York,  771  ;  officers  of  the. 

Infant  School  Society,  307. 

Infirmary  for  Women  and  Children.  001 ;  first 

managers  of  the.  005:  officers  of  the,  (iOO. 
Ingham,  Charles  ('..  a  founder  of  the  National 

Aeademv  of  the  Artsof  Design,  179  ;  the  Sketch 

Club  and.  188  :  sketch  of.  252. 
Inglis.    William,   judge  of  Court  of  Common 

Pleas,  406. 
Inglis.  steamship  builder.  223. 

Inman.  Henry,  biography  of,  176;  a  founder  of 
the  National  Academy  of  Design,  170. 

institutions,  benevolent  and  other,  53  ;  religious, 
benevolent,  and  charitable,  83!. 

Insurance  companies,  marine  and  lire,  in  1830. 227. 

Insurance  Department  of  the  State  of  New  York 
established,  503. 


INDEX. 


Irish  Emigrant  Society,  100. 

Irving,  John  '1'.,  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  sketch  of  :  monumental  tablet  in  honor 

of,  230. 

Irving,  Washington,  banquet,  guests  at  the,  250. 

Irving,  Washington,  dwelling  of,  88  :  sketch  of, 
251  :  public  banquet  given  to.  259 :  and  Mac- 
ready,  517  :  Central  Park  commissioners  and, 
009. 

Italian  opera,  attempt  to  make  it  permanent, 
520. 

Ivison,  Henry,  biography  of,  594. 
Ivison,  Blakeman,  Taylor  St  Co.,  school-book 
publishing  establishment,  594. 

J. 

Jackson  Square,  854. 

.lanes.  Bishop,  at  the  Five  Points.  030. 

Japanese  treaty  and  embassy,  708. 

Jarvis.  J.  Wesley,  sketch  of  :  anecdote  of.  2G0. 

Jav,  John.  34 ;  president  of  the  .Manumission 
Society.  30-2,  328. 

Jay,  John,  and  an  ant i  slavery  movement  in  1854, 
051  :  biography  of.  669. 

Jay,  Peter  A.,  biography  of,  887. 

J  ay  \\  ilium  and  Vtmn:  411  IHt'.le  Si>ei;t\  IT?, 
101  :  answers  Bishop  llobart,  104  ;  slavery  and, 
899  :  biography  of. 330. 

Jay's  treaty  in  New  York,  50. 

Jennings,  Dr.  Klla  A.,  founder  of  the  Provident 
Dispensary  for  Working  Women  and  Girls.  827. 

Jervis.  John  II.,  chief  engineer  of  the  Croton 
aqueduct.  850. 

Jesup,  .Morris  K.,  president  of  the  City  Mission 
Society.  205:  president  of  tin1  American  Mu- 
seum of  Natural  History,  830 ;  biography  of, 
830. 

Jesup,  Mrs.  Morris  K  ,  president  of  the  Women's 
Branch  of  the  City  Mission  Society,  806. 

Jews  and  Moravians.  23. 

Jews  iii  New  Amsterdam.  124. 

Jews  in  New  York,  early  history  of  the,  124; 
places  of  worship  of  the.  552,  553. 

Jockey  clubs.  898. 

Johnson,  the  Kev.  Samuel,  first  president  of 
King's  mow  Columbia)  College.  143. 

Johnson.  William  Samuel,  first  president  of  Co- 
lumbia (late  King's!  College,  biography,  of.  145. 

Johnston,  John  Taylor,  president  of  Metropolitan 
Museum  of  Art.  biography  of,  835. 

John  Street  Church,  the  mother  Methodist  Soci- 
ety, 661. 

Jones,  the  Rev.  Lot,  and  City  Mission  Society,  457. 
Journal  of  Commerce  and  the  Courier  ami  Enqtiin  i\ 
271. 

Journalism,  new  era  in,  308. 

Juvenile  Asylum,  history  of  the;  corporators  of 
the,  0K7  :  officers  of  the.  0KS. 

Juvenile  Delinquents,  Society  for  the  Reforma- 
tion of,  898. 

K. 

"  Katie"  Ferguson  and  her  works,  101. 
Eean,  C.  J.,  sketch  of,  421. 
Kean.  Mr.  and  Mrs..  519. 

Keene,  Laura,  sketch  of.  oai. 

Keep,  Kmma.  and  the  New  York  Ophthalmic 

Hospital.  097. 
Kennedy,  John  I'..  and  the  Morse  telegraph,  389. 
Kennedy,  Robert  Lenox,  and  the  Lenox  Library, 

153  ;  Bleeeker  Street  Savings  Bank  and,  201. 
Kent  Club,  the.  430 

Kent,  Chancellor  James,  and  the  Irving  banquet, 

259. 

Kemble,  Charles,  biography  of,  422. 

Kemble,  Fanny,  sketch  of.  422. 

Khone,  F.,  legacy  of  to  the  General  Theological 
Seminary,  440. 

Kidd,  Captain  William,  biography  of,  18. 

Kieft,  William,  Governor  ;  "the  Twelve  ;  the  Ind- 
ians and,  8. 

Kine  Pox  Institution,  141. 

King,  Charles,  president  of  Columbia  College, 147; 


the  great  fire  and,  349  ;  Maeready  and,  517 

Loyal  Publication  Society  and.  754. 
King.  James  G..  biography  of.  352:  the  Bank  of 

England  and,  371  ;  election  riot  ami.  317. 
Kingsland.  Mayor  A.  C,  recommends  a  great 

public  park,  008. 
Kip  it  Brown,  omnibuses,  99. 
Kissatn,  Richard,  and  Richard  Biker.  240. 
Knapp,  Herman  J.,  founder  of  the  Ophthalmic 

and  Aural  Institute,  825. 
Kniekerboeker  society,  81  :  amusements  of,  80; 

funerals.  95  ;  furniture,  85:  home  life  of,  80; 

hospitalities  of,  84,  85  ;  Sabbath  of,  81. 
Knight.  James,  founder  of  the  Society  for  the 

Relief  of  the  Ruptured  and  Crippled,  704. 
Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle.  743. 
Knowles,  James  Sheridan,  sketch  of,  423. 
Kohlman,  the  Rev.  Anthony,  rights  of  vindi- 
cated. 507. 
Kurtz,  William,  and  photography,  413. 

L. 

Ladies'  Home  Missionary  Society  and  the  Five 
Points,  027. 

Ladies'  Home  Society  of  the  Baptist  Church,  offi- 
cers of  the.  824. 

Lafayette,  visit  of,  59;  the  public  Schools  and, 
3l»4  ;  gold  medal  presented  to  by  the  Rational 
Guard.  324:  statue  of  presented  by  French 
residents,  815. 

l.aidlie,  the  Rev.  Archibald,  fust  preacher  in 
English  in  Dutch  Reformed  Church.  537. 

La  Ko/.ewska,  Marie,  and  the  Infirmary  for 
Women,  005. 

I.alah,  Alderman,  and  the  abolition  riot.  357. 

Lanc  aster.  Joseph,  system  of  introduced,  306. 

Latbrop,  the  Rev.  Edward,  and  the  Tabernacle 

Church.  558. 

Lamb.  John,  30.  39  :  biography  of.  30. 

Lawrence.  ( !,  W.,  the  first  mayor  e  lected  by  the 
people,  235.  310,  313.  880  :  the  flour  riot  ami,  374. 

Law  courts  of  the  city,  notice  of  the,  810. 

Lead  pencil  manufacture.  702. 

Leake  and  Watts'  Orphan  Asylum.  ex-Officio  trus- 
tees of  the  :  trusteesand  officers  of  the,  455. 

Leather  manufacturers  and  merchants,  location 
of  the,  214. 

Leather  tanning,  history  of,  215-218. 

Lee,  General  Charles,  at  New  York,  40. 

Lee,  Gideon,  mayor,  biography  of,  312  ;  wounded 
in  the  election  riot,  318. 

Lcfferts.  Marshall,  colonel  of  Seventh  Regiment 
N.  (i.,  723. 

Li  ggett,  Francis  II.,  biography  of  ;  and  company, 
785. 

Leggett,  William.  250-254  ;  sketch  of,  257. 

Leisler.  Jacob,  fate  and  biography  of.  1 1. 

Lenox.  James,  and  Nineveh  marbles.  104  :  founder 
of  the  Presbyterian  Hospital.  775:  founder  of 
the  Lenox  Library,  833;  personal  notice  of, 
834. 

Leslie,  C.  R.,  biography  of.  201. 
Liberty  poles  creeled  and  defended.  29. 
Liebcr,  Francis,  and  Loyal  Publication  Society, 
754. 

Life  Insurance  Company,  the  Mutual,  of  New 
York,  history  of  the,  187-492  ;  founders  of  the, 

4*7. 

Lind,  Jenny,  in  New  York,  sketch  of.  078. 
Lindsay,  Marcus,  and  the  Methodist  Missionary 
Society.  195. 

Lincoln.  President  Abraham,  assassination  of ; 
proceedings  in  New  York  concerning  the  assas- 
sination of,  and  respect  to  the  body  of,  756. 

Literary  and  Philosophical  Society,  founders  of 
the,  190. 

Literary  men  conspicuous  in  New  Y'ork  in  1830, 

2.54. 

Livery  business  in  1830,  100. 

Livingston,  Philip,  34  ;  and  St.  Andrew's  Society, 
188. 

Livingston,  Wells  and  Co.,  express  established  by, 
381. 


INDEX. 


875 


Locke.  Richard  Adams,  author  of  the  Moon 
Hoax.  3(11. 

Look-wood,  i.e  Grand,  sketch  of,  sis. 

Lodging-houses  for  boys  and  girls,  689,  640 ;  sta- 
tistics of,  640. 

Lor/  Cabin,  (lie,  a  campaign  paper,  476. 

Log  cabins  in  the  city,  476. 

London  parks,  names  of  the.  60". 

London  Times,  mistakes  of  correspondent  of 
the,  Ti'.t. 

'•  Loco-Kocos,"  origin  of  the  party  of,  811. 
Long  Island,  battle  of,  41. 

Lotus  club,  (be  names  of  founders  of  the;  of- 
ficers of  the,  821. 

Loudoun,  Lord,  and  New  Yorkers,  35. 

Low,  Able!  A.,  biography  of,  61". 

Loyal  people,  enthusiasm  of  the,  726. 

Loyal  Publication  Society,  work  of  the,  754. 

Lucky,  the  Rev.  J.  L.,  missionary  at  Five  Points, 
628. 

Ludlow, the  Rev.  Mr.,  church  and  house  of  attack- 
ed bv  an  anti-abolition  mob,  337,  338. 
Lunch  (Bread  and  Cheese)  Club,  183-185. 
Lutheran  Church,  the,  541. 

Lyceum  of  Natural  History,  presidents  of  the, 
190. 

Lying-in  Asylum,  officers  of  the,  118. 
Lynch,  Dominick,  introduces  the  Italian  opera, 
103. 

M. 

McAuley,  the  Rev.  Thomas,  first  president  of  the 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  448. 

Maclay,  the  Rev.  Archibald,  558 ;  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  and,  573. 

MoOloskey,  the  Rev.  John  (Cardinal),  and  St. 
John's  College,  595  ;  biography  of,  677. 

McCoun,  \V.  C.  and  Prison  Association,  584. 

Macdougall,  Alexander,  and  imprisonment  of, 
30,  31. 

McElrath.  Thomas,  and  the  Tribune,  477;  suggests 
an  Bast  River  suspension  bridge,  859. 

Mcllvaine,  Bishop  C.  C,  diplomatic  agent  in  Eng- 
land, 735. 

McKenzie,  R.  Shelton,  368. 

Mackerelville.  riot  in,  668. 

McKesson,  John,  biography  of,  787. 

McKesson  &  Bobbins,  druggists,  house  of,  786. 

Maeready  and  Forrest,  quarrel  between,  510;  at 
the  Astor  Place  opera-House,  513;  letter  of 
citizens  to,  517  ;  at  Park  Theatre,  518. 

Macv.  U.  IL,  notice  of  :  biography  of,  791. 

Macy,  R.  H.  <fc  Co.,  establishment  of,  791. 

Macy,  William  II. .  and  the  Society  for  the  Relief 
of  the  Ruptured  and  Crippled:  biography  of,  765. 

Magdalen  Benevolent  Society,  452-454  :  legacy  to 
the,  453  ;  managers  and  officers  of  the,  454. 

Mallbran,  Madame  (Slgnorina  Garcia),  104. 

Manhattan  Club,  the.  753. 

Manhattan  Bye  and  Bar  Infirmary,  first  board  of 

surgeons  of  the,  777  ;  officers  of  the,  779. 
Manhattan  Island.  7  ;  villages  on,  603. 
Manhattan  water-works,  55. 

Manufactures  and  manufacturing  companies,  224  ; 

in  New  York  in  1880,  862. 
Manumission  Society.  SOB,  326. 
Mapes,  J.  J.,  biography  of,  408  ;  andelectrotyping, 

4S4. 

Marble,  Danforth,  sketch  of.  427. 
Marcy,  B>  B.,  biography  of,  299. 

Marine  Bible  Society,  134. 

Mariners'  church,  the  first  ever  built,  134. 

Marine  Court,  notice  of  the,  23". 

Mn l  ine  Magazine,  134. 
Marine  Society,  129. 
Markets  in  New  York.  605. 

Martin,  Charles  J.,  president  Home  Fire  Insur- 
ance Company,  biography  of.  624. 

Marx.  "  Dandy."  character  and  doings  of,  106, 

Masked  ball,  elopement  from  a,  488. 

Mason.  A.  J.,  engraver  on  wood  ;  poem  in  Xew 
York  Mirror,  biography  of,  247 ;  notice  of.  253. 

Mason,  the  Rev.  John  ;  writes  (headdress  of  the 
American  Bible  Society  to  the  people,  193. 


Mason  ami  Slidell,  Confederate  agents.  735. 

Masonic  Hall.  the.  212  :  headquarters  of  the  Whig 
party,  311-315  ;  attack  upon,  318. 

MatseU,  <;.  \\  ..  report  of  on  street  children,  634. 

Mathews.  Charles,  Jr.,  actor,  notice  of,  424. 

Mathews,  the  Key.  James  M.,  pastor  of  (iarden 
Street  Church,  535 ;  first  chancellor  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  New  York  451. 

May,  Captain  Jacobus,  5. 

Mayor  first  elected  by  the  people.  310. 

Mayor's  court,  permanent  law  judge  of.  236. 

Mechanics,  English,  immigration  of,  225, 

Mechanics'  Institute,  the,  483. 

Mechanics'  and  Tradesmen's  Society,  153,  154, 
officers  of  the,  155. 

Medal,  gold,  given  by  the  National  Guard  to  La- 
fayette, 325. 

Medical  education,  facilities  for  acquiring,  828. 

Medical  examiners.  State  Board  of,  298. 

Medical  institutions  and  medical  faculty  in  1832, 
809. 

Medical  science,  condition  of,  291. 
Medical  Society  of  New  York  County,  137. 
Medical  Society  of  New  York  State,  138  ;  action 
of  concerning  homoeopathy  in  1882,  295. 

Medical  societies  oppose  homoeopathy,  295. 
Medicine.  Academy  of.  838. 
Mercantile  agencies,  598. 

Mercantile  Library  Association,  origin  and  growth 

of,  167-169  :  officers  of.  169. 
Mercantile  life,  methods  of,  219. 
Merchants'  clerks,  duties  of  formerly,  219. 
Merchants'  Exc  hange,  the  first,  23:  location  of 

the,  211;  description   and  destruction  of  the 

new,  212. 

Merchants  of  New  York,  contributions  of  in  sup- 
port of  the  government,  731. 
I  Mestaycr,  Emily,  actress,  sketch  of,  421. 
Methodist.  Book  Concern, 867. 
Methodist  church,  history  of  the,  560. 
Methodist  churches,  colored,  first  in  Now  York, 
562. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church  Home  for  Aged  and 
Infirm  Members;  officers  of  the,  700. 

Methodist  Mariners'  church,  563. 

Methodist  mission  churches,  563. 

Methodist  Protestant  Church,  564. 

Metropolitan  Pair,  operation  and  receipts  of  the, 
750. 

Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  834-838;  corpora- 
tors of  the,  835;  collections  and  schools  of  the, 
R36,  837;  handbook  of  the,  838. 

Metropolitan  Opera-House,  683. 

Metropolitan  Police  and  Mayor  Wood,  666. 

Metropolitan  sanitary  district,  757. 

Metropolitan  Theatre,  684. 

Mexico,  war  with,  530  ;  French  troops  withdrawn 

from,  741. 
Mickle.  Andrew  II. ,  mayor,  495. 
Midnight  Mission,  459. 

Middle  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  bell  of,  54;  ser- 
vices in  the,  82:  deacons  of  and  singing  in  the, 
83  :  closed  and  sold.  536. 

Millington,  the  Uov.  J.,  donates  books  to  the  city. 
J  61. 

Mills.  Zophar,  and  the  Volunteer  Eire  Depart- 
ment; sketch  of,  229;  honors  to,  230. 
Mills  building.  858 

Milnor,  James,  rector  of  St.  George's  Church, 
543. 

Minult,  first  rovernor  of  New  Netherland.  5. 

Mirror,  the  New  York,  a  generous  patron  of  lit- 
erature and  art,  246  ;  poem  at  the  opening  of 
the  ninth  volume,  216-251 ;  incident  in  editorial 
room  of,  259. 

Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Church.  195; 
work  of  the.  197;  first  officers  of  the,  190;  offi- 
cers of  the,  198. 

Mitchell.  Edward,  first  I'niversalist  minister  in 
New  York.  571. 
I  MitohilL  Samuel  L.,and  his  contributions  to  the 
wedding  of  the  lakes  and  the  ocean,  72;  biogra- 
phy of.  119:  member  of  the  Drones' Club,  186. 
,  Modern  churches  and  the  services,  83. 


8T-5  INDEX. 


Mohawk  and  Hudson  River  Railroad  Company, 

3li4. 

Monroe.  James  iex-Presidcnt>.  and  the  commem- 
oration of  the  French  Revolution,  287.  ago. 

Montez.  Lola,  sketch  of.  682. 

Moon  Hoax,  history  of  the,  880. 

Mooney.  William,  founder  of  the  Tammanv  So- 
eiety,  242. 

Moore,  Benjamin,  Bishop,  and  the  Historical  So- 
ciety, 158. 

Moore.  Clement  ('..  (rift  of  to  the  General  Theolog- 
ical Seminary.  445. 

Moore,  sir  Henry,  biography  of,  28;  the  City  Hos- 
pital and.  110.  ' 

Moravian  Church,  the.  668. 

Morehouse,  the  Rev.  II.  I...  historian  of  the  Bap- 
tist Home  Missionary  Society.  402. 

Morgan.  E.  D.,  on  sanitary  committee,  522 ;  gifts 
of  to  the  I'nion  Theological  Seminary,  450  ;  gov- 
ernor of  New  York  and  the  Civil  War,  724.  725 ; 
biography  of.  724. 

Morgan  \  Son,  shipbuilders,  222. 

Mornlngside  Park,  854. 

Morris,  George  1*.,  notice  of,  03.  249 ;  sketch  of, 
258  ;  Macrcady  and.  517. 

Morse,  Samuel  F.  B..  inventor,  175  ;  conference  of 
artists  in  studio  of;  New  York  Drawing  Asso- 
lation  and,  KG;  biography  of,  383:  first  con- 
ception of  a  telegraph  by  :  exhibits  a  telegraphic 
instrument  in  public,  385  :  receives  government 
aid  in  establishing  the  lirsi  telegraph  line,  389; 
first  message  given  to  by  Miss  Ellsworth:  sug- 
gests submarine  telegraphy.  .389  :  the  daguerre- 
otype and,  408;  endowment  of  a  chair  In  the 
I'nion  Theological  Seminary,  449:  submarine 
telegraphy  and.  848;  the  American  Society  for 
the  Promotion  of  National  Union  and.  710. 

Morse,  Sidney,  prophecy  concerning  the  .Morse 
telegraph;  biography  of;  the  New  York  Ob- 
server ami,  387. 

Morton,  Jacob,  reviews  troops.  88.  89  :  at  the 
commemoration  of  the  French  Rcvidution.  290. 

Morton,  Levi  P.,  and  Grace  Memorial  Home, 
075. 

Moss,  John  C,  inventor  of  the  "Moss  process," 

biography  of.  845. 
Moss  Process  and  Engraving  Company.  842-845. 
Mott.  Valentine,  eulogy  on  Dr.  Francis  by.  434  ; 

biography  of,  591  ;  the  Women's  Central  Belief 

Association    and.  728;    Home  for  Sick  and 

Wounded  Soldiers  and,  738. 
Mott.  Jordan  L.  inventor,  biography  of,  707. 
Mott.  .1.  I..,  iron  works.  708. 
Mott  ami  lhillidav  on  baby  farming.  BBS. 
Mount  Sinai  Hospital.  090  ;  officers  of  the,  691. 
Mount  Morris  Square,  851. 

Muhlenberg,  the  Rev.  William  A.,  biography  of, 

589. 

Munn.  O.  D.  and  .Vi<  ntific  Ami  riciiii,  C20 ;  biog- 
raphy of,  G21. 

Munn,  Stephen  B..  and  his  negro  servant,  80. 

Munn  &  Beach,  patent  agency  of,  621, 

Murray.  Mary  (Mrs  Ferris),  and  Home  for  Colored 
Orphans.  465;  notice  of.  466-469. 

Murray.  Mrs.  Robert,  and  British  officers,  53,  208. 

Murray,  Robert,  merchant,  208. 

Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company  of  New  York; 
patriotism,  policy,  and  benefactions  of  the,  489- 

491  ;  condition  of  the  ;  the  Tweed  Ring  and  the,  , 

492  ;  new  building  of  the,  493.  856. 

N. 

National  Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design,  history 
of  the.  174-182  :  names  of  founders  of  the  ;  first, 
exhibition  of  the.  179  :  attacks  upon  the  ;  migra- 
tions of  the:  permanent  home  of  the,  180; 
character  of  the,  181  ;  officers  of  the,  182. 

National  currency,  origin  of  the,  733  ;  opposition 
to  the,  731. 

National  Government,  seat  of  at  New  York,  47. 

Native  American  party,  493. 

Naturalization  laws,  defects  in  the,  245. 

New  Amsterdam,  representative  convention  in, 


10 :  menaced  by  Indians,  11  ;  name  of  changed, 
11 

New  Netlici land,  colony  sent  to.  4:  settlers  in 

dispersed,  5  :  tirst  European  born  In,  5. 
Negro  plot  in  New  York,  20. 
New  awakening  in  New  York,  66. 
New  Jerusalem  Church,  574. 

"  New  Medical  institution,1'  founders  of  the,  140. 
New  York  Association  for  Improving  the  Con- 
dition of  the  Poor,  its  history  and  work,  582  ; 

officers  of  the.  584. 

New  York  Asvluni  for  Destitute  Lying  in  Women, 
118. 

New  York  Bible  Society,  198;  work  and  officers 
of  the.  200. 

New  York  City,  name  of.  11  ;  social  condition  of  in 
1684,  12:  Charter  of  Liberties  of.  14  .  democracy 
prevailing  in,  15;  municipal  regulations  of,  19; 
tirst  charter  of :  growth  of  pauperism  in,  20; 
Industries  in.  IS;  streets  laid  out  in.  20;  leading 
men  in  in  1740,  22;  political  society  in,  32  :  con- 
flicting authority  in.  38:  defences  of;  Wash- 
ington in,  40:  great  fires  in  in  1776  and  1778.  42, 
43;  cold  winter  at,  44:  evacuated  by  the 
British,  44;  in  1790.  46  ;  description  of,  52:  in 
1830.  65;  invasion  of,  66  ;  homes  in  then  and 
now.  87 :  prominent  institutions  in  about  18i!0, 
142:  c  hange  in  the  aspect  of.  213;  newspapers 
in  in  1827.  266 :  the  press  news-gatherers  in.  368; 
contrasts  in  the  society  of,  439;  foreign  com- 
merce and  population  of  in  1840,  475  ;  growth 
of  and  public  squares  in  in  1840.  475 ;  descrip- 
tion of  and  harbor  of  in  1850,  603:  population 
of.  604  ;  piers  and  markets  01,606;  methods  of 
trade  in  ;  manufactures  of.  806;  business  men 
in  alarmed  by  signs  of  war,  716 :  contributes  men 
and  money  for  the  war.  731,  732, 739  :  incendiary 
attempts  to  burn  the,  766;  population,  foreign 
commerce,  manufactures,  financial  institu- 
tions, value  of  real  and  personal  estate  and 
debt  of  in  1S70.  805  :  annexation  of  territory  to, 
811  :  boundaries  of  in  1883  ;  financial  operations 
in.  812;  changes  in  architecture  and  decora- 
tions in  866;  social  advantages  in,  865  ;  sea- 
side and  rural  resorts  near  ;  present  and  future 
of  the.  886. 

New  York  City  Dispensarv,  116,  117. 

New  York  city  Hospital,  110  113. 

New  Yoi  k  City  Mission  and  Tract  Soeietv,  201- 
205:  first  officers  of  the.  203 ; work  of  the,  203- 
204:  Woman's  Branch  of  the,  203.204;  officers 
of  the.  2ii5. 

New  York  County  Medical  Society,  137. 

New  York  Eve  and  Ear  Infirmary,  officers  of  the 
123. 

New  York  Gallery  of  Fine  Arts,  164;  trustees  of 
the.  616. 

New  York  and  Harlem  Railroad  Company,  401- 

406. 

New  York  Infant  Asylum.  771  :  officers  Of  the. 772. 

New  York  Infirmary  for  Women  and  Children,  694. 

New  York  Juvenile  Asylum,  687. 

New  York  Provincial  Congress,  37. 

New  Y'ork  State  organized,  43. 

New  Y'ork  State  Medical  Society,  corporators 
and  officers  of  the,  138. 

New  York  Times,  the.  820. 

New  Y'ork  Typographical  Society.  165. 

New  York  Yacht  Club,  595;  notable  event  in  the 
history  of  the,  596  ;  officers  of  the,  597. 

Newsboy,  the  first  who  sold  the  Sun,  275. 

Newsboys  and  the  Children's  Aid  Society:  char- 
acter of  the,  639;  lodgings  provided  for  the; 
evening  schools  for,  639. 

News-gathering,  new  methods  of,  270. 

Newspapers  In  New  Y'ork  in  1840,477;  In  New 
York  In  1883,  864. 

Niblo,  William  sketch  of ;  "  Garden"  of,  4£8: 
lessee  of  Astor  Place  Opcra-House.  510:  gift  of 
to  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  657. 

Nicpcc  and  Dagucrre.  107. 

Noah.  M.  M.,  notice  of  :  biography  of,  269. 

Noble.  John,  and  the  Moravians,  559. 

Normal  College,  the,  269. 


INDEX. 


877 


North  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  537. 
Norwegian  emigrants  in  New  York,  80. 
Notable  conflagrations.  344. 
Numismatic  and  Archaeological  Society,  founders 
and  officers  of  the,  598. 

O. 

Oakley,  Thomas  J.,  sketch  of,  436. 
O'Brien,  Colonel  II.  T. murder  of.  740. 
O'Brien,  James,  and  the  Tweed  Ring.  607. 
Ocean  steam  navigation,  early,  364-366. 
Ocean  steamships  entering  American  ports  in  1882, 
367. 

Ocean  telegraphy  first  suggested  bv  Professor 

Morse,  389. 
O'Connell  (iuards,  342. 

O'Conor,  Charles,  and  the  Kent  Club,  436  ;  en- 
gaged in  the  prosecution  of  Tweed,  809. 

Old  Brewery,  scenes  at  the.  629. 

Old  families  of  New  York,  92. 

Old  jail,  bell  of  the  destroyed,  501. 

Ole  Bull,  lessee  of  the  Academy  of  Music,  683. 

Olmsted,  Frederick  Law,  and  Central  Park,  609  ; 
sketch  of.  610;  secretary  of  the  Sanitary  Com 
mission,  729. 

Omnibuses  in  New  York.  99,  003. 

Opera  (Italian),  first,  introduced,  103;  Oper>>- 
House  and.  423. 

Opera  troupe  from  Havana,  521. 

Ophthalmic  Hospital.  697  :  officers  of  the,  698. 

Ophthalmic  and  Aural  Institute,  officers  of  the, 
825. 

Orangemen  and  Ribbonmen,  riot  between,  813; 

casualties  of  the  riot  between,  814. 
Order  of  Merit  and  the  National  Guard,  352. 
O'Keilley.  Henry,  and  the  Morse  telegraph  ;  biog 

raphy  of.  391. 
Orphan  Asylum  Society  (Protestant),  directors 

Of  the  136:  officers  of  the,  137. 
Orphans'  Home  and  Asylum  of  the  Protestant. 

Episcopal  Church.  691  ;  officers  of  the,  692. 
Orthopa?dic  Dispensary  and  Hospital,  corpora- 
tors of  the,  776 :  officers  of  the,  777. 
Orton.  William,  biography  of.  393. 
Osborne,  Governor,  commits  suicide,  24. 
Ottendorfer,  Anna,  and  the  German  Hospital,  773: 

honored  by  royalty.  774. 
Ottendorfer.  Oswald,  and  the  New  York  Zeitung; 

biography  of.  773. 
Oyer  and  Terminer,  Court  of.  237. 


P. 

Packard.  Silas  S..  biography  of,  685;  business 

college  of.  684,  685. 
Packet  ships,  58.214,  215. 

Paganiniand  Miss  wataon,  424, 425. 

Painter*  prominent  in  1830,  259. 

Paid  Kil  e  Department,  231. 

Palmo,  F..  and  his  opera-house,  424,  521. 

Palmer.  William  Pitt,  250. 

Palatines  in  New  York.  16. 

Paraguay,  relief  of  Minister  Washburn  in,  741. 

Parker.  Willard.  140:  endowment  of  a  chair  in 

I'nion  Theological  Seminary,  44'J  ;  the  Academy 

of  Medicine  and,  829. 
Parks  and  squares  in  1R50.  .530;  in  1883.  854. 
Park  Theatre  and  canal  celebration,  78;  actors  at. 

102  :  foreign  actors  at,  419  ;  waning  popularity 
of  the.  426;  burned.  517. 

Parmly.  Elcazar  and  Prison  Association,  585. 
Pars.. n*.  Isabella,  and  the  Normal  College.  578. 
Patriotism  of  New  Yorkers.  57. 
Paulding.  James  K..  sketch  of.  255. 
Paxton.the  Rev.  William  M..  trustee  of  Leake  and 

Watts  Orphan  Asylum,  455. 
Payne.  John  Howard,  and  "Home,  Sweet  Ilome," 

103  ;  biography  of,  103. 

Peabody,  George,  and  the  Grinnell  Expedition, 
643. 

Peace  Convention  in  New  York.  743. 
Peace  mission,  41. 


Peace  party  elects  a  governor  of  New  York.  743; 
oration  of  a  distinguished  leader  of  the.  744. 

Peale.  Rembrandt,  a  founder  of  the  National 
Academy  of  the  Arts  of  Design.  179;  the  com- 
memoration of  the  French  Revolution  and.  287. 

Pease,  the  Rev.  L.  M.,  missionary  at  t lie  Five 
Points.  628:  the  Five  Points  House  of  Industry 
and.  631  633. 

Peckham,  Wheeler  H.,  engaged  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  Tweed,  809. 

Peet,  H.  P..  and  Asylum  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  ; 
biography  of,  120. 

Peet,  Isaac  L.,  and  Asylum  for  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb,  121. 

Pell,  Alfred,  and  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany. 487. 

Penitentiary  on  Blackwcll's  Island,  inmates  of 
the,  587. 

Penny  press,  projectors  of  the,  397. 
Perry,  Commodore  M.  C.  mission  of  to  Japan, 
708. 

Pestalozzi.  system  of,  307. 

Peters,  the  Rev.  Dr.,  and  the  Episcopal  City  Mis- 
sion Society,  457. 

Pettengill,  S.  M.,  advertising  agency;  sketch  of, 
857. 

Phelan,  the  Rev.  Jose.  565. 

Philadelphia,  abolition  riot  in.  339. 

Physicians  prominent  in  1832,  308. 

Pierrepont,  Edwards,  and  the  Union  Defence 
Committee  ;  biography  of.  721. 

Pintard,  John,  and  the  opening  of  the  Brie  Canal, 
69:  originator  of  the  New  York  Historical  So- 
ciety; Dr.  Francis's  estimate  of.  156:  the  Rev. 
Jeremy  Belknap  and,  157 :  biography  of.  158; 
founder  of  Barnum's  Museum.  158:  notice  of, 
210;  first  hank  for  savings  and,  225;  House 
of  Refuge  ami.  896. 

Police  commissioners,  board  of,  666. 

Police,  duties  of  the  ;  justices,  238. 

Police  riot,  667. 

Polk,  J.  K.,  nomination  of,  announced  by  the 

Morse  telegraph,  390. 
Pope,  Mrs.,  and  the  Astor  Place  riot,  512,  517. 
Pope's  suspension  bridge,  858. 
Population  and  valuation  of  property  in  1S25,  61. 
Port  Society,  the,  134. 

Post-Offiee,  the.  in  colonial  times.  54  :  in  1883,  532. 

Potter.Bishop  Henry  C  sketch  of.  551. 

Potter,  Bishop  Horatio,  biography  of,  551 

Potter's  Field,  the.  668. 

Potts,  the  Rev.  Dr.,  555. 

Power,  the  Rev.  John,  vicar-general,  568. 

Power.  Tyrone,  sketch  of.  423. 

Presbyterian  Church,  history  of  the,  554. 

Presbyterian  Home  for  Aged  Women,  corpora- 
tors and  officers  of  the,  775. 

Presbyterian  Hospital,  officers  of  the,  774,  775. 

Press  Club,  founders  of  the  ;  officers  of  the.  849. 

Press,  the  newspaper  and  magazine  in  New  York. 
864. 

Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  American  So- 
ciety for  the,  846,  849  ;  work  of  the,  848;  gifts  to 
the;  officers  of  the,  849. 

Prisons  and  prison  ships.  42,  43. 

Prisoners,  condition  of.  583. 

Prime,  the  Rev.  S.  Ircnaus.  and  the  Observer  ;  bi- 
ography of,  387. 

Printing,  introduction  of  steam  power  in,  273. 

Produce  Exchange,  the,  S57. 

Prosch,  G.  W..  and  the  daguerreotype,  -ir.g.  409. 

Protestant  Episc  opal  City  Mission  Society,  457; 
work  done  by  the  :  officers  of  the,  459. 

Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  history  of  the,  542- 
551. 

Provident  Dispensary,  for  working-women  and 

girls.  827. 
Provident  Society,  the.  129. 
Provincial  Congress,  delegates  to  the,  36. 
Public  balls,  101. 
Public  buildings  in  1825,  CI. 
Public  institutions  in  1825,  GO. 
Public  instruction,  history  of  in  New  York,  801- 

307. 


878 


INDEX. 


Public  School  society  and  th<-  Roman  Catholics, 

576. 

Public  school  pay  system  introduced  and  abolish- 
ed, 304.  305. 
Public  singers  in  theatres,  248. 
Public  squares  In  1840,  475  ;  in  1883,  a>4. 
Purser,  George  H.,  and  a  corrupt  judge,  4fl2. 


Q 

Quakers,  or  Friends  against  slavery,  320 ;  and 
slavery,  656. 

R. 

Rachel,  Mile  ,  at  the  Acadeniv  of  .Music;  sketch 

of,  683. 

Railways  converging  to  New  York,  604. 

Randall,  Captain  Thomas,  founder  of  the  Sail- 
or's Snug  Harbor.  120 :  monument  in  memory 
of,  131. 

Randall's  Island,  buildings  on,  300.  400. 

Rapelye,  Sarah,  first  European  born  in  NewNetli- 

erland  iNew  York),  5,  7. 
Ravel  family,  422. 

Rawdon.  Wright,  Hatch  A  Co.,  engravers,  253. 

Raymond.  Henry  J.,  biography  of,  820. 

Raynor.  Samuel,  envelope  manufacturer,  biog- 
raphy of,  706. 

Raynoids,  C.  T.  &  Co.,  manufacturers  of  painters' 
colors,  788. 

Real  and  personal  estate  in  New  York  in  1870, 

805. 

lied  House,  the,  106. 

Red  Jacket  and  imprisonment  for  debt,  307. 
Red  held.  Justus  S.,  publisher  of  the  Family  Mag- 
azine, 280. 

Heed,  human,  house  and  picture  gallery,  88, 
614;  patron  of  art  and  artists  ;  biography  of, 
615. 

Reformatory  efforts,  good  results  of  the,  041. 

Regatta,  first  regular  in  the  I'nited  States  ;  yachts 
that  participated  in  the  first,  505. 

Rcnwick.  Professor  James,  at  the  Irving  ban- 
quet, 250. 

Rcnwick.  James,  architect,  biography  of,  674. 

Republican  party,  formation  OI  the,  653. 

"  Republicans"  or  "  Democrats,"  50. 

Restaurants.  05  07:  shunned  by  many,  96. 

Reservoir  Square,  851. 

Retail  dry-goods  houses,  703. 

Retail  stores,  fashionable,  89. 

Retail  trade,  location  of  the,  220. 

Rhind.  Charles,  and  canal  celebration,  69,  71. 

Richmond  BUI,  58. 

Richmond.  Mrs.,  and  St.  Barnabas'  Homo  and 
Chapel.  45H. 

Ridley,  Edward  &  Sons,  retail  dry-goods  house, 

703. 

Ridley,  Edward,  biography  of.  703. 

Riker,  Richard,  recorder,  78:  sketch  of,  230.  212: 
duel  of  with  Robert  Svvartwout  :  courage  of, 
240;  Halleck  anil  :  quelling  riots.  241  :  biogra- 
phy of,  242  ;  defends  a  Roman  Catholic  priest, 
567. 

R.iots,  abolition.  328.  320:  Astnr  Place.  5H0  517; 
Rowery,  667;  draft,  711  :  election,  313-320;  Five 
Points,  667;  Hour.  372.  373:  Orangemen  and 
Ribbonmen,  813  :  police,  667  :  stonecutters',  341. 
Riotous  proceedings.  343. 

Riverside  Avenue  and  Riverside  Park,  854. 

Rivington's  press  destroyed.  35. 

Robert  Fulton,  steamship,  366. 

Roberts.  Marshal]  O..  and  the  Metropolitan  Fair, 
750;  biography  of,  750,  751. 

Robertson,  Archibald,  opens  the  first,  school  of 
art  in  New  York  ;  paints  the  portrait  of  Wash- 
ington, 171. 

Roebling,  John  A.,  and  the  East  River  Suspension 
Bridge;  death  of,  859;  honors  to, 880. 

Roebling,  Washington  A.,  chief  engineer  of  the 
East  River  Suspension  Bridge.  850. 

Rodgers,  J.  Kearney,  and  the  New  York  Eye  and 
Ear  Infirmary,  122. 


Rogers,  John,  sculptures  of,  750;  biography  of 
760. 

Rogers,  Mrs.  M.  A.,  and  the  Church  Sisterhood, 

589. 

Roman  Catholic  Church,  history  of  the.  564  :  first 

congregation  on  Manhattan  Island.  565. 
Roman  Catholics,  first  settlement  families  of  in 

New  York  :    disabilities   of,  564  ;  the  public 

Schools  and  the,  576,  577. 
Roman  Catholic  Orphan  Asylum,  officers  of  the, 

701. 

Romayne,  Nicholas,  biography  of,  130. 
Roosevelt  Hospital  775  :  officers  of  the.  776. 
Roosevelt.  .lames  H.,  founder  of  the  Roosevelt 

Hospital,  biography  of.  776. 
Rose,  Chauncey  and  Henry,  and  the  Home  for 

Incurables,  70S  :  and  the  Society  for  the  Relief 

of  the  Ruptured  and  (  tippled,  764. 
Rose  Hill  farm  of  General  Gates,  52. 
Royal  troops  in  New  York,  29. 
Ruggles,  Samuel  15,  public  spirit  of;  biography 

of,  52:1. 

Ruptured  and  Crippled, Society  for  the  Relief  of 
the  :  first  managers  of  the,  764  ;  officers  of  the, 
766. 

Russell.  Hcnrv,  and  "  Woodman,  spare  that 
Tree,"  91. 

Rutgers.  Colonel  Henry,  biography  of,  442;  gives 
land  fora  Presbyterian  church,  555. 

Rutgers  Female  College,  history  of  the,  442  444  ; 
officers  of,  444. 

S. 

Suitor--'  Magazine,  135. 

Sailors'  Snug  Harbor,  history  of  the,  120  13. 
St.  Andrew's  Society,  188;  officers  of  the,  189. 

St.  Barnabas'  Home  and  chapel,  history  of  the, 

458. 

St.  Barnabas'  Free  Reading  Room  Association, 
458. 

St.  David's  Benefit  Society,  officers  of  the,  581. 
St.  David's  Benevolent  Society,  officers  of  the, 
.'81. 

St.  George's  Society.  186,  187  :  officers  of  the.  188. 
St.  John's  College  at  Fordham,  568,  595  ;  officers 
of  the.  505. 

St.  John's  Guild,  772,  '73;  officers  of  the,  773. 

St.  Luke's  Home  for  Indigent  Christian  Females, 
608  :  officers  of  the,  600. 

St.  Luke's  Hospital,  .588;  officers  of  t lie,  589  ;  no- 
tice of  >-.r  officio  officers.  580  :  seal  of,  590. 

St.  Mary's  Free  Hospital  for  Children,  824. 

St  Nicholas  Avenue.  856. 

St.  Nicholas  club  :  officers  of  the,  442. 

St.  Nicholas  Society,  founders  of  the,  440;  officers 
of  the,  441. 

St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  (the  old),  565:  (the  new), 

description  of,  675-677. 
St.  Peter's  church,  consecration  of,  565. 
St.  Vincent  de  Paul.  Hospital   of :   Sisters  of 

charity  of,  590;  Orphan  Asylum  and  ;  officers  of 

the.  602 

Sandford,  General,  and  city  militia,  319 ;  Astor 
Place  riot  and.  51 1.  515  :  the  draft  riot  and,  745. 

Sanitary  Reform  Society,  fouuderof  the;  officers 
of  the,  758. 

Sands,  R.  (  .,  sketch  of,  258. 

Stiriiniiiih,  steamship,  crosses  the  Atlantic  Ocean 

to  St.  Petersburg   in  1819,  364  ;  at  Liverpool, 

365  :  at  <  openhagen,  366. 
Sariiiiniih    Confederate  pirate  ship     di:  po:uti::n 

of  crow  of,  738. 
Schuyler,  John,  secretary  of  the  Society  of  the 

Cincinnati,  818. 
Schuyler,  Louisa  Lee,  originator  of  the  State 

Charities  Aid  Association.  82G. 
Schuyler,  Philip,  notice  of,  31. 
School-book  publishing  house,  594. 
Schcll.  Augustus.  President  of  the  Historical 

Society,  165;  and  of  the  Institution    for  the 

Blind,  457. 
Scientific  American,  620-622. 
Scientific  publications,  705. 
1   Scott,  John  Morln,  30,  37 ;  biography  of,  30. 


INDEX. 


879 


Seamen,  societies  for  the  religious  and  moral 

benefit  of.  1*1. 
Seamen's  Friend  Society,  1*1-130:  officers  of  the  ; 

location  of  agents  of  the,  135  ;  work  of,  186. 
Seamen's  Retreat  and  Hospital,  133,  131;  officers 

of  the,  1*3. 
Seamen's  Savings  Bank,  765. 
Sears,  Isaac,  biography  of.  35. 
Seneca  Chief,  and  the  canal  celebration,  71. 
Segii'm,  Mr.  and  .Mrs..  519. 
Sessions,  Court  of,  237. 

Seton,  Elizabeth,  founder  of  Sisters  of  Charity, 
505 

Seventh  Regiment  N.  G.,  319,321-325:  stand  of 
colors  presented  to,  .339  ;  quells  abolition  riot, 
330-339  :  at  great  fire  in  1835.  352  :  new  armory  of 
the,  492;  departure  for  Washington,  723-726  ;  at 
the  opening  of  the  East  Hiver  Suspension 
Bridge,  860. 

Seventy-first  Regiment  and  its  record,  723. 

Shakespeare  Tavern.  322. 

Shamrock  Friendly  Association,  189. 

Sheldon  G.  W.,  and  "The  Story  of  the  Volun- 
teer Fire  Department."  228. 

Shipbuilding  and  shipbuilders,  221-223. 

Shipbuilding  and  ships  at  Xew  York,  523,  862. 

Shipping  merchants,  location  of  the.  214. 

Shoe  and  Leather  Reporter  quoted  from.  216. 

Shotwell,  Anna,  and  Home  for  Colored  Orphans, 
465. 

Shotwell,  Mary,  founder  of  the  Colored  Home 

and  Hospital.  469. 
Sham  way.  Captain,  and  Astor  Place  riot,  516. 
Sketch  Club,  the  New  York,  history  of  the,  183- 

185:  reorganization  of  the,  505. 
Sims.  J.  Marion,  sketch  of.  668.  069. 
Simpson,  Edward,  manager  of  the  Park  Theatre, 

519. 

Simpson.  Bishop  Matt  lie  w,  president  of  the  Meth- 
odist Missionary  Society,  198. 

Sinclair,  Catherine  (Mrs.  Forrest),  notice  of,  682. 

Sirius  and  (treat  Western  steamships,  arrive  at 
New  York,  307. 

Sisters  of  Charity,  first  in  the  United  States,  565 ; 
first  In  New  York,  567. 

Sixth  Ward,  riot  in,  315. 

Slave  market  in  New  York,  19. 

Slavery,  effect  of  the  agitation  of  the  subject  of, 
327,  32S. 

Smillie,  James,  biography  of,  262. 

Smith,  Morgan  L.,  proposes  to  give  a  medal  to 
Lafayette  by  the  National  Guards:  adopted, 
321:  colonel  of  the  National  Guard.  339:  the 
great  tire  in  1835  and  :  biography  of,  348,  349. 

Smith.  Stephen,  shipbuilder,  223. 

Smith  &  Dimon,  shipbuilders,  223. 

Sneeden  &  Lawrence,  shipbuilders,  222. 

Social  Club,  the,  186. 

Social  habits  of  the  Knickerbockers,  101. 

Social  ostracism,  effects  of.  584. 

Society  Library,  origin  of  the.  54  :  history  of  the, 
151-153  ;  trustees  of  the  in  1778,  152  ;  gifts  to  the, 
153  :  officers  of  the.  153. 

Society  of  the  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick,  189; 
operations  and  officers  of  the,  190. 

Soci.  lv  for  the  Relief  of  Half  Orphans  and  Desti- 
tute Children,  470  :  officers  of.  471. 

Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Crime  ;  officers  of 
the,  851. 

Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals, 

846,  849  ;  officers  of  the.  849. 
Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children. 

851-853;  Officers  of  the.  853;  work  of  the.  852. 

853. 

Society  for  the  Belief  of  Poor  Widows  with  Small 
Children :  128. 

Society  for  the  Belief  of  the  Ruptured  and  Crip- 
pled ;  officers  of  the,  766. 

Society  for  the  Suppression  of  Vice,  the  New 
York.  819,  850  ;  sphere  and  work  of  the,  850. 

Sons  of  Liberty.  28. 

Sontag,  Madame,  a  renowned  singer,  682. 
Sorosis.  a  club  for  women  ;  formation  and  officers 
of  the,  821,  822. 


;  Soule,  John,  and  the  Methodist  Missionary  Soci- 
ety, 196. 

Spangenberg,  Bishop,  500. 

Spanish  and  German  chilis,  822. 

Specie  (  ireular,  effects  of  the,  370. 

Speculation,  character  of  in  New  York,  812,  861, 
862. 

Squares  and  parks.  851. 

Stamp  Act  :  \  ongress  at  New  York,  26,  27  ;  re- 
peal of  the,  29. 

State  Charities  Aid  Association,  826. 

State  Prison  at  Greenwich,  400.  401. 

State  Street  and  its  occupants,  88. 

Statues  in  New  York.  011,  815. 

Statin,  John  IL,  biography  of,  795. 

Starrs,  the  Bev.  William,  and  the  Hospital  of  St. 
Vincent  de  Paul.  590. 

Steamboats  and  railways.  363. 

Steam  fire-engine.  232;  introduction  of  the,  2*3. 

Steam  navigation,  55. 

Steers  Brothers,  shipbuilders,  222,  524. 

Steers,  George,  death  of.  525. 

Steinway  it  Sons,  pianoforte-makers, -680,  681. 

Steinway,  Henry  Englehard.  biography  of,  681. 

Stephenson,  John,  first  builder  of  omnibuses  and 
horse-railway  cars,  402  ;  biography  of,  403. 

Stern,  Myer,  address  of  :  noticed,  127. 

Stereotyping,  introduction  of  into  New  York, 
482. 

Stevens,  John  A.,  and  the  Loyal  Publication  So- 
ciety, 754. 

Stevens,  John  C.  and  ocean  steam  navigation, 

304  ;  founder  of  the  New  York  Yacht  Club, 

524  :  the  yacht  America  and,  525. 
Stevens,  Linus  W.,  colonel  of  the  Twenty-seventh 

(now  Seventh)  regiment  National  Guard,  319; 

the  abolition  riots  and.  337.  338. 
Stewart,  Alexander  T.,  and  the  dry-goods  trade, 

415  ;  sketch  of  career  of,  416-418. 
Stock  actors  in  New  York.  520. 
Stock  Exchange,  the  ;  methods  of  business  atthe, 

812. 

Stone,  A.  B..  and  the  Children's  Aid  Society,  640. 
Stone,  William  L.,  biography  of,  67. 
Stonecutters'  riot,  341. 

Storrs,  the  Rev.  B.  S..  address  of  at  the  opening 
of  the  East  River  Bridge,  861. 

Stoves  and  ranges,  manufacture  of,  707. 

Stove-dealers,  location  of  the.  214. 

Street  boys,  character  of  the.  030. 

Stuart,  George  H.,  and  the  I'.  S.Christian  Com- 
mission, 730. 

Sturges,  Jonathan,  and  the  New  York  Gallery  of 
Fine  Arts,  616;  dinner  to,  617;  biography  of, 
618. 

Stuyvesant,  Peter,  governor  of  New  Netherland  ; 

character  of  ;  biography  of,  9. 
Stuyvesant  Square,  854. 

Sun  newspaper  established,  272;  rivals  of  the, 
274. 

Sunday-schools  established,  302. 
Swift,  John  IL,  and  (  lunch  Sisterhood.  589. 
Swift,  Joseph  G.,  and  the  great  fire,  348. 
Swamp,  the,  uotice  of,  214,  218  ;  leather  dealers 
in,  218. 

Swartwout.  Colonel  John,  duel  of  with  De  Witt 
Clinton,  240. 

Swartwout.  Robert,  duel  of  with  Richard  Riker, 
240. 

Swartwout.  Samuel,  grand  marshal  at  commem- 
oration of  the  French  Revolution.  288. 
Swedes  on  the  Delaware,  11. 


Taglioni,  Monsieur  and  Madame,  426. 
'  Tallmadge,  Frederick  A.,  and  the  Astor  Place 
riot,  514. 

]  Tamnianv  Hall  and  commemoration  of  the 
French  Revolution.  287.  288. 

Tammany  Society,  history  of  the,  242,  243  :  char- 
acter of  the  and  device  on  its  certificate  of 
membership.  244. 

Tanners  near  the  Collect,  216 


88U 


INDEX. 


Tappan,  Arthur,  biography  of,  167 ;  store  of  as- 
sailed, 337. 

Tappan,  Lewis,  house  of  sacked  by  rioters,  333, 

334  ;  and  mercantile  agency,  599. 
Taylor.  Asher  15.,  on  the  colors  of  the  National 

Guard,  3:3. 
Tea-ships  at  New  York.  31. 
Temple  Court,  850. 

Tenant-house  system  considered,  758. 
Theatres  in  New  York.  49. 
"The  Ninth  Anniversary,  a  Drama,"  9*7. 
"  The  house  1  live  in,"'  a  poem.  394-396. 
Theological  Seminary,  the  General,  477. 
Theological  Seminary,  the  I'nion,  447. 
Thompson,  saloon  of.  96,  97. 

Thompson.  .John,  and  the  National  hanking  sys- 
tem, 733  735  :  biography  of,  734  :  plan  of  a  paper 
currency.  735. 

Thompson's  (Corporal)  tavern,  105. 

Thorburn,  Grant,  and  Robert  Hoe,  479. 

Thome  &  Williams,  shipbuilders,  223. 

Thorne.  Jonathan,  leather  merchant,  biography 
of,  217. 

Tiffany.  Charles  I,.,  receives  the  decoration  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor;  a  gold  medal  from  the 
Emperor  of  Hussia.  799. 

Tiffany  &  Co..  establishment  of,  797;  honors  be- 
stowed upon.  799. 

Tilden.  Samuel  , I.,  affidavit  of  causes  the  arrest 
of  Tweed.  8)9. 

Times,  the  New  York,  exposes  the  frauds  of  the 
Tweed  ring.  808. 

Titus.  Klias,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  American  | 
Institute,  notice  of.  169. 

Toombs.  Robert,  and  Mayor  Wood,  717. 

Tomlinson,  W.  A  ,  and  the  Half  Orphan  Asylum, 
471. 

Tompkins  Square,  864, 

Tontine  Association.  51  ;  Coffee  House,  108. 

Townley,  the  Rev.  John,  organizes  a  Congrega- 
tional church  573. 

Train,  George  Francis,  introduces  street  railways 
into  London,  403. 

Training  School  for  Nurses,  827. 

Transportation  business,  the,  794. 

Transval.  the,  865. 

Tree.  Ellen,  sketch  of.  426. 

Tribune,  the.  established,  477. 

Tribune  building  burned,  499  ;  the  pioneer  of  tall 
buildings,  856. 

Trimble,  George  T.,  and  the  Demilt  Dispensary, 
(Ml 

Trinity  Church  established;    property  of,  19; 

school  of,  302;  and  the  Free  School  Society, 

303;  parish,  chapels,  and  charities  of,  542-546; 

architecture  of  edifice,  673. 
Troops,  response  of  New  York  to  call  for,  717, 

718. 

Truax.  the  Rev.  John,  and  the  Marine  Magazine, 
134. 

True  Reformed  Church,  the,  540. 

Trumbull,   Colonel   John,   and    the  American 

Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  173  :  character  of,  174; 

sketch  of,  260. 
Tryon,  William.  Governor,  gives  a  charter  to  the 

New  York  Society  Linrary,  153. 
Tweed.  William  M  .  and  the  Amerieus  Club.  597; 

career  of.  806.  809  :  death  of,  808. 
Tweed  Ring,  the,  805  80S. 

Twenty-seventh  (now  Seventh)  liegiment  N.  G. 
and  election  riot.  319:  history  of  the,  321-335; 
votes  a  medal  to  Lafayette.  324. 

Two-mile  stone  prayer-meeting,  561. 

Tyng,  the  Rev.  Stephen  EL,  and  Home  for  the 

Friendless.  464  ;  biography  of,  543. 
Typographical  Society,  the  New  York,  165,  166  ; 

officers  of  the,  166. 

U. 

Ulshoeffer,  M  .  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 

Pleas.  49.V496. 
Underground  railway.  655. 

Union  Club,  founders  of  the  ;  character  of  the 
members  of  the.  434  :  sketch  of  the.  435. 


Union  Defence  Committee,  members  of  the,  720  : 
labors  of  the,  722,  723. 

I'nion  Dime  Savings  Hank,  857. 

Union  Home  and  School,  738. 

Union  League  Club,  origin  and  history  of  the, 
718-753 ;  first  officers  of  the  ;  committees  for 
raising  colored  troops,  749:  committee  to  re- 
cruit troops.  750  :  services  since  the  war,  752, 
753  ;  officers  of  the.  753. 

I'nion  Square,  528.  854  ;  great  war  meeting  in,  718, 
719. 

I'nion  Theological  Seminary,  history  of  the.  447, 
448;  endowments  of  the;  officers  and  faculty 
of  the.  4J9. 

Unitarian  church,  574. 

University  of  the  city  of  New  York,  450  ;  notable 

events  at  the  :  officers  of  the.  452. 
Universalis  church,  the.  571,572. 
United  Hank  building,  857. 

United  states  Hank,  government  deposits  re- 
moved from.  369;  rechartcr  and  failure  of  the, 

370. 

I'nited  states  Christian  Commision,  work  of  the, 

729.  730. 

I'nited  States  Sanitary  Commission,  history  of 
the,  727-729. 

V. 

Valentine,  Lawson.  owner  of  the  Houghton  farm  ; 
publisher  and  varnish  manufacturer,  biography 

of,  790. 

Yal.jcan  and  the  RishopiIIugo),  588. 
Van  Am  ring*,  J.  II. ,  historian  of  Columbia  Col- 
lege, 1  17 

Van  Arsdale,  John,  and  the  British  flag,  290. 
Van  Cortlandt's  joy.  14. 
Vandorbilt.  Cornelius,  biography  of,  405. 
Van  Dam.  Rip,  and  Governor  Cosby,  16. 
Yandenhoff.  George,  518. 

\  an  \  jsl  rand  Davi.l   publisher  704  biography 

of,  705. 
Van  Twiller,  Governor,  7. 

Van  Wyck,  Pierre  C,  second  of  Richard  Rikcr, 
240. 

Varick.  Colonel  Richard,  biography  of,  302 ;  at 
commemoration  of  the  French  Revolution.  387. 

Vaux.  Calvin,  and  Central  Park,  sketch  of.  610. 

Vermilyea,  the  Rev.  Thomas,  senior  pastor  of  the 
Collegiate  Church  ;  trustee  of  the  Leake  and 
Watts  Orphan  Asylum,  455. 

Verplanck,  (Julian  '('..biography  of,  255  ;  candi- 
date for  mayor,  313. 

Vest  l  is.  .Madame,  sketch  of,  424. 

Victoria.  Queen,  and  the  yacht  America.  535. 

Viele,  General  Egbert  L  ,  and  the  Central  Park, 
sketch  of.  609;  report  of  on  topography  and 
hydrology  of  .Manhattan  Island.  610. 

Volunteer  Fire  Department  and  the  canal  cele- 
bration, 74. 

W. 

Waddell.  Coventry.  603  :  mansion  of.  612.  613. 
Wakcmnn.  T.  H.  and  the  American  Institute,  170. 
Wales.  Prince  of,  visit  and  reception  of,  709. 
Wales,  Salem  H..  and  the  Homoeopathic  Medical 

College,  biography  of.  778,  779. 
Wall  Street  in  1830,  occupants  of :  character  of, 

107,  108. 
Wallabout.  the,  5. 
Wallack.  Henrv.  520. 

Wallack.  James,  and  National  Theatre.  4.23,  520. 

Wallack.  J.  Lester.  520. 

Wallack's  Theatre.  682. 

Walloons  in  New  Netherlands,  4. 

Walton,  the  brothers,  208. 

Ward  district  courts.  338. 

Ward's  Island.  400. 

Warner,  Colonel  Andrew,  on  General  Morton's 
staff.  290;  the  National  Guard  and.  323. 

Washington,  an  attempt  to  poison.  41  ;  parts  with 
his  officers.  45  :  inaugurated  President,  48  ;  resi- 
dence of.  49  ;  bronze  statues  of.  815. 

Washington  Market  rebuilt,  800. 


[NDEX. 


881 


Washington  Parade-Q  round  and  commemoration 

of  the  French  Revolution,  289. 
Washington  Square,  854. 
Watchmen,  duties  of,  -JUS.  239. 
Waterhouse  and  vaccination,  lit. 
Waters  of  the  lakes  and  the  ocean  commingled, 

72. 

Water-Color  Society,  the  American  ;  officers  of 
the,  m 

Water  supply  of  the  city,  350,  SCO  ;  new  sources  of 

sought,  486. 
Water-works,  early  projects  for,  53. 
Wattivel.  Bishop.  559. 

Watts.  Robert,  founder  of  the  Leake  and  Watts 
Orphan  Asylum.  454. 

Watson,  Charlotte,  sketch  of,  434  ;  and  Madame 
Anna  Bishop,  425. 

Webb,  Alexander  S..  and  the  College  of  New 
York  ;  biography  of,  591. 

Webb,  Isaac,  shipbuilder.  288,  526. 

Webb.  James  Watson,  obtains  a  military  com- 
mission in  his  youth,  267,  268;  founds  the 
Courier  and  Enquirer  newspaper,  269;  revolu- 
tionizes the  methods  of  journalism,  270.  271  ; 
the  commemoration  of  the  French  Revolution 
and.  288 ;  (rives  the  name  Whig  to  his  political 
party,  811  ;  the  election  riots  and.  315-318;  last 
survivor  of  the  Hone  Club.  433  ;  United  States 
minister  at  the  court  of  Brazil,  740;  interview 
With  Napoleon  III.  ;  energetic  career  of  in 
Brazil,  740  ;  relieves  the  American  minister  in 
Paraguay  :  effects  an  arrangement  with  Napo- 
leon for  the  removal  of  troops  from  .Mexico, 
741  ;  biography  of,  741,  742. 

Webb,  Captain  Thomas,  soldier  and  preacher, 
560. 

Webb,  W.  II.,  vessels  built  by,  526;  biography  of, 
527. 

Webb  &  Allen,  shipbuilders,  222. 

Weddings  in  the  Knickerbocker  days,  100,  101. 

Weed.  Thurlow,  diplomatic  agent  in  Europe, 

735;  biography  of,  736. 
Weir,  Robert  W.,  and  Trumbull,  174;  biography 

of,  261. 
Welles  building.  857. 

Wells,  Horace,  and  ana'sthetics.  7S0.  781;  statue 
of,  781. 

Wells,  Fargo  &  Dunning,  express  of,  381. 

West.  Professor  C.  E.,  and  the  daguerreotype, 

409  ;  Rutgers  Female  College  and,  443. 
Western  I'nion  Telegraph  Company,  officers  of 

the.  391.  392. 
Westervelt.  Jacob,  shipbuilder.  223. 
West  India  Company,  the  Dutch.  7. 
Wetmore  Home  for  Fallen  and  Friendless  Girls, 

769. 

Wetmore,  Prosper  M.,  and  the  .Uorniiir/  Courier, 
269:  and  Twenty-seventh  Regiment  N.  G.,  322, 
888,  353. 

Wheatley,  Mrs.,  and  Misses  Emma  and  Julia, 
sketches  of.  420. 

Wbelan,  the  Rev.,  character  of.  504. 

Whig  party,  origin  of  name  of  the.  311. 

White,  Canvas,  engineer  of  Croton  Aqueduct,  357. 

White  A  Farmer,  type  founders.  484. 

tVhitefleld,  the  Rev.  George,  554. 

Whittier.  John  G..  quotation  from  on  imprison- 
ment for  debt.  397. 

Widows'  Fund  Society,  the,  128. 


Williams,  David.  289\ 
Willis,  Nathaniel  P.,  254,258. 
Willett,  Marinus,  biography  of,  37. 
Willets,  Samuel,  biography  of,  696. 

Wilson,  A.  D.,  convert  to  homoeopathy,  294. 
Wilson,  George,  secretary  of  the  Chamber  of 

Commerce,  211. 
Wilson.  John  1)..  proposes  the  name  of  "  National 

Guard"  for  the  Twenty-seventh  Regiment,  321. 
Wilson  Industrial  School,  the,  641  ;  officers  of  the, 

642. 

Windust's  restaurant  ;  Athenian  Hotel,  97. 

Winston,  Frederick  S.,  president  of  the  Mutual 
Life  Insurance  Company,  sketch  of,  489. 

Wisner,  George  W.,  suggests  a  one-cent  news- 
paper, 272. 

Wolcott,  A.  S.,  and  the  daguerreotype,  410. 
Wolfe,  Miss  Catharine,  gift  of  to  Grace  Church, 
675. 

Wolfe,  John  David  and  Miss  Catharine,  and  the 

Home  for  Incurables,  767. 
Woman's  Hospital,  the,  668  ;  officers  of  the,  669. 
Woman's  Medical  College  ;  officers  of  the,  697. 
Woman's  Prison  Association,  585  ;  officers  of  the, 

587. 

Women  of  New  York,  patriotism  of  the,  726. 
Women's  Branch  of  the  New  York  City  Mission 

and  Tract  Society,  204  ;  character  and  work  of 

the  ;  officers  of  the.  205. 
Women's  Central  Relief  Association  ;  officers  o! 

the.  728. 

Wood,  Fernando,  mayor,  proposes  the  secession 

from  the  I'nion  of  the  City  of  New  York,  715  ; 

Robert  Toombs  and,  717. 
Wood,  William,  and  the  Normal  College,  578 
Wood,  William,  originator  of  the  Mercantile 

Library  Association,  167. 
Wood.  Mr  and  Mrs.,  opera  singers,  423. 
Woodhull,  Caleb  S..  mayor,  495. 
Woodworth,  Samuel,  noticed.  851;  and  "The 

House  I  live  in."  394. 
Woodlawn  Cemetery,  580. 

"  Woodman,  spare  that  Tree,"  song  of,  93;  Cap- 
tain Marryat  and  the  song  of,  94. 
Wool,  General  John  E..  and  Governor  Morgan; 

helps  save  the  National  capital.  725. 
Working  Girls,  Home  for,  418. 
!   Working  Women's  Protective  Union.  823. 
1   Workmen  in  shipyards,  former  condition  of,  223. 
Worth,  General,  monument  to,  530. 


Y. 

Yacht  Club,  New  York,  the.  595-597. 
"  Yankee  Hill,"  sketch  of,  428. 
Yellow  fever,  50.  58,  59. 

Young  Ladies'  New  York  Bible  Society.  199. 
Young  Men's  Bible  Society;  officers  of  the,  19K  ; 

work  of  the,  199. 
Young    Men's  Christian  Association,  656-658; 

names  of  the  chief  founders  of  the,  656. 
Young  Women's  Christian  Association ;  officers 

of  the.  699. 
Yorkville,  603. 

Z. 

Zenger,  John  Peter,  trial  of  and  biography  of, 
17. 


